John Dryden

“ Thin herbage in the plains and fruitless fields,
The sand no gold, the mine no silver yields:
There love and freedom we 'll in peace enjoy;
No Spaniards will that colony destroy.
We to ourselves will all our wishes grant ”

“ Condemn not yet the way you do not know;
I'll make your reason judge what way to go.
Mont. Tis much too late for me new ways to take,
Who have but one short step of life to make.
Piz. Increase their pains, the cords are yet too slack. ”

“ He knocks a little, then Montezuma, Cydaria, and Almeria, appear above.
Alm. Look up, look up, and see if you can know
Those, whom in vain you think to find below.
Cyd. Look up, and see Cydaria's lost estate.
Mont. And cast one look on Montezuma's fate. ”

“ Nor name death to me, when Cydaria's there.
Despair not, sir; who knows but conquering Spain
May part of what you lost restore again?
Mont. No, Spaniard; know, he who, to empire born,
Lives to be less, deserves the victor's scorn:
Kings and their crowns have but one destiny:
Power is their life; when that expires, they die.
Cyd. What dreadful words are these!
Mont. Name life no more;
'Tis now a torture worse than all I bore:
I1l not be bribed to suffer life, but die,
In spite of your mistaken clemency. ”