_Cas._ There was their safety, that he was not jealous. What would you more of him? he was a fool, And put the happy means into their hands. _Cleom._ I cannot much commend my countryman. _Cas._ Indeed, my lord, your countryman was dull, That did not understand so plain a courtship. Have Spartans eyes for nothing, not to see So manifest a passion? _Cleom._ Yes, too well.-- [_Aside._ Madam, your goodness interests you too much In Helen's cause. I have no more to urge, But that she was a wife: that word, a wife, In spite of all your eloquence, condemns her. _Cas._ You argue justly; therefore 'twas a crime: But, had she been a mistress, not a wife, Her love had been a virtue, to forsake The nauseous bed of a loathed fulsome king, And fly into a sprightly lover's arms. Her love had been a merit to her Paris, To leave her country, and, what's more, her kingdom, With a poor fugitive prince to sail away, And bear her wealth along, to make him happy. _Cleom._ You put your picture in the fairest light: But both the lovers broke their plighted vows; He to Oenone, she to Menelaus. _Cas._ The gods, that made two fools, had done more justly, To have matched Menelaus with Oenone. Think better of my picture, it deserves A second thought; it speaks; the Helen speaks. _Cleon._ It speaks Egyptian then; a base dishonest tongue. _Cas._ You are too young to understand her language.-- [_To_ CLEON. Do not thank me, [_To_ CLEOM. Till I have brought your business to perfection. Doubt not my kindness; nothing shall be wanting To make your voyage happy. _Cleom._ I only fear the excess of your full bounty, To give me more than what my wants require. [_Exeunt_ CLEOM. _and_ CLEON. _Cas._ Meaning, perhaps, my person and my love: I would not think it so; and yet I fear, And while I fear, his voyage shall be hindered. No breath of wind Can stir, to waft him hence, unless I please: I am the goddess that commands the seas. In vain he vows at any other shrine, My heart is in his hands, his fate's in mine. [_Exit_ CASSANDRA. ACT III. SCENE I.--_The King's Apartment._ _A Table set._ PTOLEMY, SOSIBIUS, CASSANDRA _sitting_: PTOLEMY _at the upper end_; CASSANDRA _sitting on the one side_, SOSIBIUS _on the other_. _Ptol._ I must confess, 'twas obvious. _Sosib._ He said he could command them with his nod: Can he do this with mercenaries, raised Not at his charge, but yours? by you maintained? What could he more, had they been Spartans born? _Cas._ What would you hence infer?