“Nor think to say, here will I stop;
     Here will I fix the limits of transgression,
     Nor farther tempt the avenging rage of heaven. 
     When guilt, like this, once harbours in the breast,
     Those holy beings, whose unseen direction
     Guides, through the maze of life, the steps of man. 
     Fly the detested mansions of impiety,
     And quit their charge to horrour and to ruin.”

     See Boswell, i. for other compared extracts from the first sketch. 
     —­ED.

IRENE. 
Upbraid me not with fancied wickedness;
I am not yet a queen, or an apostate. 
But should I sin beyond the hope of mercy,
If, when religion prompts me to refuse,
The dread of instant death restrains my tongue?

ASPASIA. 
Reflect, that life and death, affecting sounds! 
Are only varied modes of endless being;
Reflect, that life, like ev’ry other blessing,
Derives its value from its use alone;
Not for itself, but for a nobler end,
Th’ Eternal gave it, and that end is virtue. 
When inconsistent with a greater good,
Reason commands to cast the less away: 
Thus life, with loss of wealth, is well preserv’d,
And virtue cheaply say’d, with loss of life.

IRENE. 
If built on settled thought, this constancy
Not idly flutters on a boastful tongue,
Why, when destruction rag’d around our walls,
Why fled this haughty heroine from the battle? 
Why, then, did not this warlike amazon
Mix in the war, and shine among the heroes?

ASPASIA. 
Heav’n, when its hand pour’d softness on our limbs,
Unfit for toil, and polish’d into weakness,
Made passive fortitude the praise of woman: 
Our only arms are innocence and meekness. 
Not then with raving cries I fill’d the city;
But, while Demetrius, dear, lamented name! 
Pour’d storms of fire upon our fierce invaders,
Implor’d th’ eternal pow’r to shield my country,
With silent sorrows, and with calm devotion.

IRENE. 
O! did Irene shine the queen of Turkey,
No more should Greece lament those pray’rs rejected;
Again, should golden splendour grace her cities,
Again, her prostrate palaces should rise,
Again, her temples sound with holy musick: 
No more should danger fright, or want distress
The smiling widows, and protected orphans.

ASPASIA. 
Be virtuous ends pursued by virtuous means,
Nor think th’ intention sanctifies the deed: 
That maxim, publish’d in an impious age,
Would loose the wild enthusiast to destroy,
And fix the fierce usurper’s bloody title;
Then bigotry might send her slaves to war,
And bid success become the test of truth: 
Unpitying massacre might waste the world,
And persecution boast the call of heaven.

IRENE. 
Shall I not wish to cheer afflicted kings,
And plan the happiness of mourning millions?

ASPASIA. 
Dream not of pow’r, thou never canst attain: 
When social laws first harmoniz’d the world,
Superiour man possess’d the charge of rule,
The scale of justice, and the sword of power,
Nor left us aught, but flattery and state.