?

_Sar._ Tempest, say'st thou?

_Myr._ Aye, my good lord.

_Sar._ For my own part, I should be
Not ill content to vary the smooth scene,
And watch the warring elements; but this
Would little suit the silken garments and
Smooth faces of our festive friends. Say, Myrrha,
Art thou of those who dread the roar of clouds?

_Myr._ In my own country we respect their voices
As auguries of Jove.[s]

_Sar._ Jove!--aye, your Baal--
Ours also has a property in thunder, 550
And ever and anon some falling bolt
Proves his divinity,--and yet sometimes
Strikes his own altars.

_Myr._ That were a dread omen.

_Sar._ Yes--for the priests. Well, we will not go forth
Beyond the palace walls to-night, but make
Our feast within.

_Myr._ Now, Jove be praised! that he
Hath heard the prayer thou wouldst not hear. The Gods
Are kinder to thee than thou to thyself,
And flash this storm between thee and thy foes,
To shield thee from them.

_Sar._ Child, if there be peril, 560
Methinks it is the same within these walls
As on the river's brink.

_Myr._ Not so; these walls
Are high and strong, and guarded. Treason has
To penetrate through many a winding way,
And massy portal; but in the pavilion
There is no bulwark.

_Sar._ No, nor in the palace,
Nor in the fortress, nor upon the top
Of cloud-fenced Caucasus, where the eagle sits
Nested in pathless clefts, if treachery be:
Even as the arrow finds the airy king, 570
The steel will reach the earthly. But be calm;
The men, or innocent or guilty, are
Banished, and far upon their way.

_Myr._ They live, then?

_Sar._ So sanguinary? _Thou!_

_Myr._ I would not shrink
From just infliction of due punishment
On those who seek your life: were't otherwise,
I should not merit mine. Besides, you heard
The princely Salemenes.

_Sar._ This is strange;
The gentle and the austere are both against me,
And urge me to revenge.

_Myr._ 'Tis a Greek virtue. 580

_Sar._ But not a kin