LEONTIUS. 
Did Mahomet reproach, or praise her virtue?

CALI. 
His offers, oft repeated, still refus’d,
At length rekindled his accustomed fury,
And chang’d th’ endearing smile, and am’rous whisper
To threats of torture, death, and violation.

DEMETRIUS. 
These tedious narratives of frozen age
Distract my soul;—­despatch thy ling’ring tale;
Say, did a voice from heav’n restrain the tyrant? 
Did interposing angels guard her from him?

CALI. 
Just in the moment of impending fate,
Another plund’rer brought the bright Irene;
Of equal beauty, but of softer mien,
Fear in her eye, submission on her tongue,
Her mournful charms attracted his regards,
Disarm’d his rage, and, in repeated visits,
Gain’d all his heart; at length, his eager love
To her transferr’d the offer of a crown,

LEONTIUS. 
Nor found again the bright temptation fail?

CALI. 
Trembling to grant, nor daring to refuse,
While heav’n and Mahomet divide her fears,
With coy caresses and with pleasing wiles
She feeds his hopes, and sooths him to delay. 
For her, repose is banish’d from the night,
And bus’ness from the day:  in her apartments
He lives—­

LEONTIUS. 
And there must fall.

CALI. 
But yet, th’ attempt
Is hazardous.

LEONTIUS. 
Forbear to speak of hazards;
What has the wretch, that has surviv’d his country,
His friends, his liberty, to hazard?

CALI. 
Life.

DEMETRIUS. 
Th’ inestimable privilege of breathing! 
Important hazard!  What’s that airy bubble,
When weigh’d with Greece, with virtue, with Aspasia?—­
A floating atom, dust that falls, unheeded,
Into the adverse scale, nor shakes the balance.

CALI. 
At least, this day be calm—­If we succeed,
Aspasia’s thine, and all thy life is rapture.—­
See!  Mustapha, the tyrant’s minion, comes;
Invest Leontius with his new command;
And wait Abdalla’s unsuspected visits: 
Remember freedom, glory, Greece, and love.
[Exeunt Demetrius and Leontius.

SCENE III.

CALI, MUSTAPHA.

MUSTAPHA. 
By what enchantment does this lovely Greek
Hold in her chains the captivated sultan? 
He tires his fav’rites with Irene’s praise,
And seeks the shades to muse upon Irene;
Irene steals, unheeded, from his tongue,
And mingles, unperceiv’d, with ev’ry thought.

CALI. 
Why should the sultan shun the joys of beauty,
Or arm his breast against the force of love? 
Love, that with sweet vicissitude relieves
The warriour’s labours and the monarch’s cares. 
But, will she yet receive the faith of Mecca?

MUSTAPHA. 
Those pow’rful tyrants of the female breast,
Fear and ambition, urge her to compliance;
Dress’d in each charm of gay magnificence,
Alluring grandeur courts her to his arms,
Religion calls her from the wish’d embrace,
Paints future joys, and points to distant glories.