Classic Poem

[ACT IV.]

Enter the Presenter.

Now harden'd is this hapless heathen prince,
And strengthen'd by the arms of Portugal,
This Moor, this murderer of his progeny;
And war and weapons now, and blood and death,
Wait on the counsels of this cursed king;
And to a bloody banket he invites
The brave Sebastian and his noble peers.

Enter to the bloody banket.

In fatal hour arrived this peerless prince,
To lose his life, his life, and many lives
Of lusty men, courageous Portugals,
Drawn by [proud] ambition's golden hooks.
Let fame of him no wrongful censure sound;
Honour was object of his thoughts, ambition was his ground.