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Can he deserve that name, the holy prophet, The great ambassador of heaven, sent down To interpret its high will?

Deluded mortals! How blind ye are, to follow this proud madman, This happy robber, whom my justice spared, And raise him from the scaffold to a throne!

My lord, I shudder at your imprecations; Though I am bound by honor and the ties Of gratitude to love thee for thy bounties, This blasphemy against my kind protector Cancels the bond, and fills my soul with horror. O superstition, how thy savage power Deprives at once the best and tenderest hearts Of their humanity!

Alas! Palmira, Spite of myself, I feel for thy misfortunes, Pity thy weakness, and lament thy fate.

You will not grant me then——

I cannot yield thee To him who has deceived thy easy heart, To a base tyrant; No: thou art a treasure Too precious to be parted with, and makest This hypocrite but more detested.