No More Learning

_Lor. _ Had we known this when 260
The act was passing, it might have suspended
Its passage, but impedes it not--once passed.

_Bar. _ I'll not consent.

_Lor. _ You have consented to
All that's essential--leave the rest to me.

_Bar. _ Why press his abdication now?

_Lor. _ The feelings
Of private passion may not interrupt
The public benefit; and what the State
Decides to-day must not give way before
To-morrow for a natural accident.

_Bar. _ You have a son.

_Lor. _ I _have_--and _had_ a father. 270

_Bar.
_ Still so inexorable?

_Lor. _ Still.

_Bar. _ But let him
Inter his son before we press upon him
This edict.

_Lor. _ Let him call up into life
My sire and uncle--I consent. Men may,
Even aged men, be, or appear to be,
Sires of a hundred sons, but cannot kindle
An atom of their ancestors from earth.
The victims are not equal; he has seen
His sons expire by natural deaths, and I
My sires by violent and mysterious maladies. 280
I used no poison, bribed no subtle master
Of the destructive art of healing, to
Shorten the path to the eternal cure.
His sons--and he had four--are dead, without
_My_ dabbling in vile drugs.

_Bar. _ And art thou sure
He dealt in such?

_Lor. _ Most sure.

_Bar.