_Tor._ How comes it, good old man, that we two meet On these harsh terms? thou very reverend rebel; Thou venerable traitor, in whose face And hoary hairs treason is sanctified, And sin's black dye seems blanched by age to virtue. _Raym._ What treason is it to redeem my king, And to reform the state? _Tor._ That's a stale cheat; The primitive rebel, Lucifer, first used it, And was the first reformer of the skies. _Raym._ What, if I see my prince mistake a poison, Call it a cordial,--am I then a traitor, Because I hold his hand, or break the glass? _Tor._ How darest thou serve thy king against his will? _Raym._ Because 'tis then the only time to serve him. _Tor._ I take the blame of all upon myself; Discharge thy weight on me. _Raym._ O never, never! Why, 'tis to leave a ship, tossed in a tempest, Without the pilot's care. _Tor._ I'll punish thee; By heaven, I will, as I would punish rebels, Thou stubborn loyal man! _Raym._ First let me see Her punished, who misleads you from your fame; Then burn me, hack me, hew me into pieces, And I shall die well pleased. _Tor._ Proclaim my title, To save the effusion of my subjects' blood; and thou shalt still Be as my foster-father near my breast, And next my Leonora. _Raym._ That word stabs me. You shall be still plain Torrismond with me; The abettor, partner, (if you like that name,) The husband of a tyrant; but no king, Till you deserve that title by your justice. _Tor._ Then farewell, pity; I will be obeyed.-- [_To the People._] Hear, you mistaken men, whose loyalty Runs headlong into treason: See your prince! In me behold your murdered Sancho's son; Dismiss your arms, and I forgive your crimes. _Raym._ Believe him not; he raves; his words are loose As heaps of sand, and scattering wide from sense. You see he knows not me, his natural father; But, aiming to possess the usurping queen, So high he's mounted in his airy hopes, That now the wind is got into his head, And turns his brains to frenzy. _Tor._ Hear me yet; I am-- _Raym._ Fall on, fall on, and hear him not; But spare his person, for his father's sake. _Ped._ Let me come; if he be mad, I have that shall cure him. There's no surgeon in all Arragon has so much dexterity as I have at breathing of the temple-vein. _Tor._ My right for me! _Raym._ Our liberty for us! _Omn._ Liberty, liberty! _As they are ready to Fight, enter_ LORENZO _and his Party._ _Lor._ On forfeit of your lives, lay down your arms. _Alph._ How, rebel, art thou there? _Lor._ Take your rebel back again, father mine: The beaten party are rebels to the conquerors. I have been at hard-head with your butting citizens; I have routed your herd; I have dispersed them; and now they are retreated quietly, from their extraordinary vocation of fighting in the streets, to their ordinary vocation of cozening in their shops. _Tor._ [_To_ RAYM.] You see 'tis vain contending with the truth; Acknowledge what I am.