by Byron
As auguries of Jove.
SARDANAPALUS:Jove! – ay, your Baal –
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Ours also has a property in thunder,
And ever and anon some falling bolt
Proves his divinity, – and yet sometimes
Strikes his own altars.
MYRRHA:That were a dread omen.
SARDANAPALUS: Yes – for the priests. Well, we will not go forth
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Beyond the palace walls to-night, but make
Our feast within.
MYRRHA: Now, Jove be praised! that he
Hath heard the prayer thou wouldst not hear. The gods
Are kinder to thee than thou to thyself,
And flash this storm between thee and thy foes,
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To shield thee from them.
SARDANAPALUS:Child, if there be peril,
Methinks it is the same within these walls
As on the river’s brink.
MYRRHA: Not so; these walls
Are high and strong, and guarded. Treason has
To penetrate through many a winding way,
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And massy portal; but in the pavilion
There is no bulwark.
SARDANAPALUS:No, nor in the palace,
Nor in the fortress, nor upon the top
Of cloud-fenced Caucasus, where the eagle sits
Nested in pathless clefts, if treachery be:
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Even as the arrow finds the airy king,
The steel will reach the earthly. But be calm:
The men, or innocent or guilty, are
Banish’d, and far upon their way.
MYRRHA:They live, then?
SARDANAPALUS: So sanguinary? Thou!
MYRRHA:I would not shrink
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From just infliction of due punishment
On those who seek your life: wer’t otherwise,
I should not merit mine. Besides, you heard
The princely Salemenes.
SARDANAPALUS:This is strange;
The gentle and the austere are both against me,
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And urge me to revenge.
MYRRHA: ’Tis a Greek virtue.
SARDANAPALUS: But not a kingly one – I’ll none on’t; or
If ever I indulge in’t, it shall be
With kings – my equals.
MYRRHA: These men sought to be so.
SARDANAPALUS: Myrrha, this is too feminine, and springs
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From fear
MYRRHA:For you.
SARDANAPALUS:No matter, still ’tis fear.
I have observed your sex, once roused to wrath,
Are timidly vindictive to a pitch
Of perseverance, which I would not copy.
I thought you were exempt from this, as from
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The childish helplessness of Asian women.
MYRRHA: My lord, I am no boaster of my love,
Nor of my attributes; I have shared your splendour
And will partake your fortunes. You may live
To find one slave more true than subject myriads:
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But this the gods avert! I am content
To be beloved on trust for what I feel,
Rather than prove it to you in your griefs,
Which might not yield to any cares of mine
SARDANAPALUS: Grief cannot come where perfect love exists,
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Except to heighten it, and vanish from
That which it could not scare away. Let’s in –
The hour approaches, and we must prepare
To meet the invited guests who grace our feast.
[Exeunt.]
Act III
SCENE I
The Hall of the Palace illuminated – SARDANAPALUS and his Guests at Table. – A Storm without, and Thunder occasionally heard during the Banquet.
SARDANAPALUS: Fill full! why this is as it should be: here
Is my true realm, amidst bright eyes and faces
Happy as fair! Here sorrow cannot reach.
ZAMES: Nor elsewhere – where the king is, pleasure sparkles.
5
SARDANAPALUS: Is not this better now than Nimrod’s huntings,
Or my wild grandam’s chase in search of kingdoms
She could not keep when conquer’d?
ALTADA:Mighty though
They were, as all thy royal line have been,
Yet none of those who went before have reach’d
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The acmé of Sardanapalus, who
Has placed his joy in peace – the sole true glory.
SARDANAPALUS: And pleasure, good Altada, to which glory
Is but the path. What is it that we seek?
Enjoyment! We have cut the way short to it,
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And not gone tracking it through human ashes,
Making a grave with every footstep.
ZAMES:No;
All hearts are happy, and all voices bless
The king of peace, who holds a world in jubilee.
SARDANAPALUS: Art sure of that? I have heard otherwise;
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Some say that there be traitors.
ZAMES: Traitors they
Who dare to say so! – ’Tis impossible.
What cause?
SARDANAPALUS: What cause? true, – fill the goblet up;
We will not think of them: there are none such,
Or if there be, they are gone.
ALTADA:Guests, to my pledge!
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Down on your knees, and drink a measure to
The safety of the king – the monarch, say I?
The god Sardanapalus!
