Grant, or deny; for thy next word is fate,
And fate is deaf to prayer.

_Alm._ May heaven be so, [_Rising up._
At thy last breath, to thine! I curse thee not;
For, who can better curse the plague, or devil,
Than to be what they are? That curse be thine.--
Now, do not speak, Sebastian, for you need not;
But die, for I resign your life.--Look, heaven,
Almeyda dooms her dear Sebastian's death!
But is there heaven? for I begin to doubt;
The skies are hushed, no grumbling thunders roll.--
Now take your swing, ye impious; sin unpunished;
Eternal Providence seems overwatched,
And with a slumbering nod assents to murder.

_Enter_ DORAX, _attended by three Soldiers._

_Emp._ Thou mov'st a tortoise-pace to my relief.
Take hence that once a king; that sullen pride,
That swells to dumbness: lay him in the dungeon,
And sink him deep with irons, that, when he would,
He shall not groan to hearing; when I send,
The next commands are death.

_Alm._ Then prayers are vain as curses.

_Emp._ Much at one
In a slave's mouth, against a monarch's power.
This day thou hast to think;
At night, if thou wilt curse, thou shalt curse kindly;
Then I'll provoke thy lips, lay siege so close,
That all thy sallying breath shall turn to blessings.--
Make haste, seize, force her, bear her hence.

_Alm._ Farewell, my last Sebastian!
I do not beg, I challenge justice now.--
O Powers, if kings be your peculiar care,
Why plays this wretch with your prerogative?
Now flash him dead, now crumble him to ashes,
Or henceforth live confined in your own palace;
And look not idly out upon a world,
That is no longer yours. [_She is carried off struggling; Emperor and_
BENDUCAR _follow._ SEBASTIAN _struggles in
his Guards' arms, and shakes off one of
them; but two others come in, and hold him;
he speaks not all the while._

_Dor._ I find I'm but a half-strained villain yet;
But mongrel-mischievous; for my blood boiled,
To view this brutal act; and my stern soul
Tugged at my arm, to draw in her defence. [_Aside._
Down, thou rebelling Christian in my heart!
Redeem thy fame on this Sebastian first; [_Walks a turn._
Then think on other wrongs, when thine are righted.
But how to right them? on a slave disarmed,
Defenceless, and submitted to my rage?
A base revenge is vengeance on myself:-