Si je n'étais pas, seigneur, ce que je suis, J'en prendrais quelque droit à finir mes ennuis: Mais l'esclavage fier d'une haute naissance, Où toute autre peut tout, me tient dans l'impuissance; Et, victime d'état, je dois sans reculer Attendre aveuglement qu'on daigne m'immoler. The heart trembles and restrains itself at the same moment before that _"esclavage fier,"_ that proud and sarcastic _"qu'on daigne m'immoler"_ the victim has already scrutinised the situation in which she finds herself, the duty which is incumbent upon her, the prospect of vengeance which opens itself before her and her race, and has already conceived her terrible design. In like manner with Queen Rodolinde in the _Pertharite,_ when she is solicited and implored by the usurper Grimoalde, who wished to espouse her and promises to declare himself tutor to her son and to make him heir to the throne,--suspecting that in this way he will deprive her of the honour of marriage faith and may then put her son to deatii--she decides upon a horrible course of action, proposing to him that he should put her son to death on the spot: Puisqu'il faut qu'il périsse, il vaut mieux tôt que tard; Que sa mort soit un crime, et non pas un hazard; Que cette ombre innocente à toute heure m'anime, Me demande à toute heure une grande victime; Que ce jeune monarque, immolé de ta main, Te rende abominable à tout le genre humain; Qu'il t'excite par tout des haines immortelles; Que de tous tes sujets il fasse des rebelles. Je t'épouserai lors, et m'y viens d'obliger, Pour mieux servir ma haine et pour mieux me venger, Pour moins perdre des vœux contre ta barbarie, Pour être à tous moments maîtresse de ta vie, Pour avoir l'accès libre à pousser ma fureur, Et mieux choisir la place où te percer le cœur. Voilà mon désespoir, voilà ses justes causes: A ces conditions, prends ma main, si tu l'oses. Her husband Pertharite, who had been believed to be dead, is alive: he returns and is made prisoner by Grimoalde, and Rodolinde, fearing ruin, decides to avenge him or to perish with him. But he sees the situation in which he finds himself with his consort in a different light objectively: he sees it as a conquered king, who bows his head to the decision of destiny, recognises the right of the conqueror and holds ever aloft in his soul the idea of regal majesty. So he asserts it with firmness and serenity, going beyond all personal feelings, in order that he may consider only what appertains both to the rights and duties of a king: