828
B996s Dr. Doare
LORD BYRON'S

Historical Tragedy
OF
Dec. 1887
PALUS
ARRANGED
་
REPRESENTATION,
In Four Acts,
By CHARLES CALVERT,
FOR
AS PERFORMED AT
BOOTH'S THEATRE, NEW YORK,
UNDER THE MANAGEMENT OF
MESSRS. JARRETT & PALMER,
AND FIRST PRODUCED 14th AUGUST, 1876.

ARTES
LIBRARY
1837
APELETTRO
VERITAS
OULUKOZOLCHOJ
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
US UNU
E PLURIBUS
TCEBOR
SCIENTIA
CIRCUMSPICE
OF THE
SI-QUÆRIS PENINSULAM-AMŒNAM
SEMUUUUMUAGAON
THE GIFT OF
Dr. L.G. Doane
PREFACE.
THE luxurious reign and tragic end of Sardanapalus, chronicled in the
magic lines of Byron, have now the proof of history, and the astonishing
discoveries recently made and now progressing on the banks of the ancient
Tigris give an additional interest to his work, by attesting beyond all doubt
the absolute truth of his principal incidents.
Our museums contain many of the sculptured slabs, scorched and calcined
by the fire that ended the Assyrian Empire.
Picked from the crumbling fragments of that costly ruin are the evidences
of the mighty sacrifice the wayward King at length performed. The thrill-
ing story is now proved to be no myth; the spot is known where the dying
King immolated himself as the flames roared around him, mingling in
horrid discord with the shrill cries of the beauties of his country, when the
fierce fire, like a host of angry demons, flew upon, enveloped, bore down
and transformed to cinders only that wondrous band of the fairest girls in
Africa.
The spot is known where Assurbanipal (the Sardanapalus of the Greeks)
sat to die the death, and heard amidst the horrid din the imprecations of
agonized men who cursed the royal voluptuary, whose supineness had
brought them disgrace, defeat, and death.
Twenty-five centuries have passed since then; till within a few years the
very site of the city was unknown; the sands of the desert had covered it
as in its grave of dust. Far above those skeletons of grandeur the rank
weeds grew and spread themselves ungathered, and the lizard and snake,
undisturbed, had their burrows and bowers of leaves.
Yet under this weird desolation, where the jackal and panther had their
lairs, lay the buried stories of men and women who had existed in luxury,
and the sweetness and turmoil of life-the love and the grief of sweethearts
and mourners--the whirlwind of passion and the serenity of home.
The cuneiform character, with which their floors and walls were covered,
and which the learned now read, tell us of the conquests, the magnificence,
and the blood-shedding of their kings and conquerors.
To the poet is left "to animate the dry bones," and tell us of the stiller
life of these great ones-their loves, their wooings, their big and their little
errors in both—the sighs and the sorrows that they felt as we do, who are
neither kings nor conquerors.
To tell us that the God Sardanapalus, for so they called him, loved and
was beloved-fulfilled his brief space of material being, with the small or
us of common humanity with which we are all of us, hth_sˆál
..
iv
PREFACE.
low, familiar; lived, as we all live, to rejoice in the blessings we enjoy,
and to sorrow over the crossings we do not comprehend; and after all to
meet inevitable death, the lot of all, with, to us superstitious mortals, so
strange and inexplicable a complacence, as though the departure from ma-
terial life was only as is the birth to it-an agony ending in a joy.
How Byron tells us the sad story needs no comment here. Appended
are a few opinions by men truly great themselves in literature, and from
such pens commendation is praise indeed.
For the excisions and curtailments found necessary for the successful
stage representation of this drama I am responsible, but I have touched it
with no irreverent hand, and have studiously labored to give it a setting
worthy of its merit.
For the elaborate and costly scale of its illustration I cannot conceive any
apology necessary. Surely the Theatre is put to no ignoble use, when, in
addition to the vivid representation, by accomplished performers, of one of
the happiest dramatic effects of Byron's genius, it becomes an arena where
its cognate arts-painting, music, history, archæology-combine harmo-
niously to show us "the very age and body of a time" coeval with Josiah's
restoration of Solomon's Temple.
What more fitting hour to gratify the student of art and history, by plac-
ing before him a "picture in little" of the mighty empire that held all the
East in thrall, exacting tribute, and leading into bondage the chosen people
of Judah and Samaria; the surpassing splendor of its regal, life, its wealth,
and earthly glory; its high, though remote civilization; its habits and´
aspects; its edifices; its institutions, civil, literary and military-all differing
so widely from our own, yet attesting so forcibly the existence, character
and genius of a great and remarkable people?
How far I shall succeed in realizing my aspirations, of placing before the
highest minds, the highest work, in the highest form, time will show.
Whether I shall be forgiven or not for daring to attempt a task of such
magnitude I have yet to learn; but with all humbleness I ask for myself
credit for conscientious efforts to do all possible in my power to reproduce
a memorable time as exactly as the Assyrian sculptures, tablets and records
now existing render possible.
Mr. George Smith (of the Department of Oriental Antiquities), the latest
Assyrian explorer, and who is at this moment on the very spot pursuing his
researches, has generously and heartily aided me by his great learning on
the subject, and to his most valuable co-operation I desire here to acknowl-
edge my indebtedness.
I submit the revival with deep respect to that portion of the public who
believe the Theatre is dignified and its higher mission fulfilled by making
all its illustrations truthful, beautiful, and instructive.
V...].
et 1876
CHARLES CALVERT.
1
REMARKS BY EMINENT WRITERS.
“Sardanapalus is, beyond all doubt, a work of great beauty and power;
and, though the heroine has many traits in common with the 'Medoras
and 'Gulnares' of Lord Byron's undramatic poetry, the hero must be al-
lowed to be a new character in his hands. He has, indeed, the scorn of
war, and glory, and priestcraft, and regular morality which distinguishes
the rest of his lordship's favorites; but he has no misanthropy and very
little pride, and may be regarded, on the whole, as one of the most truly
good-humored, amiable and respectable voluptuaries to whom we have ever
been presented. In this conception of his character the author has very
wisely followed nature and fancy rather than history. His Sardanapalus
is not an effeminate, worn-out debauchee, with shattered nerves and ex-
hausted senses, the slave of indolence and vicious habits; but a sanguine
votary of pleasure, a princely epicure, indulging, reveling in boundless
luxury while he can; but with a soul so inured to voluptuousness, so satu-
rated with delights, that pain and danger, when they came uncalled for,
give him neither concern nor dread; and he goes forth from the banquet to
the battle as to a dance or measure, attired by the graces, and with youth,
joy, and love for his guides. He dallies with Bellona, as her bridegroom,
for his sport and pastime; and the spear or fan become his hands equally
well. He enjoys life, in short, and triumphs in death; and, whether in
prosperous or adverse circumstances, his soul smiles out superior to evil."
"The Epicurean philosophy of Sardanapalus gives him a fine opportunity,
in his conference with his stern and confidential adviser, 'Salemenes,' to
contrast his own imputed and fatal vices of ease and love of pleasure, with
the boasted virtues of his predecessors' war and conquest."-Jeffery.
"The Sardanapalus of Lord Byron is pretty nearly such a person as the
Sardanapalus of history may be supposed to have been-young, thought-
less, spoiled by flattery and unbounded self-indulgence, but with a temper
naturally amiable, and abilities of a superior order, he affects to undervalue
the sanguinary renown of his ancestry as an excuse for inattention to the
most necessary duties of his rank, and flatters himself while he is indulging
his own sloth that he is making his people happy; yet even in his fondness
forpleasure there lurks a love of contradiction. Of the whole picture self-
ishness is the prevailing feature-selfishness admirably drawn indeed; apol-
ogized for by every palliating circumstance of education and habit, and
clothed in the brightest colors of which it is susceptible from youth, talents,
and placability. But it is selfishness still; and we should have been tempted
to quarrel with the art which made vice and frivolity thus amiable, if Lord
Byron had not at the same time pointed out with much skill the bitterness
and weariness of spirit which inevitably wait on such a character, and if he
had not given a fine contrast to the picture in the accompanying portraits
of 'Salemenes' and 'Myrrha.'"-Reginald Heber.
"Salemenes is the direct opposite to selfishness, and the character, though
slightly sketched, displays little less ability than that of Sardanapalus. He
is a stern, loyal, plain-spoken soldier and subject: clear-sighted, just and
vi
REMARKS BY EMINENT WRITERS.
honorable in his ultimate views, though not more punctilious about the
means of obtaining them than might be expected from a respectable satrap
of ancient Nineveh, or a respectable vizier of the modern Turkish empire.
To his king, in spite of personal neglect and family injuries, he is through-
out pertinaciously attached and punctiliously faithful. To the king's rebels
he is inclined to be severe, bloody, and even treacherous; an imperfection,
however, in his character, to want which would in his situation be almost
unnatural, and which is skillfully introduced as a contrast to the instinctive
perception of virtue and honor which flashes out from the indolence of his
master. Of the satrap, however, the faults as well as the virtues are alike
the offspring of disinterested loyalty and patriotism. It is for his country
and king that he is patient of injury; for them he is valiant, for them cruel.
He has no ambition of personal power, no thirst of individual fame. In
battle and in victory Assyria' is his only war cry. When he sends
off the queen and princes, he is less anxious for his nephews and sister than
for the preservation of the line of Nimrod; and in his last moments it is the
supposed flight of his sovereign which alone distresses and overcomes
him.”—Reginald Heber.
"The chief charm and vivifying angel of the piece is Myrrha, the Greek
slave of Sardanapalus-a beautiful, heroic, devoted, and ethereal being—in
love with the generous and infatuated monarch, ashamed of loving a barba-
rian, and using all her influence over him to ennoble as well as to adorn his
existence, and to arm him against the terrors of its close. Her voluptuous-
ness is that of the heart-her heroism of the affections. If the part she
takes in the dialogue be sometimes too subdued and submissive for the lofty
daring of her character, it is still such as might become a Greek slave-a
lovely Ionian girl-in whom the love of liberty and the scorn of death were
tempered by the consciousness of what she regarded as a degrading passion,
and an inward sense of fitness and decorum with reference to her condi-
tion."-Jeffery.
""
Myrrha is a female Salemenes, in whom, with admirable skill, attach-
ment to the individual Sardanapalus is substituted for the gallant soldier's
loyalty to the descendant of kings, and whose energy of expostulation, no
less than the natural high tone of her talents, her courage and her Grecian
pride, is softened into a subdued and winning tenderness by the constant
and painful recollection of her abasement as a slave in the royal harem;
and still more by the lowliness of perfect womanly love in the presence of
and towards the object of her passions. No character can be drawn more
natural than hers; few ever have been drawn more touching and amiable.
Of course, she is not, nor could be, a Jewish or a Christian heroine; but she
is a model of Grecian piety and nobility of spirit, and she is one whom a
purer faith would have raised to the level of a Rebecca or a Miriam."-
Reginald Heber.
"The Ionian name has been still more comprehensive, having included
the Achaians and the Boeotians, who, together with those to whom it was
afterwards confined, would make nearly the whole of the Greek nation, and
among the Orientals it was always the general name for the Greeks."-
Mitford's Greece, vol. i., p. 199.
"We hardly know why Lord Byron, who has not in other respects shown
a slavish deference for Diodorus Siculus, should thus follow him in the mani-
fest geographical blunder of placing Nineveh on the Euphrates instead of
the Tigris, in opposition not only to the uniform traditions of the East,
but to the express assertions of Herodotus, Pliny and Ptolemy."-
Bishop Heber.
vii.
No other monarchy has had a catastrophe so splendid as that which illus-
trated the last days of the city of Sardanapalus. For fifteen days, if we
may credit Ctesias, the vast funereal pyre heaped up in the inner courtyard
of the Assyrian's Palace continued burning-King, Queen, Minister, Court,
and Harem; gold, silver, precious stones, stuffs, furniture, and equipage,
consuming together, in one prodigious blaze of splendor and riches. The
world has not since witnessed a luxury more magnificent in life and death;
nor has any other sensualist left mankind an epitaph so impressive :-
""
Sardanapalus, the son of Anacyndaraxis, built Tarsus and Ancyale in
one day, but is now dead."
REMARKS BY EMINENT WRITERS.
"Athenæus makes these treasures amount to a thousand myriads of tal-
ents of gold and ten times as many talents of silver, which is a sum that
exceeds all credibility. A man is lost if he attempts to sum up the whole
value, which induces me to believe that Athenæus must have very much
exaggerated; however, we may be assured from his account that the trea-
sures were immensely great."-Rollin.
1992, 20%
!

SARDANAPALUS.
ALTADA,
PANIA,
ZAMES,
SFERO,
BALEA,
DRAMATIS
PERSONÆ.
MEN.
SARDANAPALUS-King of Nineveh and Assyria, etc.
ARBACES--the Mede, who aspired to the throne.
BELESES-a Chaldean and Soothsayer.
SALEMENES-the King's Brother-in-law.
Assyrian Officers of the Palace.
WOMEN.
ZARINA-the Queen.
MYRRHA--an Ionian Female Slave, and the favorite of Sardanapalus.
Guaras, Attendants, Chaldean Priests. Medes, Spearmen, Nobles, Musicians, Standard-
Bearers, Dancing Girls, Incense Bearers, etc., etc.
ACT I.
SCENE I.-The Royal Palace of Nineveh, from the opposite bank of
the Tigris. The forepart of the stage represents a Terrace in the
Pleasure Gardens. SALEMENES discovered reclining beneath the
shadow of a tree.
[NOTE. This scene is from "Layard's Nineveh," Vol. II, and is considered by that
eminent authority to convey a general idea of the exterior appearance of the palace as it
stood on the platforms washed by the river Tigris. It is constructed from plans and
drawings of the original remains. The great tower is the tomb of the King, whose name
may perhaps be read Sardanapalus, and who was the builder of the north-west palace.
The small building beneath the tower is a temple dedicated to an Assyrian god. Ad-
joining it is the north-west palace, from which the principal Assyrian sculptures, now so
highly prized in the British Museum, were obtained.]
Salemenes. [solus.] He hath wrong'd his queen, but still he is
her lord;
He hath wrong'd my sister, still he is my brother;
He hath wrong'd his people, still he is their sovereign,
And I must be his friend as well as subject;
He must not perish thus. I will not see
The blood of Nimrod and Semiramis
Sink in the earth, and thirteen hundred year ¦
·
10
SARDANAPALUS.
Of empire ending like a shepherd's tale.
He must be roused. Alas! there is no sound
[Sound of soft music heard in the distance.
To rouse him short of thunder. Hark! the lute,
The lyre, the timbrel-the lascivious tinklings
Of lulling instruments.
Lo, where they come! already I perceive
The reeking odors of the perfumed trains,
And see the bright gems of the glittering girls
Who are his comrades, and his council flash
Along the alleys; and amidst the damsels,
As femininely garbed, and scarce less female,
The grandson of Semiramis, the man-queen.
He comes! Shall I await him? Yes, and front him,
And tell him what all good men tell each other,
Speaking of him and his. They come, the slaves,
Led by the monarch, subject to his slaves.
GRAND PROCESSION.
A Company of Musicians carrying and playing on the ancient in-
struments of music-the trigonon, tuba, dichord, psaltery, cymba-
lum, systrum, etc. A Company of the King's Pages bearing fans.
A Company of Bowmen fully armed. A Troop of Retainers, car-
rying lighted flambeaux burning perfumes. A Company of Spear-
men fully armed. Various Members and Officers of the Court, in-
cluding ARBACES and other Satraps of Provinces; BELESES, the
chief Pontiff, and other Chaldeans carrying the insignia of their
office; PANIA, ALTADA, ZAMES, SFERO, BALEA, and the chief
Courtiers and Favorites af the King. The Royal Herald and a
Company of Trumpeters. The King's Body Guard. A Guard of
Eunuchs fully armed. A Company of Dancing Girls, who with
the Singers and Musicians have been to meet the Monarch.
MYRRHA, and other Ladies of the Court, attended. SARDANAPA-
LUS, in his ivory chariot drawn by three steeds, fully attended and
followed by a numerous Guard of Honor, carrying the emblems of
their gods and divinities, the Royal Standards and sacred banners.
The King is received with a general obeisance.
Sardanapalus. [speaking to some of his attendants.] Let the pa-
vilion over the Tigris
Be garlanded and lit, and furnish'd forth
For an especial banquet; at the hour
Of midnight we will sup there; see naught wanting,
And bid the galley be prepared. There is
A cooling breeze which crisps the broad clear river;
We will embark anon.
Till then, let each be mistress of her time;
And thou, my own Ionian Myrrha, choose-
[He descends from his chariot.
SARDANAPALUS.
Wilt thou along with them or me?
Myrrha.
My lord-
Sardanapalus. My lord! My life, why answerest thou so coldly?
It is the curse of kings to be so answered.
Rule thy own hours; thou rulest mine-say, wouldst thou
Accompany our guests or charm away
The moments from me?
Myrrha. I would remain. I have no happiness
Save in beholding thine; yet—
Sardanapalus. Yet! what YET?
Myrrha, I think the present is the wonted hour
Of council; it were better I retire.
Salemenes. [comes forward.] The Iouian slave says well-let
her retire.
Sardanapalus. Who answers? How now, brother?
The Queen's brother,
Salemenes.
And your most faithful vassal, royal lord.
Sardanapalus. [addressing his train.] As I have said, let all dis-
pose their hours
Till midnight, when again we pray your presence.
[The Court retiring.
[To MYRRHA, who is going.] Myrrha, I thought thou wouldst re-
main.
Myrrha.
Sire, your brother—
Salemenes. His consort's brother. Minion of Iona!
How darest thou name me and not blush ?
Sardanapalus. What, in tears, my Myrrha?
Salemenes. Let them flow on; she weeps for more than one,
And is herself the cause of bitterer tears.
Sardanapalus. Thou dost forget thee-make me not remember
I am a monarch.
Salemenes. Would thou couldst !
Myrrha.
My sovereign,
I pray and thou, too, prince-permit my absence.
Sardanapalus. Since it must be so, and this churl has checked
Thy gentle spirit, go; but recollect
That we must forthwith meet. I had rather lose
It may be
Brother,
S
11
An empire than thy presence.
Salemenes.
Thou wilt lose both, and both forever!
Sardanapalus.
I can at least command myself, who listen
To language such as this; yet urge me not
Beyond my easy nature.
'Tis beyond
Salemenes.
That easy, far too easy, idle nature,
That I would urge thee.
Though 'twere against thyself.
[Exit MYRRHA.
Oh, that I could rouse thee!
12
SARDANAPALUS.
Sardanapalus.
The man would make me a tyrant.
Salemenes.
So thou art.
Thinkest thou there is no tyranny but that
Of blood and chains? The despotism of vice-
The weakness and wickedness of luxury-
The negligence-the apathy-the evils
Of sensual sloth-produce ten thousand tyrants.
Sardanapalus. Why, what makes thee the mouthpiece of the
people?
Salemenes. Forgiveness of the Queen, my sister's, wrongs;
A natural love unto my infant nephews;
Faith to the King, a faith he may need shortly,
In more than words; a respect for Nimrod's line;
I love to learn.
Salemenes.
By the god Baal!
Also, another thing thou knowest not.
Sardanapalus. What's that?
Salemenes.
Sardanapalus.
Sardanapalus. Say on.
Virtue.
Sardanapalus. [languidly.] Not know the word!
I've heard thy sister talk of nothing else.
Salemenes. To change the irksome theme, then, hear of vice.
Sardanapalus. From whom?
Salemenes. Even from the winds.
Sardanapalus.
To thee an unknown word.
Yet speak it;
Am I, then?
Salemenes.
All the nations,
For they are many, whom thy father left
In heritage, are loud in wrath against thee.
Sardanapalus. 'Gainst me! What would the slaves?
Salemenes.
A king.
And what
Salemenes. In their eyes a nothing; but
In mine, a man who might be something still.
Sardanapalus. I understand thee. Thou wouldst have me go
Forth as a conqueror. By all the stars
Which the Chaldeans read! the restless slaves
Deserve that I should curso them with their wishes,
And lead them forth to glory.
Salemenes.
Semiramis-a woman only-led
These our Assyrians to the solar shores
Of Ganges.
Wherefore not?
Sardanapalus. 'Tis most true. And how return'd ?
Salemenes. Why, like a man-a hero; baffled, but
Not vanquish'd. With but twenty guards, she made
Good her retreat to Bactria.
A
SARDANAPALUS.
Sardanapalus.
And how many
Left she behind in India to the vultures?
Salemenes. Our annals say not.
Sardanapalus.
Then I will say for them-
That she had better woven within her palace
Some twenty garments, than with twenty guards
Have fled to Bactria, leaving to the ravens,
And wolves, and men-the fiercer of the three-
Her myriads of fond subjects. Is this glory?
Then let me live in ignominy ever.
Salemenes. All warlike spirits have not the same fate.
Semiramis, the glorious parent of
A hundred kings, although she fail'd in India,
Brought Persia, Media, Bactria, to the realm
Which she once sway'd.
Sardanapalus.
I sway them-
She but subdued them.
Salemenes.
It may be ere long
That they will need her sword more than your sceptre.
I would but have recalled thee from thy dreams;
Better by me awaken'd than rebellion.
Sardanapalus. Who should rebel? or why?
pretext?
What have I done to thee, or to the people,
That thou shouldst rail, or they rise up against me?
Salemenes. Of what thou hast done to me, I speak not.
Sardanapalus.
But
Thou think'st that I have wrong'd the queen; is 't not so?
Salemenes. Think! Thou hast wrong'd her!
Sardanapalus.
Patience, prince, and hear me.
She has all power and splendor 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 not me, nor monarchs, nor mankind.
Salemenes. I pray thee, change the theme: my blood disdains
Complaint, and Salemenes' sister seeks not
Reluctant love from Assyria's lord!
The queen is silent.
What cause?
Sardanapalus.
And why not her brother?
Salemenes. I only echo thee the voice of empires,
Which he who long neglects not long will govern.
Thy sires have been revered as gods-
In dust
Sardanapalus.
And death, where they are neither gods nor men.
13
14
SARDANAPALUS.
Talk not of such to me! the worms are gods;
At least they banqueted upon your gods,
And died for lack of further 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.
Alas!
Salemenes.
The doom of Nineveh is seal'd-woe-woe
To the unrival'd city!
Sardanapalus. What must we dread?
Salemenės.
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.
Sardanapalus. The heads-how many?
Salemenes. Must I stay to number,
When even thine own's in peril? Let me go.
Give me thy signet-trust me with the rest.
Sardanapalus. I will trust no man with unlimited lives :
When we take those from others, we know not
What we have taken, nor the thing we give.
Salemenes. Wouldst thou not take their lives who seek for thine?
Sardanapalus. 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.
Salemenes. I would thou wouldst not ask me.
Trust me.
Sardanapalus. Thou knowest I have done so ever.
Take thou the signet.
Oh, if it inust be so, and these rash slaves
Will not be ruled by less, I'll use the sword
Till they shall wish it turned into a distaff.
[ Gives the signet.
Salemenes. They say thy sceptre's turned to that already.
Sardanapalus. 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,
Because he loved a Lydian queen. Thou seest
The populace of all the nations seize
Each calumny they can to sink their sovereigns.
Salemenes. They did not speak thus of thy fathers.
Sardanapalus.
No;
They dared not. They were kept to toil and combat,
SARDANAPALUS.
And never changed their chains but for their armor:
Now they have peace and pastime, and the license
To revel and to rail; it irks me not.
