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CONSTANTINE PALEOLOGUS;
VALERIA.
(Constantine smiles sorrowfully.)
Nay, but thou shalt return: high heav'n decrees it;
Virtue, and every good and blessed thing
Have made it sure. Ev'n, in faith as strong
As at this moment I do hold to this,
Methinks, upon the chaf'd and tossing waves
Of the wild deep I could thus firmly tread,
Nor wet my sandal's thong. (Walking across the stage with firm steps of stately confidence, and then going up to him with an encouraging smile.)
Be thou assur'd! I know it shall be so. A mystic sage,
Whom I, unknown to thee, have visited—
Pardon this weakness of thine anxious wife—
Darting his eye on forms of woven air,
Saw thee in combat with a Turkish champion,
And saw the crescent fall.
CONSTANTINE.
Their mortal warfare, many a boastful Turk
Beneath these arms shall fall?
VALERIA.
For I did bid him onward cast his eye
Into time's reach, and say, who of this city,
