Myrrha. And I would ask if this your palace were Unroof'd and desolate, how many flatterers Would lick the dust in which the king lay low? Altada. The fair Ionian is too sarcastic Upon a nation whom she knows not well; The Assyrians know no pleasure but their king's, And homage is their pride. Sard. Nay, pardon, guests, The fair Greek's readiness of speech. We honour her of all things next to thee. Hark! what was that? Zames. That! nothing but the jar Of distant portals shaken by the wind. The rebels, fighting inch by inch, and An orb around the palace, where they mean To arm himself, although but for a moment, Sard. What, ho! My armour there. Myrrha. And wilt thou? Sard. Will I not? Ho, there!--But seek not for the buckler; 'tis Altada. It sounded like the clash of-Too heavy:-a light cuirass and my sword. hark again! Zames. The big rain pattering on the roof. Myrrha, my love, hast thou thy shell in Sing me a song of Sappho, her, thou knowst, Enter PANIA, with his sword and garments Pania (to the guards). Look to the portals; And with your best speed to the wall without. Your arms! To arms! The king's in danger. Excuse this haste,-'tis faith. As Salemenes fear'd; the faithless satraps- More with my speed to warn my sovereign, Myrrha. Well, sir, the rebels. Pania. Soon as Arbaces and Beleses Their stations in the city, they refused Which I was delegated with, they call'd Pania. Too many. Sard. Sparc not of thy free speech Pania. My own slight guard Pania. No Where are the rebels? Pania. Scarce a furlong's length rages. Sard. Then I may charge on horseback. Sfero, ho! Myrrha. Order my horse out.-There is space enough Pania. Where a soldier should be, Sard. Then hasten to him-Is When I late left him, and I have no fear: Sard. Tell him to spare his person for the present, And that I will not spare my own--and say, Pania. There's victory in the very word. There Is all in readiness in the armoury. Altada, arm yourself, and return here; [Excunt Zames, Altada, and all save The Bactrians, now led on by Salemenes, Enter SFERO and others with the King's Sard. (arming himself) Give me the | And the helm not at all. Methinks, I seem cuirass-so: my baldric; now [Flings away the helmet after trying it again. My sword: I had forgot the helm, where is it? This is of better metal, though less rich. .Sard. You deem'd! Are you too turn'd a rebel? Fellow! Your part is to obey: return, and-noIt is too late-I will go forth without it. Sfero. At least wear this. Sard. Wear Caucasus! why, 'tis A mountain on my temples. Sfero. Sire, the meanest Soldier goes not forth thus exposed to battle. All men will recognize you-for the storm Has ceased, and the moon breaks forth in her brightness. Sard. go forth to be recognized, and thus Shall be so sooner. Now my spear! I'm arm'd. [In going stops short, and turns to Sfero. Sfero-I had forgotten--bring the mirror. Sfero. The mirror, sire? Sard. Yes, sir, of polish'd brass, Brought from the spoils of India-but be speedy. [Exit Sfero. Myrrha, retire unto a place of safety. Why went you not forth with the other damsels? Myrrha. Because my place is here. Myrrha. I follow. Sard. You! to battle? Myrrha. If it were so, Passing well in these toys; and now to prove them. Altada! Where's Altada? Without: he has your shield in readiness. bearer more By right of blood, derived from age to age. Myrrha embrace me; yet once more—once Love me, whate'er betide. My chiefest glory Shall be to make me worthier of your love. Myrrha. Go forth, and conquer! [Exeunt Sardanapalus and Sfero. Now, I am alone. All are gone forth, and of that all how few Perhaps return. Let him but vanquish, and Me perish! If he vanquish not, I perish; For I will not outlive him. He has wound About my heart, I know not how nor why. Not for that he is king; for now his kingdom Rocks underneath his throne, and the earth yawns To yield him no more of it than a grave; And yet I love him more. Oh, mighty Jove! Forgive this monstrous love for a barbarian, Who knows not of Olympus: yes, I love him Now, now, far more than-Hark-to the war-shout! Methinks it nears me. If it should be so, [She draws forth a small vial. This cunning Colchian poison, which my father Long ere this hour, but that I loved, until I half forgot I was a slave:--where all "Twere not the first Greek girl had trod the Are slaves save one, and proud of servitude, path. I will