Cre. That word, stranger, I confess, Sounds harshly in my ears.

Dioc. We are your creatures. 
The people, prone, as in all general ills,
To sudden change; the king, in wars abroad;
The queen, a woman weak and unregarded;
Eurydice, the daughter of dead Laius,
A princess young and beauteous, and unmarried,—­
Methinks, from these disjointed propositions,
Something might be produced.

Cre. The gods have done
Their part, by sending this commodious plague. 
But oh, the princess! her hard heart is shut
By adamantine locks against my love.

Alc. Your claim to her is strong; you are betrothed.

Pyr. True, in her nonage.

Dioc. I heard the prince of Argos, young Adrastus, When he was hostage here—­

Cre. Oh name him not! the bane of all my hopes. 
That hot-brained, head-long warrior, has the charms
Of youth, and somewhat of a lucky rashness,
To please a woman yet more fool than he. 
That thoughtless sex is caught by outward form. 
And empty noise, and loves itself in man.

Alc. But since the war broke out about our frontiers, He’s now a foe to Thebes.

Cre. But is not so to her.  See, she appears;
Once more I’ll prove my fortune.  You insinuate
Kind thoughts of me into the multitude;
Lay load upon the court; gull them with freedom;
And you shall see them toss their tails, and gad,
As if the breeze had stung them.

Dioc. We’ll about it. [Exeunt ALC.  DIOC. and PYR.

  Enter EURYDICE.

Cre. Hail, royal maid! thou bright Eurydice, A lavish planet reigned when thou wert born, And made thee of such kindred mould to heaven, Thou seem’st more heaven’s than ours.

Eur. Cast round your eyes,
Where late the streets were so thick sown with men,
Like Cadmus’ brood, they jostled for the passage;
Now look for those erected heads, and see them,
Like pebbles, paving all our public ways;
When you have thought on this, then answer me,—­
If these be hours of courtship?

Cre. Yes, they are; For when the gods destroy so fast, ’tis time We should renew the race.

Eur. What, in the midst of horror?

Cre. Why not then?  There’s the more need of comfort.

Eur. Impious Creon!

Cre. Unjust Eurydice! can you accuse me
Of love, which is heaven’s precept, and not fear
That vengeance, which you say pursues our crimes,
Should reach your perjuries?

Eur. Still the old argument. 
I bade you cast your eyes on other men,
Now cast them on yourself; think what you are.

Cre. A man.

Eur. A man!

Cre. Why, doubt you I’m a man?

Eur. ’Tis well you tell me so; I should mistake you
For any other part o’the whole creation,
Rather than think you man.  Hence from my sight,
Thou poison to my eyes!