Ho, Sfero, ho!

_Myr._ He is not here; what wouldst thou with him? How
Goes on the conflict?

_Alt._ Dubiously and fiercely.

_Myr._ And the King?

_Alt._ Like a king. I must find Sfero, 200
And bring him a new spear with his own helmet.[w]
He fights till now bare-headed, and by far
Too much exposed. The soldiers knew his face,
And the foe too; and in the moon's broad light,
His silk tiara and his flowing hair
Make him a mark too royal. Every arrow
Is pointed at the fair hair and fair features,
And the broad fillet which crowns both.

_Myr._ Ye Gods,
Who fulminate o'er my father's land, protect him!
Were you sent by the King?

_Alt._ By Salemenes, 210
Who sent me privily upon this charge,
Without the knowledge of the careless sovereign.
The King! the King fights as he revels! ho!
What, Sfero! I will seek the armoury--
He must be there. [_Exit_ ALTADA.

_Myr._ 'Tis no dishonour--no--
'Tis no dishonour to have loved this man.
I almost wish now, what I never wished
Before--that he were Grecian. If Alcides
Were shamed in wearing Lydian Omphale's
She-garb, and wielding her vile distaff; surely 220
He, who springs up a Hercules at once,
Nursed in effeminate arts from youth to manhood,
And rushes from the banquet to the battle,
As though it were a bed of love, deserves
That a Greek girl should be his paramour,
And a Greek bard his minstrel--a Greek tomb
His monument. How goes the strife, sir?

_Enter an Officer_.

_Officer_. Lost,
Lost almost past recovery. Zames! Where
Is Zames?

_Myr._ Posted with the guard appointed
To watch before the apartment of the women. 230
[_Exit Officer_.

_Myr._ (_sola_). He's gone; and told no more than that all's lost!
What need have I to know more? In those words,
Those little words, a kingdom and a king,
A line of thirteen ages, and the lives
Of thousands, and the fortune of all left
With life, are merged; and I, too, with the great,
Like a small bubble breaking with