![]() ![]() 'Therefore,' said he, 'deny this marriage, and swear thyself a maid.' 'That,' replied Imoinda, 'by all our powers I do, for I am not yet known to my husband.' 'Tis enough,' said the king, 'tis enough to satisfy both my conscience, and my heart.' And rising from his seat, he went and led her into the bath, it being in vain for her to resist. At the end of the work, the allusion to Julius Caesar will become clearer when Oroonoko is literally cut to death by those who promised to free him. Imoinda, seeing his eyes fierce, and his hands tremble, whether with a age or anger, I know not, but she fancied the last, almost repented she had said so much, for now she feared the storm would fall on the prince she therefore said a thousand things to appease the raging of his flame, and to prepare him to hear who it was with calmness but before she spoke, he imagined who she meant, but would not seem to do so, but commanded her to lay aside her mantle and suffer herself to receive his caresses or, by his gods, he swore, that happy man whom she was going to name should die, though it were even Oroonoko himself. The slave name chosen for Oroonoko is Caesar, the name of the Roman emperor ruler who was betrayed by his friends when he was stabbed on the steps of the Roman Senate. “The king, enraged at this delay, hastily demanded the name of the bold man that had married a woman of her degree without his consent. ![]()
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