_Abdal._ 'Would he were ours!--
I'll try to gild the injustice of his cause,
And court his valour with a vast applause.

_Zul._ The bold are but the instruments o'the wise;
They undertake the dangers we advise:
And, while our fabric with their pains we raise,
We take the profit, and pay them with praise. [_Exeunt._


ACT III. SCENE I.

_Enter_ ALMANZOR _and_ ABDALLA.

_Almanz._ That he should dare to do me this disgrace!--
Is fool, or coward, writ upon my face?
Refuse my prisoner!--I such means will use,
He shall not have a prisoner to refuse.

_Abdal._ He said, you were not by your promise tied;
That he absolved your word, when he denied.

_Almanz._ He break my promise, and absolve my vow!
'Tis more than Mahomet himself can do!--
The word, which I have given, shall stand like fate;
Not like the king's, that weather-cock of state.
He stands so high, with so unfixed a mind,
Two factions turn him with each blast of wind:
But now, he shall not veer! my word is past;
I'll take his heart by the roots, and hold it fast.