Aca.  First, Montezuma, take thy liberty;
Thou gavest me freedom, here I set thee free: 
We’re equal now.  Madam, the danger’s great
Of close pursuit; to favour your retreat,
Permit we two a little while remain
Behind, while you go softly o’er the plain.

Oraz.  Why should I go before?—­What’s your intent?—­ Where is my father?—­Whither am I sent?

Aca.  Your doubts shall soon be cleared.  Conduct her on. [Exit ORAZIA.

So, Montezuma, we are now alone. 
That which my honour owed thee I have paid;
As honour was, so love must be obeyed. 
I set Orazia, as thy captive, free;
But, as my mistress, ask her back from thee.

Mont.  Thou hast performed what honour bid thee do:  But friendship bars what honour prompts me to.—­ Friends should not fight.

Aca.  If friendship we profess,
Let us secure each others happiness: 
One needs must die, and he shall happy prove
In her remembrance, t’other in her love. 
My guards wait near; and, if I fail, they must
Give up Orazia, or betray their trust.

Mont.  Suppose thou conquer’st, would’st thou wander o’er
The south-sea sands, or the rough northern shore,
That parts thy spacious kingdom from Peru,
And, leaving empire, hopeless love pursue?

Aca.  By which of all my actions could you guess,
Though more your merit, that my love was less? 
What prize can empire with Orazia bear? 
Or, where love fills the breast, what room for fear?

Mont.  Let fair Orazia then the sentence give, Else he may die whom she desires to live.

Aca.  Your greater merits bribe her to your side; My weaker title must by arms be tried.

Mont.  Oh, tyrant love! how cruel are thy laws! 
I forfeit friendship, or betray thy cause: 
That person, whom I would defend from all
The world, that person by my hand must fall.

Aca.  Our lives we to each others friendship owe;
But love calls back what friendship did bestow: 
Love has its cruelties, but friendship none;
And we now fight in quarrels not our own. [Fight.

Enter_ ORAZIA.

Oraz.  What noise is this?—­ Hold, hold! what cause could be so great, to move This furious hatred?—­

Mont.  ’Twas our furious love.—­

Aca.  Love, which I hid till I had set you free,
And bought your pardon with my liberty;
That done, I thought, I less unjustly might
With Montezuma, for Orazia, fight;
He has prevailed, and I must now confess
His fortune greater, not my passion less;
Yet cannot yield you, till his sword remove
A dying rival, that holds fast his love.

Oraz.  Whoever falls, ’tis my protector still,
And then the crime’s as great, to die as kill.—­
Acacis, do not hopeless love pursue;
But live, and this soft malady subdue.