Mont.  That hope is past:  Him I have oft assailed;
But neither threats nor kindness have prevailed;
Hiding our wants, I offered to release
His chains, and equally conclude a peace: 
He fiercely answered, I had now no way
But to submit, and without terms obey: 
I told him, he in chains demanded more
Than he imposed in victory before: 
He sullenly replied, he could not make
These offers now; honour must give, not take.

Odm.  Twice have I sallied, and was twice beat back:  What desp’rate course remains for us to take!

Mont.  If either death or bondage I must chuse, I’ll keep my freedom, though my life I lose.

Guy.  I’ll not upbraid you, that you once refused
Those means, you might have then with honour used;
I’ll lead your men, perhaps bring victory: 
They know to conquer best, who know to die. [Exeunt MONTEZUMA and ODMAR.

Alib.  Ah me, what have I heard! stay, Guyomar, What hope you from this sally you prepare?

Guy.  A death, with honour, for my country’s good:  A death, to which yourself designed my blood.

Alib.  You heard, and I well know the town’s distress,
Which sword and famine both at once oppress: 
Famine so fierce, that what’s denied man’s use,
Even deadly plants, and herbs of poisonous juice,
Wild hunger seeks; and, to prolong our breath,
We greedily devour our certain death: 
The soldier in th’ assault of famine falls: 
And ghosts, not men, are watching on the walls. 
As callow birds—­
Whose mother’s killed in seeking of the prey,
Cry in their nest, and think her long away;
And at each leaf that stirs, each blast of wind,
Gape for the food, which they must never find: 
So cry the people in their misery.

Guy.  And what relief can they expect from me?

Alib.  While Montezuma sleeps, call in the foe: 
The captive general your design may know: 
His noble heart, to honour ever true,
Knows how to spare as well as to subdue.

Guy.  What I have heard I blush to hear:  And grieve,
Those words you spoke I must your words believe. 
I to do this!  I, whom you once thought brave,
To sell my country, and my king enslave? 
All I have done by one foul act deface,
And yield my right to you, by turning base? 
What more could Odmar wish that I should do,
To lose your love, than you persuade me to? 
No, madam, no, I never can commit
A deed so ill, nor can you suffer it: 
’Tis but to try what virtue you can find
Lodged in my soul.

Alib.  I plainly speak my mind;
Dear as my life my virtue I’ll preserve,
But virtue you too scrupulously serve: 
I loved not more than now my country’s good,
When for its service I employed your blood: 
But things are altered, I am still the same,
By different ways still moving to one fame;
And by disarming you, I now do more
To save the town, than arming you before.