by Lord Byron
Is my true realm, amidst bright eyes and faces
Happy as fair! Here sorrow cannot reach.
Zam. Nor elsewhere — where the King is, pleasure sparkles.
Sar. Is not this better now than Nimrod’s huntings,
Or my wild Grandam’s chase in search of kingdoms
She could not keep when conquered?
Alt. Mighty though
They were, as all thy royal line have been,
Yet none of those who went before have reached
The acme of Sardanapalus, who 10
Has placed his joy in peace — the sole true glory.
Sar. 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,
And not gone tracking it through human ashes,
Making a grave with every footstep.
Zam. No;
All hearts are happy, and all voices bless
The King of peace — who holds a world in jubilee.
Sar. Art sure of that? I have heard otherwise;
Some say that there be traitors.
Zam. Traitors they 20
Who dare to say so! — ’Tis impossible.
What cause?
Sar. What cause? true, — fill the goblet up;
We will not think of them: there are none such,
Or if there be, they are gone.
Alt. Guests, to my pledge!
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.
Zam. Why do you rise, my friends? in that strong peal
His father gods consented.
Myr. Menaced, rather. 30
King, wilt thou bear this mad impiety?
Sar. Impiety! — nay, if the sires who reigned
Before me can be Gods, I’ll not disgrace
Their lineage. But arise, my pious friends;
Hoard your devotion for the Thunderer there:
I seek but to be loved, not worshipped.
Alt. Both —
Both you must ever be by all true subjects.
Sar. Methinks the thunders still increase: it is
An awful night.
Myr. Oh yes, for those who have
No palace to protect their worshippers. 40
Sar. That’s true, my Myrrha; and could I convert
My realm to one wide shelter for the wretched,
I’d do it.
Myr. Thou’rt no God, then — not to be
Able to work a will so good and general,
As thy wish would imply.
Sar. And your Gods, then,
Who can, and do not?
Myr. Do not speak of that,
Lest we provoke them.
Sar. True — , they love not censure
Better than mortals. Friends, a thought has struck me:
Were there no temples, would there, think ye, be
Air worshippers? that is, when it is angry, 50
And pelting as even now.
Myr. The Persian prays
Upon his mountain.
Sar. Yes, when the Sun shines.
Myr. And I would ask if this your palace were
Unroofed and desolate, how many flatterers
Would lick the dust in which the King lay low?
Alt. 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.
Sar. Nay, pardon, guests,
The fair Greek’s readiness of speech.
Alt. Pardon! sire: 60
We honour her of all things next to thee.
Hark! what was that?
Zam. That! nothing but the jar
Of distant portals shaken by the wind.
Alt. It sounded like the clash of — hark again!
Zam. The big rain pattering on the roof.
Sar. 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.
Pan. (to the Guards). Look to the portals;
And with your best speed to the walls without.
Your arms! To arms! The King’s in danger. Monarch 70
Excuse this haste, — ’tis faith.
Sar. Speak on.
Pan. It is
As Salemenes feared; the faithless Satraps — —
Sar. You are wounded — give some wine. Take breath, good Pania.
Pan. ‘Tis nothing — a mere flesh wound. I am worn
More with my speed to warn my sovereign,
Than hurt in his defence.
Myr. Well, Sir, the rebels?
Pan. Soon as Arbaces and Beleses reached
Their stations in the city, they refused
To march; and on my attempt to use the power
Which I was delegated with, they called 80
Upon their troops, who rose in fierce defiance.
Myr. All?
Pan. Too many.
Sar. Spare not of thy free speech,
To spare mine ears — the truth.
Pan. My own slight guard
Were faithful, and what’s left of it is still so.
Myr. And are these all the force still faithful?
Pan. 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
The rebels, fighting inch by inch, and forming 90
An orb around the palace, where they mean
To centre all their force, and save the King.
(He hesitates.) I am charged to — —
Myr.’Tis no time for hesitation.
Pan. Prince Salemenes doth implore the King
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.
Sar. What, ho!
My armour there.
Myr. And wilt thou?
Sar. Will I not?
Ho, there! — but seek not for the buckler: ‘tis 100
Too heavy: — a light cuirass and my sword.
Where are the rebels?
Pan. Scarce a furlong’s length
From the outward wall the fiercest conflict rages.
Sar. Then I may charge on horseback. Sfero, ho!
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.
Myr. How I do love thee!
Sar. I ne’er doubted it.
Myr. But now I know thee.
Sar. (to his Attendant). Bring down my spear too —
Where’s Salemenes?
Pan. Where a soldier should be, 110
In the thick of the fight.
Sar. Then hasten to him — — Is
The path still open, and communication
Left ‘twixt the palace and the phalanx?
Pan.’Twas
When I late left him, and I have no fear;
Our troops were steady, and the phalanx formed.
Sar. Tell him to spare his person for the present,
An
d that I will not spare my own — and say,
I come.
Pan. There’s victory in the very word. [Exit Pania.
Sar. Altada — Zames — forth, and arm ye! There
Is all in readiness in the armoury. 120
See that the women are bestowed 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.
Altada, arm yourself, and return here;
Your post is near our person.
