ou,
Through that divine allegiance upon which
All Order and Authority is based;
Which to revolt against--

SEG.
Were to revolt
Against the stars, belike!

CLO.
And him who reads them;
And by that right, and by the sovereignty
He wears as you shall wear it after him;
Ay, one to whom yourself--
Yourself, ev'n more than any subject here,
Are bound by yet another and more strong
Allegiance--King Basilio--your Father--

SEG.
Basilio--King--my father!--

CLO.
Oh, my Lord,
Let me beseech you on my bended knee,
For your own sake--for Poland's--and for his,
Who, looking up for counsel to the skies,
Did what he did under authority
To which the kings of earth themselves are subject,
And whose behest not only he that suffers,
But he that executes, not comprehends,
But only He that orders it--

SEG.
The King--
My father!--Either I am mad already,
Or that way driving fast--or I should know
That fathers do not use their children so,
Or men were loosed from all allegiance
To fathers, kings, and heaven that order'd all.
But, mad or not, my hour is come, and I
Will have my reckoning--Either you lie,
Under the skirt of sinless majesty
Shrouding your treason; or if _that_ indeed,
Guilty itself, take refuge in the stars
That cannot hear the charge, or disavow--
You, whether doer or deviser, who
Come first to hand, shall pay the penalty
By the same hand you owe it to--
(Seizing Clotaldo's sword and about to strike him.)

(Enter Rosaura suddenly.)

ROSAURA.
Fie, my Lord--forbear,
What! a young hand raised against silver hair!--

(She retreats through the crowd.)

SEG.
Stay! stay! What come and vanish'd as before--
I scarce remember how--but--

(Voices within. Room for Astolfo, Duke of Muscovy!)

(Enter Astolfo)

ASTOLFO.
Welcome, thrice welcome, the auspicious day,
When from the mountain where he darkling lay,
The Polish sun into the firmament
Sprung all the brighter for his late ascent,
And in meridian glory--

SEG.
Where is he?
Why must I ask this twice?--

A LORD.
The Page, my Lord?
I wonder at his boldness--

SEG.
But I tell you
He came with Angel written in h