Elvira. Beware lest, to punish this strange pride, heaven may at last permit you to revenge yourself.  What!—­you will still reject the happiness of being able now to be reconciled [lit. to be silent] with honor?  What means this duty, and what does it hope for?  Will the death of your lover restore to you a father?  Is one [fatal] stroke of misfortune insufficient for you?  Is there need of loss upon loss, and sorrow upon sorrow?  Come, in the caprice in which your humor persists, you do not deserve the lover that is destined for you, and we may [lit. shall] see the just wrath of heaven, by his death, leaving you Don Sancho as a spouse.

Chimene. Elvira, the griefs which I endure are sufficient:  do not redouble them by this fatal augury.  I wish, if I can, to avoid both; but if not, in this conflict Rodrigo has all my prayers; not because a weak [lit. foolish] affection inclines me to his side, but because, if he were conquered, I should become [the bride] of Don Sancho.  This fear creates [lit. causes to be born] my desire——­

[Enter Don Sancho.]

What do I see, unhappy [woman that I am]!  Elvira, all is lost!

Scene V.—­DON SANCHO, CHIMENE, and ELVIRA.

Don Sancho. Compelled to bring this sword to thy feet——­

Chimene. What! still [all] reeking with the blood of Rodrigo!  Traitor, dost thou dare to show thyself before mine eyes, after having taken from me that [being] whom I love the best?  Declare thyself my love, and thou hast no more to fear.  My father is satisfied; cease to restrain thyself.  The same [death] stroke has placed my honor in safety, my soul in despair, and my passion at liberty!

Don Sancho. With a mind more calmly collected——­

Chimene. Dost thou still speak to me, detestable assassin of a hero whom I adore?  Go; you fell upon him treacherously.  A warrior so valiant would never have sunk beneath such an assailant!  Hope nothing from me.  Thou hast not served me; and believing that thou wert avenging me, thou hast deprived me of life.

Don Sancho. Strange delusion, which, far from listening to me——­

Chimene. Wilt thou that I should listen to thee while boasting of his death?—­that I should patiently hear with what haughty pride thou wilt describe his misfortune, my own crime, and thy prowess?

Scene VI.—­DON FERNANDO, DON DIEGO, DON ARIAS, DON SANCHO, DON ALONZO, CHIMENE, and ELVIRA.

Chimene. Sire, there is no further need to dissemble that which all my struggles have not been able to conceal from you.  I loved, you knew it; but, to avenge my father, I even wished to sacrifice so dear a being [as Rodrigo].  Sire, your majesty may have seen how I have made love yield to duty.  At last, Rodrigo is dead; and his death has converted me from an unrelenting foe into an afflicted lover.  I owed this revenge to him who gave me existence;