MAHOMET. 
Illustrious maid, new wonders fix me thine;
Thy soul completes the triumphs of thy face. 
I thought (forgive, my fair,) the noblest aim,
The strongest effort of a female soul,
Was but to choose the graces of the day;
To tune the tongue, to teach the eyes to roll,
Dispose the colours of the flowing robe,
And add new roses to the faded cheek. 
Will it not charm a mind, like thine, exalted,
To shine, the goddess of applauding nations;
To scatter happiness and plenty round thee,
To bid the prostrate captive rise and live,
To see new cities tow’r, at thy command,
And blasted kingdoms flourish, at thy smile?

IRENE. 
Charm’d with the thought of blessing human kind,
Too calm I listen to the flatt’ring sounds.

MAHOMET. 
O! seize the power to bless—­Irene’s nod
Shall break the fetters of the groaning Christian;
Greece, in her lovely patroness secure,
Shall mourn no more her plunder’d palaces.

IRENE. 
Forbear—­O! do not urge me to my ruin!

  MAHOMET. 
To state and pow’r I court thee, not to ruin: 
Smile on my wishes, and command the globe. 
Security shall spread her shield before thee,
And love infold thee with his downy wings. 
  If greatness please thee, mount th’ imperial seat;
  If pleasure charm thee, view this soft retreat;
  Here ev’ry warbler of the sky shall sing;
  Here ev’ry fragrance breathe of ev’ry spring: 
  To deck these bow’rs each region shall combine,
  And e’en our prophet’s gardens envy thine: 
  Empire and love shall share the blissful day,
  And varied life steal, unperceiv’d, away.

[Exeunt.

ACT III.—­SCENE I.

CALI, ABDALLA.

[CALI enters, with a discontented air; to him enters ABDALLA.]

CALI. 
Is this the fierce conspirator, Abdalla? 
Is this the restless diligence of treason? 
Where hast thou linger’d, while th’ incumber’d hours
Fly, lab’ring with the fate of future nations,
And hungry slaughter scents imperial blood?

ABDALLA. 
Important cares detain’d me from your counsels.

CALI. 
Some petty passion! some domestick trifle! 
Some vain amusement of a vacant soul! 
A weeping wife, perhaps, or dying friend,
Hung on your neck, and hinder’d your departure. 
Is this a time for softness or for sorrow? 
Unprofitable, peaceful, female virtues! 
When eager vengeance shows a naked foe,
And kind ambition points the way to greatness.

ABDALLA. 
Must then ambition’s votaries infringe
The laws of kindness, break the bonds of nature,
And quit the names of brother, friend, and father?

CALI. 
This sov’reign passion, scornful of restraint,
E’en from the birth, affects supreme command,
Swells in the breast, and, with resistless force,
O’erbears each gentler motion of the mind: 
As, when a deluge overspreads the plains,
The wand’ring rivulet, and silver lake,
Mix undistinguish’d with the gen’ral roar.