I was an exile then.
This stirring Burgos has revived my vein.
Yea, as I glanced from off the Citadel
This very morn, and at my feet outspread
Its amphitheatre of solemn towers
And groves of golden pinnacles, and marked
Turrets of friends and foes; or traced the range,
Spread since my exile, of our city's walls
Washed by the swift Arlanzon: all around
The flash of lances, blaze of banners, rush
Of hurrying horsemen, and the haughty blast
Of the soul-stirring trumpet, I renounced
My old philosophy, and gazed as gazes
The falcon on his quarry!

I:2:33 COUN.
Jesu grant
The lure will bear no harm!

[A trumpet sounds.]

I:2:34 ALAR.
Whose note is that?
I hear the tramp of horsemen in the court;
We have some guests.

I:2:35 COUN.
Indeed!

[Enter the COUNT OF SIDONIA and the COUNT OF LEON.]

I:2:36 ALAR.
My noble friends,
My Countess greets ye!

I:2:37 SIDO.
And indeed we pay
To her our homage.

I:2:38 LEON.
Proud our city boasts
So fair a presence.

I:2:39 COUN.
Count Alarcos' friends
Are ever welcome here.

I:2:40 ALAR.
No common wife.
Who welcomes with a smile her husband's friends.

I:2:41 SIDO.
Indeed a treasure! When I marry, Count,
I'll claim your counsel.

I:2:42 COUN.
'Tis not then your lot?

I:2:43 SIDO.
Not yet, sweet dame; tho' sooth to say, full often
I dream such things may be.

I:2:44 COUN.
Your friend is free?

I:2:45 LEON.
And values freedom: with a rosy chain
I still should feel a captive.

I:2:46 SIDO.
Noble Leon
Is proof against the gentle passion, lady,
And will ere long, my rapier for a gage,