[ZAMES and the Guests kneel and exclaim —]
Mightier than
His father Baal, the god Sardanapalus!
[It thunders as they kneel; some start up in confusion.]
ZAMES: Why do you rise, my friends? in that strong peal
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His father gods consented.
MYRRHA:Menaced, rather.
King, wilt thou bear this mad impiety?
SARDANAPALUS: Impiety! – nay, if the sires who reign’d
Before me can be gods, I’ll not disgrace
Their lineage. But arise, my pious friends;
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Hoard your devotion for the thunderer there:
I seek but to be loved, not worshipp’d.
ALTADA: Both –
Both you must ever be by all true subjects.
SARDANAPALUS: Methinks the thunders still increase: it is
An awful night.
MYRRHA:Oh yes, for those who have
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No palace to protect their worshippers.
SARDANAPALUS: That’s true, my Myrrha; and could I convert
My realm to one wide shelter for the wretched,
I’d do it.
MYRRHA: Thou’rt no god, then, not to be
Able to work a will so good and general,
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As thy wish would imply.
SARDANAPALUS:And your gods, then, Who can, and do not?
MYRRHA:Do not speak of that,
Lest we provoke them.
SARDANAPALUS:True, they love not censure
Better than mortals. Friends, a thought has struck me:
Were there no temples, would there, think ye, be
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Air worshippers? that is, when it is angry,
And pelting as even now.
MYRRHA:The Persian prays
Upon his mountain.
SARDANAPALUS:Yes, when the sun shines.
MYRRHA: And I would ask if this your palace were
Unroof’d and desolate, how many flatterers
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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.
SARDANAPALUS:Nay, pardon, guests,
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The fair Greek’s readiness of speech.
ALTADA:Pardon! sire:
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.
ALTADA: It sounded like the clash of – hark again!
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ZAMES: The big rain pattering on the roof.
SARDANAPALUS: No more.
Myrrha, my love, hast thou thy shell in order?
Sing me a song of Sappho, her, thou know’st,
Who in thy country threw —
[Enter PANIA, with his sword and garments bloody, and disordered. The Guests rise in confusion.]
PANIA [to the Guards]:Look to the portals;
And with your best speed to the walls without.
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Your arms! To arms! The king’s in danger. Monarch!
Excuse this haste, – ’tis faith.
SARDANAPALUS:Speak on.
PANIA:It is
As Salemenes fear’d; the faithless satraps —
SARDANAPALUS: You are wounded – give some wine. Take
breath, good Pania.
PANIA: ’Tis nothing – a mere flesh wound. I am worn
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More with my speed to warn my sovereign,
Than hurt in his defence.
MYRRHA: Well, sir, the rebels?
PANIA: Soon as Arbaces and Beleses reach’d
Their stations in the city, they refused
To march; and on my attempt to use the power
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Which I was delegated with, they call’d
Upon their troops, who rose in fierce defiance.
MYRRHA: All?
PANIA:Too many.
SARDANAPALUS:Spare not of thy free speech,
To spare mine ears the truth.
PANIA:My own slight guard
Were faithful, and what’s left of it is still so.
MYRRHA: And are these all the force still faithful?
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PANIA: No –
The Bactrians, now led on by Salemenes,
Who even then was on his way, still urged
By strong suspicion of the Median chiefs,
Are numerous, and make strong head against
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The rebels, fighting inch by inch, and forming
An orb around the palace, where they mean
To centre all their force, and save the king.
[He hesitates.]
I am charged to—
MYRRHA:’Tis no time for hesitation.
PANIA: Prince Salemenes doth implore the king
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To arm himself, although but for a moment,
And show himself unto the soldiers: his
Sole presence in this instant might do more
Than hosts can do in his behalf.
SARDANAPALUS:What, ho!
My armour there.
MYRRHA:And wilt thou?
SARDANAPALUS:Will I not?
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Ho, there! – but seek not for the buckler: ’tis
Too heavy: – a light cuirass and my sword.
Where are the rebels?
PANIA: Scarce a furlong’s length
From the outward wall the fiercest conflict rages.
SARDANAPALUS: Then I may charge on horseback. Sfero, ho!
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Order my horse out. – There is space enough
Even in our courts, and by the outer gate,
To marshal half the horsemen of Arabia.
[Exit SFERO for the armour.]
