e,
I needs must listen, for I love! Ah, me!

POLY.
Take courage, dear one, 'tis but for an hour,
Thy love must draw me back, for love hath power
O'er all in earth and heaven. My soul's delight,
I can no more! My only safety--flight!

(Exeunt Polyeucte and Nearchus.)

PAUL.
Yes, go, despise my prayer--my agony;
Go, ruthless--meet thy fate--forewarned by me;
Chase thy pursuer, herald thine own doom;
Go, kiss the murderer's hand, and hail the tomb!
Ah, Stratonice! for our boasted power
As sovereigns o'er man's heart! Poor regents of an hour!
Faint, helpless, moonbeam--light was all I gave,
The sun breaks forth--his queen becomes his slave!
Wooed? Yes; as other queens I held my court
Won--but to lose my crown, and be the sport
Of proud, absorbing and imperious man!

STRAT.
Ah, man does what he wills--we, what we can;
He loves thee, lady!

PAUL.
Love should mate with trusts;
He leaves me!

STRAT.
Lady, 'tis because he must!
He loves thee with a love will never die,
Then, if he leave thee, reason not the why:
Give him thy trust! Oh, thou shalt have reward,
For thee he hides the secret! Let him guard
Thy life beloved--in fullest liberty.
The wife who wholly trusts alone is free!
One heart for thee and him--one purpose sure,
Yet this heart beats to dare--and to endure.
The wife's true heart must o'er the peril sigh
Which meets his heart moved but to purpose high;
Thy pain his pain, but not his terror thine:
He is Armenian, thou of Roman line.
We, of Armenia, mock thy dreams to scorn,
For they are born of night, as truth of morn;
While Romans hold that dreams are heaven-sent,
And spring from Jove for man's admonishment.

PAUL.
Though this thy faith--if thou my dream shouldst hear--
My grief must needs be thine, thy fear my fear,
And, that the horror thou may'st fully prove,
Know that I--his dear wife--did once another love!
Nay, start not, shrink not, 'tis no tale of shame,
For though in other years the heavenly flame
Descended, kindled, scorched--it left me pure
With courage to resign--with strength to endure.
He touched my heart, but never stained the soul
That gained this hardest conquest--self-control.
At Rome--where I was born--a