ny which afflicts me, terminate this
combat without any advantage, without rendering either of the two
conquered or conqueror.

_Elvira._ This would be treating you with too much severity. This combat
is a new punishment for your feelings, if it leaves you [still]
compelled to demand justice, to exhibit always this proud resentment,
and continually to seek after the death of your lover. Dear lady, it is
far better that his unequalled valor, crowning his brow, should impose
silence upon you; that the conditions of the combat should extinguish
your sighs; and that the King should compel you to follow your
inclinations.

_Chimene._ If he be conqueror, dost thou believe that I shall
surrender? My strong [sense of] duty is too strong and my loss too
great; and this [law of] combat and the will of the King are not strong
enough to dictate conditions to them [i.e. to my duty and sorrow for
my loss]. He may conquer Don Sancho with very little difficulty, but he
shall not with him [conquer] the sense of duty of Chimene; and whatever
[reward] a monarch may have promised to his victory, my self-respect
will raise against him a thousand other enemies.

_Elvira._ Beware lest, to punish this strange pride, heaven may at last
permit you to revenge yourself. What!--you will still reject the
happiness of being able now to be reconciled [_lit._ to be silent] with
honor? What means this duty, and what does it hope for? Will the death
of your lover restore to you a father? Is one [fatal] stroke of
misfortune insufficient for you? Is there need of loss upon loss, and
sorrow upon sorrow? Come, in the caprice in which your humor persists,
you do not deserve the lover that is destined for you, and we may
[_lit._ shall] see the just wrath of heaven, by his death, leaving you
Don Sancho as a spouse.

_Chimene._ Elvira, the griefs which I endure are sufficient: do not
redouble them by this fatal augury. I wish, if I can, to avoid both; but
if not, in this conflict Rodrigo has all my prayers; not because a weak
[_lit._ foolish] affection inclines me to his side, but because, if he
were conquered, I should become [the bride] of Don Sancho. This fear
creates [_lit._ causes to be born] my desire----

[_Enter Don Sancho._]

What do I see, unhappy [woman that I am]! Elvira, all is lost!

Scene V.--DON SANCHO, CHIMENE, and ELVIRA.

_Don Sancho._ Compelled to bring this sword to thy feet----

_Chimene._ What! still [all] reekin