The same [death] stroke has placed my honor in safety, my soul in
despair, and my passion at liberty!

_Don Sancho._ With a mind more calmly collected----

_Chimène._ Dost thou still speak to me, detestable assassin of a hero
whom I adore? Go; you fell upon him treacherously. A warrior so valiant
would never have sunk beneath such an assailant! Hope nothing from me.
Thou hast not served me; and believing that thou wert avenging me, thou
hast deprived me of life.

_Don Sancho._ Strange delusion, which, far from listening to me----

_Chimène._ Wilt thou that I should listen to thee while boasting of his
death?--that I should patiently hear with what haughty pride thou wilt
describe his misfortune, my own crime, and thy prowess?


Scene VI.--DON FERNANDO, DON DIEGO, DON ARIAS, DON SANCHO, DON ALONZO,
CHIMÈNE, and ELVIRA.


_Chimène._ Sire, there is no further need to dissemble that which all my
struggles have not been able to conceal from you. I loved, you knew it;
but, to avenge my father, I even wished to sacrifice so dear a being [as
Rodrigo]. Sire, your majesty may have seen how I have made love yield to
duty. At last, Rodrigo is dead; and his death has converted me from an
unrelenting foe into an afflicted lover. I owed this revenge to him who
gave me existence; and to my love I now owe these tears. Don Sancho has
destroyed me in undertaking my defence; and I am the reward of the arm