OLMEDO
            Cortés, I have a new, but nagging, fear.
            I sense the premonition of a time
            When you might be corrupted by the taint
            Of evils lying latent in our task,
            That vice, which our assignment permeates,
            Will tempt resolve to heinous compromise.

CORTÉS
            Our mission is implicit in its vice,
            In evils ineradicably steeped,
            And our grand charge requires that we submit
            To its contamination and decay.
            A man who would embrace the human lot,
            To do so, must consent to be a sinner.

OLMEDO
            Blood has been shed- For what? Lives squandered- Why?
            You, having tripped in sin’s attractive trap,
            To thus, in fragrant snares so feebly flail,
            Through frail and flagrant failings such a way,
            How can you say to me you are contrite?

CORTÉS
            But father, mercy with my malice mingles.
            These dicey circumstances find me now
            In both a ruthless and reluctant role.
            What seems intolerable of this plight
            Is that it simply will not be reduced
            To trite antitheses of right and wrong.
            My conscience both opposes and demands
            A rouse to action.

           Enter AGUILAR, ALVARADO, MALINALLI, and a Mayan Girl.

AGUILAR                              Captain, by your will,
            These endless battles have despoiled your foe,
            Who offer you these slave girls as a bribe.
            The terrorized Chontal surrender now.
            They will be baptized, and befriend our king,
            Provided that we leave their country soon.
            
CORTÉS
            Easy to break that promise once we’re gone.
            Tell them we shall release all Mayan soil,
            And nomadize into the unknown North.                             Exit Aguilar.
            Here, Alvarado, [indicates girl] guide her to your tent.
            We’ll see what use for this one we can find.
                                                                                           Exit all but Malinalli.
MALINALLI
            Now, silly Malinalli, drop your sights,
            You pretty poppet for these bearded frights.