I would not give the smile of one fair girl
For all the popular breath that e'er divided
A name for nothing. Ne'er
Was man who more desired to rule in peace
The peaceful only; if they rouse me, better
They had conjured up stern Nimrod from his ashes.
[Crossing to L. and back to c.
The Court return as seeking the KING. ARBACES and BELESES
conspicuous by their adulation.
15
Salemenes. They say thou art unfit to be a monarch.
Sardanapalus. Anon, good friends! [To ARBACES and BEleses.
They lie! Unhappily I am unfit
To be aught save a monarch; else for me
The meanest Mede might be the King instead.
Salemenes. There is one Mede at least who seeks to be so.
Sardanapalus. What meanest thou? 'Tis thy secret! thou de-
sirest few question, and I'm not of curious nature.
Salemenes. I will not pause to answer
With words, but deeds.
Sardanapalus. [solus.] What may be the danger
I know not. He hath found it; let him quell it.
[Exit SALEMENES.
[All exit through the gates.
Must I consume my life-this little life
In guarding against all may make it less?
It is not worth so much! It were to die
Before my hour, to live in dread of death,
Tracing revolt, suspecting all about me,
Because they're near; and all who are remote,
Because they're far. 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?
I've loved, and lived, and multiplied my image;
To die is no less natural than those-
Acts of this clay! 'Tis true I have not shed
Blood, as I might have done, in oceans, till
My name became the synonym of death-
A terror and a trophy. But for this
I feel no penitence: my life is love.
If I must shed blood it shall be by force ;
Till now no drop from an Assyrian vein
Hath flow'd for me, nor hath the smallest coin
Of Nineveh's vast treasures e'er been lavished
On objects which could cost her sons a tear.
If then they hate me, 'tis because I hate not;
16
SARDANAPALUS.
?
If they rebel, it is because I oppress not.
Oh, men! ye must be ruled with scythes, not sceptres,
And mowed down like grass, else all we reap
Is rank abundance, and a rotten harvest
Of discontents, infecting the fair soil,
Making a desert of fertility.
SCENE II.—A Corridor in the Palace, tapestried. Preparations for
the Banquet. Attendants cross the stage with the wines and viands
for the coming banquet; they bear the cups and vessels then in
use, the fruit, flowers, locusts, etc., etc., and the Musicians and
Singers perform the ancient Pean or Hymn of Apollo. (The
Ancient Hymn to Apollo, probably the oldest musical composition
in the world, attributed by Burette to Dionysius Iambus, and
consequently written before the birth of Plutarch.-Burney's His-
tory of Music.)
SCENE III.-The Royal Palace of Nineveh from the opposite bank of
the Tigris. Time, evening. Sunset. A group of worshipers at
their devotions in the foreground. BELESES observing them from
a distance. The scene gradually darkens as the action proceeds.
Beleses. [solus.] The sun goes down; methinks he sets more slowly,
Taking his last look of Assyria's empire.
How red he glares amongst those deepening clouds
Like the blood he predicts.
Hear me, oh, hear me !
I am thy worshiper, thy priest, thy servant;
I have gazed on thee at thy rise and fall,
And bowed my head beneath thy midday beams,
When my eye dared not meet thee. I have watched
For thee, and after thee, and pray'd to thee,
And sacrificed to thee.
He sinks-
Is gone-and leaves his beauty, not his knowledge,
To the delighted west, which revels in
Its hues of dying glory.
Enter ARBACES, L. U. E.
Arbaces.
Beleses, why
So rapt in thy devotions? Dost thou stand
Gazing to trace thy disappearing god,
Into some realm of undiscovered day?
Our business is with night-'tis come.
Beleses.
But not
Gone.
Arbaces.
Does the Prophet doubt,
To whom the very stars shine victory?
•
SARDANAPALUS.
Beleses. I do not doubt of victory, but the victor.
Arbaces. Well, let thy science settle that. The order
Is issued for the feast in the pavilion.
The first cup which he drains will be the last
Quaff'd by the line of Nimrod.
Beleses.
"Twas a brave one.
Arbaces. And is a weak one-'tis worn out-we'll mend it
And yet it almost shames me; we shall have
So little to effect. This woman's warfare
Degrades the very conqueror. To have pluck'd
A bold and bloody despot from his throne,
And grappled with him, clashing steel with steel,
That were heroic, or to win or fall;
But to upraise my sword against this silkworm,
And hear him whine, it may be-
Do not deem it;
Beleses.
He has that in him which may make you strife yet;
And were he all you think, his guards are hardy,
And headed by the cool, stern Šalemenes.
Arbaces. He hates the effeminate thing that governs,
For the Queen's sake, his sister. Mark you not
He keeps aloof from all the revels?
Beleses.
But
Not from the council-there he is ever constant.
Arbaces. Why, it is his revenge we work for.
Beleses.
Could
He but be brought to think so; this I doubt of.
Arbaces. What if we sound him?
Beleses. Yes-if the time served.
Enter SALEMENES, with an armed guard.
Salemenes. Satraps!
Beleses.
My prince!
Salemenes. Well met-I sought ye both,
But elsewhere than the palace.
Wherefore so?
Arbaces.
Salemenes. "Tis not the hour.
Arbaces.
Salemenes.
Beleses. Midnight, my lord?
Salemenes. What, are you not invited ?
Beleses. Oh, yes! we had forgotten.
Salemenes.
Is it usual
Thus to forget a sovereign's invitation?
Arbaces. Why, we but now received it
Salemenes.
Then why here ?
Arbaces. On duty.
Salemenes.
On what duty?
The hour! what hour?
Of midnight!
17
18
SARDANAPALUS.
Beleses.
On the State's.
We have the privilege to approach the presence,
But found the monarch absent.
Salemenes. And I too am upon duty.
Arbaces. May we crave its purport?
Salemenes. To arrest two traitors! Satraps, your swords.
Beleses. [delivering his.] My lord, behold iny scimitar.
Arbaces. [drawing his sword.] Take mine.
She
Salemenes. [advancing.] I will.
Arbaces. But in your heart the blade-
The hilt quits not this hand.
Salemenes. [drawing.] How, dost thou brave me?
'Tis well-this saves a trial and false mercy.
Soldiers, hew down the rebel!
Arbaces.
Alone you dare not.
Salemenes. Alone
Soldiers? Aye,
foolish slave!
What is there in thee that a prince should shrink from
Of open force? We dread thy treason, not
Thy strength; thy tooth is nought without its venom-
The serpent's, not the lion's. Cut him down.
Beleses. [interposing.] Arbaces, are you mad? Have I not ren-
dered
My sword? Then trust like me our sovereign's justice.
Arbaces. No-I will sooner trust the stars thou prat'st of—
[ARBACES fiercely attacks SALEMENES.
Enter SARDANAPALUS and Train.
Sardanapalus.
Hold your hands!
Upon your lives, I say. What, deaf or drunken?
Here, fellow,
Give me thy weapon. [To a Guard. SARDANAPALUS snatches a
sword from one of the soldiers, and makes between the combatants;
they separate.
In my very palace!
What hinders me from cleaving you in twain,
Audacious brawlers?
Beleses.
Salemenes.
Sire, your justice.
Or
Your weakness.
Sardanapalus. [raising the sword.] How?
Salemenes. Strike, so the blow's repeated
Upon yon traitor.
Sardanapalus. [to a Guard.] Here, fellow, take thy weapon
back.
Well, sirs,
What doth this mean?
Belescs.
The prince must answer that.
SARDANAPALUS.
Salemenes. Truth upon my part, treason upon theirs.
Sardanapalus. Treason-Arbaces! treachery and Beleses!
That were a union I will not believe.
You must have been deceived, my brother.
Salemenes.
First
Let him deliver up his weapon, and
Proclaim himself your subject by that duty,
And I will answer all.
་
Sardanapalus.
Why, if I thought so-
But no, it cannot be; the Mede, Arbaces,
The trusty, rough, true soldier-the best captain
Of all who discipline our nation !-no,
I'll not insult him thus, to bid him render
The scimitar to me he never yielded
Unto our enemies. Chief, keep your weapon.
Salemenes. [delivering back the signet.] Monarch, take back your
signet.
Sardanapalus.
[Kneeling.
But use it with more moderation.
No, retain it;
Salemenes.
Sire,
I used it for your honor, and restore it
Because I cannot keep it with my own.
Bestow it on Arbaces.
Sardanapalus.
So I should;
He never asked it.
Salemenes.
Doubt not he will have it
Without that hollow semblance of respect.
Beleses. I know not what hath prejudiced the prince
So strongly 'gainst two subjects, than whom none
Have been more zealous for Assyria's weal.
Salemenes. Peace, factious priest and faithless soldier!
Keep thy smooth words and juggling homilies
For those who know thee not. Thy fellow's sin
Is, at the least, a bold one, and not temper'd
By the tricks taught thee in Chaldea.
Hear him,
Beleses.
My liege-the son of Belus! he blasphemes
The worship of the land, which bows the knee
Before your fathers.
Sardanapalus. Oh, for that I pray you
Let him have absolution. I dispense with
The worship of dead men; feeling that I
Am mortal, and believing that the race
From whence I sprung are-what I see them-ashes.
Beleses. King!" do not deem so; they are with the stars,
And-
19
Sardanapalus. You shall join them ere they will rise,
If you preach farther.
20
SARDANAPALUS.
Beleses. Monarch, respect them!
Sardanapalus.
Oh, for that, I love them!
I see their brilliancy and feel their beauty;
When they shine on my grave I shall know neither.
Beleses. For neither, sire, say better.
I will wait,
Sardanapalus.
If it so please you, pontiff, for that knowledge.
In the meantime receive your sword and know
That I prefer your service militant
Unto your ministry--not loving either.
Please you to hear mc, Satraps!
And chiefly thou, my priest, because I doubt thee
More than the soldier; and would doubt thee all,
Wert thou not half a warrior;
Were I the thing some think me,
Your heads would now be dripping the last drops
Of their attainted gore from the high gates
Of this our palace into the dry dust.
Arbaces.
Sire, this clemency-
Beleses. [interrupting him.] Is worthy of yourself, and although
innocent,
We thank-
Sardanapalus. Priest, keep your thanksgivings for Belus;
His offspring needs none.
Beleses.
But being innocent—
Sardanapalus. Be silent-guilt is loud. If ye are loyal,
Ye are injured men, and should be sad, not grateful.
Beleses. So we should be, were justice always done
By earthly power omnipotent; but innocence
Most oft receives her right as a mere favor.
Sardanapalus. That's a good sentence for a homily,
Though not for this occasion;
Follow me. [Exeunt SARDANAPALUS, SALEMENES and the train,
etc., leaving ARBACES and BELESES.
Arbaces. Beleses!
Beleses. Now, what think you?
Arbaces. That we are lost.
Beleses. That we have won the kingdom.
Arbaces. What? thus suspected-with the sword slung o'er us
But by a single hair, and that still wavering;
To be blown down by his imperious breath,
Which spared us-why, I know not.
Beleses.
Seek not why,
But let us profit by the interval.
The hour is still our own; our power the same-
The night the same we destined.
Arbaces. And yet-
Beleses. What, doubting still?
·
+
SARDANAPALUS.
Arbaces. He spared our lives; nay, more,
Saved them from Salemenes.
And how long
Beleses.
Will he so spare? Till the first drunken minute.
Arbaces. Or sober, rather. Yet he did it nobly;
Gave royally what we had forfeited
Basely-
Beleses.
Arbaces.
Say bravely.
Somewhat of both, perhaps ;
But it has touched me, and whate'er betide,
I will no further on.
[Crossing L. and back to R.
Beleses.
And lose the world.
Arbaces. Lose anything except my own esteem.
Beleses.
Look to it, Arbaces,
I have still aided, cherished, loved and urged you ;
Was willing even to serve you, in the hope
To serve and save Assyria.
Enter PANIA, L. 3 E.
Pania. My lords, I bear an order from the King.
