Almah. Then briefly will I speak, since you must know
What to the world my future acts will show: 
But hear me first, and then my reasons weigh. 
’Tis known, how duty led me to obey
My father’s choice; and how I since did live,
You, sir, can best your testimony give. 
How to your aid I have Almanzor brought,
When by rebellious crowds your life was sought;
Then, how I bore your causeless jealousy,
(For I must speak) and after set you free,
When you were prisoner in the chance of war: 
These, sure, are proofs of love.

Boab. I grant they are.

Almah. And could you then, O cruelly unkind! 
So ill reward such tenderness of mind? 
Could you, denying what our laws afford
The meanest subject, on a traitor’s word,
Unheard, condemn, and suffer me to go
To death, and yet no common pity show!

Boab. Love filled my heart even to the brim before; And then, with too much jealousy, boiled o’er.

Almah. Be’t love or jealousy, ’tis such a crime,
That I’m forewarned to trust a second time. 
Know, then, my prayers to heaven shall never cease,
To crown your arms in war, your wars with peace;
But from this day I will not know your bed: 
Though Almahide still lives, your wife is dead;
And with her dies a love so pure and true,
It could be killed by nothing but by you. [Exit ALMAH.

Boab. Yes; you will spend your life in prayers for me,
And yet this hour my hated rival see. 
She might a husband’s jealousy forgive;
But she will only for Almanzor live. 
It is resolved; I will myself provide
That vengeance, which my useless laws denied;
And, by Almanzor’s death, at once remove
The rival of my empire, and my love. [Exit BOAB.

  Enter ALMAHIDE, led by ALMANZOR, and followed by ESPERANZA;
  she speaks, entering.

Almah. How much, Almanzor, to your aid I owe,
Unable to repay, I blush to know;
Yet, forced by need, ere I can clear that score,
I, like ill debtors, come to borrow more.

Almanz. Your new commands I on my knees attend: 
I was created for no other end. 
Born to be yours, I do by nature serve,
And, like the labouring beast, no thanks deserve.

Almah. Yet first your virtue to your succour call, For in this hard command you’ll need it all.

Almanz. I stand prepared; and whatsoe’er it be, Nothing is hard to him, who loves like me.

Almah. Then know, I from your love must yet implore One proof:—­that you would never see me more.

Almanz. I must confess, [Starting back.
For this last stroke I did no guard provide;
I could suspect no foe was near that side. 
From winds and thickening clouds we thunder fear,
None dread it from that quarter which is clear;
And I would fain believe, ’tis but your art
To shew
You knew where deepest you could wound my heart.