uite already. Yes! I will do everything. I
will, I will tell your father, that he shall not exchange you until
to-morrow. But why only to-morrow? I do not know! That I need not know.
That he need not know either. Enough that I know you wish it. And I
wish everything that you wish. Do you wish nothing else? Is there
nothing else that I shall do? Shall I run through the fire for you?
Shall I cast myself from a rock for you? Command only, my dear young
friend, command! I will do everything now for you. Even say a word and
I will commit a crime, an act of villainy for you! My blood, it is
true, curdles; but still, prince, if you wish, I will--I will----

PHILOTAS.

O my best, my fiery friend! O how shall I call you? You creator of my
future fame! I swear to you by everything that is sacred to me, by my
father's honour, by the fortune of his arms, by the welfare of his
land--I swear to you never in my life to forget this your readiness,
your zeal! Would that I also could reward it sufficiently! Hear, ye
gods, my oath! And now, Parmenio, swear too! Swear to keep your promise
faithfully!

PARMENIO.

I swear? I am too old for swearing.

PHILOTAS.

And I too young to trust you without an oath. Swear to me! I have sworn
to you by my father, swear you by your son. You love your son? You love
him from your heart?

PARMENIO.

From my heart, as I love you! You wish it, and I swear. I swear to you
by my only son, by my blood which flows in his veins, by the blood
which I would willingly have shed for your father's sake, and which he
will also willingly shed some future day for yours--by this blood I
swear to you to keep my word. And if I do not keep it, may my son fall
in his first battle, and never live to see the glorious days of your
reign! Hear, ye gods, my oath!

PHILOTAS.

Hear him not yet, ye gods! You will make fun of me, old man! To fall in
the first battle--not to live to see my reign; is that a misfortune? Is
it a misfortune to die early?

PARMENIO.

I do not say that. Yet only to see you on the throne, to serve you, I
should like--what otherwise I should not wish at all--to become young
again. Your father is good; but you will be better than he.

PHILOTAS.

No praise that slights my father! A