Arbaces. It is obey'd ere spoken.
Beleses.
Notwithstanding,
Let's hear it.
Pania.
Forthwith, on this very night,
Repair to your respective satrapies
Of Babylon and Media.
I will retire to marshal forth the guard
Of honor which befits your rank, and wais
Your leisure, so that it the hour exceeds not.
Beleses. This order is a sentence.
[Exit PANIA.
Arbaces.
It is
The very policy of Orient monarchs;
Pardon and poison-favors and a sword—
A distant voyage and an eternal sleep.
If I but thought he did not mean my life-
Self-defense is a virtue,
Sole bulwark of all right. Away, I say!
Beleses.
Let's leave this place; the air grows thick and choking,
And the walls have a scent of nightshade-hence!
Let us not leave them time for further council;
Our quick departure proves our civic zeal;
Our quick departure hinders our good escort.
21
Distant music on the water is heard. ARBACES and BELESES eril
hastily; as they do so, SALEMENES and his Body-guard enter steal-
thily and follow them. The music becomes louder. The moon rises,
reflecting itself in the waters of the Tigris, as the royal galley comes
in sight, bearing the King with MYRRHA and a group of Dam-
sels and Courtiers on their way to the midnight festival in the Hall
of Nimrod.
22
SARDANAPALUS.
1
ACT II.
The Summer Palace, called the Pavilion.
[NOTE. This scene is a restoration from actual remains and from fragments discovered
in the ruins. The paneling of sculptured alabaster slabs covered with inscriptions in the
cuneiform character, and the entrances formed by the winged human-headed hons, still
existing entire in some of the buildings uncovered.
The bas reliefs and sculptures in Assyrian edifices were undoubtedly painted. The wall
of sun-dried bricks above the sculptured slabs could be distinctly traced in the ruins. It
was plastered and painted with figures and ornamental devices. Remains of the plaster
were still adhering to this wall in many places and were also found in the rubbish; the
ornaments selected were amongst those discovered.-LAYARD.]
S
The stage is full of dancing girls and revelers, forming a brilliant
Tableau. As the revels commence, SARDANAPALUS enters, meet-
ing MYRRHA.
Sardanapalus.
Sardanapalus.
Thou dost almost anticipate my heart;
It throbbed for thee, and here thou comest; let me
Deem that some unknown influence, some sweet oracle,
Communicates between us, though unseen,
In absence, and attracts us to each other.
Myrrha. There doth.
What is it?
Myrrha.
Beautiful being!
Myrrha.
At least a woman's.
Sardanapalus.
I know there doth, but not its name;
My lord!-
Sardanapalus. My lord-my king-sire-sovereign-thus it is—
I wish that I could lay down the dull tiara,
And share a cottage on the Caucasus
With thee, and wear no crowns but those of flowers.
Myrrha. Would that we could!
Sardanapalus.
And dost thou feel this?-Why?
Myrrha. Then wouldst thou know what thou canst never know.
Sardanapalus. And that is-
The value of a true heart;
I have proved a thousand-
A thousand, and a thousand.
Myrrha.
Hearts?
Sardanapalus.
I think so.
Myrrha. Not one! the time may come thou may'st.
Sardanapalus.
It will.
Hear, Myrrha; Salemenes has declared-
Or why or how he hath divined it, Belus,
Who founded our great realm, knows more than I—
But Salemenes hath declared my throne
In peril.
Myrrha. Peril to thee!
0
SARDANAPALUS.
Sardanapalus.
Ayc, from dark plots and snares-
From Medes-and discontented troops and nations.
I know not what-a labyrinth of things-
A maze of mutter'd 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-
But of the midnight festival.
Myrrha.
'Tis time
To think of aught save festivals.
Spurn'd his sage cautions?
Sardanapalus.
Thou hast not
What?-and dost thou fear?
Myrrha. Fear!-I'm a Greek, and how should I fear death?
A slave, and wherefore should I dread my freedom?
Sardanapalus. Then wherefore dost thou turn so pale?
Myrrha.
I love.
Sardanapalus. And do not I? I love thee far-far more
Than either the brief life or the wide realm
Which, it may be, are menaced; yet I blench not.
That means thou lovest nor thyself nor me;
Myrrha.
For he who loves another loves himself
Even for that other's sake. This is too rash;
Kingdoms and lives are not to be so lost.
Sardanapalus.
who dared
Assume to win them?
Myrrha.
Who is he should dread
To try so much? When he who is their ruler
Forgets himself, will they remember him?
Myrrha !
Sardanapalus.
Myrrha.
Frown not upon me; you have smiled
Too often on me not to make those frowns
Bitterer to bear than any punishment
Which they may augur.-King, I am your subject!
Master, I am your slave! Man, I have loved you!~
Loved you, I know not by what fatal weakness,
Although a Greek, and born a foe to monarchs-
A slave, and hating fetters-an Ionian ;
And, therefore, when I love a stranger, more,
More degraded by that passion than by chains!
Still I have loved you. If that love were strong
Enough to overcome all former nature,
Shall it not claim the privilege to save you?
Sardanapalus. Save me, my Myrrha? Thou art very fair,
Lost! Why, who is the aspiring chief
23
And what I seek of thee is love-not safety.
"Why, this is as it should be; here
"Is my true realm, amidst bright eyes and faces;
24
SARDANAPALUS.
(6
Happy as fair. Here sorrow cannot reach us." [The King re-
clines on a couch, with MYRRHA at his feet, and the dancers per-
form in his honor a grand series of evolutions and dances, full of
character and grace, and to the strains of music, to be interrupted
by the sudden entrance of PANIA.
Pania. May the king live forever!
Sardanapalus.
Well, Pania!
Be brief.
Pania.
I am charged by Salemenes to
Reiterate his prayer unto the king,
That for this day, at least, he will not quit
The palace; when the general returns,
He will adduce such reasons as will warrant
His daring, and perhaps obtain the pardon
Of his presumption.
Sardanapalus.
What! am I then coop'd?
Already captive? Can I not even breathe
The breath of heaven? Tell Prince Salemenes,
Were all Assyria raging round the walls
In mutinous myriads, I would still go forth.
Then thou wilt not yield,
Even for the sake of all that ever stirr'd
A monarch into action, to forego
A trifling revel?
Myrrha.
Sardanapalus. No.
Myrrha.
For my sake!
Then yield for mine;
Sardanapalus. Thine, my Myrrha!
"Tis the first
Boon which I ever ask'd Assyria's king.
Myrrha.
Sardanapalus. That's true, and wor't my kingdom, must be
granted.
Well, for thy sake, I yield me. Pania, hence!
Thou hear'st me.
And obey.
Pania.
Sardanapalus.
Ye slaves, deck.
The hall of Nimrod for the evening revel;
If I must make a prison of our palace,
At least we'll wear our fetters jocundly;
Fair nymphs, who deign
To share the soft hours of Sardanapalus,
We'll meet again in that the sweetest hour,
When we shall gather, like the stars above us,
And you will form a heaven as bright as theirs;
For there we are still unmenaced.
TABLEAU AND END OF ACT II.
[Exit PANIA.
SARDANAPALUS.
ACT III.
The Grand Hall of Nimrod.
On the right of the spectator is the sacred throne-place of the King.
On the summit of the alabaster steps are the various thrones of
Assyria-the one of crystal, the one of ivory, and the golden
throne. In the same sacred spot are ranged the emblems of the
gods, the weapons of the King, the sacred standards, and other
portions of the regalia. The hall is of immense extent.
The mas-
sive roof of inlaid cedar beams, supported by huge winged lions
with human heads. The hall is illuminated by suspended lamps
and large censors of burning fragrant incense. Through a large
opening at the back is seen in perspective the long wing of the
Palace and part of the city of Nineveh, by moonlight. The apart-
ment is decorated and arranged for the "Midnight Festival” with
flowers and great magnificence. It is crowded with the Nobles of
the Court, the numerous office-bearers, the chiefs of the army, the
favorites and companions of SARDANAPALUS. Grouped on the
alabaster steps recline the Ladies of his Palace with their atten-
dant Slaves. The Musicians and Singers are in attendance.
SARDANAPALUS himself is reclining on a couch near the throne,
with his favorite Greek, MYRRHA, at his feet. The feast is at its
height. The scene will be found one of great extent and beauty,
realizing the luxurious splendor that actually existed twenty-four
centuries back.
Sardanapalus. Is not this better now than Nimrod's huntings,
Or my wild grandam's chase in search of kingdoms
She could not keep when conquer'd?
Zames. All hearts are happy, and all voices bless
The king of peace, who holds a world in jubilee.
Sardanapalus. Art sure of that? I have heard otherwise;
Some say that there be traitors.
Zames.
Traitors they
Who dare to say so! 'Tis impossible.
What cause?
Sardanapalus. What cause? true, fill the goblet up;
We will not think of them: there are none such;
Or if there be, they are gone.
Altada.
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!
Mightier than
25
[ZAMES and the guests kneel, and exclaim:
26
SARDANAPALUS.
His father Baal, the god Sardanapalus! [A vivid flash of lightning
suddenly illumines the whole scene, followed by a terrific crash of
thunder, which seems to shake the Palace to its foundations. The
shock appears to paralyze the assembled people, who cower and
crouch in the greatest alarm. Peal follows peal, till reassured by
the demeanor of the King they rise.
Zames. Why do ye fear, my friends? In that strong peal
His father gods consented.
Myrrha.
Menaced, rather.
King, wilt thou bear this mad impiety?
Sardanapalus.
My pious friends,
I seek but to be loved, not worshiped.
Methinks the thunders still increase; it is
An awful night.
Myrrha.
Oh, yes, for those who have
No palace to protect their worshipers.
Sardanapalus. That's true, my Myrrha; and could 1 convert
My realm to one wide shelter for the wretched,
I'd do it.
Who can, and do not?
Myrrha.
Lest we provoke them.
Myrrha.
Thou'rt no god, then, not to be
Able to work a will so good and general
As thy wish would imply.
Sardanapalus.
And your gods, then,
Sardanapalus.
Better than mortals.
[The tempest continues.
Do not speak of that,
True, they love not censure
Altada. Hark! what was that?
Zames.
That! nothing but the jar
Of distant portals shaken by the wind.
Altada. It sounded like the clash of-hark, again!
Zames. The big rain pattering on the roof.
Enter PANIA, with his sword and garments bloody and disordered.
The Guests rise in confusion.
Pania [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 !
Excuse this haste-'tis faith.
Sardanapalus.
Speak on.
Pania.
It is
As Salemenes fear'd; the faithless Satraps--
Sardanapalus. You are wounded-give some wine.
breath, good Pania.
Pania. "Tis nothing-a mere flesh wound. I am worn
More with my speed to warn my sovereign
Than hurt in his defense.
Take
SARDANAPALUS.
Myrrha.
Well, sir, the rebels?
Pania. Soon as Arbaces and Beleses reach'd
Their stations in the city, they refused
To march; and on my attempt to use the power
Which I was delegated with, they call'd
Upon their troops, who rose in fierce defiance.
Myrrha. All?
Pania. Too many.
Sardanapalus.
To spare mine ears the truth.
Pania.
Spare not of thy free speech
Mine own slight guard
Were faithful-and what's left of it is still so.
Myrrha. And are these all the force still faithful?
Pania.
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
An orb around the palace, where they mean
To centre all their force, and save the king.
I am charged to-
My armor there.
Myrrha.
Myrrha.
'Tis no time for hesitation.
Pania. 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.
Sardanapalus.
What, ho!
And wilt thou?
[He hesitates.
Sardanapalus.
Ho, there! Altada-Zames-forth, and arm ye. There
Is all in readiness at the armory.
Where are the rebels?
Will I not?
Pania.
Scarce a furlong's length
From the outward wall the fiercest conflict rages.
Sardanapalus. 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 martial half the horsemen of Arabia.
Exit SFERO for the armor.
Myrrha. How I do love thee!
Sardanapalus.
