502 BYRON'S
Sat*. What! am I then coop’d ?
Already captive ? can I not even breatheThe breath of Heaven ? Tell Prince Salemenes,Were all Assyria raging: round the wallsIn mutinous myriads, I would still go forth.
Pan . I must obey you, and yet-
Myr. Oh, monarch, listen.—
Haw many a day and moon thou hast reclinedWithin these palace walls in silken dalliance,
And never shown thee to thy people’s longing;Leaving thy subjects’ eyes ungratified,
The satraps uncontroll’d, the gods unworshipp’d,And all things in the anarchy of sloth,
"’ill all, save evil, slumber’d through the realm!.iiid wilt thou not now tarry for a day—
A day which may redeem thee ? Wilt thou notYield to the few still faithful a few hours,
For them, for thee, for thy past fathers’ race,And for thy sons’ inheritance ?
Pan. ’Tis true ;
From the deep urgency with which the princeDespatch’d me to your sacred presence, IMust dare to add my feeble voice to thatWhich now has spoken.
Sar. No, it must not he.
Myr. For the sake of thy realm!
Sar. Away!
Pan. For that
Of all thy faithful subjects, who will rallyRound thee and thine.
Sar. These are mere fantasies:
There is no peril:—’tis a sullen schemeOf Salemenes, to approve his zeal,
And show himself more necessary to us.
Myr. By all that’s good and glorious take thiscounsel.
Sar. Business to-morrow.
Myr. Ay, or death to-night.
S. Why, let it come then unexpectedly,iudst joy and gentleness, and mirth and ]$>ve ;So let me fall like the pluck’d rose! —far betterTims than be wither’d.
Myr. Then thou wilt not yield,
Even for the sake of all that ever stirr’dA monarch into action, to foregoA trifling revel ?
Sar. No.
Myr. Then yield for mine ;
For my sake!
Myr. ’Tis the first
Boon which ever I ask’d Assyria ’s King.
Sar. That’s true, and were’t my kingdom, mustbe granted.
Well, for thy sake I yield me. Panfti, hence!Thou hear’st me.
Pan. And obey.
[Exit Pcrnia.
Sar. I marvel at tliee.
What is thy motive, Myrrha , thus to urge me PMyr. Thy safety j and the certainty that noughtCould urge the prince, thy kinsman, to requireThus much from thee, but some impendingdanger.
Sar. And if I do not dread it, why sliouldstthou ?
Myr. Because ihov- dost not fear, I fear for thee.Sar. To-morrow thou wilt smile at these vainfancies.
Myr. If the worst come, I shall he where noneweep,
WORKS.
And that is better than the power to smile.
And thou ?
Sar. I shall he 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 no-thing—
But either that or nothing must I ho :
I will not live degraded.
Myr. I-Iadst thou felt
Thus always, non© would ever dare degrade thee.Sar. And who will do so now PMyr. Dost thou suspect none ?
Sar. Suspect!—that’s a spy’s office. Oil! wclose
Ten thousand precious moments in vain words,And vainer fears. Y/itliiii there!—ye slaves,deck
The hall of Nimrod for the evening revel:
If I must make a prison of our paiace,
At least we’ll wear our fetters jocundlyIf the Euphrates he forbid us, andThe summer dwelling on its beauteous border,Here we are still unmeuaeed. Ho! withinthere!
[Exit Sardanaiialus.Myr (sola ). Why do I love this man P Mycountry’s daughters
Love none but heroes. But 1 have no country !The slave hath lost all save lier bonds. I lovohim;
And that’s the heaviest link of the long chain—To love whom we esteem not. Be it so:
The hour is coming when lie'll need all love,
And find none. To fall from him now werebaser
Than to have stabbed him on his throne whenhighest
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 fallenIn my own thoughts, by loving this softstranger:
And yet metliinks I love him more, perceivingThat he is hated of liis own barbariansThe natural foes of all the blood of Greece .Could I but wake a single thought like thoseWhich even the Phrygians feit when battlinglong
’Twixt Illion and the sea, within his heart,
He would tread down the barbarous crowds, andtriumph.
He loves me, and I love him ; the slave lovesHer 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 leaveHis throne. I must not lose him from my sight.
[Exit.