[Exeunt Zames, Altada, and all save Myrrha.
Enter Sfero and others with the King’s Arms, etc.
Sfe. King! your armour.
Sar. (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 —
It was not this I meant, but that which bears 130
A diadem around it.
Sfe. Sire, I deemed
That too conspicuous from the precious stones
To risk your sacred brow beneath — and trust me,
This is of better metal, though less rich.
Sar. You deemed! Are you too turned a rebel? Fellow!
Your part is to obey: return, and — no —
It is too late — I will go forth without it.
Sfe. At least, wear this.
Sar. Wear Caucasus! why, ‘tis
A mountain on my temples.
Sfe. Sire, the meanest
Soldier goes not forth thus exposed to battle. 140
All men will recognise you — for the storm
Has ceased, and the moon breaks forth in her brightness.
Sar. I go forth to be recognised, and thus
Shall be so sooner. Now — my spear! I’m armed.
[In going stops short, and turns to Sfero.
Sfero — I had forgotten — bring the mirror.
Sfe. The mirror, Sire?
Sar. Yes, sir, of polished brass,
Brought from the spoils of India — but be speedy.
[Exit Sfero.
Sar. Myrrha, retire unto a place of safety.
Why went you not forth with the other damsels?
Myr. Because my place is here.
Sar. And when I am gone — — 150
Myr. I follow.
Sar. You! to battle?
Myr. If it were so,
‘Twere not the first Greek girl had trod the path.
I will await here your return.
Sar. The place
Is spacious, and the first to be sought out,
If they prevail; and, if it be so,
And I return not — —
Myr. Still we meet again.
Sar. How?
Myr. 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,
In ashes.
Sar. Darest thou so much?
Myr. I dare all things 160
Except survive what I have loved, to be
A rebel’s booty: forth, and do your bravest.
Re-enter Sfero with the mirror.
Sar. (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.
Passing well in these toys; and now to prove them.
Altada! Where’s Altada?
Sfe. Waiting, Sire,
Without: he has your shield in readiness.
Sar. True — I forgot — he is my shield-bearer
By right of blood, derived from age to age.
Myrrha, embrace me; — yet once more — once more — 170
Love me, whate’er betide. My chiefest glory
Shall be to make me worthier of your love.
Myr. 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 180
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
Learned to compound on Euxine shores, and taught me
How to preserve, shall free me! It had freed me
Long ere this hour, but that I loved until 190
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
That shackles worn like ornaments no less
Are chains. Again that shout! and now the clash
Of arms — and now — and now — —
Enter Altada.
Alt. Ho, Sfero, ho!
Myr. He is not here; what wouldst thou with him? How
Goes on the conflict?
Alt. Dubiously and fiercely.
Myr. And the King?
Alt. Like a king. I must find Sfero, 200
And bring him a new spear with 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,
His silk tiara and his flowing hair
Make him a mark too royal. Every arrow
Is pointed at the fair hair and fair features,
And the broad fillet which crowns both.
Myr. Ye Gods,
Who fulminate o’er my father’s land, protect him!
Were you sent by the King?
Alt. By Salemenes, 210
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.
Myr.’Tis no dishonour — no —
‘Tis no dishonour to have loved this man.
I almost wish now, what I never wished
Before — that he were Grecian. If Alcides
Were shamed in wearing Lydian Omphale’s
She-garb, and wielding her vile distaff; surely 220
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?
Myr. Posted with the guard appointed
To watch before the apartment of the women. 230
[Exit Officer.
Myr. (sola). 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,
&n
bsp; A line of thirteen ages, and the lives
Of thousands, and the fortune of all left
With life, are merged; and I, too, with 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.
Enter Pania.
Pan. Away with me, 240
Myrrha, without delay; we must not lose
A moment — all that’s left us now.
Myr. The King?
Pan. Sent me here to conduct you hence, beyond
The river, by a secret passage.
Myr. Then
He lives — —
Pan. And charged me to secure your life,
And beg you to live on for his sake, till
He can rejoin you.
Myr. Will he then give way?
Pan. Not till the last. Still, still he does whate’er
Despair can do; and step by step disputes
The very palace.
Myr. They are here, then: — aye, 250
Their shouts come ringing through the ancient halls,
Never profaned by rebel echoes till
This fatal night. Farewell, Assyria’s line!
Farewell to all of Nimrod! Even the name
Is now no more.
Pan. Away with me — away!
Myr. 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.
Sar. Since it is thus,
We’ll die where we were born — in our own halls
Serry your ranks — stand firm. I have despatched
A trusty satrap for the guard of Zames,
All fresh and faithful; they’ll be here anon.
All is not over, — Pania, look to Myrrha.
[Pania returns towards Myrrha.
Sal. We have breathing time; yet once more charge, my friends —
One for Assyria!
Sar. 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.
Arb. Set on, we have them in the toil. Charge! Charge!
Bel. 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.
Bel. Ho! tyrant — I will end this war.
Sar. Even so, 270
My warlike priest, and precious prophet, and
Grateful and trusty subject: yield, I pray thee.
I would reserve thee for a fitter doom,