Scene IV.
Santa Anna's tent in the Mexican Camp before the Alamo. Santa Anna seated in an arm-chair, while before him stand the Generals Cos and Castrillon and the Colonels Bradburn., Duque and Almonte.
Santa Anna.
The auspices of fate, my Generals,
Were not propitious to our first exploit
On Texan soil, still I regret it not.
In every enterprise I have been wont
To sacrifice a share of mine to Fate
By reckless venture and impetuous force;
And I have found my work to turn out well,
As oft as Fate received my offering.
Why it is so, I self can hardly tell;
Maybe, that, flattered by my reverence,
(Akin to that of Grecian banquet-hosts
Who to the gods poured out their goblet's prime),
The fatal god grows reconciled to me;
Maybe, that like a savage animal
He feeds upon the booty thrown to him,
While free from his restraint and fickleness
Man's innate talent can work out its way—
Enough, to-day's discomfiture proclaims
