_Enter_ SARDANAPALUS _and Soldiers_.
_Sar._ My best brother!
_Sal._ And the battle Is lost?
_Sar._ (_despondingly_). You see _me here_.
_Sal._ I"d rather see you _thus!_ [_He draws out the weapon from the wound, and dies_.
_Sar._ And _thus_ I will be seen; unless the succour, The last frail reed of our beleagured hopes, Arrive with Ofratanes.
_Myr._ Did you not Receive a token from your dying brother, Appointing Zames chief?
_Sar._ I did.
_Myr._ Where"s Zames?
_Sar._ Dead.
_Myr._ And Altada?
_Sar._ Dying.
_Myr._ Pania? Sfero?
_Sar._ Pania yet lives; but Sfero"s fled or captive. 140 I am alone.
_Myr._ And is all lost?
_Sar._ Our walls, Though thinly manned, may still hold out against Their present force, or aught save treachery: But i" the field----
_Myr._ I thought "twas the intent Of Salemenes not to risk a sally Till ye were strengthened by the expected succours.
_Sar._ _I_ over-ruled him.
_Myr._ Well, the _fault"s_ a brave one.
_Sar._ But fatal. Oh, my brother! I would give These realms, of which thou wert the ornament, The sword and shield, the sole-redeeming honour, 150 To call back----But I will not weep for thee; Thou shall be mourned for as thou wouldst be mourned.
It grieves me most that thou couldst quit this life Believing that I could survive what thou Hast died for--our long royalty of race.
If I redeem it, I will give thee blood Of thousands, tears of millions, for atonement, (The tears of all the good are thine already).
If not, we meet again soon,--if the spirit Within us lives beyond:--thou readest mine, 160 And dost me justice now. Let me once clasp That yet warm hand, and fold that throbless heart [_Embraces the body_.
To this which beats so bitterly. Now, bear The body hence.
_Sol._ Where?
_Sar._ To my proper chamber.
Place it beneath my canopy, as though The King lay there: when this is done, we will Speak further of the rites due to such ashes.
[_Exeunt Soldiers with the body of_ SALEMENES.
_Enter_ PANIA.
_Sar._ Well, Pania! have you placed the guards, and issued The orders fixed on?
_Pan._ Sire, I have obeyed.
_Sar._ And do the soldiers keep their hearts up?
_Pan._ Sire? 170
_Sar._ I am answered! When a king asks twice, and has A question as an answer to _his_ question, It is a portent. What! they are disheartened?
_Pan._ The death of Salemenes, and the shouts Of the exulting rebels on his fall, Have made them----
_Sar._ _Rage_--not droop--it should have been.
We"ll find the means to rouse them.
_Pan._ Such a loss Might sadden even a victory.
_Sar._ Alas!
Who can so feel it as I feel? but yet, Though cooped within these walls, they are strong, and we 180 Have those without will break their way through hosts, To make their sovereign"s dwelling what it was-- A palace, not a prison--nor a fortress.
_Enter an Officer, hastily_.
_Sar._ Thy face seems ominous. Speak!
_Offi._ I dare not.
_Sar._ Dare not?
While millions dare revolt with sword in hand!
That"s strange. I pray thee break that loyal silence Which loathes to shock its sovereign; we can hear Worse than thou hast to tell.
_Pan._ Proceed--thou hearest.
_Offi._ The wall which skirted near the river"s brink Is thrown down by the sudden inundation 190 Of the Euphrates, which now rolling, swoln From the enormous mountains where it rises, By the late rains of that tempestuous region, O"erfloods its banks, and hath destroyed the bulwark.
_Pan._ That"s a black augury! it has been said For ages, "That the City ne"er should yield To man, until the River grew its foe."
_Sar._ I can forgive the omen, not the ravage.
How much is swept down of the wall?
_Offi._ About Some twenty stadia.[29]
_Sar._ And all this is left 200 Pervious to the a.s.sailants?
_Offi._ For the present The River"s fury must impede the a.s.sault; But when he shrinks into his wonted channel, And may be crossed by the accustomed barks, The palace is their own.
_Sar._ That shall be never.
Though men, and G.o.ds, and elements, and omens, Have risen up "gainst one who ne"er provoked them, My father"s house shall never be a cave For wolves to horde and howl in.