_Par._ Sir, I propose not merely to myself The pleasures such a beauty brings with it; But I would have the soil of her fair rape Wiped off, in honourable keeping her. What treason were it to the ransack'd queen, 150 Disgrace to your great worths, and shame to me, Now to deliver her possession up On terms of base compulsion! Can it be That so degenerate a strain as this Should once set footing in your generous bosoms?[1378] 155 There's not the meanest spirit on our party,[1379] Without a heart to dare or sword to draw When Helen is defended, nor none so noble,[1380] Whose life were ill bestow'd or death unfamed Where Helen is the subject: then, I say, 160 Well may we fight for her, whom, we know well, The world's large spaces cannot parallel. _Hect._ Paris and Troilus, you have both said well; And on the cause and question now in hand[1381] Have glozed, but superficially; not much[1382] 165 Unlike young men, whom Aristotle thought[1383] Unfit to hear moral philosophy. The reasons you allege do more conduce To the hot passion of distemper'd blood Than to make up a free determination 170 'Twixt right and wrong; for pleasure and revenge Have ears more deaf than adders to the voice[1384] Of any true decision. Nature craves All dues be render'd to their owners: now, What nearer debt in all humanity 175 Than wife is to the husband? If this law Of nature be corrupted through affection, And that great minds, of partial indulgence To their benumbed wills, resist the same, There is a law in each well-order'd nation[1385] 180 To curb those raging appetites that are Most disobedient and refractory.[1386] If Helen then be wife to Sparta's king, As it is known she is, these moral laws Of nature and of nations speak aloud[1387] 185 To have her back return'd: thus to persist In doing wrong extenuates not wrong, But makes it much more heavy. Hector's opinion Is this in way of truth: yet, ne'ertheless, My spritely brethren, I propend to you 190 In resolution to keep Helen still; For 'tis a cause that hath no mean dependance Upon our joint and several dignities.