I ne'er doubted it.
Myrrha. But now I know thee.
Sardanapalus (to his Attendant). Bring down my spear, too.
Where's Salemenes?
27
28
SARDANAPALUS.
Pania.
In the thick of the fight.
Sardanapalus.
Where a soldier should be-
Then hasten to him. Is
The path still open, and communication
Left twixt the palace and the phalanx ?
'Twas
Pania.
When I late left him; and I have no fear-
Our troops were steady, and the phalanx formed.
Sardanapalus. Tell him to spare his person for the present,
And that I will not spare my own; and say
I come.
[Exit PANIA.
Pania. There's victory in the very word.
Sardanapalus. 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 and the Soldiers.
Enter SFERO, BALEA, and others, with the King's arms, etc.
Sardanapalus. [arming himself.] Give me the cuirass-so, my
haldric; now
My sword. I had forgot the helm, where is it?
That's well. No, 'tis too heavy;
I will go forth without it.
Balea.
Sire, the meanest
Soldier goes not forth thus exposed to battle.
All men will recognize you; for the storm
Has ceased, and the moon breaks forth in her brightness.
Sardanapalus. I go forth to be recognized, and thus
Shall be so sooner.
Myrrha, retire into a place of safety.
Why went you not forth with the other damsels?
Myrrha. Because my place is here.
And when I am gone-
Sardanapalus.
Myrrha. 1 follow.
Sardanapalus.
Myrrha.
You! to battle?
If it were so,
"Twere not the first Greek girl had trod the path.
I will await here your return.
Sardanapalus.
The place
Is spacious, and the first to be sought out,
If they prevail; and, if it should be so,
And I return not-
Myrrha.
Sardanapalus. How?
Still, we meet again.
SARDANAPALUS.
Myrrha. 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.
Dar'st thou so much?
Sardunapalus.
Myrrha.
Except survive what I have loved, to be
A rebel's booty.
P
Sardanapalus. Now-my spear! I'm arm'd.
Myrrha. Forth, and do your bravest. [Exit SARDANAPALUS
and Attendants. Distant sound of tumult and clashing of
weapons. Between the pauses of the sounds of battle MYRRHA
speaks.
"Tis no dishonor-no-
I dare all things,
'Tis no dishonor to have loved this man.
I almost wish now, what I never wish'd
Before, that he were Grecian. Surely
He who springs up a Hercules at once,
Nurs'd 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 give him all her heart,
And a Greek bard his minstrel, a Greek tomb
His monument. [Curtains close upon the scene, and suddenly re-
opening disclose, in tableau, the two contending parties in the
heat of deadly conflict. On the right of the spectator are the gates
of the Palace, and issuing from them is the King's party, headed
by the King himself. He is in the act of striking down BELESES.
SALEMENES is engaged hand-to-hand with the usurping Mede,
ARBACES. Hundreds of combatants appear engaged, and the
picture is intended to give a vivid idea of the sharp, heroic fight
that gave the King for the time a signal success. The noise and
tumult of war accompany the incident; the curtains fall, and
reopening disclose the Palace as before, and MYRRHA in her same
posture, with intense anxiety listening to the ominous hurile of the
battle.
Enter BALEA.
Balea.
Myrrha. He is not here;
How goes on the conflict?
Balea.
Myrrha. And the king?
Balea.
29
Ho, Sfero, ho!
what wouldst thou with him?
Dubiously and fiercely.
Like a king. I must find Sfero,
And bring him a new spear and his own helmet.
He fights till now bareheaded, and by far
Too much exposed. The soldiers knew his face,
And the foe too; and in the moon's broad light,
30
SARDANAPALUS.
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.
Myrrha.
Ye gods,
Who fulmine o'er my father's land, protect him!
he
BALEA returns hastily with the King's helmet and a speur ;
meets SFERO, who (in action) urges him to speed to the King.
BALEA does so. As SFERO is following, MYRRHA inquires of
him.
Myrrha. How goes the strife, sir?
Sfero.
Lost !
Lost almost past recovery.
[Exit SFERO.
Myrrha. [solus.] 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,
A line of thirteen ages, and the lives
Of thousands, and the fortune of all left
With life are merged.
Enter PANIA.
Pania.
Away with me,
Myrrha, without delay; we must not lose
A moment all that's left of us now.
He lives-
Pania.
Myrrha.
The king?
Punia. Sent me here to conduct you hence, beyond
The river, by a secret passage.
Myrrha.
[Exit BALEA.
Then
And charged me to secure your life,
And beg you to live on for his sake, till
He can rejoin you.
Myrrha.
Punia. Not till the last.
Despair can do; and step by step disputes
The very palace.
Myrrha.
Will he then give way?
Still, still he does whate'er
They are here, then! Aye,
Their shouts come ringing through the ancient halls,
Never profaned by rebel echoes till
This fatal night.
[To PANIA.] Why stand'st thou there, and leavest the ranks
Of fellow-soldiers fighting without thee?
Pania. The king's command was not to quit thee.
Myrrha.
Me!
Think not of me-a single soldier's arm
Must not be wanting now. I ask no guard;
I need no guard. What, with a world at stake,
SARDANAPALUS.
Keep watch upon a woman? Hence, I say,
Or thou art shamed! Nay, then, I will go forth,
A feeble female, 'midst their desperate strife,
And bid thee guard me there—where thou shouldst shield
Thy sovereign. [She rushes from the scene, followed by PANIA.
The noise of the tumult continuing, when, after a brief space, ul
subsides, and a shout of exultation is heard, in the midst of which
SALEMENES and the King's party return in triumph.
Salemenes.
The triumph is
Flattering; they are beaten backward from the palace,
And we have open'd regular access
To the troops station'd on the other side
The Tigris, who may still be true; nay, must be,
When they hear of our victory. But where
Is the chief victor? Where's the king?
The King enters with MYRRHA and a few nobles. He is received with
great acclamation.
Sardanapalus.
Salemenes. Unhurt, I hope?
Sardanapalus.
We've clear'd the palace-
Here, brother.
Not quite; but let it pass.
Salemenes.
And I trust the city.
Our numbers gather; and I have order'd onward
A cloud of Parthians, hitherto reserved,
All fresh and fiery, to be pour'd upon them
In their retreat, which soon will be a flight.
Sardanapalus. It is already, or at least they march'd
Faster than I could follow with my Bactrians,
Who spared no speed. I am spent; give me a seat.
Salemenes. There stands the throne, sire.
Sardanapalus.
'Tis no place to rest on,
[They place a couch.
31
For mind nor body; let me have a couch.
A peasant's stool, I care not what; so—now
I breathe more freely.
Salemenes.
This great hour has proved
The brightest and most glorious of your life.
Sardanapalus. And the most tiresome. Where's my cupbearer?
Bring me some water.
Salemenes. [smiling.] 'Tis the first time he
Ever had such an order; even I,
Your most austere of counselors, would now
Suggest a purpler beverage.
Sardanapalus. Blood-doubtless,
But there's enough of that shed; as for wine,
I have learned to-night the price of the pure element:
Thrice have I drank of it, and thrice renew'd,
32
SARDANAPALUS.
With greater strength than the grape ever gave me,
My charge upon the rebels. Where's the soldier
Who gave me water in his helmet?
Slain, sir!
Sfero.
An arrow pierced his brain, while, scattering
The last drops from his helm, he stood in act
To place it on his brow.
Sardanapalus. Slain! unrewarded!
And slain to serve my thirst: that's hard, poor slave!
Had he but lived, I would have gorged him with
Gold: all the gold of earth could ne'er repay
The pleasure of that draught; for I was parch'd,
As I am now.
[They bring water-he drinks.
I live again-from henceforth
The goblet I reserve for hours of love,
But war on water.
Salemenes. And that bandage, sir,
Which girds your arm!
Sardanapalus. A scratch from brave Beleses.
Myrrha. Oh! he is wounded!
Sardanapalus. Not too much of that;
And yet it feels a little stiff and painful,
Now I am cooler.
Myrrha. You have bound it with-
Sardanapalus. The fillet of my diadem: the first time
That ornament was ever aught to me
Save an encumbrance.
Myrrha. [to the Attendants.] Summon speedily a leech of the
most skillful. Pray, retire;
I will unbind your wound and tend it.
Sardanapalus.
Do so,
For now it throbs sufficiently: but what
Knowest thou of wounds? Yet, wherefore do I ask?
Know'st thou, my brother, where I lighted on
This minion?
Salemenes. Herding with the other females,
Like frighten'd antelopes.
Sardanapalus. No: like the dam
Of the young lion, femininely raging
Against the hunter flying with her cub,
d
She urged on with her voice and gesture, and
Her floating hair and flashing eyes, the soldiers
In the pursuit.
Salemenes. Indeed!
Sardanapalus. You see, this night
Made warriors of more than me.
nou
€
Salemenes. [aloud.] But pray thee, sire,
Think of your wound.
SARDANAPALUS.
Sardanapalus. I must not think of it.
Salemenēs. I have look'd to all things needful, and will now
Receive reports of progress made in such
Orders as I had given, and then return
To hear your further pleasure.
Sardanapalus.
Be it so.
Attendants enter and bind up the King's arm, then retire.
Salemenes. [in retiring.] Myrrha!
Myrrha. Prince!
Salemenes.
You have shown a soul to-night
Which, were he not my sister's lord- But now
I have no time: thou lov'st the king?
I love
Myrrha.
Sardanapalus.
Salemênes.
But would'st have him king still?
Myrrha. I would not have him less than what he should be.
Salemenes. Well, then, to have him king, and yours, and all
He should, or should not be; to have him live,
Let him not sink back into luxury.
You have more power upon his spirit than
Wisdom within these walls, or fierce rebellion
Raging without: look well that he relapse not.
Myrrha. There needed not the voice of Salemenes
To urge me on to this: I will not fail.
All that a woman's weakness can-
Is power
Omnipotent o'er such a heart as his;
Exert it wisely.
Salemenes.
Sardanapalus.
[Exit SALEMENES.
Myrrha! what, at whispers
With my stern brother? I shall soon be jealous.
Myrrha. [smiling.] You have cause, sire; for on earth there
breathes not
A man more worthy of a woman's love-
A soldier's trust-a subject's reverence—
A king's esteem the whole world's admiration!
Sardanapalus. Prase him, but not so warmly. I must not
33
Hear those sweet lips grow eloquent in aught
That throws me into shade; yet you speak truth.
Myrrha. And now retire, to have your wound look'd to.
Sardanapalus. No, love! I rest me here,
O'erwearied and outspent; I strive in vain
With sleep. It quite o'ercomes me.
As the King yields to sleep the Attendants, who have lulled him
with song and minstrelsy, gradually disperse, leaving MYRRHA
watching by the King's couch as the curtain descends.
34
SARDANAPALUS.
C co
<
(
ACT IV.
SARDANAPALUS discovered sleeping upon a couch, and occasionally
disturbed in his slumbers, with MYRRIA watching. A few_of
the lamps still burning. As the scene progresses, the stage be-
comes light.
Myrrha. [sola, gazing.] I have stolen upon his rest, if rest it be,
Which thus convulses slumber; shall I wake him?
No, he seems calmer.
Again he moves-again the play of pain
Shoots o'er his features.
I must awake him-yet, not yet: who knows
From what I rouse him? It seems pain; but if
I quicken him to heavier pain?
Let Nature use her own maternal means-
And I await to second not disturb her.
Sardanapalus. [awaking.] Hence-hence!
Old hunter of the earliest brutes!
And thou, ghastly beldame!
Dripping with dusky gore, and trampling on
The carcasses of Ind-away! away!
[Fixing his gaze upon MYRRHA.
Where am I? Where the spectres? Where- No-that
Is no false phantom: I should know it 'midst
All that the dead dare gloomily raise up
From their black gulf to daunt the living.
Myrrha!
Myrrha. Alas! thou art pale, and on thy brow the drops
Gather like night dew.
