Bend. How she assumes!  I like not this beginning. [Aside.

Alm. I was not born so base to flatter crowds,
And move your pity by a whining tale. 
Your tyrant would have forced me to his bed;
But in the attempt of that foul brutal act,
These loyal slaves secured me by his death. [Pointing to BENDUCAR.

Bend. Makes she no more of me than of a slave?—­ [Aside.
Madam, I thought I had instructed you [To ALMEYDA. 
To frame a speech more suiting to the times: 
The circumstances of that dire design,
Your own despair, my unexpected aid,
My life endangered by his bold defence,
And, after all, his death, and your deliverance,
Were themes that ought not to be slighted o’er.

Must. She might have passed over all your petty businesses, and no great matter; but the raising of my rabble is an exploit of consequence, and not to be mumbled up in silence, for all her pertness.

Alm. When force invades the gift of nature, life,
The eldest law of nature bids defend;
And if in that defence a tyrant fall,
His death’s his crime, not ours,
Suffice it, that he’s dead; all wrongs die with him;
When he can wrong no more, I pardon him: 
Thus I absolve myself, and him excuse,
Who saved my life and honour, but praise neither.

Bend. ’Tis cheap to pardon, whom you would not pay. 
But what speak I of payment and reward! 
Ungrateful woman, you are yet no queen,
Nor more than a proud haughty christian slave: 
As such I seize my right. [Going to lay hold of her.

Alm. [Drawing a Dagger.] Dare not to approach me!—­
Now, Africans,
He shows himself to you; to me he stood
Confessed before, and owned his insolence
To espouse my person, and assume the crown,
Claimed in my right; for this, he slew your tyrant;
Oh no! he only changed him for a worse;
Embased your slavery by his own vileness,
And loaded you with more ignoble bonds. 
Then think me not ungrateful, not to share
The imperial crown with a presuming traitor. 
He says, I am a Christian; true, I am,
But yet no slave:  If Christians can be thought
Unfit to govern those of other faith,
’Tis left for you to judge.

Bend. I have not patience; she consumes the time In idle talk, and owns her false belief:  Seize her by force, and bear her thence unheard.

Alm. [To the People.]
No, let me rather die your sacrifice,
Than live his triumph. 
I throw myself into my people’s arms;
As you are men, compassionate my wrongs,
And, as good men, protect me.

Ant. Something must be done to save her. [Aside to MUST.] This is all addressed to you, sir:  she singled you out with her eye, as commander in chief of the mobility.