For he the spoil would reap of my credulity.
No simpleton am I, each promise to believe,
Words--oaths--are but the tools wherewith all men deceive;
Too oft escaped am I to be so lightly caught;
I know that words are wind. I know that wind is naught.
The trapper shall be trapped,--the biter shall be bit,
Unravelled is the web that he, poor fool, hath knit!

ALBIN.
Jove! What a plague to thee is this mistrust!

FELIX.
Nay, those at court must fence; their weapons never rust,
If once thou yield the clue to thread the maze,
The sequence is most plain--the man betrayed betrays;
Severus, and his gifts, alike I fear!
If Polyeucte still to reason close his ear,
Severus' love is hate--his peace is strife--
First law of nature this, 'Preserve thy life!'

ALBIN.
Ah, let Pauline at least thy grace obtain!

FELIX.
If Decius grace withhold, my pardon vain!
And--far from saving this rebellious son--
Behold us all alike entrapped, undone!

ALBIN.
Severus' promise----