Chapter 2

_Enter_ BOABDELIN, ABENAMAR, ABDELMELECH, _and Guards._

_Boab._ Thus, in the triumphs of soft peace, I reign; And, from my walls, defy the powers of Spain; With pomp and sports my love I celebrate, While they keep distance, and attend my state.-- Parent to her, whose eyes my soul enthral, [_To_ ABEN. Whom I, in hope, already father call, Abenamar, thy youth these sports has known, Of which thy age is now spectator grown; Judge-like thou sit'st, to praise, or to arraign The flying skirmish of the darted cane: But, when fierce bulls run loose upon the place, And our bold Moors their loves with danger grace, Then heat new-bends thy slacken'd nerves again, And a short youth runs warm through every vein.

_Aben._ I must confess the encounters of this day Warmed me indeed, but quite another way,-- Not with the fire of youth; but generous rage, To see the glories of my youthful age So far out-done.

_Abdelm._ Castile could never boast, in all its pride; A pomp so splendid, when the lists, set wide, Gave room to the fierce bulls, which wildly ran In Sierra Ronda, ere the war began; Who, with high nostrils snuffing up the wind, Now stood the champion of the savage kind. Just opposite, within the circled place, Ten of our bold Abencerrages race (Each brandishing his bull-spear in his hand,) Did their proud jennets gracefully command. On their steel'd heads their demi-lances wore Small pennons, which their ladies' colours bore. Before this troop did warlike Ozmyn go; Each lady, as he rode, saluting low; At the chief stands, with reverence more profound, His well-taught courser, kneeling, touched the ground; Thence raised, he sidelong bore his rider on, Still facing, till he out of sight was gone.

_Boab._ You praise him like a friend; and I confess, His brave deportment merited no less.

_Abdelm._ Nine bulls were launched by his victorious arm, Whose wary jennet, shunning still the harm, Seemed to attend the shock, and then leaped wide: Mean while, his dext'rous rider, when he spied The beast just stooping, 'twixt the neck and head His lance, with never-erring fury, sped.

_Aben._ My son did well, and so did Hamet too; Yet did no more than we were wont to do; But what the stranger did was more than man.

_Abdelm._ He finished all those triumphs we began. One bull, with curled black head, beyond the rest, And dew-laps hanging from his brawny chest, With nodding front a while did daring stand, And with his jetty hoof spurned back the sand; Then, leaping forth, he bellowed out aloud: The amazed assistants back each other crowd, While monarch-like he ranged the listed field; Some tossed, some gored, some trampling down he killed. The ignobler Moors from far his rage provoke With woods of darts, which from his sides he shook. Mean time your valiant son, who had before Gained fame, rode round to every Mirador; Beneath each lady's stand a stop he made, And, bowing, took the applauses which they paid. Just in that point of time, the brave unknown Approached the lists.

_Boab._ I marked him, when alone (Observed by all, himself observing none) He entered first, and with a graceful pride His fiery Arab dextrously did guide, Who, while his rider every stand surveyed, Sprung loose, and flew into an escapade; Not moving forward, yet, with every bound, Pressing, and seeming still to quit his ground. What after passed Was far from the Ventanna where I sate, But you were near, and can the truth relate. [_To_ ABDELM.

_Abdelm._ Thus while he stood, the bull, who saw his foe, His easier conquests proudly did forego; And, making at him with a furious bound, From his bent forehead aimed a double wound. A rising murmur ran through all the field, And every lady's blood with fear was chilled: Some shrieked, while others, with more helpful care, Cried out aloud,--Beware, brave youth, beware! At this he turned, and, as the bull drew near, Shunned, and received him on his pointed spear: The lance broke short, the beast then bellowed loud, And his strong neck to a new onset bowed. The undaunted youth Then drew; and, from his saddle bending low, Just where the neck did to the shoulders grow, With his full force discharged a deadly blow. Not heads of poppies (when they reap the grain) Fall with more ease before the labouring swain, Than fell this head: It fell so quick, it did even death prevent, And made imperfect bellowings as it went. Then all the trumpets victory did sound, And yet their clangors in our shouts were drown'd. [_A confused noise within.

