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550

But what wouldst have? the Empire has been founded.
I cannot go on multiplying empires.

Myr. Preserve thine own.
Sar.
At least, I will enjoy it.
Come, Myrrha, let us go on to the Euphrates:
The hour invites, the galley is prepared,
And the pavilion, decked for our return,
In fit adornment for the evening banquet,
Shall blaze with beauty and with light, until
It seems unto the stars which are above us
Itself an opposite star; and we will sit
Crowned with fresh flowers like-

Myr.
Sar.

Victims.

No, like sovereigns,

560

The Shepherd Kings of patriarchal times,
Who knew no brighter gems than summer wreaths,"
And none but tearless triumphs. Let us on.

Enter PANIA.

Pan. May the King live for ever!

Sar.
Not an hour
Longer than he can love. How my soul hates
This language, which makes life itself a lie,
Flattering dust with eternity." Well, Pania!
Be brief.

Pan. I am charged by Salemenes to
Reiterate his prayer unto the King,
That for this day, at least, he will not quit
The palace when the General returns,
He will adduce such reasons as will warrant
His daring, and perhaps obtain the pardon
Of his presumption.

Sar.

What am I then cooped?

Already captive? can I not even breathe
The breath of heaven? Tell prince Salemenes,
Were all Assyria raging round the walls
In mutinous myriads, I would still go forth.
Pan. I must obey, and yet-

i. Who loved no gems so well
ii. Wishing eternity to dust

as those of nature. -[MS. M.]
--[MS. M.]

570

Oh, Monarch, listen.

Myr.
How many a day and moon thou hast reclined
Within these palace walls in silken dalliance,
And never shown thee to thy people's longing;
Leaving thy subjects' eyes ungratified,
The satraps uncontrolled, the Gods unworshipped,
And all things in the anarchy of sloth,

Till all, save evil, slumbered through the realm!
And wilt thou not now tarry for a day,-

A day which may redeem thee? Wilt thou not
Yield to the few still faithful a few hours,
For them, for thee, for thy past fathers' race,
And for thy sons' inheritance?

'Tis true!

Pan.
From the deep urgency with which the Prince
Despatched me to your sacred presence, I
Must dare to add my feeble voice to that
Which now has spoken.

Sar.

Myr. For the sake of thy realm!

Sar.

Pan.

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590

No, it must not be.

Away!

For that

Of all thy faithful subjects, who will rally
Round thee and thine.

Sar.

There is no peril :-'tis a sullen scheme

These are mere fantasies:

Of Salemenes, to approve his zeal,

And show himself more necessary to us.

600

Myr. By all that's good and glorious take this counsel. Sar. Business to-morrow.

Myr.

Aye-or death to-night.

Sar. Why let it come then unexpectedly,

'Midst joy and gentleness, and mirth and love; So let me fall like the plucked rose !-far better Thus than be withered.

Myr.

Then thou wilt not yield,

Even for the sake of all that ever stirred

A monarch into action, to forego

A trifling revel.

Sar. Myr.

No.

Then yield for mine;

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Myr.

'Tis the first 610

Boon which I ever asked Assyria's king.

Sar. That's true, and, wer't my kingdom, must be

granted.

Well, for thy sake, I yield me.

Thou hear'st me.

Pan.
Sar.

And obey.

Pania, hence!

[Exit PANIA.

I marvel at thee. What is thy motive, Myrrha, thus to urge me? Myr. Thy safety; and the certainty that nought Could urge the Prince thy kinsman to require Thus much from thee, but some impending danger. Sar. And if I do not dread it, why shouldst thou? Myr. Because thou dost not fear, I fear for thee. 620 Sar. To-morrow thou wilt smile at these vain fancies. Myr. If the worst come, I shall be where none weep, And that is better than the power to smile.

And thou?

Sar.

I shall be King, as heretofore.

Myr. Where?

Sar.

With Baal, Nimrod, and Semiramis,

Sole in Assyria, or with them elsewhere.

Fate made me what I am-may make me nothing

But either that or nothing must I be:

I will not live degraded.

Myr.

Hadst thou felt

Thus always, none would ever dare degrade thee. 630 Sar. And who will do so now?

Myr.
Dost thou suspect none?
Sar. Suspect!-that's a spy's office. Oh! we lose
Ten thousand precious moments in vain words,

And vainer fears. Within there !-ye slaves, deck
The Hall of Nimrod for the evening revel;

If I must make a prison of our palace,

At least we'll wear our fetters jocundly;

If the Euphrates be forbid us, and

The summer-dwelling on its beauteous border,
Here we are still unmenaced. Ho! within there!

640

[Exit SARDANAPALUS.

Myr. (solus). Why do I love this man? My country's daughters

Love none but heroes. But I have no country!

The slave hath lost all save her bonds. I love him;
And that's the heaviest link of the long chain-

To love whom we esteem not. Be it so :

The hour is coming when he'll need all love,

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And find none. To fall from him now were baser
Than to have stabbed him on his throne when highest
Would have been noble in my country's creed :
I was not made for either. Could I save him,
I should not love him better, but myself;
And I have need of the last, for I have fallen
In my own thoughts, by loving this soft stranger:
And yet, methinks, I love him more, perceiving
That he is hated of his own barbarians,

The natural foes of all the blood of Greece.
Could I but wake a single thought like those

Which even the Phrygians felt when battling long

"Twixt Ilion and the sea, within his heart,

He would tread down the barbarous crowds, and triumph.

He loves me, and I love him; the slave loves

Her master, and would free him from his vices.
If not, I have a means of freedom still,

And if I cannot teach him how to reign,

May show him how alone a King can leave

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His throne. I must not lose him from my sight. [Exit.

ACT II.

SCENE I.-The Portal of the same Hall of the Palace.

Beleses (solus). The Sun goes down: methinks he sets more slowly,

Taking his last look of Assyria's Empire.

How red he glares amongst those deepening clouds,
Like the blood he predicts. If not in vain,

Thou Sun that sinkest, and ye stars which rise,

I have outwatched ye, reading ray by ray

The edicts of your orbs, which make Time tremblei
For what he brings the nations, 'tis the furthest
Hour of Assyria's years. And yet how calm!

An earthquake should announce so great a fall—
A summer's sun discloses it. Yon disk,

To the star-read Chaldean, bears upon
Its everlasting page the end of what
Seemed everlasting; but oh! thou true Sun!
The burning oracle of all that live,
As fountain of all life, and symbol of

Him who bestows it, wherefore dost thou limit
Thy lore unto calamity? Why not

Unfold the rise of days more worthy thine
All-glorious burst from ocean? why not dart
A beam of hope athwart the future years,

As of wrath to its days? Hear me ! oh, hear me !

I am thy worshipper, thy priest, thy servant

I have gazed on thee at thy rise and fall,
And bowed my head beneath thy mid-day beams,
When my eye dared not meet thee. I have watched
For thee, and after thee, and prayed to thee,
And sacrificed to thee, and read, and feared thee,
And asked of thee, and thou hast answered-but
Only to thus much: while I speak, he sinks-
Is gone and leaves his beauty, not his knowledge,
To the delighted West, which revels in

Its hues of dying glory. Yet what is

Death, so it be but glorious? 'Tis a sunset;
And mortals may be happy to resemble

The Gods but in decay.

Arb.

Enter ARBACES by an inner door.

Beleses, why

So wrapt in thy devotions? Dost thou stand
Gazing to trace thy disappearing God
Into some realm of undiscovered day?
Our business is with night-'tis come.

i. Each twinkle unto which Time trembles, and
Nations grow nothing —.—[MS. M. erased.]

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