_Telasco._ (_To Zorai_) Why was I brought hither at this moment?—Do not the important services which I have done my native country through so long a course of years, give me a just claim to expect some forbearance? Go and demand of the priests if I must be compelled to stay with her,—I will, meanwhile, support myself against this pillar. _Cora._ (_Approaching him with trembling steps_) My father! _Telasco._ (_With agony_) Save me Zorai—save me! _Zorai._ (_Thrusting Cora away_) Hence serpent!—spare the old man at least in his last moments. (_Telasco turns away his face_) _Cora._ (_Falling upon her knees, and clasping her hands in agony_) Brother! _Zorai._ I, thy brother!—Alas, yes!—these chains speak too plainly that I am thy brother. _Cora._ Father! _Telasco._ (_With still averted eyes_) Who calls me by that name?—I do not know that voice! _Cora._ Father!—brother!—Oh these are the only agonies of death! (_Wringing her hands_) _Telasco._ (_Turning his eyes towards Cora_) Oh Zorai, my paternal feelings will not be suppressed!—It is the voice of her mother!—it is the form of her mother!—Cora!—Cora—I have passed through life with honour, and now you cover my grave with shame!—Away, away! nor hope to experience my compassion!—Do you deserve it?—Did I constrain you to devote your youth to the service of the sun?—Did I not, on the contrary, frequently admonish you to consider well what you intended? Did I not represent to you, that the world afforded many pleasures of which you were then ignorant, and which you would first learn to think desirable when their enjoyment would be criminal, and when your life would consequently be rendered miserable by the impossibility of their attainment? Even on the very last evening before your irrevocable oath was taken—(God only knows how I assumed courage for the purpose)—did I not again entreat you to reflect upon all these things while it was yet possible to retract?—Dark and gloomy then appeared the future to my soul, as the ocean on a cloudy day. Even you wept—yes, Cora, you wept; your heart was overpowered.—It was the warning voice of a guardian spirit within you; but you resisted the impulse, adhered firmly to your enthusiastic resolution, and would think of nothing but of a nearer intercourse with the gods—Behold us now standing here,—I, a poor old man with my grey hairs, mourning the honour of my house destroyed for ever;—this youth, full of energy and love for his native country, cut off even in the prime of life, guiltless himself, yet involved in your destiny;—both, both, murdered by the hand of a daughter—of a sister;—and worse than murdered, hurled to the grave with shame as their companion!—Oh that I should have lived to see this day!—Blest, blest, was thy mother’s lot, that she died before the dawn of so fatal a morning! (_Cora, overpowered with her father’s reproaches, sinks to the ground with a sigh; Telasco exclaims with an emotion of tenderness_) Zorai, support her!