await here your return. Is spacious, and the first to be sought out, Myrrha. Still, we meet again. Myrrha. In the spot where all must In Hades! if there be, as I believe, A shore beyond the Styx; and if there be not, In ashes. Sard. Dar'st thou so much? Myrrha. I dare all things, Except survive what I have loved, to be A rebel's booty: forth, and do your bravest. Re-enter SFERO with the mirror. So they are served in turn by something lower In the degree of bondage, we forget Of arms-and now-and now Enter ALTADA. Altada. Ho, Sfero, ho! Myrrha. He is not here; what wouldst thou with him? How Goes on the conflict? Altada. Dubiously and fiercely. Altada. Like a king. I must find Sfero, And bring him a new spear and his own helmet. He fights till now bare-headed, and by far Sard. (looking at himself) This cuirass fits Too much exposed. The soldiers knew his me well, the baldric better, face, And the foe too; and in the moon's broad light, His silk tiara and his flowing hair Pania. And charged me to secure your life, And beg you to live on for his sake, till He can rejoin you. Myrrha. Will he then give way? Pania. Not till the last. Still, still he does whate'er Despair can do; and step by step disputes Who fulmine o'er my fathers' land, protect The very palace. him! Were you sent by the king? Altada. By Salemenes, Who sent me privily upon this charge, Without the knowledge of the careless sovereign. The king! the king fights as he revels! ho! What, Sfero! I will seek the armoury, He must be there. [Exit Altada. Myrha. Tis no dishonour-no— 'Tis no dishonour to have loved this man. I almost wish now, what I never wish'd Before, that he were Grecian. If Alcides Were shamed in wearing Lydian Omphale's She-garb, and wielding her vile distaff; surely He, who springs up a Hercules at once, Nursed in effeminate arts from youth to manhood, And rushes from the banquet to the battle, As though it were a bed of love, deserves That a Greek girl should be his paramour, And a Greek bard his minstrel, a Greek tomb His monument. How goes the strife, sir? Enter an Officer. Officer. Lost, Lost almost past recovery. Zames! Where Is Zames? Myrrha. Posted with the guard appointed To watch before the apartment of the women. [Exit Officer. Myrrha. He's gone; and told no more than that all's lost! What need have I to know more? In those words, Those little words, a kingdom and a king, the great, Like a small bubble breaking with the wave Which bore it, shall be nothing. At the least My fate is in my keeping: no proud victor Shall count me with his spoils. Myrrha. They are here, then:—ay, Their shouts come ringing through the ancient halls, Never profaned by rebel echoes till Pania. Away with me-away! Myrrha. No; I'll die here!-Away, and tell your king I loved him to the last. Enter SARDANAPALUS and SALEMENES with Soldiers. PANIA quits MYRRHA, and ranges himself with them. Sard. Since it is thus, We'll die where we were born-in our own halls. Serry your ranks-stand firm. I have despatch'd A trusty satrap for the guard of Zames, [Pania returns towards Myrrha. Sal. We have breathing time: yet one more charge, my friendsOne for Assyria! Sard. Rather say for Bactria! My faithful Bactrians, I will henceforth be King of your nation, and we'll hold together This realm as province. Sal. Hark! they come-they come. Enter BELESES and ARBACES with the Rebels. Arbaces. Set on, we have them in the toil. Charge! Charge! Beleses. On! on!-Heaven fights for us and with us.-On! [They charge the King and Salemenes with their Troops, who defend themselves till the arrival of Zames with the Guard before mentioned. The Rebels are then driven off, and pursued by Salemenes, etc. As the King is going to join the pursuit, Beleses crosses him. Beleses. Ho! tyrant-I will end this war. Sard. Even so, My warlike priest, and precious prophet, and Grateful and trusty subject:-yield, I pray thee. I would reserve thee for a fitter doom, fate In the sign of the Scorpion, which proclaims | His silken son to save it: he defies Beleses. But not by thee. [They fight; Beleses is wounded and disarmed. Sard. (raising his sword to despatch him exclaims-) Now call upon thy planets, will they shoot From the sky to preserve their seer and credit? [A party of Rebels enter and rescue Beleses. They assail the King, who, in turn, is rescued by a party of his Soldiers, who drive the Rebels