Thy speech seems of another world,
And thou art loved of this.
Sardanapalus. Thy hand-so-'tis thy hand;
'Tis flesh; grasp-clasp-yet closer, till 1 feel
Myself that which I was.
Myrrha. At least know me
For what I am, and ever must be--thine.
Sardanapalus. I know it now. I know this life again.
Ah, Myrrha! I have been where we shall be.
Myrrha. My lord!
Sardanapalus. I've been i' the grave, where worms are lords
And kings are— Oh, Myrrha! if
Sleep shows such things, what may not death disclose?
Myrrha. I know no evil death can show which life
Has not already shown to those who live
Embodied longest. If there be indeed
A shore where mind survives, 'twill be as mind,
All unincorporate; or if there flits
SARDANAPALUS.
A shadow of this cumbrous clog of clay,
Which stalks, methinks, between our souls and heaven,
And fetters us to earth-at least the phantom,
Whate'er it have to fear, will not fear death.
Sardanapalus. I fear it not; but I have felt-have seen-
A legion of the dead. Methought
I saw that is, I dream'd-myself
Here-here-even where we are, guests as we were ;
Of thee, and Zames, and our custom'd meeting;
Was ranged on thy left hand a haughty, dark,
And deadly face—I could not recognize it.
Yet I had seen it, though I knew not where;
The features were a giant's, and the eye
Was still, yet lighted.
I invited him to fill the cup which stood
Between us, but he answered not. I fill'd it—
He took it not, but stared upon me, till
I trembled at the fix'd glare of his eye;
I turned for refuge
To milder guests, and sought them on the right,
Where thou were wont to be. But-
[He pauses.
Myrrha.
What, instead?
Sardanapalus. In thy own chair-thy own place in the banquet——
I sought thy sweet face in the circle; but
Instead, a gray-hair'd, wither'd, bloody-eyed,
And bloody-handed, ghastly, ghostly thing,
Female in garb, and crown'd upon the brow,
Furrow'd with years, yet sneering with the passion
Of vengeance, leering too with that of lust,
Sate my veins curdled.
Is this all?
Myrrha.
Sardanapalus.
Upon
Her right hand-her lank, bird-like right hand-stood
A goblet, bubbling o'er with blood.
I turn'd from it and her. But all along
The table sate a range of crowned wretches,
Of various aspect, but of one expression.
Myrrha. And felt you not this a mere vision?
Sardanapalus.
No:
It was so palpable I could have touch'd them.
All turn'd upon me,
35
And stared, but neither ate nor drank, but stared,
Till I grew stone, as they seem'd half to be,
Yet breathing stone, for I felt life in them,
And life in me: there was a horrid kind
Of sympathy between us, as if they
Had lost a part of death to come to me.
And I the half of life to sit by them.
36
SARDANAPALUS.
We were in an existence all apart
From heaven or earth-and rather let me see
Death all than such a being!
Myrrha.
And the end?
Sardanapalus. They rose, but I sate still.
A desperate courage crept through every limb,
And at the last I fear'd them not, but laugh'd
Full in their phantom faces. But the woman,
The female who remain'd, she flew upon me,
And burnt my lips up with her noisome kisses
Then-then a chaos of all loathsome things
Throng'd thick and shapeless: I was dead, yet feeling-
Buried, and raised again-consumed by worms,
Purged by the flames, and wither'd in the air!
;
Enter SALEMENES.
Salemenes.
Is the king so soon awake?
Sardanapalus. Yes, brother, and I would I had not slept.
How wears the night?
Salemenes.
There yet remains some hours
Of darkness. use them for your further rest.
Sardanapalus. No, not to-night, if 'tis not gone: methought
I pass'd hours in that vision.
Myrrha.
Scarcely one;
I watch'd by you: it was a heavy hour,
But an hour only.
Sardanapalus
To-morrow we set forth.
Salemenes.
I had a grace to seek.
Sardanapulus.
Salemenes.
Let us then hold council;
But ere that time,
"Tis granted.
Hear it
Ere you reply too readily; and 'tis
For your ear only.
Myrrha.
Prince, I take my leave.
Salemenes. That slave deserves her freedom.
Freedom only!
Sardanapalus.
That slave deserves to share a throne.
Salemenes.
Your patience-
'Tis not yet vacant, and 'tis of its partner
I come to speak with you.
Sardanapalus.
P
[Exit MYRRHA.
How! of the qucen?
Salemenes. Even so. I judged it fitting for their safety,
That, ere the dawn, she set forth with her children
For Paphlagonia, where our kinsman Cotta
Governs; and there at all events secure
My nephews and your sons their lives, and with them
Their just pretensions to the crown, in case-
K
SARDANAPALUS.
Sardanapalus. I perish-as is proba e: well thought-
Salemenes.
Let them set forth with a sure escort
That
Is all provided, and the galley "eady
To drop down the Tigris; b, ere they
Depart, will you not see—
Sardanapalus.
My sons? It may
Unman my heart, and the poor boys will weep;
And what can I reply to comfort them,
Save with some hollow hopes, and ill-worn smiles?
You know I cannot feign.
Salemenes.
But you can feel;
At least, I trust so: in a word, the queen
Requests to see you ere you part-forever.
Sardanapalus. Unto what end? what purpose? I will grant
Aught-all that she can ask-but such a meeting.
Salemenes. I think as you do of my sister's wish;
But 'twas her wish-she is my sister-you
Her husband-will you grant it?
"Twill be useless;
Sardanapalus.
I go.
But let her come.
Salemenes.
Sardanapalus.
We have lived asunder
Too long to meet again--and now to meet !
Have I not cares euow, and pangs enow,
To bear alone, that we must mingle sorrows,
Who have ceased to mingle love?
Re-enter SALEMENES and ZARINA.
Salemenes.
My sister! Courage;
Shame not our blood with trembling, but remember
From whence we sprung. The queen is present, sire.
Zarina. I pray thee, brother, leave me.
Salemenes.
Since you ask it.
Zarina. Alone with him! How many a year has past
Since we have met,
Which I have worn in widowhood of heart.
[Erit SALEMENES.
A
He loved me once, yet he seems little changed-
He speaks not--scarce regards me-not a word-
Nor look-yet he was soft of voice and aspect-
Indifferent, not austere. My lord!
Your brother said
[Exit SALEMENES.
Sardanapalus.
It was your will to see me ere you went
From Nineveh with-
Zarina.
Our children: it is true.
I wish'd to thank you that you have not divided
My heart from all that's left it now to love—
Those who are yours and mine, who look like you,
And look upon me as you look'd upon me
Once--but they have not changed.
[IIe hesitates.
37

38
SARDANAPALUS.
Sardanapalus.
I fain would have them dutiful.
I cherish
Zarina.
Those infants, not alone from the blind love
Of a fond mother, but as a fond woman.
They are now the only tie between us.
Sardanapalus.
You have heard
Nor ever will.
Of this night's tumults?
The throne-I say it not in fear-but 'tis
In peril. They perhaps may never mount it;
But let them not for this lose sight of it.
I will dare all things to bequeath it them;
But if I fail, then they must win it back
Bravely-and, won, wear it wisely, not as I
Have wasted down my royalty.
Zarina.
They ne'er
Shall know from me of aught but what may honor
Their father's memory.
Sardanapalus.
Rather let them hear
The truth from you than from a trampling world.
If they be in adversity, they'll learn
Too soon the scorn of crowds for crownless princes,
And find that all their father's sins are theirs.
AT
Zarina.
My boys! I could have borne it were I childless!
If thou conquerest, they shall reign,
And honor him who saved the realm for them,
So little cared for as his own; and if-
Sardanapalus. 'Tis lost, all earth will cry out, Thank your father.
And they will swell the echo with a curse.
My wife!
Zarina.
Now blessings on thee for that word.
I never thought to hear it more-from thee.
Your children's sake!
Sardanapalus.
Sardanapalus. Oh! thou wilt hear it from my subjects. Yes-—
These slaves, whom I have nurtured, pamper'd, fed,
And swoln with peace, and gorged with plenty, till
They reign themselves-all monarchs in their mansions—
Now swarm forth in rebellion, and demand
His death who made their lives a jubilec.
Zarina.
But yet live for my-that is
My gentle, wrong'd Zarina!
I am the very slave of circumstance
And impulse-borne away with every breath!
Misplaced upon the throne-misplaced in life.
If I was not form'd
To prize a love like thine, a mind like thine,
Nor dote even on thy beauty, yet hear
These words, perhaps among my last-that none
Ere valued more thy virtues, though he knew not
To profit by them.
SARDANAPALUS.
Enter SALEMENES.
Salemenes.
I must part ye.
The moments, which must not be lost, are passing.
Zarina. Inhuman brother! Wilt thou thus weigh out
Instants so high and blest?
Salemenes. Blest! Hear me, sister, like
My sister. All's prepared to make your safety
Certain; and of the boys', too—our last hopes-
'Tis not a single question of mere feeling-
Though that were much; but 'tis a point of State:
The rebels would do more to seize upon
The offspring of their sovereign, and so crush—
Zarina. Ah! do not name it.
Well, then, mark me.
When
Salemenes.
They are safe beyond the Median's grasp, the rebels
Have miss'd their chief aim-the extinction of
The line of Nimrod. Though the present king
Fall, his sons live for victory and vengeance.
Zarina. But could not I remain, alone?
Salemenes.
What! leave
Your children, with two parents, and yet orphans-
In a strange land—so young, so distant?
Now you know al-decide.
Sardanapalus. Zarina, he hath spoken well, and we
Must yield awhile to this necessity.
If e'er we meet again, perhaps
I may be worthier of you-and, if not,
Remember that my faults, though not atoned for,
Are ended. Hide thy tears—
I do not bid thee not to shed them-'twere
Easier to stop Euphrates at its source
Than one tear of a true and tender heart-
But let me not behold them. My brother,
Lead her away.
Zarina.
Oh, God! I never shall
Behold him more.
Salemenes (striving to conduct her). Nay, sister, I must be
obey'd.
Zarina. I must remain-away! you shall not hold me.
What, shall he die alone?—I live alone?
Salemenes. He shall not die alone; but lonely you
Have lived for years.
That's false! I knew he lived,
Zarina.
And lived upon his image-let me go!
Salemenes.
Nay-then all is lost again
39
If that this moment is not gained.
40
SARDANAPALUS.
Zarina.
My eyes fail-where is he?
My brain turns-
[She faints, and is borne out by SALEMENES.
Zarina!
Sardanapalus (solus).
I must pay dearly for the desolation
Now brought upon thee.
The sound of the Soldiers marching to the front rouses the King
from his abstraction. The Soldiers, with PANIA, cross behind the
stage as MYRRHA enters.
You here! Who called you?
It forms no portion of your duties
To enter here till sought for.
Myrrha. I retire.
Sardanapalus.
Yet stay, being here.
I pray you, pardon me: events have soured me
Till I wax peevish. Heed it not. I shall
Soon be myself again.
qd
Myrrha.
What I shall see with pleasure.
I wait with patience
Scarce a moment
Sardanapalus.
Before your entrance in this hall, Zarina,
Queen of Assyria, departed hence.
Wherefore do you start?
Myrrha.
Did I do so?
Sardanapalus. 'Twas well you enter'd by another portal,
Else you had met. That pang at least is spared her!
The Queen is gone;
You need not shame to follow.
I would fall
Alone I seek no partners but in pleasure.
Myrrha. And I no pleasure but in parting not.
You shall not force me from you.
No; here I stand or fall. If that you conquer,
I live to joy in your great triumph; should
Your lot be different, I'll not weep, but share it.
Sardanapalus. An era of sweet peace midst the bloody annals,
A green spot amidst desert centuries,
1 thought to have made my realm a paradise,
And every moon an epoch of new pleasures.
I took the rabble's shouts for love-the breath
Of friends for truth.
[Distant sounds of tumult.
Enter SALEMENES.
