Retire, my lord, whilst I advance to meet him:
Our intercourse might lead him to suspicion.

Lysan. Nor vigilance nor care I recommend
To thee, my Rhesus! But let caution rule
Thy forward zeal.

Rhe. It shall, my noble lord:

My heart beats high with hope to see thee rise
Once more, like Mars, in arms.

Lysan. Eternal Gods!

In Thracian breasts the Spartan virtue lives.

[LYSANDER enters into the Tower.

Manet EUxUS.

Enter AMPHARES.

[Exit RHESUS.

Amph. How does the haughty captive brook confinement?

Eux. Full of inquietude he seems, and sadness. Now in some pensive posture sits a while,

Then smites his breast, and, starting from his seat, Walks to and fro with a disorder'd pace.

Amph. Admit no Spartan of whatever sex, Or whatsoe❜er affinity they claim.

Eux. That strict command hath been already

given.

Amph. 'Tis needful, Euxus; for his furious

mind,

In this extreme, will snatch at slight occasions
To make incredible and wild attempts.

Renew the charge; then go and search Lysander
For secret weapons. On his breast he wears
A curious gorget, rich with precious stones,
And a small portrait of surpassing beauty,
The image of the fair Athenian maid,
Drawn by an artist who has vied with nature
In sweet expression of her matchless charms:
That I must have.

Eux. You shall without delay. [Exit Euxus.

Manet AMPHARES.

Let other men deprive themselves of pleasure,
And toil for bare ambition; I'll provide

A more luxurious banquet to my taste.
What though as yet Euanthe loves me not,
It is the nature of her sex to change.
With wondrous ease the female kind submit
To destiny, and soon are reconciled
To persons and conditions once abhorr❜d.

Like birds new caught, who flutter for a time,
And struggle with captivity in vain ;

But by and by they rest; they smooth their plumes,
And to new masters sing their former notes.

This facile temper of the beauteous sex
Great Agamemnon, brave Pelides, proved:
They sack'd the cities, and they slew the sires,
The brothers, and the lovers of the fair,

Who weep'd awhile, then wiped their wat❜ry eyes,
And lost their sorrows in the hero's arms.

Enter SANDane.

San. The herald is return'd. The royal band, Inflamed with rage and scorn, the mandate tore; And to the city bend their rapid march. Amph. Let them advance. They hasten to their fate.

A secret stratagem I have devised

To check these warriors in their bold career.
San. The Ephori in resolution faint-

Amph. Their courage I'll restore; for Agis yields To the fallacious counsellor I sent.

Demochares, in sacerdotal robes,

As if disguised to elude the Thracian guards,
Past in by my permission, and conjured

Agis to quit the fane's uncertain shelter,
And seek the sure protection of the camp;
Himself he offer'd as his faithful guide.
This in Lysander's name. Agis at first,
Irresolute and doubtful, balanced much :

At last this thought sprung up, and turn'd the scale:

That his escape would force us to submission,
And end the strife without the shock of arms.
Demochares at midnight is appointed

To come again; and goes with an addition
That will give certain credence to his words;
The gorget of Lysander.

San. Now, Amphares,

I see the snares of death are wrapt around him;
Our hated foe stands on the verge of fate:
He who despised Sandane, and permitted,
With most insulting courtesy, my stay;
I would not have remain'd one day in Sparta,
But for the hope I had to work his ruin.
He is the root, with him the branches fall.

Amph. Although his son is safe in Orchomenos,
Yet there in hopeless exile he must live.
But Agesistrata-

San. Shall not survive

To travel suppliant through the states of Greece, And shew her hoary hairs with ashes strew'd,

To move compassion in the giddy Greeks.

She's old, and fit to die.

Enter a Spartan Messenger.

Mess. The Thracian troops

Who guard the temple, faithful to their charge, Have seized a spy, who, clothed and arm'd like

them,

Attempted to pass through their ranks to Agis.
Rhinalces for a while delay'd the doom
That martial law decrees, till you yourself
Discourse and judge the captive.

Amph. I approve

The vigilance and conduct of Rhinalces.

[Exit Messenger.

San. Still flows the tide of fortune; I'll dispatch

Orontes to my lord. Joyful he comes

To re-assume his sceptre and his throne. Farewell restraint, and laws that bind a prince ! The people's majesty, the senate's power,

Shall shrink beneath their awful monarch's sword.