CALI

Forgive an old man's weakness,

And share the deepest secrets of my soul,
My wrongs, my fears, my motives, my designs.
When unsuccessful wars, and civil factions
Embroil'd the Turkish state, our sultan's father,
Great Amurath, at my request, forsook

The cloister's ease, resum'd the tott'ring throne,
And snatch'd the reins of abdicated pow'r
From giddy Mahomet's unskilful hand.

This fir'd the youthful king's ambitious breast:
He murmurs vengeance, at the name of Cali,
And dooms my rash fidelity to ruin.

DEMETRIUS

Unhappy lot of all that shine in courts,
For forc'd compliance, or for zealous virtue,
Still odious to the monarch, or the people.

CALI

Such are the woes, when arbitrary pow'r
And lawless passion hold the sword of justice,
If there be any land, as fame reports,

Where common laws restrain the prince and subject,
A happy land, where circulating pow'r

Flows through each member of th' embodied state;
Sure, not unconscious of the mighty blessing,
Her grateful sons shine bright with every virtue;
Untainted with the lust of innovation,
Sure, all unite to hold her league of rule
Unbroken, as the sacred chain of nature
That links the jarring elements in peace.

LEONTIUS

But say, great bassa, why the sultan's anger,
Burning in vain, delays the stroke of death?

CALI

Young, and unsettled in his father's kingdoms,
Fierce as he was, he dreaded to destroy

The empire's darling, and the soldier's boast;
But now confirm'd, and swelling with his conquests,
Secure, he tramples my declining fame,

Frowns unrestrain'd, and dooms me with his eyes.

DEMETRIUS

What can reverse thy doom?

CALI

The tyrant's death.

DEMETRIUS

But Greece is still forgot.

CALI

On Asia's coast,

Which lately bless'd my gentle government,
Soon as the sultan's unexpected fate

Fills all th' astonish'd empire with confusion,
My policy shall raise an easy throne;

The Turkish pow'rs from Europe shall retreat,
And harass Greece no more with wasteful war.

A galley mann'd with Greeks, thy charge, Leontius,
Attends to waft us to repose and safety.

DEMETRIUS

That vessel, if observ'd, alarms the court,

And gives a thousand fatal questions birth:
Why stor❜d for flight? and why prepar'd by Cali ?

CALI

This hour I'll beg, with unsuspecting face,
Leave to perform my pilgrimage to Mecca;
Which granted, hides my purpose from the world,
And, though refus'd, conceals it from the sultan.

LEONTIUS

How can a single hand attempt a life,
Which armies guard, and citadels enclose?

CALI

Forgetful of command, with captive beauties,
Far from his troops, he toys his hours away.
A roving soldier seiz'd, in Sophia's temple,
A virgin, shining with distinguish'd charms,
And brought his beauteous plunder to the sultan-

DEMETRIUS

In Sophia's temple!-What alarm!-Proceed.

CALI

The sultan gaz'd, he wonder'd, and he lov'd:
In passion lost, he bade the conquʼring fair
Renounce her faith, and be the queen of Turkey:
The pious maid, with modest indignation,
Threw back the glitt'ring bribe.

DEMETRIUS

Celestial goodness!

It must, it must be she;-her name?

CALI

Aspasia.

DEMETRIUS

What hopes, what terrours, rush upon my soul!
O lead me quickly to the scene of fate;
Break through the politician's tedious forms;
Aspasia calls me, let me fly to save her.

LEONTIUS

Did Mahomet reproach, or praise her virtue?

CALI

His offers, oft repeated, still refus'd,

At length rekindled his accustom'd fury, And chang'd th' endearing smile, and am'rous whisper

To threats of torture, death, and violation.

DEMETRIUS

These tedious narratives of frozen age

Distract my soul;-despatch thy ling'ring tale; Say, did a voice from heav'n restrain the tyrant? Did interposing angels guard her from him?

CALI

Just in the moment of impending fate,
Another plund'rer brought the bright Irene;
Of equal beauty, but of softer mien,
Fear in her eye, submission on her tongue,

Her mournful charms attracted his regards,
Disarm'd his rage, and, in repeated visits,
Gain'd all his heart; at length, his eager love
To her transferr'd the offer of a crown.

LEONTIUS

Nor found again the bright temptation fail?

CALI

Trembling to grant, nor daring to refuse,
While heav'n and Mahomet divide her fears,
With coy caresses and with pleasing wiles
She feeds his hopes, and sooths him to delay.
For her, repose is banish'd from the night,
And bus'ness from the day: in her apartments
He lives-

LEONTIUS

And there must fall.

CALI

But yet, th' attempt

Is hazardous.

LEONTIUS

Forbear to speak of hazards;

What has the wretch, that has surviv'd his country, His friends, his liberty, to hazard?

CALI

Life.

DEMETRIUS

Th' inestimable privilege of breathing!

Important hazard! What's that airy bubble,