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_ ACT II - SCENE I
A Street in Burgos.
[Enter the COUNT OF SIDONIA and the COUNT OF LEON.]
SIDO.
Is she not fair?
LEON.
What then? She but fulfils
Her office as a woman. For to be
A woman and not fair, is, in my creed,
To be a thing unsexed.
SIDO.
Happy Alarcos!
They say she was of Aquitaine, a daughter
Of the De Foix. I would I had been banished.
LEON.
Go and plot then. They cannot take your head,
For that is gone.
SIDO.
But banishment from Burgos
Were worse than fifty deaths. O, my good Leon,
Didst ever see, didst ever dream could be,
Such dazzling beauty?
LEON.
Dream! I never dream;
Save when I've revelled over late, and then
My visions are most villanous; but you,
You dream when you're awake.
SIDO.
Wert ever, Leon,
In pleasant Aquitaine?
LEON.
O talk of Burgos;
It is my only subject--matchless town,
Where all I ask are patriarchal years
To feel satiety like my sad friend.
SIDO.
'Tis not satiety now makes me sad;
So check thy mocking tongue, or cure my cares.
LEON.
Absence cures love. Be off to Aquitaine.
SIDO.
I chose a jester for my friend, and feel
His value now.
LEON.
You share the lover's lot
When you desire and you despair. What then?
You know right well that woman is but one,
Though she take many forms, and can confound
The young with subtle aspects. Vanity
Is her sole being. Make the myriad vows
That passionate fancy prompts. At the next tourney
Maintain her colours 'gainst the two Castilles
And Aragon to boot. You'll have her!
SIDO.
Why!
This was the way I woo'd the haughty Lara,
But I'll not hold such passages approach
The gentle lady of this morn.
LEON.
Well, then,
Try silence, only sighs and hasty glances
Withdrawn as soon as met. Could'st thou but blush:
But there's no hope. In time our sighs become
A sort of plaintive hint what hopeless rogues
Our stars have made us. Would we had but met
Earlier, yet still we hope she'll spare a tear
To one she met too late. Trust me she'll spare it;
She'll save this sinner who reveres a saint.
Pity or admiration gains them all.
You'll have her!
SIDO.
Well, whate'er the course pursued,
Be thou a prophet!
[Enter ORAN.]
ORAN.
Stand, Senors, in God's name.
LEON.
Or the devil's.
Well, what do you want?
ORAN.
Many things, but one
Most principal.
SIDO.
And that's--
ORAN.
A friend.
LEON.
You're right
To seek one in the street, he'll prove as true
As any that you're fostered with.
ORAN.
In brief,
I'm as you see a Moor; and I have slain
One of our princes. Peace exists between
Our kingdom and Castille; they track my steps.
You're young, you should be brave, generous you may be.
I shall be impaled. Save me!
LEON.
Frankly spoken.
Will you turn Christian?
ORAN.
Show me Christian acts,
And they may prompt to Christian thoughts.
SIDO.
Although
The slain's an infidel, thou art the same.
The cause of this rash deed?
ORAN.
I am a soldier,
And my sword's notched, sirs. This said Emir struck me.
Before the people too, in the great square
Of our chief place, Granada, and forsooth,
Because I would not yield the way at mosque.
His life has soothed my honour: if I die,
I die content; but with your gracious aid
I would live happy.
LEON.
You love life?
ORAN.
Most dearly.
LEON.
Sensible Moor, although he be impaled
For mobbing in a mosque. I like this fellow;
His bearing suits my humour. He shall live
To do more murders. Come, bold infidel,
Follow to the Leon Palace; and, sir, prithee
Don't stab us in the back.
[Exeunt omnes.] _
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Read previous: Act 1 - Scene 4
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