_Com._ What do you say?

[_The prisoners, among them young Pergola, enter._

_Count (To the prisoners)._ O brave in vain! Unfortunate!
To you,
Fortune is cruelest, then? And you alone
Are to a sad captivity reserved?

_A prisoner._ Such, mighty lord, was never our belief.
When we were called into your presence, we
Did seem to hear a messenger that gave
Our freedom to us. Already, all of those
That yielded them to captains less than you
Have been released, and only we--

_Count._ Who was it,
That made you prisoners?

_Prisoner._ We were the last
To give our arms up. All the rest were taken
Or put to flight, and for a few brief moments
The evil fortune of the battle weighed
On us alone. At last you made a sign
That we should draw nigh to your banner,--we
Alone not conquered, relics of the lost.

_Count._ You are those? I am very glad, my friends,
To see you again, and I can testify
That you fought bravely; and if so much valor