Boab._ The alarm-bell rings from our Alhambra walls, And from the streets sound drums and ataballes. [_Within, a bell, drums, and trumpets._

_Enter a Messenger._

How now? from whence proceed these new alarms?

_Mess._ The two fierce factions are again in arms; And, changing into blood the day's delight, The Zegrys with the Abencerrages fight; On each side their allies and friends appear; The Macas here, the Alabezes there: The Gazuls with the Bencerrages join, And, with the Zegrys, all great Gomel's line.

_Boab._ Draw up behind the Vivarambla place; Double my guards,--these factions I will face; And try if all the fury they can bring, Be proof against the presence of their king. [_Exit_ BOAB.

_The Factions appear: At the head of the Abencerrages,_ OZMYN; _at the head of the Zegrys,_ ZULEMA, HAMET, GOMEL, _and_ SELIN: ABENAMAR _and_ ABDELMELECH, _joined with the Abencerrages._

_Zul._ The faint Abencerrages quit their ground: Press them; put home your thrusts to every wound.

_Abdelm._ Zegry, on manly force our line relies; Thine poorly takes the advantage of surprise: Unarmed and much out-numbered we retreat; You gain no fame, when basely you defeat. If thou art brave, seek nobler victory; Save Moorish blood; and, while our bands stand by, Let two and two an equal combat try.

_Ham._ 'Tis not for fear the combat we refuse, But we our gained advantage will not lose.

_Zul._ In combating, but two of you will fall; And we resolve we will dispatch you all.

_Ozm._ We'll double yet the exchange before we die, And each of ours two lives of yours shall buy.

ALMANZOR _enters betwixt them, as they stand ready to engage._

_Alm._ I cannot stay to ask which cause is best; But this is so to me, because opprest. [_Goes to the Aben._

_To them_ BOABDELIN _and his guards, going betwixt them._

_Boab._ On your allegiance, I command you stay; Who passes here, through me must make his way; My life's the Isthmus; through this narrow line You first must cut, before those seas can join. What fury, Zegrys, has possessed your minds? What rage the brave Abencerrages blinds? If of your courage you new proofs would show, Without much travel you may find a foe. Those foes are neither so remote nor few, That you should need each other to pursue. Lean times and foreign wars should minds unite; When poor, men mutter, but they seldom fight. O holy Alha! that I live to see Thy Granadines assist their enemy! You fight the christians' battles; every life You lavish thus, in this intestine strife, Does from our weak foundations take one prop, Which helped to hold our sinking country up.

_Ozm._ 'Tis fit our private enmity should cease; Though injured first, yet I will first seek peace.

_Zul._ No, murderer, no; I never will be won To peace with him, whose hand has slain my son.

_Ozm._ Our prophet's curse On me, and all the Abencerrages light, If, unprovoked, I with your son did fight.

_Abdelm._ A band of Zegrys ran within the place, Matched with a troop of thirty of our race. Your son and Ozmyn the first squadrons led, Which, ten by ten, like Parthians, charged and fled. The ground was strowed with canes where we did meet, Which crackled underneath our coursers' feet: When Tarifa (I saw him ride a part) Changed his blunt cane for a steel-pointed dart, And, meeting Ozmyn next,-- Who wanted time for treason to provide,-- He basely threw it at him, undefied.

_Ozm._ [_Shewing his arms._] Witness this blood--which when by treason sought, That followed, sir, which to myself I ought.

_Zul._ His hate to thee was grounded on a grudge, Which all our generous Zegrys just did judge: Thy villain-blood thou openly didst place Above the purple of our kingly race.

_Boab._ From equal stems their blood both houses draw, They from Morocco, you from Cordova.

_Ham._ Their mongrel race is mixed with Christian breed; Hence 'tis that they those dogs in prisons feed.

_Abdelm._ Our holy prophet wills, that charity Should even to birds and beasts extended be: None knows what fate is for himself designed; The thought of human chance should make us kind.

_Gom._ We waste that time we to revenge should give: Fall on: let no Abencerrago live. [_Advancing before the rest of his party._ ALMANZOR _advancing on the other side, and describing a line with his sword._

_Almanz._ Upon thy life pass not this middle space; Sure death stands guarding the forbidden place.

