And thou may'st yet be glorious in thy reign, As powerful in thy realm. Farewell! [Exit SALEMENES. He's gone; and on his finger bears my signet, But if it should be so If they should sweep me off from Earth and Empire, Why, what is Earth or Empire of the Earth? 390 I have loved, and lived, and multiplied my image; 400 Acts of this clay! 'Tis true I have not shed If they rebel, 'tis because I oppress not. 410 Oh, men! ye must be ruled with scythes, not sceptres, And mowed down like the grass, else all we reap Is rank abundance, and a rotten harvest Of discontents infecting the fair soil, Making a desert of fertility. I'll think no more. -Within there, ho! Enter an ATTENDANT. Sar. Slave, tell The Ionian Myrrha we would crave her presence. Attend. King, she is here. 420 MYRRHA enters. Sar. (apart to Attendant). Away! (Addressing MYRRHA.) Thou dost almost anticipate my heart; Beautiful being! It throbbed for thee, and here thou comest: let me In absence, and attracts us to each other. Sar. What is it? Myr. I know there doth, but not its name: In my native land a God, Sar. 430 MYRRHA pauses. There comes For ever something between us and what 1S My Lord!— For ever thus, addressed with awe. I ne'er Can see a smile, unless in some broad banquet's Have gorged themselves up to equality, 440 Or I have quaffed me down to their abasement. them; That is, I suffered them—from slaves and nobles; In those for whom I have felt most, and makes me 450 With thee-and wear no crowns but those of flowers. Sar. And dost thou feel this ?-Why? Myr. Then thou wouldst know what thou canst never Myr. Myr. Not one! the time may come thou may'st. Hear, Myrrha; Salemenes has declared Or why or how he hath divined it, Belus, It will. Who founded our great realm, knows more than I— In peril. Myr. He did well. Sar. And say'st thou so? Thou whom he spurned so harshly, and now daredi I should do both Myr. Peril to thee Sar. 460 Aye, from dark plots and snares 470 From Medes-and discontented troops and nations. I know not what-a labyrinth of things A maze of muttered threats and mysteries: Thou know'st the man-it is his usual custom. But he is honest. Come, we'll think no more on't- Myr. 'Tis time To think of aught save festivals. Thou hast not Sar. i. What?-and dost thou fear? and even dared Profane our presence with his savage jeers.—[MS. M.] Myr. Fear -I'm a Greek, and how should I fear death? A slave, and wherefore should I dread my freedom? 480 I love. Even for that other's sake. This is too rash: Kingdoms and lives are not to be so lost. Sar. Lost!-why, who is the aspiring chief who dared Assume to win them? Myr. Who is he should dread Myr. 490 Frown not upon me: you have smiled Which they may augur.-King, I am your subject! If that love were strong Enough to overcome all former nature, Shall it not claim the privilege to save you? Myr. And without love where dwells security? The very first Myr. 500 510 Of watching the last hour of him who led them. I have heard thee talk of as the favourite pastime Sar. Thou speakest of them. Myr. Yet oft True-true constant thought Will overflow in words unconsciously; But when another speaks of Greeks, it wounds me. Myr. By teaching thee to save thyself, and not 530 Myr. Alas! my Lord, with common men There needs too oft the show of war to keep The substance of sweet peace; and, for a king, "Tis sometimes better to be feared than loved. Sar. And I have never sought but for the last. Myr. And now art neither. Sar. Dost thou say so, Myrrha ? Myr. I speak of civic popular love, self-love, Which means that men are kept in awe and law, Yet not oppressed—at least they must not think so, Or, if they think so, deem it necessary, To ward off worse oppression, their own passions. A King of feasts, and flowers, and wine, and revel, And love, and mirth, was never King of Glory. Sar. Glory! what's that? Myr. 540 Ask of the Gods thy fathers. Sar. They cannot answer; when the priests speak for them, "Tis for some small addition to the temple. Myr. Look to the annals of thine Empire's founders. Sar. They are so blotted o'er with blood, I cannot. VOL. V. D |