XXIV.
“Before this happened, to try every way
“Of remedy the Lydian king was bent;
“And thither, where Alcestes’ army lay,
“Me, the first cause of all the mischief, sent.
“To yield my person to him as a prey
“I with intention to Alcestes went;
“To bid him take what portion of our reign
“He pleased, and pacify his fierce disdain.
XXV.
“When of my coming that good knight does know,
“Me he encounters pale and trembling sore:
“’Twould seem a vanquished man’s, a prisoner’s brow,
“He, rather than a victor’s semblance, bore.
“I who perceive he loves, address not now
“The warrior as I was resolved before.
“My vantage I descry, and shift my ground,
“To fit the state wherein that knight was found.
XXVI.
“To curse the warrior’s passion I begun,
“And of his crying cruelty complained,
“Since foully by my father had he done,
“And me would have by violence constrained;
“Who with more grace my person would have won,
“Nor waited many days, had he maintained
“His course of courtship, as begun whilere,
“To king and all of us so passing dear;