MYRRHA: How I do love thee!
SARDANAPALUS:I ne’er doubted it.
MYRRHA: But now I know thee.
SARDANAPALUS [to his Attendant]: Bring down my spear
too.-
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Where’s Salemenes?
PANIA:Where a soldier should be, In the thick of the fight.
SARDANAPALUS:Then hasten to him — Is
The path still open, and communication
Left ’twixt the palace and the phalanx?
PANIA:’Twas
When I late left him, and I have no fear:
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Our troops were steady, and the phalanx form’d.
SARDANAPALUS: Tell him to spare his person for the present,
And that I will not spare my own – and say,
I come.
PANIA: There’s victory in the very word.
[Exit PANIA.]
SARDANAPALUS:
Altada – Zames – forth, and arm ye! There
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Is all in readiness in the armoury.
See that the women are bestow’d in safety
In the remote apartments: let a guard
Be set before them, with strict charge to quit
The post but with their lives – command it, Zames.
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Altada, arm yourself, and return here;
Your ost is near our erson.
[Exeunt ZAMES, ALTADA, and all save MYRRHA.]
[Enter SFERO and others with the King’s Arms, &]
SFERO:King! your armour.
SARDANAPALUS [arming himself]: Give me the cuirass – so:
my baldric; now
My sword: I had forgot the helm – where is it?
That’s well – no, ’tis too heavy: you mistake, too –
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It was not this I meant, but that which bears
A diadem around it.
SFERO:Sire, I deem’d
That too conspicuous from the precious stones
To risk your sacred brow beneath – and trust me,
This is of better metal, though less rich.
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SARDANAPALUS: You deem’d! Are you too turn’d a rebel?
Fellow!
Your part is to obey: return, and — no –
It is too late – I will go forth without it.
SFERO: At least, wear this.
SARDANAPALUS:Wear Caucasus! why, ’tis
A mountain on my temples.
SFERO:Sire, the meanest
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Soldier goes not forth thus exposed to battle.
All men will recognise you – for the storm
Has ceased, and the moon breaks forth in her brightness.
SARDANAPALUS: I go forth to be recognised, and thus
Shall be so sooner. Now – my spear! I’m arm’d.
[In going stops short, and turns to SFERO.]
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Sfero – I had forgotten – bring the mirror.
SFERO: The mirror, sire?
SARDANAPALUS:Yes, sir, of polish’d brass,
Brought from the spoils of India – but be speedy.
[Exit SFERO.]
SARDANAPALUS: Myrrha, retire unto a place of
safety.
Why went you not forth with the other damsels?
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MYRRHA: Because my place is here.
SARDANAPALUS: And when I am gone —
MYRRHA: I follow.
SARDANAPALUS: You! to battle?
MYRRHA:If it were so,
’Twere not the first Greek girl had trod the path.
I will await here your return.
SARDANAPALUS:The place
Is spacious, and the first to be sought out,
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If they prevail; and, if it be so,
And I return not –
MYRRHA:Still we meet again.
SARDANAPALUS: How?
MYRRHA:In the spot where all must meet at
last –
In Hades! if there be, as I believe,
A shore beyond the Styx: and if there be not,
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In ashes.
SARDANAPALUS: Darest thou so much?
M
YRRHA: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.]
SARDANAPALUS [looking at himself]: This cuirass fits me well, the baldric better,
And the helm not at all. Methinks I seem
[Flings away the helmet after trying it again.]
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Passing well in these toys; and now to prove them.
Altada! Where’s Altada?
SFERO:Waiting, sire,
Without: he has your shield in readiness.
SARDANAPALUS: True; I forgot he is my shield-bearer
By right of blood, derived from age to age.
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Myrrha, embrace me; – yet once more – once more –
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
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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
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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
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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
Learn’d to compound on Euxine shores, and taught me
How to preserve, shall free me! It had freed me
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Long ere this hour, but that I loved, until
I half forgot I was a slave: – where all
Are slaves save one, and proud of servitude,
So they are served in turn by something lower
In the degree of bondage, we forget
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That shackles worn like ornaments no less
Are chains. Again that shout! and now the clash
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.
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MYRRHA: And the king?
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
Too much exposed. The soldiers knew his face,
And the foe too; and in the moon’s broad light,
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His silk tiara and his flowing hair
Make him a mark too royal. Every arrow
