Zemp.  What prince?

Trax.  The great Peruvian Inca, that of late
In three set battles was so fortunate,
Till this strange man had power to turn the tide,
And carry conquest into any side.

Zemp.  Would you permit a private man to have
The great Peruvian Inca for his slave? 
Shame to all princes! was it not just now
I made a sacred, and a solemn vow,
To offer up (if blest with victory)
The prisoners that were took? and they shall die.

Trax.  I soon had snatched from this proud stranger’s hand
That too great object for his bold demand;
Had not the prince, your son, to whom I owe
A kind obedience, judged it should be so.

Zemp.  I’ll hear no more; go quickly take my guards,
And from that man force those usurped rewards;
That prince, upon whose ruins I must rise,
Shall be the gods’, but more my sacrifice: 
They, with my slaves, in triumph shall be tied,
While my devotion justifies my pride: 
Those deities, in whom I place my trust,
Shall see, when they are kind, that I am just. [Exit.

Trax.  How gladly I obey! 
There’s something shoots from my enlivened frame,
Like a new soul, but yet without a name,
Nor can I tell what the bold guest will prove;
It must be envy, or it must be love: 
Let it be either, ’tis the greatest bliss
For man to grant himself, all he dares wish;
For he, that to himself himself denies,
Proves meanly wretched, to be counted wise.
[Exit TRAXALLA.

SCENE III.

Enter MONTEZUMA and ACACIS.

Aca.  You wrong, me, my best friend, not to believe
Your kindness gives me joy; and when I grieve,
Unwillingly my sorrows I obey: 
Showers sometimes fall upon a shining day.

Mont..  Let me, then, share your griefs, that in your fate Would have took part.

Aca.  Why should you ask me that?  Those must be mine, though I have such excess; Divided griefs increase, and not grow less.

Mont.  It does not lessen fate, nor satisfy The grave, ’tis true, when friends together die; And yet they are unwilling to divide.

Aca.  To such a friend nothing can be denied. 
You, when you hear my story, will forgive
My grief, and rather wonder that I live;
Unhappy in my title to a throne,
Since blood made way for my succession: 
Blood of an uncle too, a prince so free
From being cruel, it taught cruelty. 
His queen Amexia then was big with child;
Nor was he gentler than his queen was mild;
Th’impatient people longed for what should come
From such a father, bred in such a womb;
When false Traxalla, weary to obey,
Took with his life their joys and hopes away. 
Amexia, by the assistance of the night,
When this dark deed was acted, took her flight;
Only with true Garucca for her aid: 
Since when, for all the searches that were made,
The queen was never heard of more:  Yet still
This traitor lives, and prospers by the ill: 
Nor does my mother seem to reign alone,
But with this monster shares the guilt and throne. 
Horror choaks up my words:  now you’ll believe,
’Tis just I should do nothing else but grieve.