compelled. I demand his head [_or_, life] and I dread to obtain it; my
death will follow his, and [yet] I wish to punish him!

_Elvira._ Abandon, abandon, dear lady, a design so tragic, and do not
impose on yourself such a tyrannical law.

_Chimène._ What! my father being dead and almost in my arms--shall his
blood cry for revenge and I not obtain it? My heart, shamefully led away
by other spells, would believe that it owed him only ineffectual tears.
And can I endure that an insidious love, beneath a dastardly apathy,
should extinguish my resolution [_lit._ beneath a cowardly silence
extinguish my honor]?

_Elvira._ Dear lady, believe me, you would be excusable in having less
wrath against an object so beloved, against a lover so dear; you have
done enough, you have seen the King; do not urge on the result [of that
interview]. Do not persist in this morbid [_lit._ strange] humor.

_Chimène._ My honor is at stake; I must avenge myself; and, however the
desires of love may beguile us, all excuse [for not doing one's duty] is
disgraceful to [i.e. in the estimation of] noble-minded souls.

_Elvira._ But you love Rodrigo--he cannot offend you.

_Chimène._ I confess it.

_Elvira._ After all, what then do you intend to do?

_Chimène._ To preserve my honor and to end my sorrow; to pursue him, to
destroy him, and to die after him.