_Gom._ To dare that death, I will approach yet nigher; Thus,--wert thou compassed in with circling fire. [_They fight._

_Boab._ Disarm them both; if they resist you, kill. [ALMANZOR, _in the midst of the guards, kills_ GOMEL, _and then is disarmed._

_Almanz._ Now you have but the leavings of my will.

_Boab._ Kill him! this insolent unknown shall fall, And be the victim to atone you all.

_Ozm._ If he must die, not one of us will live: That life he gave for us, for him we give.

_Boab._ It was a traitor's voice that spoke those words; So are you all, who do not sheath your swords.

_Zul._ Outrage unpunished, when a prince is by, Forfeits to scorn the rights of majesty: No subject his protection can expect, Who what he owes himself does first neglect.

_Aben._ This stranger, sir, is he, Who lately in the Vivarambla place Did, with so loud applause, your triumphs grace.

_Boab._ The word which I have given, I'll not revoke; If he be brave, he's ready for the stroke.

_Almanz._ No man has more contempt than I of breath, But whence hast thou the right to give me death? Obeyed as sovereign by thy subjects be, But know, that I alone am king of me. I am as free as nature first made man, Ere the base laws of servitude began, When wild in woods the noble savage ran.

_Boab._ Since, then, no power above your own you know, Mankind should use you like a common foe; You should be hunted like a beast of prey: By your own law I take your life away.

_Almanz._ My laws are made but only for my sake; No king against himself a law can make. If thou pretend'st to be a prince like me, Blame not an act, which should thy pattern be. I saw the oppressed, and thought it did belong To a king's office to redress the wrong: I brought that succour, which thou ought'st to bring, And so, in nature, am thy subjects' king.

_Boab._ I do not want your counsel to direct Or aid to help me punish or protect.

_Almanz._ Thou want'st them both, or better thou would'st know, Than to let factions in thy kingdom grow. Divided interests, while thou think'st to sway, Draw, like two brooks, thy middle stream away: For though they band and jar, yet both combine To make their greatness by the fall of thine. Thus, like a buckler, thou art held in sight, While they behind thee with each other fight.

_Boab._ Away, and execute him instantly! [_To his Guards._

_Almanz._ Stand off; I have not leisure yet to die.

_To them, enter_ ABDALLA _hastily._

_Abdal._ Hold, sir! for heaven's sake hold! Defer this noble stranger's punishment, Or your rash orders you will soon repent.

_Boab._ Brother, you know not yet his insolence.

_Abdal._ Upon yourself you punish his offence: If we treat gallant strangers in this sort, Mankind will shun the inhospitable court; And who, henceforth, to our defence will come, If death must be the brave Almanzor's doom? From Africa I drew him to your aid, And for his succour have his life betrayed.

_Boab._ Is this the Almanzor whom at Fez you knew, When first their swords the Xeriff brothers drew?

_Abdal._ This, sir, is he, who for the elder fought, And to the juster cause the conquest brought; Till the proud Santo, seated on the throne, Disdained the service he had done to own: Then to the vanquished part his fate he led; The vanquished triumphed, and the victor fled. Vast is his courage, boundless is his mind, Rough as a storm, and humorous as wind: Honour's the only idol of his eyes; The charms of beauty like a pest he flies; And, raised by valour from a birth unknown, Acknowledges no power above his own. [BOABDELIN _coming to_ ALMANZOR.

_Boab._ Impute your danger to our ignorance; The bravest men are subject most to chance: Granada much does to your kindness owe; But towns, expecting sieges, cannot show More honour, than to invite you to a foe.

_Almanz._ I do not doubt but I have been to blame: But, to pursue the end for which I came, Unite your subjects first; then let us go, And pour their common rage upon the foe.

_Boab._ [_to the Factions._] Lay down your arms, and let me beg you cease Your enmities.

_Zul._ We will not hear of peace, Till we by force have first revenged our slain.

_Abdelm._ The action we have done we will maintain.

_Selin._ Then let the king depart, and we will try Our cause by arms.

_Zul._ For us and victory.

_Boab._ A king entreats you.

_Almanz._ What subjects will precarious kings regard? A beggar speaks too softly to be heard: Lay down your arms! 'tis I command you now. Do it--or, by our prophet's soul I vow, My hands shall right your king on him I seize. Now let me see whose look but disobeys.

