- [_Walks again._
I have it, and I thank thee, honest head,
Thus present to me at my great necessity.-- [_Comes up to_ SEBASTIAN.
You know me not?

_Seb._ I hear men call thee Dorax.

_Dor._ 'Tis well; you know enough for once:--you speak too;
You were struck mute before.

_Seb._ Silence became me then.

_Dor._ Yet we may talk hereafter.

_Seb._ Hereafter is not mine:
Dispatch thy work, good executioner.

_Dor._ None of my blood were hangmen; add that falsehood
To a long bill, that yet remains unreckoned.

_Seb._ A king and thou can never have a reckoning.

_Dor._ A greater sum, perhaps, than you can pay.
Meantime, I shall make bold to increase your debt;
[_Gives him his Sword._
Take this, and use it at your greatest need.

_Seb._ This hand and this have been acquainted well: [_Looks on it._
It should have come before into my grasp,
To kill the ravisher.

_Dor._ Thou heard'st the tyrant's orders; guard thy life
When 'tis attacked, and guard it like a man.

_Seb._ I'm still without thy meaning, but I thank thee.

_Dor._ Thank me when I ask thanks; thank me with that.

_Seb._ Such surly kindness did I never see.

_Dor._ [_To the Captain of his Guards._]
Musa, draw out a file; pick man by man.
Such who dare die, and dear will sell their death.
Guard him to the utmost; now conduct him hence,
And treat him as my person.

_Seb._ Something like
That voice, methinks, I should have somewhere heard;
But floods of woes have hurried it far off,
Beyond my ken of soul. [_Exit_ SEBASTIAN, _with the Soldiers._

_Dor._ But I shall bring him back, ungrateful man!
I shall, and set him full before thy sight,
When I shall front thee, like some staring ghost,
With all my wrongs about me.--What, so soon
Returned? this haste is boding.

_Enter to him Emperor,_ BENDUCAR, _and_ MUFTI.

_Emp._ She's still inexorable, still imperious,
And loud, as if, like Bacchus, born in thunder.
Be quick, ye false physicians of my mind;
Bring speedy death, or cure.

_Bend._ What can be counselled, while Sebastian lives?
The vine will cling, while the tall poplar stands;
But, that cut down, creeps to the next support,
And twines as closely there.

_Emp._ That's done with ease; I speak him dead:--proceed.

_Muf._ Proclaim your marriage with Almeyda next,
That civil wars may cease; this gains the crowd:
Then you may safely force her to your will;
For peop