Britain ... - Blue-Lite

Scene II.] THE DEVOTED ONE. 207
ZANDAGAST.
Let them : I
Am curst already to the lowest ! depths
My son, my son ! O, let me for thee die !
My life, ye gods, my life for his accept :
Spare his young years Alas ! my prayers
I know his resolution. Would thou hadst
Been dumb for ever, ere thy lips pronounced
That vow which robs me of an only son !
ERMINGILD.
are vain :
Rob thee ? Why thou wouldst rob the eternal gods !
Great as thy love, 'twill not endure with mine,
Thou man of slender faith, to be compared.
To save him from a meaner death, I'd joy
To spill this heart's best blood, die, and re-die,
With countless agonies, to make him blest !
Imagine, Zandagast, we only send him
To a far brighter land of endless
pleasure,
That we shall both soon follow, there to meet
2
( 9)
His spirit clad in ever-living pomp.
Then peace and joy will to thy heart return,
And death be welcome though it come to-night.
'Tis this which to my soul its courage gives,
Which all the anguish for a mother's loss
In the pure flames of faith and hope dissolves,
Making these eyelids tearless.
Enter Elgitha and Guards.
ELGITHA.
We are come
To lead thee and thy household, by my lord
The King's command, into his Highness' presence.
Behold the royal signet.