Sidebilder
PDF
ePub

Salem.

Is this moment

A fitting one for the resumption of
Thy yet unslept-off revels?

Re-enter Cupbearer, with wine.

SARDANAPALUS (taking the cup from him).
Noble kinsman,

If these barbarian Greeks of the far shores

And skirts of these our realms lie not, this Bacchus
Conquer'd the whole of India, did he not?

Salem. He did, and thence was deem'd a deity. Sardan. Not so:-of all his conquests a few columns, Which may be his, and might be mine, if I

Thought them worth purchase and conveyance, are
The landmarks of the seas of gore he shed,

The realms he wasted, and the hearts he broke.
But here, here in this goblet is his title
To immortality-the immortal grape

From which he first express'd the soul, and gave
To gladden that of man, as some atonement
For the victorious mischiefs he had done.
Had it not been for this, he would have been
A mortal still in name as in his grave;
And, like my ancestor Semiramis,
A sort of semi-glorious human monster.
Here's that which deified him-let it now
Humanize thee; my surly, chiding brother,
Pledge me to the Greek god!

Salem.

For all thy realms I would not so-blaspheme our country's creed. Sardan. That is to say, thou thinkest him a hero, That he shed blood by oceans; and no god, Because he turn'd a fruit to an enchantment, Which cheers the sad, revives the old, inspires The young, makes Weariness forget his toil, And Fear her danger; opens a new world When this, the present, palls. Well, then, I pledge thee And him as a true man, who did his utmost In good or evil to surprise mankind.

[Drinks.

Salem. Wilt thou resume a revel at this hour?
Sardan. And if I did, 'twere better than a trophy,
Being bought without a tear. But that is not

My present purpose: since thou wilt not pledge me,
Continue what thou pleasest.

(To the Cupbearer.)

Boy, retire.
[Exit Cupbearer.

Salem. I would but have recall'd thee from thy dream:

Better by me awaken'd than rebellion.

Sardan. Who should rebel? or why? what cause? pretext?

I am the lawful king, descended from

A race of kings who knew no predecessors.
What have I done to thee, or to the people,

But

That thou shouldst rail, or they rise up against me?
Salem. Of what thou hast done to me, I speak not.
Sardan.
Thou think'st that I have wrong'd the queen: is't not so?
Salem. Think! Thou hast wrong'd her!

Sardan.

Patience, prince, and hear me.

She has all power and splendour of her station,
Respect, the tutelage of Assyria's heirs,
The homage and the appanage of sovereignty.
I married her as monarchs wed-for state,
And loved her as most husbands love their wives.
If she or thou supposedst I could link me
Like a Chaldean peasant to his mate,

Ye knew nor me, nor monarchs, nor mankind.

Salem. I pray thee, change the theme; my blood disdains

Complaint, and Salemenes' sister seeks not
Reluctant love even from Assyria's lord!
Nor would she deign to accept divided passion
With foreign strumpets and Ionian slaves.

The queen is silent.

Surdan.

And why not her brother?

Salem. I only echo thee the voice of empires,

Which he who long neglects not long will govern.

Sardan. The ungrateful and ungracious slaves! they

murmur

N

Because I have not shed their blood, nor led them
To dry into the desert's dust by miriads,

Or whiten with their bones the banks of Ganges;
Nor decimated them with savage laws,

Nor sweated them to build up pyramids,
Or Babylonian walls.

Salem.

Yet these are trophies

More worthy of a people and their prince

Than songs, and lutes, and feasts, and concubines,
And lavish'd treasures, and contemned virtues.

Sardan. Or for my trophies I have founded cities.
There's Tarsus and Anchialus, both built

In one day-what could that blood loving beldame,
My martial grandam, chaste Semiramis,
Do more, except destroy them ?

Salem.