off. The villain was a prophet after all. Upon them-ho! there-victory is ours. [Exit in pursuit. Myrrha (to Pania). Pursue! Why standst thou here, and leavest the ranks Offellow-soldiers conquering without thee? Pania. The king's command was not to quit thee. Myrrha. Me! Think not of me-a single soldier's arm Must not be wanting now. I ask no guard, I need no guard: what, with a world at stake, Keep watch upon a woman? Hence, I say, Or thou art shamed! Nay, then, I will go forth, A feeble female, 'midst their desperate strife, And bid thee guard me there—where thou shouldst shield Thy sovereign. [Exit Pania. Enter ALTADA, and SFERO by an opposite door. Altada. Myrrha! What, gone? yet she was here when the fight raged, And Pania also. Can aught have befallen them? Sfero. I saw both safe, when late the rebels fled: They probably are but retired to make Altada. If the king Prove victor, as it seems even now he must, And miss his own Ionian, we are doom'd To worse than captive rebels. Sfero. Let us trace them; She cannot be fled far; and, found, she makes A richer prize to our soft sovereign Than his recover'd kingdom. Altada. Baal himself All augury of foes or friends; and like The close and sultry summer's day, which bodes A twilight-tempest, bursts forth in such thunder As sweeps the air and deluges the earth. The man's inscrutable. Sfero. Not more than others. All are the sons of circumstance; away— Let's seek the slave out, or prepare to be Tortured for his infatuation, and Condemn'd without a crime. [Exeunt. Enter SALEMENES and Soldiers. And we have open'd regular access When they hear of our victory. But where Sard. Here, brother. Sard. Not quite; but let it pass. Sal. And, I trust, the city. Our numbers gather; and I have order'd onward A cloud of Parthians, hitherto reserved, All fresh and fiery, to be pour'd upon them In their retreat, which soon will be a flight. Sard. It is already, or at least they march'd Ne'er fought more fiercely to win empire, With greater strength than the grape ever My charge upon the rebels. Where's the As a lute's pierceth through the cymbal's soldier Who gave me water in his helmet? One of the Guards. Slain, sire! An arrow pierced his brain, while, scattering The last drops from his helm, he stood in act To place it on his brows. Sard. Slain! unrewarded! And slain to serve my thirst: that's hard, poor slave! Had he but lived, I would have gorged him with Gold: all the gold of earth could ne'er repay The pleasure of that draught; for I was parch'd As I am now. [They bring water-he drinks. I live again-from henceforth The goblet I reserve for hours of love, But war on water. Sal. And that bandage, sire, Which girds your arm? Sard. A scratch from brave Beleses. Myrrha. Oh! he is wounded! Sard. Not too much of that; And yet it feels a little stiff and painful, Now I am cooler. Myrrha. You have bound it with- That ornament was ever aught to me Myrrha (to the Attendants). Summon A leech of the most skilful: pray, retire; I will unbind your wound and tend it. Sard. Do so, clash, Jarr'd but not drown'd by the loud battling; her Waved arms, more dazzling with their own-born whiteness Than the steel her hand held, which she caught up From a dead soldier's grasp; all these things made Her seem unto the troops a prophetess Sal. (aside) This is too much: (Aloud.) But pray thee, sire, Think of your wound-you said even now 'twas painful. Sard. That's true, too; but I must not think of it. Sal. I have look'd to all things needful, and will now Receive reports of progress made in such Orders as I had given, and then return To hear your further pleasure. Sard. Be it so. Sal. (in retiring) Myrrha! Sal. You have shown a soul to-night, Which, were he not my sister's lord→ But now I have no time: thou lov'st the king? Sardanapalus. Sal. But wouldst have him king still? Myrrha. I would not have him less than Myrrha. There needed not the voice of To urge me on to this: I will not fail. Sal. Is power Omnipotent o'er such a heart as his; Exert it wisely. [Exit Salemenes. Sard. Myrrha! what, at whispers With my stern brother? I shall soon be jealous. Myrrha (smiling). You have cause, sire; for on the earth there breathes not A man more worthy of a woman's love— A soldier's trust—a subject's reverence— A king's esteem-the whole world's admi ration! Sard. Praise him, but not so warmly. I must not |