[_lit._ has understood how] to avenge the
insult offered to _my_ father; thy hand alone ought to take vengeance
for thine.

_Chimene._ O cruel! for what reason shouldst thou persevere on this
point? Thou hast avenged thyself without aid, and dost thou wish to give
me thine [aid]? I shall follow thy example; and I have too much courage
to endure that my glory shall be divided with thee. My father and mine
honor shall owe nothing to the dictates of thy love and of thy despair.

_Don Rodrigo._ O cruel resolution [_lit._ point of honor]! Alas!
whatever I may do, can I by no means obtain this concession [_or_,
favor]? In the name of a slain [_lit._ dead] father, or of our
friendship, punish me through revenge, or at least through compassion.
Thy unhappy lover will have far less pain in dying by thy hand than in
living with thy hatred.

_Chimene._ Go; I do not hate thee.

_Don Rodrigo._ Thou oughtest to do so.

_Chimene._ I cannot.

_Don Rodrigo._ Dost thou so little fear calumny, and so little [fear]
false reports? When people shall know my crime, and that thy passion
[for me] still continues, what will not envy and deception spread
abroad? Compel them to silence, and, without debating more, save thy
fair fame by causing me to die.

_Chimene._ That [fair fame] shines far more gloriously [_lit._ better]
by leaving thee life; and I wish that the voice of the blackest slander
should raise to heaven my honor, and lament my griefs, knowing that I
worship thee, and that [still] I pursue thee [as a criminal]. Go, then;
present no more to my unbounded grief that which I [must] lose, although
I love it [him]! In the shades of night carefully conceal thy departure;
if they see thee going forth, my honor runs a risk. The only opportunity
which slander can have is to know that I have tolerated thy presence
here. Give it no opportunity to assail my honor.

_Don Rodrigo._ Let me die.

_Chimene._ Nay, leave me.

_Don Rodrigo._ On what art thou resolved?

_Chimene._ In spite of the glorious love-fires which impede [_lit._
trouble] my wrath, I will do my utmost to avenge my father; but, in
spite of the sternness of such a cruel duty, my sole desire is to be
able to accomplish nothing [against thee].

_Don Rodrigo._ O wondrous love [_lit._ miracle of love]!

_Chimene._ O accumulation of sorrows!

_Don Rodrigo._ What misfortunes and tears will our fathers cost us!

_Chimene._ Rodrigo, who would have believed----?

_Don Ro