Rod. —What worse?

Jul. Their own.

Rod. Is this thy counsel, renegade?

Jul. Not mine; I point a better path, nay, force thee on. I shelter thee from every brave man’s sword While I am near thee: I bestow on thee Life: if thou die, ’tis when thou sojournest Protected by this arm and voice no more; ’Tis slavishly, ’tis ignominiously, ’Tis by a villain’s knife.

Rod. By whose?

Jul. Roderigo’s.

p. 80Rod. O powers of vengeance! must I hear? endure? Live?

p. 80

Jul. Call thy vassals? no! then wipe the drops Of froward childhood from thy shameless eyes. So! thou canst weep for passion—not for pity.

Rod. One hour ago I ruled all Spain! a camp Not larger than a sheepfold stood alone Against me: now, no friend throughout the world Follows my steps or hearkens to my call. Behold the turns of fortune, and expect No better; of all faithless men, the Moors Are the most faithless—from thy own experience Thou canst not value nor rely on them.

Jul. I value not the mass that makes my sword, Yet while I use it I rely on it.

Rod. Julian, thy gloomy soul still meditates— Plainly I see it—death to me—pursue The dictates of thy leaders, let revenge Have its full sway, let Barbary prevail, And the pure creed her elders have embraced: p. 81Those placid sages hold assassination A most compendious supplement to law.

p. 81

Jul. Thou knowest not the one, nor I the other. Torne hast thou from me all my soul held dear! Her form, her voice, all, hast thou banish’d from me Nor dare I, wretched as I am! recall Those solaces of every grief, erewhile! I stand abased before insulting crime. I faulter like a criminal myself. The hand that hurled thy chariot o’er its wheels, That held thy steeds erect and motionless As moulten statues on some palace-gates, Shakes, as with palsied age, before thee now. Gone is the treasure of my heart, for ever, Without a father, mother, friend, or name! Daughter of Julian—Such was her delight— Such was mine too! what pride more innocent, What, surely, less deserving pangs like these, Than springs from filial and parental love! Debarred from every hope that 

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