Not for our lives I speak then, ... were they worth The thought of preservation; ... Nature soon Must call for them; the sword that should cut short Sorrow’s slow work were merciful to us. But spare Alphonso! there is time and hope In store for him. O thou who gavest him life, Seal not his death, his death and mine at once! Peace! he replied: thou know’st there is no choice, I did not raise the storm; I cannot turn Its course aside! but where yon banner goes Thy Lord must not be absent! Spare me then, Favinia, lest I hear thy honour’d name Now first attainted with deserved reproach. The boy is in God’s hands. He who of yore Walk’d with the sons of Judah in the fire, And from the lion’s den drew Daniel forth Unhurt, can save him, ... if it be his will. Even as he spake, the astonish’d troop set up A shout of joy which rung through all the hills. Alphonso heeds not how they break their ranks And gather round to greet him; from his horse Precipitate and panting off he springs. Pedro grew pale, and trembled at his sight; Favinia claspt her hands, and looking up To Heaven as she embraced the boy, exclaim’d, Lord God, forgive me for my sinful fears; Unworthy that I am, ... my son, my son! XII. THE VOW. Always I knew thee for a generous foe, Pelayo! said the Count; and in our time Of enmity, thou too, I know, didst feel The feud between us was but of the house, Not of the heart. Brethren in arms henceforth We stand or fall together: nor will I Look to the event with one misgiving thought, ... That were to prove myself unworthy now Of Heaven’s benignant providence, this hour, Scarcely by less than miracle, vouchsafed. I will believe that we have days in store Of hope, now risen again as from the dead, ... Of vengeance, ... of portentous victory, ... Yea, maugre all unlikelihoods, ... of peace. Let us then here indissolubly knit Our ancient houses, that those happy days, When they arrive, may find us more than friends, And bound by closer than fraternal ties. Thou hast a daughter, Prince, to whom my heart Yearns now, as if in winning infancy Her smiles had been its daily food of love. I need not tell thee what Alphonso is, ... Thou know’st the boy! Already had that hope, Replied Pelayo, risen within my soul. O Thou, who in thy mercy from the house Of Moorish bondage hast deliver’d us, Fulfil the pious purposes for which Here, in thy presence, thus we pledge our hands!