(Polyeucte signs to Guards to conduct him back to prison. Exeunt
Polyeucte and Guards.)

SEV.
Most vain! No word have I
Such blindness must amaze! must stupefy!
Nay, this is frenzy! I cannot conceive
A mind so strange! Mine ears cannot believe
That one who loved thee--yet, who would not love
A face that must the great immortals move?--
Blessed by thy heart!--Thy sweetest lips to taste!--
Then leave, refuse, spurn--yield with clamorous haste,
To yield a girl so dear--so pure--so fair!
And of that gift to make thy rival heir--
This beggars madness! Or the Christian bliss
Beyond man's soul to grasp! To spurn thy kiss!--
We treasure barter for a just exchange,
But to buy pain for thee! Pauline, 'tis strange!
Not thus, ye Gods! Severus had been blind
To perfect bliss--had Fortune been more kind
The only heaven for me is in thine eyes,
These are my kings, these my divinities!
To me--for thee--were death with torture dear;
But to renounce thee!

PAUL.
Nay, I must not hear!
Thy words bring back the dear, the bygone days,
When I, a maid, might listen to thy praise:
Severus, thou must know my inmost heart;