rn to stone;
Vex me no more--I will not be denied!
Go, save thy madman from his suicide!

(Exit Pauline.)

How met Nearchus death?

ALBIN.
The fiend abhorred
He hailed,--embraced: 'For Christ!' his latest word;
No sigh, no tear,--he passed without amaze
Adown the narrow vale with upward gaze.

FELIX.
And he--his friend?

ALBIN.
Is, as I said, unmoved
He looks on death but as a friend beloved,
He clasped the scaffold as a guide most sure,
And, in his prison, he can still endure.

FELIX.
Oh, wretched that I am!

ALBIN.
All pity thee.

FELIX.
With reason greater than they know. Ah, me!
Thought surges upon thought, and has its will,
Care, gnawing upon care, my soul must kill;
Love--hate--fear--pain: I am of each the prey,
I grope for light, but never find the day!
Oh, what I suffer thou canst not conceive,
Each passion rages, but can ne'er relieve;
For I have noble thoughts that die still-born,
And I have thoughts so base my soul I scorn.
I love the foolish wretch who is my son,
I hate the folly which hath all undone;
I mourn his death,--yet, if I Polyeucte save,
I see of all my hopes the cruel grave!
'Gainst Gods and Emperor too sore the strife,
For my renown I fear,--fear for my life.
I must myself undo to save my son,
For, should I spare him, then am I undone!

ALBIN.
Decius a father is, and must excuse
A father's love--oh, he will not refuse!

FELIX.
His edict is most clear:--'All Christians are my foes.'
The higher be their rank the more the evil grows.
If birth and state be high, their crime shows more notorious,
If he who shield be great, his fall the more inglorious;
And if I give Nearchus to the flame
Yet stoop to shield my own--thrice damned my name!

ALBIN.
If by thy fiat he cannot escape the grave,
Implore of Decius' grace the life thou canst not save.

FELIX.
So would Severus work my ruin quite--
I fear his power, his wrath,--for might is right--
If crime with punishment I do not mate.
How high soe'er, worth what it may, I fear his hate,
For he is man, and feels as man, and I
Once spurned his suit with base indignity.
Yes, he at Decius' ear would work may woe,
He loves Pauline, thus