Salemenes. I sought you- How! she here again?
Sardanapalus.
Return not
Now to reproof.
Salemenes. The Queen's embark'd.
Sardanapalus.
And well? say that much.
•
SARDANAPALUS.
Salemenes.
Yes.
Her transient weakness has pass'd o'er; at least
It settled into tearless silence; her
Pale face and glittering eye, after a glance
Upon her sleeping children, were still fix'd
Upon the palace towers as the swift galley
Stole down the hurrying stream beneath the starlight;
But she said nothing.
Sardanapalus.
Would I felt no more
Than she has said.
Salemenes.
'Tis now too late to feel!
The rebellious Medes and Chaldees, marshall'd
By their two leaders, are already up
In arms again. They have apparently
Been join'd by other satraps.
Sardanapalus.
What! more rebels?
Let us be first, then.
Ho! my arms! again, my arms!
Salemenes.
You talk like a young soldier.
Sardanapalus. I am no soldier, but a man; speak not
Of soldiership; I loathe the word, and those
Who pride themselves upon it; but direct me
Where I may pour upon them.
Salemenes.
You must spare
To expose your life too hastily;
The whole war turns upon it--with it; this
Alone creates it, kindles, and may quench it—
Prolong it-end it.
Sardanapalus.
Then let us end both!
'Twere better thus, perhaps, than prolong either;
I'm sick of one, perchance of both.
play
Hark!
Salemenes.
Sardanapalus.
Reply, not listen.
Salemenes.
And your wound?
"Tis bound—
Sardanapalus.
'Tis heal'd I had forgotten it. Away!
Salemenes. I am with you.
Myrrha.
Now I am alone;
All are gone forth, and of that all how few
Perhaps return.
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
To yield him no more of it than a grave;
And yet I love him more.
Hark to the war shout!
Let us
41
[A gathering sound of battle.
[E: eunt.
[Shouts heard in the distance.
42
SARDANAPALUS.
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 shore, and taught me
How to preserve, shall free me!
BALEA enters anxiously. Distant cries becoming more audible.
Balea. Hark, heard you not a sound?
Myrrha.
No, 'twas more fancy;
They battle it beyond the wall, and not,
As in late midnight conflict, in the very
Chambers.
Balea.
It is said the King's demeanor
In the late action scarcely more appall'd
The rebels than astonish'd his true subjects.
Myrrha. 'Tis easy to astonish or appall
The vulgar mass which moulds a horde of slaves;
But he did bravely.
Balea.
Slew he not Beleses?
I heard the soldiers say he struck him down.
Myrrha. The wretch was overthrown but rescued.
Balea. Hark!
Myrrha. You are right; some steps approach, but slowly.
Enter Soldiers, bearing in SALEMENES wounded, with a broken
javelin in his side.
Oh, Jove!
Salemenes. Wherefore did you bear me here?
Sfero. By the King's order.
You fell and fainted; 'twas his strict command
Best extract
To bear you to this hall.
The javelin.
When the javelin struck you,
Myrrha. Hold! no, no, it cannot be.
Salemenes. I am sped, then?
Myrrha.
With the blood that fast must follow
The extracted weapon, I do fear thy life.
Salemenes. And I not death.
Myrrha. Gallant and glorious spirit! must the carth
So soon resign thee?
Gentle Myrrha, 'tis
Salemenes.
The end I would have chosen.
Myrrha.
You wax paler.
Salemenes. Your hand-this broken weapon but prolongs
My pangs, without sustaining life enough
To make me useful; I would draw it forth,
And my life with it, could I but hear how
The fight goes.
SARDANAPALUS.
Enter SARDANAPALUS, with Soldiers.
Sardanapalus. My best brother!
Salemenes.
Is lost?
And the battle
Sardanapalus. [despondingly.] You see me here.
Salemenes.
I'd rather see you thus !
[He draws the weapon from the wound and dies.
Where's Zames?
Myrrha.
Sardanapalus. Dead.
Myrrha.
Sardanapalus.
Myrrha.
And Altada?
Dying.
Pania? Sfero?
Sardanapalus. Pania yet lives, but Sfero's fled or captive.
I am alone.
Myrrha.
And is all lost?
Sardanapalus. Now bear the body bence.
Officer.
Where?
Sardanapalus.
To my proper chamber.
Place it beneath my canopy as though
The King lay there.
Enter PANIA, with armed Guard.
Have you placed the guards and issued
The orders fixed on?
Pania.
Sire, I have obey'd.
Sardanapalus. And do the soldiers keep their hearts up?
Pania.
Sire?
Sardanapalus. I'm answered! When a king asks twice, and has
A question as an answer to his question,
It is a portent.
Enter BALEA, hastily.
Sardanapalus. Thy face seems ominous.
Balea.
Sardanapalus.
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.
Speak!
I dare not.
Dare not?
43
Pania.
Proceed, thou hearest.
Balea. The wall which skirted near the river's brink
Is thrown down by a sudden inundation
Of the Tigris, which now rolling, swoln
From the enormous mountains where it rises,
"
44
SARDANAPALUS.
By the late rains of that tempestuous region,
O'erfloods its banks, and hath destroy'd the bulwark.
Pania. That's a black augury; it has been said
For ages, "That the city ne'e. should yield
To man, until the river grew its foo."
Sardanapalus. I can forgive the omen, not the ravage.
How much is swept down of the wall?
Balea.
About
Some twenty stadii.
Sardanapalus.
And all this is left
Pervious to the assailants?
Balea.
For the present
The river's fury must impede the assault;
But when he shrinks into his wonted channel,
And may be crossed by the accustom'd barks,
The palace is their own.
Sardanapalus.
That shall be never.
Though men, and gods, and elements, and omens
Have risen up 'gainst one who ne'er provoked them,
My fathers' house shall never bo a cave
For wolves to horde and howl in.
Myrrha.
Thus the very waves rise up
Against you.
Sardanapalus. They are not my subjects, girl,
And may be pardon'd, since they can't be punish'd.
Myrrha. I joy to see this portent shakes you not.
Sardanapalus. I am past the fear of portents; they can tell me
Nothing I have not told myself since midnight.
My worthy Pania! further tics between us
Draw near a close. I pray you take this key—
It opens to a secret alcove, placed
Search
Behind the couch in my own chamber.
'The hidden covert to which this will lead you;
'Tis full of treasure; take it for yourself
And your companions; there's enough to load ye,
Though ye be many. Let the slaves be freed, too;
And all the inmates of the palace, of
Whatever sex, now quit it in an hour.
Fly! and be happy!
Pania.
Under your protection!
So you accompany your faithful guard.
[Gives a key.
Sardanapalus. No, Pania! that must not be; get thee hence,
And leave me to my fate.
'Tis the first time
Pania.
I ever disobey'd; but now-
Sardanapalus.
So all men
Dare beard me now, and Insolence within
Apes Treason from without. Question no further;
SARDANAPALUS.
'Tis my command, my last command. Wilt thou
Oppose it? thou!
Pania.
Sardanapalus.
But yet-not yet.
Swear that you will obey when I shall give
The signal.
Pania.
I promise.
Well, then,
With a heavy but true heart,
Sardanapalus. 'Tis enough. Now order here.
Faggots, pine-nuts, and wither'd leaves, and such
Things as catch fire and blaze with one sole spark;
Bring cedar, too, and precious drugs and spices,
And mighty planks, to nourish a tall pile;
Bring frankincense, and myrrh, too, for it is
For a great sacrifice I build the pyre;
And heap them round yon throne.
My lord!
Pania.
Sardanapalus.
And you have sworn.
Pania.
I have said it,
And could keep my faith
Without a vow.
Myrrha. What mean you?
Sardanapalus.
You shall know
Anon-what the whole earth shall ne'er forget.
Let him speak.
Herald.
Re-enter PANIA.
Pania. My king, in going forth upon my duty,
This herald has been brought before me, craving
An audience.
Sardanapalus. Admit him.
By a gesture the King commands the vast curtains to be closed that
envelop the throne-place. PANIA returns with a Herald and a
guard of six armed men. The Herald kneels.
[Exit PANIA.
The King Arbaces-
Sardanapalus. What, crown'd already? But proceed.
Herald. Beleses, the anointed high-priest-
Sardanapalus. Of what, god or demon?
With new kings rise new altars. But, proceed;
You are sent to prate your master's will, and not
Reply to mine.
Herald. And Satrap Ofratanes—
Sardanapalus. Why, he is ours.
Herald. [showing a ring.] Be sure that he is now
In the camp of the conquerors; behold
His signet ring.
1
เว
46
SARDANAPALUS.
Sardanapalus. "Tis his. A worthy triad!
Herald. They offer thee thy life, and freedom
Of choice to single out a residence
In any of the further provinces,
Guarded and watch'd, but not confined in person,
Where thou shalt pass thy days in peace; but on
Condition that the three young princes are
Given up as hostages.
Sardanapalus. [ironically.] The generous victors!
Herald. I wait the answer.
Sardanapalus. Answer, slave! How long
Have slaves decided on the doom of kings?
Herald. Since they were free.
Sardanapalus. Mouthpiece of mutiny!
Thou at least shall learn the penalty
Of treason, though its proxy only. Pania!
Let his head be thrown from our walls within
The rebels' lines, his carcass down the river.
Away with him!
[PANIA and the Guards seizing him.
A single word:
Herald.
My office, king, is sacred.
Sardanapalus.
And what's mine,
That thou shouldst come and dare to ask of me
To lay it down?
Herald. I but obey'd my orders. My life waits your breath.
Yours (I speak humbly)-but it may be-yours
May also be in danger scarce less imminent:
Would it then suit the last hours of a line
Such as is that of Nimrod, to destroy
A peaceful herald, unarm'd, in his office;
And violate not only all that man
Holds sacred between man and man, but that
More holy tie which links us with the gods?
Sardanapalus. He's right. Let him go free. My life's last act
Shall not be one of wrath.
Disappearing for an instant through the curtains, he returns with a
golden rhyton in his hand.
Here, fellow, take
This golden goblet, let it hold your wine,
And think of me; or melt it into ingots,
And think of nothing but their weight and value.
Herald. I thank you doubly for my life, and this
Most gorgeous gift, which renders it more precious.
But must I bear no answer?
Sardanapalus.
Yes: I ask
An hour's truce to consider.
Herald.
But an hour's?
Sardanapalus. An hour's: if at the expiration of
That time your masters hear no further from me,
They are to deem that I reject their terms,
And act befittingly.
Herald.
I shall not fail
To be a faithful legate of your pleasure.
Sardanapalus. And hark! a word more.
Herald.
I shall not forget it,
Whate'er it be.
SARDANAPALUS.
Sardanapalus.
Commend me to Beleses;
And tell him, ere a year expire, I summon
Him hence to meet me.
Herald.
Where?
At Babylon.
Sardanapalus.
At least from thence he will depart to meet me.
Herald. I shall obey you to the letter.
[Exit Herald.
The curtains are drawn aside, and a grand funeral pile is seen
heaped about, and completely enfolding the throne. MYRRIA is
standing before the pile, accompanied by a multitude of Slaves,
Guards and Attendants.
Sardanapalus.
A people's records and a hero's acts:
Sweep empire after empire like this first
Of empires into nothing; but even then
Shall spare this deed of mine, and hold it up
A problem few dare imitate and none
Time shall quench full many
Despise. How say you, Pania, will this pile suffice
For a king's obsequies?
Pania.
I understand you now.
Sardanapalus.
Aye, for a kingdom's.
And blame me?
Pania.
No.
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?
47
Pania. 'Tis most strange!
Myrrha. But not so rare, my Pania, as thou thnk'st it.
Sardanapalus.
Get thee hence;
Enrich thee. Search well my chamber,
Feel no remorse at bearing off the gold;
Remember, what you leave you leave the slaves
Who slew me; and when you have borne away
All safe off to your boats, blow one long blast
48
SARDANAPALUS.
