But listen! Have you seen the nine waves roll
Monotonous upon the shoal,
Rising and falling like a maiden asleep;
Then with a lift and a leap
The ninth wave curls, and breaks upon the beach,
And rushes up it, swallowing the sand?
I am that ocean.... Now, you understand?

CRASSUS.
Alicia! O! this is unbearable.
Surely this wave washes the shore of hell!

ALICIA.
Each follows each
Remorseless and indifferent as Nature
Is to each creature.

CRASSUS.
Wonderful, wonderful woman!
[She throws her head back, and laughs]

ALICIA.
Now, you think
You know my secret. I have given you drink,
And you are wise. But hush! to all emotion
Save this the pulse and swell of Ocean
For at the last with mouth and fingers wried
All must proclaim the triumph of the tide.

CRASSUS.