Selected Poems (139 page)

SARDANAPALUS
:At Babylon.

At least from thence he will depart to meet me.

HERALD
: I shall obey you to the letter.

[
Exit
HERALD
.]

SARDANAPALUS
:Pania! –

355

Now, my good Pania! – quick – with what I order’d.

PANIA
: My lord, – the soldiers are already charged.

And see! they enter.

[
Soldiers enter, and form a Pile about the Throne, &
]

SARDANAPALUS
:Higher, my good soldiers,

And thicker yet; and see that the foundation

Be such as will not speedily exhaust

340

Its own too subtle flame; nor yet be quench’d

With aught officious aid would bring to quell it.

Let the throne form the
core
of it; I would not

Leave that, save fraught with fire unquenchable,

To the new comers. Frame the whole as if

365

’Twere to enkindle the strong tower of our

Inveterate enemies. Now it bears an aspect!

How say you, Pania, will this pile suffice

For a king’s obsequies?

PANIA
:Ay, for a kingdom’s.

I understand you, now.

SARDANAPALUS
:And blame me?

PANIA
:No-

370

Let me but fire the pile, and share it with you.

MYRRHA
: That duty’s mine.

PANIA
:A woman’s!

MYRRHA
:’Tis the soldier’s

Part to die
for
his sovereign, and why not

The woman’s with her lover?

PANIA
:’Tis most strange!

MYRRHA
: But not so rare, my Pania, as thou think’st it.

375

In the mean time, live thou. – Farewell! the pile

Is ready.

PANIA
: I should shame to leave my sovereign

With but a single female to partake

His death.

SARDANAPALUS
: Too many far have heralded

Me to the dust, already. Get thee hence;

380

Enrich thee.

PANIA
:And live wretched!

SARDANAPALUS
:Think upon

Thy vow: – ’tis sacred and irrevocable.

PANIA
: Since it is so, farewell.

SARDANAPALUS
:Search well my chamber,

Feel no remorse at bearing off the gold;

Remember, what you leave you leave the slaves

385

Who slew me: and when you have borne away

All safe off to your boats, blow one long blast

Upon the trumpet as you quit the palace.

The river’s brink is too remote, its stream

Too loud at present to permit the echo

390

To reach distinctly from its banks. Then fly, –

And as you sail, turn back; but still keep on

Your way along the Euphrates: if you reach

The land of Paphlagonia, where the queen

Is safe with my three sons in Cotta’s court,

395

Say, what you saw at parting, and request

That she remember what I
said
at one

Parting more mournful still.

PANIA
:That royal hand!

Let me then once more press it to my lips;

And these poor soldiers who throng round you, and

400

Would fain die with you!

[
The Soldiers and
PANIA
throng round him, kissing his hand and the hem of his robe
.]

SARDANAPALUS
:My best! my last friends!

Let’s not unman each other: part at once:

All farewells should be sudden, when for ever,

Else they make an eternity of moments,

And clog the last sad sands of life with tears.

405

Hence, and be happy: trust me, I am not

Now
to be pitied; or far more for what

Is past than present; – for the future, ’tis

In the hands of the deities, if such

There be: I shall know soon. Farewell – Farewell.

[
Exeunt
PANIA
and Soldiers
.]

410

MYRRHA
: These men were honest: it is comfort still

That our last looks should be on loving faces.

SARDANAPALUS
: And
lovely
ones, my beautiful! – but hear

me!

If at this moment, – for we now are on

The brink, — thou feel’st an inward shrinking from

415

This leap through flame into the future, say it:

I shall not love thee less; nay, perhaps more,

For yielding to thy nature: and there’s time

Yet for thee to escape hence.

MYRRHA
:Shall I light

One of the torches which lie heap’d beneath

420

The ever-burning lamp that burns without,

Before Baal’s shrine, in the adjoining hall?

SARDANAPALUS
: Do so. Is that thy answer?

MYRRHA
: Thou shalt see.

[
Exit
MYRRHA
.]

SARDANAPALUS
[
solus
]: She’s firm. My fathers! whom I

will rejoin,

It may be, purified by death from some

425

Of the gross stains of too material being,

I would not leave your ancient first abode

To the defilement of usurping bondmen;

If I have not kept your inheritance

As ye bequeath’d it, this bright part of it,

430

Your treasure, your abode, your sacred relics

Of arms, and records, monuments, and spoils,

In which
they
would have revell’d, I bear with me

To you in that absorbing element,

Which most personifies the soul as leaving

435

The least of matter unconsumed before

Its fiery workings: — and the light of this

Most royal of funereal pyres shall be

Not a mere pillar form’d of cloud and flame,

A beacon in the horizon for a day,

440

And then a mount of ashes, but a light

To lesson ages, rebel nations, and

Voluptuous princes. Time shall quench full many

A people’s records, and a hero’s acts;

Sweep empire after empire, like this first

445

Of empires, into nothing; but even then

Shall spare this deed of mine, and hold it up

A problem few dare imitate, and none

Despise – but, it may be, avoid the life

Which led to such a consummation.

[
MYRRHA
returns with a lighted Torch in one Hand, and a Cup in the other
.]

MYRRHA
:Lo!

450

I’ve lit the lamp which lights us to the stars.

SARDANAPALUS
: And the cup?

MYRRHA
:’Tis my country’s custom to

Make a libation to the gods.

SARDANAPALUS
:And mine

To make libations amongst men. I’ve not

Forgot the custom; and although alone,

Will drain one draught in memory of many

A joyous banquet past.

[
SARDANAPALUS
takes the cup, and after drinking and tinkling the reversed cup, as a drop falls, exclaims
— ]

And this libation

Is for the excellent Beleses.

MYRRHA
:Why

Dwells thy mind rather upon that man’s name

Than on his mate’s in villany?

SARDANAPALUS
:The one

460

Is a mere soldier, a mere tool, a kind

Of human sword in a friend’s hand; the other

Is master-mover of his warlike puppet:

But I dismiss them from my mind. – Yet pause,

My Myrrha! dost thou truly follow me,

465

Freely and fearlessly?

MYRRHA
:And dost thou think

A Greek girl dare not do for love, that which

An Indian widow braves for custom?

SARDANAPALUS
:Then

We but await the signal.

MYRRHA
:It is long

In sounding.

SARDANAPALUS
: Now, farewell; one last embrace.

470

MYRRHA
: Embrace, but
not
the last; there is one more.

SARDANAPALUS
: True, the commingling fire will mix our

ashes.