_Com._ Nay--what is your purpose?

_Count._ You will see anon.
[_To a soldier who enters_
How many prisoners still remain?

_Soldier._ I think,
My lord, four hundred.

_Count._ Call them hither--call
The bravest of them--those you meet the first;
Send them here quickly. [Exit soldier.
Surely, I might do it--
If I gave such a sign, there were not heard
A murmur in the camp. But these, my children,
My comrades amid peril, and in joy,
Those who confide in me, believe they follow
A leader ever ready to defend
The honor and advantage of the soldier;
_I_ play them false, and make more slavish yet,
More vile and base their calling, than 'tis now?
Lords, I am trustful, as the soldier is,
But if you now insist on that from me
Which shall deprive me of my comrades' love,
If you desire to separate me from them,
And so reduce me that I have no stay
Saving yourselves--in spite of me I say it,
You force me, you, to doubt--