I will not bend before them, nor my people

Shall bear a foreign yoke.

SURÆNA.

The gods forbid !

MITHRIDATES.

And do my subjects murmur? Let them view
Their sovereign. Not effeminating ease,

And slothful dalliance in the lap of pleasure,
Engage my hours; but toil, and care, and dangers.
Me too domestic ills invade. Ev'n now
Suspicion shakes my breast. My soul disdains
The passion which it yields to. But 'tis fate
Controls alike the monarch and the slave,

And pain and sorrow is the common doom.

Hast thou of late observ'd the queen?

SURENA.

My lord!

MITHRIDATES.

Hast thou observ'd the queen?

SURENA.

Thy slave presumes not,

Unbidden, with inquiring eye to view

The steps of majesty!

MITHRIDATES.

A woman's love

Moves not my mind, or with too light a breeze

To shake the settled temper of my bosom.
But should a subject's insolent desires

Invade my pleasures, and her abject soul,

Whose brows distinguish'd by my choice, the diadem

Adorns, swerve but in thought, my hand in vain

Bears not the sceptre.

SURENA,

I am lost in wonder.

MITHRIDATES.

E'er since upon the march from Pergamus,

The queen, her escort by a troop of Romans
Surpris'd, and scatter'd, from captivity

Was rescu'd by Leander, she appears

Opprest with grief, nor only with reserve,

And coyness meets me, but with bursting tears.
Leander too, the Mitylenian captain,

Distinguish'd for his valour by my favour,

And for that bold exploit to greater honours,

Command, and trust design'd, some few days after

Forsook the camp, nor has he since been heard of.

SURÆNA.

Fickle and faithless still the Greeks are found.

Perhaps he serves upon the Roman party.

MITHRIDATES.

Among my guards I have observ'd of late
A graceful youth. His courage and his skill
In martial exercise first drew my notice.

Arbaces is his name.

SURENA.

A gallant soldier.

MITHRIDATES.

But late I mark'd him with attentive eye.
Sudden, confusion flush'd his guilty cheek,
He turn'd his head, and with his lifted shield
Strove to conceal his face. I knew Leander.

Leander !

SURENA.

MITHRIDATES.

Attend. Do thou select him from the rest,

And on some specious plausible pretext,

Give access to the queen. Observe them closely.

If my

surmise be true, 'tis an occasion

Passion will not pass by. Perhaps Leander

Alone is guilty, and the queen nor favours,

Nor knows his rash pretensions.

SURENA.

Mighty prince,

Thy servant lives but to obey thy voice.

SCENE V.

MITHRIDATES, SURENA, AN Officer.

OFFICER.

The gods preserve the royal Mithridates,
And be thy glory and thy reign eternal!
The Roman deputies, my sovereign lord,
Attend to know thy pleasure.

MITHRIDATES.

In the camp,

Ere the mid day, they may approach our presence. Meanwhile the troops which lately join'd our army

From Colchis and Iberia, and the bands

Of hardy horsemen from the Tauric region,
We shall survey. Upon thy vigilance

And active zeal, Suræna, in the affair

Committed to thy care, we shall rely.

SURENA.

The sun, new ris'n beyond the eastern hill,

Shall not again his gloomy wheels allay

In ocean

ere thy orders be fulfill'd.

MITHRIDATES.

So prosper, as thou serv'st me.

OFFICER TO THOSE WITHOUT.

Bow your ensigns,

And let the trumpets sound. The king comes forth.

END OF THE FIRST ACT.