Upon the trumpet as you quit the palace.
And as you sail, turn back; but still keep on
Your way along the Tigris; if you reach
The land of Paphlagonia, where the queen
Is safe with my three sons in Cotta's court,
Say what you saw at parting.
Pania.
That royal hand!
Let me then once more press it to my lips;
And these poor soldiers, who throng round you, and
Would fain die with you!
The Soldiers and PANIA throng round him, kissing his hand and
the hem of his robe.
Surdanapalus.
My best! my last friends!
Let's not unman each other-part at once;
All farewells should be sudden when forever.
Farewell! farewell!
But hear me!
[Exeunt PANIA, Attendants and Soldiers.
Myrrha. These men were honest: it is comfort still
That our last looks should be on loving faces.
Sardanapalus. And lovely ones, my beautiful!
If at this moment, for we now are on
The brink, thou feel'st an inward shrinking from
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
The ever-burning lamp that burns without,
Before Baal's shrine in the adjoining hall?
Sardanapalus. Do so. Is that thy answer?
Thou shalt see.
Myrrha.
Sardanapalus. My fathers, whom I will rejoin-
It may be purified by death from some
Of the gross stains of too material being-
If I have not kept your inheritance
As ye bequeathed it, this bright part of it,
Your treasure, your abode, your sacred relics
Of arms and records, monuments and spoils,
In which they would have reveled, I bear with me
To you in this absorbing element.
[Exit MYRRHA.
MYRRHA returns with a lighted torch in her hand.
Lo!
Myrrha.
I've lit the lamp which lights us to the stars;
A single thought yet irks me.
Sardanapalus. Say it.
SARDANAPALUS.
It is that no kind hand will gather
Myrrha.
The dust of both into one urn.
Sardanapalus.
The better.
Rather let them be borne abroad upon
The winds of heaven and scatter'd into air,
Than be polluted more by human hands
Of slaves and traitors; in this blazing palace,
And its enormous walls of reeking ruin,
We leave a nobler monument than Egypt
Hath piled in her brick mountains o'er dead kings.
Myrrha.
Then, farewell, thou earth!
And loveliest spot of earth! farewell, Ionia!
Be thou still free, and beautiful, and far
Aloof from desolation! My last prayer
Was for thee, my last thoughts, save one, were of thee.
Sardanapalus. And that?
Myrrha.
Is yours.
[The trumpet of PANIA sounds without.
Sardanapalus. Hark!
Myrrha.
Now, art thou ready?
Sardanapalus. As the torch in thy grasp.
She's firm.
[MYRRHA fires the pile.
Adieu, Assyria!
I loved thee well, my own, my fathers' land,
And better as my country than my kingdom.
I satiated thee with peace and joys, and this
Is my reward! and now I owe thee nothing—
Not even a grave. [He mounts the pile and stands by the throne.
Now, Myrrha.
49
Myrrha.
'Tis fired! I come!
As MYRRHA springs up the pile to join the King, the flames sudden-
ly break forth, surround and seem to devour them; the whole mass
becomes a huge conflagration; great volumes of smoke_roll_across
the stage; the columns are heard to fall and crumble; the pyre
sinks; the roof falls; the walls of the palace give way, disclosing
the distance; and after a time, the clouds of smoke clearing off, the
palace is seen a heap of ruins.
THE END.
No other monarchy has had a catastrophe so splendid as that which illus-
trated the last days of the city of Sardanapalus. For fifteen days, if we may
credit Ctesias, the vast funereal pyre heaped up in the inner courtyard of the
Assyrian's palace continued burning-King, Queen, Minister, Court and
Harem; gold, silver, precious stones, stuffs, furniture and equipage, consum-
ing together in one prodigious blaze of splendor and riches. The world
has not since witnessed a luxury more magnificent in life and death; nor
has any other sensualist left mankind an epitaph so impressive:
""
Sardanapalus, the son of Anacyndaraxis, built Tarsus and Ancyale in
one day, but is now dead."
THIS FOLLOWS THE PLAY.

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52
THE
STAGE EDITION
OF


SHAKSPERE'S PLAYS,
BY
CHARLES CALVERT,
WITH INTRODUCTORY REMARKS, AND NUMEROUS INTERESTING HISTORICAL,
ARCHEOLOGICAL, ANTIQUARIAN, AND LITERARY REFERENCES,
IS NOW IN THE PRESS.
The following Eight Plays:
ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA.
WINTER'S TALE.
RICHARD THE THIRD.
MERCHANT OF VENICE.
HENRY THE FIFTH.
TWELFTH NIGHT.
HENRY THE FOURTH, 2nd Part.
TIMON OF ATHENS.
In One Volume, 8vo., handsomely bound. Price, One Guinea.
PUBLISHED BY JOHN HEYWOOD, MANCHESTER, ENGLAND.
53
皇
​MR. CALVERT'S STAGE EDITIONS OF SHAKSPERE.
Not long ago, as our readers may remember, these columns recorded a
tribute of sincere and cordial respect paid to Mr. Charles Calvert, when on
the eve of his American expedition of conquest, by a number of friends of
art and literature in this city. The tribute took the inevitable national form
of a banquet; but if the services of Mr. Calvert, like those of "Harry the
King," with whom he had for a time identified himself in men's minds at
Manchester, were fittingly "remember'd" on the occasion of that ceremo-
nial, they are not likely to be forgotten now that he has returned to the
familiar scene of his labors.
At such a time it is, however, both pleasant and useful to cast a glance
back upon the past; and in collecting in a charming little volume-bound
with a combination of sumptuousness and good taste, which render it an
appropriate memorial of the Prince's Theatre-the stage editions of the
Shaksperean plays produced there in the last ten years, Mr. Calvert has
furnished a legitimate opportunity for a few words of retrospect. The edi-
tions themselves call for little special comment. That in producing on the
modern stage any Elizabethan play a judicious manager is both obliged and
entitled to modify its arrangement is a position which no one not a sheer
fanatic of the text will be inclined to dispute. It would, indeed, be possible
to produce Shaksperean plays as they were written if it were conceivable
that a modern audience would agree to the experiment of reviving the Shak-
sperean stage itself to begin with. In other words, if in order to secure
the advantages of rapidity of action a modern audience could be rendered
capable of foregoing all the aids by which the imaginative powers of the
theatrical public have been successively enfeebled, modern managers might
be saved a good deal of trouble and expense, and it would be probably found
that the Elizabethan method tended at least as much as our own to exhibit
that unity of action which is the real secret of the life of a drama. But it
would be the height of absurdity to make any such experiment "once in a
way," or to attempt it except under circumstances independent of immedi-
ate popular success. All, therefore, that is to be demanded is that what
modifications are made should be made in the right spirit-in the interests,
that is, of the effectivity of the play as a whole. This was not the object of
the notorious processes to which in the Restoration and subsequent ages
Shakspere was exposed; the plays were indeed, as a matter of course, in-
tended to be effective, but not to be so of and through themselves. Mr.
Calvert, like most men, occasionally makes mistakes; the line which he
draws between illustration for the sake of the action and illustration for its
own sake is not always a very sure one; but upon the whole he has been
saved by his conscientious study of his author from any very serious aber-
rations. For the rest, he considers it unbecoming either to alter Shak-
spere's text or to add anything of his own. The latter practice is a liberty
which under certain circumstances it would perhaps be wrong altogether to
deny to a competent manager; but although it may occasionally be loyally
made use of for the purpose of connecting scenes whose "liaison" (to use
MR. CALVERT'S STAGE EDITIONS OF SHAKSPERE.
55
Corneille's term) has been necessarily broken, it is perhaps a privilege more
honored in the breach than in the observance. Merely conjectural emend-
ations these stage editions are, so far as we have observed, chary of adopt-
ing. We wish, however, we had not in the edition of "The Winter's Tale"
been once more reminded of Hanmer's surprisingly unhappy thought of
"Bithynia" for Bohemia, which goes as far as it can to mar the fantastic
conception of the play in question. Superfluous stage directions are, hap-
The actor who feels a neces-
pily, as a rule conspicuous by their absence.
sity for informing the audience not only of what he is going to say and do,
but of how he is going to say and do it, gives himself and his art a testimonium
paupertatis. The few notes occasionally added are modest, and as a rule
legitimate; essentially so in the notes from Plutarch illustrating "Antony
and Cleopatra," where Shakspere followed his author with so striking a
fidelity.
The seven plays before us do not exhaust the record of Mr. Calvert's
labors as a manager during the last decade of years even in the field of the
Shaksperean drama, but they suffice to recall his chief and most memora-
ble successes. "Antony and Cleopatra," as we well remember, conveyed
the impression of a strikingly fine acting play when produced by Mr. Cal-
vert; and this is to pay no small compliment to his skill, if it is remembered
how serious are the objections to the construction of this tragedy, which,
from this point of view, it is at least open to doubt whether Dryden did not
improve. Nor was the result at the Prince's Theatre that which we have
witnessed elsewhere, of absolutely burying "Antony and Cleopatra" long
before they have entered the Egyptian monument, beneath the parapherna-
lia of the stage. Among the remaining plays, the liveliest reminiscences of
pleasure will perhaps connect themselves with "Richard III." and "Henry
V." on the one hand, and "The Merchant of Venice" and "Twelfth Night"
on the other. There was nothing idle, if there was much that was unneces-
sary, in the historic lore lavished upon the production of the two former.
Something of a spirit of true artistic unison gave a real dramatic life to both
performances, and, except in his Brutus, Mr. Calvert's own acting has rarely
given proofs of more solid excellence. The "Merchant of Venice" at the
Prince's Theatre was perhaps the most poetically conceived and executed
production of a Shaksperean comedy which the English stage has witnessed
in these latter days, and the close-recalled to us in this edition by the
simple words, "The guests disappear to the sounds of song and music; the
scene becomes gradually empty, dark, and silent; and the curtain falls".
lingers as a poetic memory in minds capable of appreciating true artistic
refinement. "Twelfth Night" and "
Twelfth Night" and "Henry IV.," Part I., demanded an act-
ing power which was not throughout fully supplied, while the former was
perhaps rather overburdened in other respects; and though admirably put
on the stage, and in one character adorned by the masterly acting of Mr.
Phelps, as a whole lost something of its characteristic qualities of delicacy
and refinement.
It suffices to remember the production of these plays in order to estimate
the benefit which Mr. Calvert's endeavors have conferred upon our public.
It is for that public to encourage any further endeavors which may be made
in the same spirit, and to enable Mr. Calvert to preserve for Manchester the
honor of being the chief English home of the Shaksperean drama. It is not
only unnecessary but undesirable that Mr. Calvert should be urged to sur-
pass the splendor of every preceding production by every succeeding one.
It is not only unnecessary but undesirable that he should be tempted in his
selection of plays to be guided by considerations as to which will furnish
56
MR. CALVERT'S STAGE EDITIONS OF SHAKSPERE.
the best opportunities for accomplishing such a result. For our part, we
should be best pleased if we could see more plays, at the risk of some of
them being not less carefully, but less elaborately, put upon the stage. Or
if the public requires to be propitiated by the satisfaction of what one of the
accomplished and successful of living theatrical managers has called "that
least intelligent of organs, the eye," might not the gorgeous pomp of dramas
to which it is more appropriate be alternated with representations of a
nature in this respect less exacting? In any case, it is because we are so
genuinely grateful to Mr. Calvert for what he has done that we cannot
refrain from regarding the memorial before us as an earnest of more.
We
hope that he may succeed in attracting and helping to train actors equal to
the tasks imposed upon them; that he may himself enjoy health and
strength allowing him to resume the practice of the noble art he professes;
and that as an actor and as a manager he may continue to associate his
name with that of the great poet for whose honor much may be done by
other agencies, but most by the theatre.-Manchester Guardian, 9th
April, 1875.

ال
THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
GRADUATE LIBRARY
3.197
1973
MAY 2 4 1973
11 1973
DATE DUE
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