'Tis most true;

I own thy merit in those founded cities,

Built for a whim, recorded with a verse

Which shames both them and thee to coming ages.
Surdan. Shame me! By Baal, the cities, though well
built,

Are not more goodly than the verse! Say what
Thou wilt 'gainst me, my mode of life or rule,
But nothing 'gainst the truth of that brief record..
Why, those few lines contain the history
Of all things human; hear-"Sardanapalus
The king, and son of Anacyndaraxes,

In one day built Anchialus and Tarsus.

Eat, drink, and love; the rest's not worth a fillip.".
Salem. A worthy moral, and a wise inscription,

For a king to put up before his subjects!

Sardan. Oh, thou wouldst have me doubtless set up. edicts

Obey the king-contribute to his treasure-
Recruit his phalanx-spill your blood at bidding-
Fall down and worship, or get up and toil,"
Or thus--" Sardanapalus on this spot

Slew fifty thousand of his enemies.

These are their sepulchres, and this his trophy."
I leave such things to conquerors; enough

For me, if I can make my subjects feel
The weight of human misery less, and glide
Ungroaning to the tomb; I take no licence
Which I deny to them. We all are men.

Salem. Thy sires have been revered as gods-
Sardan.

In dust
And death, where they are neither gods nor men.
Talk not of such to me! the worms are gods;
At least they banqueted upon your gods,

And died for lack of farther nutriment.
Those gods were merely men; look to their issue-
I feel a thousand mortal things about me,
But nothing godlike, unless it may be
The thing which you condemn, a disposition
To love and to be merciful, to pardon

The follies of my species, and (that's human)
To be indulgent to my own.

Salem.

Alas!

The doom of Nineveh is seal'd.-Woe--woe

To the unrivall'd city!

Sardan.

What dost dread?

Salem. Thou art guarded by thy foes: in a few hours The tempest may break out which overwhelms thee, And thine and mine; and in another day

What is shall be the past of Belus' racc.

Sardan. What must we dread?

Salem.

Ambitious treachery,

Which has environ'd thee with snares: but yet
There is resource: empower me with thy signet
To quell the machinations, and, I lay

The heads of thy chief foes before thy feet.
Sardan. The heads-how many?
Salem.

Must I stay to number

When even thine own's in perit?

Let me go;

Give me thy signet-trust me with the rest.

Saraan. I will trust no man with unlimited lives.

When we take those from others, we nor know

What we have taken, nor the thing we give.

Sulem. Wouldst thou not take their lives who seek for

[merged small][ocr errors]

Sardan. That's a hard question.-But, I answer Yes. Cannot the thing be done without? Who are they Whom thou suspectest ?-Let them be arrested.

Salem. I would thou wouldst not ask me; the next mo

ment

Will send my answer through thy babbling troop

Of paramours, and thence fly o'er the palace,

Even to the city, and so baffle all.

Trust me.

Sur dan.

Take thou the signet.

Salem.

Sardan. Name it.

Thou knowest I have done so ever;

(Gives the signet.

I have one more request.

Salem. That thou this night forbear the banquet

In the pavilion over the Euphrates.

Sardan. Forbear the banquet! Not for all the plotters That ever shook a kingdom! Let them come,

And do their worst: I shall not blench for them;
Nor rise the sooner; nor forbear the goblet;

Nor crown me with a single rose the less;
Nor lose one joyous hour.--I fear them not.

Sulem. But thou wouldst arm thee, wouldst thou not, if needful?

Sardan. Perhaps. I have the goodliest armour, and
A sword of such a temper; and a bow

And javelin, which might furnish Nimrod forth:
A little heavy, but yet not unwieldy.

And now I think on't, 'tis long since I've used them,
Even in the chase. Hast ever seen them, brother?
Salem. Is this a time for such fantastic trifling ?-
If need be, wilt thou wear them?

Will I not?

Sardan.
Oh! if it must be so, and these rash slaves

Will not be ruled with less, I'll use the sword

Till they shall wish it turn'd into a distaff.

Salem. They say, thy sceptre's turn'd to that already. Sardan. That's false! but let them say so: the old Greeks,

Of whom our captives often sing, related

The same of their chief hero, Hercules,

« ForrigeFortsett »