ERI. Sostratus, you love me.
SOS. I, Madam?
ERI. Yes, Sostratus, I know it, I approve of it, and allow you to tell
me so. Your love appeared to me accompanied by all the merit which
could render it valuable to me. Were it not for the rank in which
heaven has placed me, I might tell you that your love would not have
been an unhappy one, and I have often wished for a position in which I
might fully show the secret feelings of my heart. It is not,
Sostratus, that merit fails to have for me all the value which it
should have, and because, in my inmost soul, I do not prefer the
virtues which you possess to all the magnificent titles which adorn
others. The princess my mother has also, it is true, left me free in
my choice, and I have no doubt that I could have obtained her consent
according to my wish. But, Sostratus, there are stations in life where
it is not right to wish that what pleases us should come to pass. It
is painful to be above all others, and the burning light of fame often
makes us pay too severely for having yielded to our inclination. I
never could, therefore, expose myself to it, and I thought I would
simply put off the bonds I was solicited to enter. But, at last, the
gods themselves will give me a husband, and all these long delays with
which I have postponed my marriage, and which the kindness of the
princess my mother made possible, are no longer permitted to me. I
must resign myself to the will of heaven. You may rest assured,
Sostratus, that it is with the greatest repugnance that I consent to
this marriage, and that, were I mistress of myself, either I should
have been yours or should have belonged to no one. This is, Sostratus,
what I had to tell you; what I felt I owed to your merit, and the only
consolation which my tenderness can show to your love.
SOS. Ah! Madam, it is too much for one so undeserving as I am! I was
not prepared to die with such glory, and from this moment I shall
cease to complain of my destiny. If it caused me to be born in a rank
below what I could have desired, it has made me to be born happy
enough to attract some pity from the heart of a great princess, and
this glorious pity is worth sceptres and crowns; is worth the power of
the greatest princes of the earth. Yes, Madam, from the moment I dared
to love you--it is you, Madam, who allow me to use this bold
word--from the moment I dared to love you, I condemned the pride of my
aspirations, and determined upon the fate I ought to expect. Death
will not surprise me, for I am prepared for it, but your kindness has
thrown upon it an honour which my love never dared to hope; I shall
now die the happiest and most fortunate of men. If I may yet hope for
anything, I on my knees will ask two favours of you: to be willing to
endure my presence till that happy marriage which is to put an end to
my life takes place; and amidst the glory and long prosperities which
heaven promises to your union, to remember sometimes Sostratus, who
loved you. May I hope for those favours, O divine princess?
ERI. Go, Sostratus; leave me. You little care for my peace of mind if
you ask me to remember you.
SOS. Ah, Madam, if your peace of mind....
ERI. Leave me, Sostratus; spare my weakness; do not expose me to do
more than I have resolved upon.