_All._ Long live king Mahomet Boabdelin!

_Almanz._ No more; but hushed as midnight silence go: He will not have your acclamations now. Hence, you unthinking crowd!-- [_The Common People go off on both parties._ Empire, thou poor and despicable thing, When such as these make or unmake a king!

_Abdal._ How much of virtue lies in one great soul, [_Embracing him._ Whose single force can multitudes controul! [_A trumpet within._

_Enter a Messenger._

_Messen._ The Duke of Arcos, sir, Does with a trumpet from the foe appear.

_Boab._ Attend him; he shall have his audience here.

_Enter the Duke of_ ARCOS.

_D. Arcos._ The monarchs of Castile and Arragon Have sent me to you, to demand this town. To which their just and rightful claim is known.

_Boab._ Tell Ferdinand, my right to it appears By long possession of eight hundred years: When first my ancestors from Afric sailed, In Rodrique's death your Gothic title failed.

_D. Arcos._ The successors of Rodrique still remain, And ever since have held some part of Spain: Even in the midst of your victorious powers, The Asturias, and all Portugal, were ours. You have no right, except you force allow; And if yours then was just, so ours is now.

_Boab._ 'Tis true from force the noblest title springs; I therefore hold from that, which first made kings.

_D. Arcos._ Since then by force you prove your title true, Ours must be just, because we claim from you. When with your father you did jointly reign, Invading with your Moors the south of Spain, I, who that day the Christians did command, Then took, and brought you bound to Ferdinand.

_Boab._ I'll hear no more; defer what you would say; In private we'll discourse some other day.

_D. Arcos._ Sir, you shall hear, however you are loth, That, like a perjured prince, you broke your oath: To gain your freedom you a contract signed, By which your crown you to my king resigned, From thenceforth as his vassal holding it, And paying tribute such as he thought fit; Contracting, when your father came to die, To lay aside all marks of royalty, And at Purchena privately to live, Which, in exchange, king Ferdinand did give.

_Boab._ The force used on me made that contract void.

_D. Arcos._ Why have you then its benefits enjoyed? By it you had not only freedom then, But, since, had aid of money and of men; And, when Granada for your uncle held, You were by us restored, and he expelled. Since that, in peace we let you reap your grain, Recalled our troops, that used to beat your plain; And more--

_Almanz._ Yes, yes, you did, with wonderous care, Against his rebels prosecute the war, While he secure in your protection slept; For him you took, but for yourself you kept. Thus, as some fawning usurer does feed, With present sums, the unwary spendthrift's need, You sold your kindness at a boundless rate, And then o'erpaid the debt from his estate; Which, mouldering piecemeal, in your hands did fall, Till now at last you come to swoop it all.

_D. Arcos._ The wrong you do my king, I cannot bear; Whose kindness you would odiously compare.-- The estate was his; which yet, since you deny, He's now content, in his own wrong, to buy.

_Almanz._ And he shall buy it dear! What his he calls, We will not give one stone from out these walls.

_Boab._ Take this for answer, then,-- Whate'er your arms have conquered of my land, I will, for peace, resign to Ferdinand.-- To harder terms my mind I cannot bring; But, as I still have lived, will die a king.

_D. Arcos._ Since thus you have resolved, henceforth prepare For all the last extremities of war: My king his hope from heaven's assistance draws.

_Almanz._ The Moors have heaven, and me, to assist their cause. [_Exit_ ARCOS.

_Enter_ ESPERANZA.

_Esper._ Fair Almahide, (Who did with weeping eyes these discords see, And fears the omen may unlucky be,) Prepares a zambra to be danced this night. In hope soft pleasures may your minds unite.

_Boab._ My mistress gently chides the fault I made: But tedious business has my love delayed,-- Business which dares the joys of kings invade.

_Almanz._ First let us sally out, and meet the foe.

_Abdal._ Led on by you, we on to triumph go.

_Boab._ Then with the day let war and tumult cease; The night be sacred to our love and peace: 'Tis just some joys on weary kings should wait; 'Tis all we gain by being slaves to state. [_Exeunt._