Page images
PDF
EPUB
[blocks in formation]

For the assurance of the vacant space As time and means permit.

Sard. About it straight,

Sard. Rage-not droop–it should have And bring me back, as speedily as full

[blocks in formation]

And fair investigation may permit,
Report of the true state of this irruption
Of waters.

[Exeunt Pania and the Officer. Myrrha. Thus the very waves rise up Against you.

Sard. 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.

Sard. I am past the fear of portents:

[blocks in formation]

All that can come, and how to meet it, our Resolves, if firm, may merit a more noble Word than this is to give it utterance. But what are words to us? we have well nigh done

With them and all things.

Myrrha. Save one deed-the last And greatest to all mortals; crowning-act Of all that was-or is-or is to beThe only thing common to all mankind, So different in their births, tongues, sexes, natures,

Hues, features, climes, times, feelings, intellects,

Without one point of union save in this,

To which we tend, for which we're born, | Faggots, pine-nuts, and wither'd leaves,

[blocks in formation]

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.
Pania. My lord!

Sard. I have said it,
And you have sworn.

[Exit Pania.

Pania. And could keep my faith
Without a vow.
Myrrha, What mean you?
Sard. You shall know

Sard. You have done your duty faith-Anon - what the whole earth shall ne'er fully and as

My worthy Pania! further ties between us
Draw near a close. I pray you take this key:
[Gives a key.
It opens to a secret chamber, placed
Behind the couch in my own chamber (now
Press'd by a nobler weight than e'er it bore -
Though a long line of sovereigns have lain

down

[blocks in formation]

forget.

PANIA, returning with a Herald. Pania. My king, in going forth upon my duty,

This herald has been brought before me, craving

An audience.

Sard. Let him speak.

Herald. The King Arbaces—
Sard. What, crown'd already ?—But,
proceed.
Herald. Beleses,

The anointed high-priest—

Sard. 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.

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

New monarchs of an hour's growth as despotic

As sovereigns swathed in purple, and enthroned

From birth to manhood!

Herald. My life waits your breath. Yours (I speak humbly) — but it may beyours

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?
Sard. He's right.-Let him go free.
My life's last act

Shall not be one of wrath. Here, fellow, take [Gives him a golden cup from a table near.

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?

Sard. Yes,-I ask

An hour's truce to consider.

Herald. But an hour's?

Sard. 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.
Sard. And, hark! a word more.
Herald. I shall not forget it,

Whate'er it be.

Sard. Commend me to Beleses;

[blocks in formation]

Now, my good Pania!-quick! with what I order'd.

Pania. My lord, — the soldiers are already charged.

And, see! they enter.

[Soldiers enter, and form a Pile about the Throne.

Sard. Higher, my good soldiers, And thicker yet; and see that the foundation Be such as will not speedily exhaust Its own too subtle flame; nor yet be quench'd With aught officious aid would bring to quell it.

Let the throne form the core of it; I would

not

Leave that, save fraught with fire unquenchable,

To the new comers. Frame the whole as if "Twere to enkindle the strong tower of our Inveterate enemies. Now it bears an aspect! How say you, Pania, will this pile suffice For a king's obsequies?

Pania. Ay, for a kingdom's.
I understand you now.

Sard. 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?

Pania. Tis most strange!

Myrrha. But not so rare, my Pania, as thon think'st it.

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

Is ready. Pania.

I should shame to leave my sovereign

With but a single female to partake
His death.

Sard. Too many far have heralded Me to the dust already. Get thee hence; Enrich thee.

Pania. And live wretched!
Sard. Think upon

Thy vow;-'tis sacred and irrevocable.
Pania. Since it is so, farewell.

Sard. 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

Upon the trumpet as you quit the palace.
The river's brink is too remote, its stream
Too loud at present to permit the echo
To reach distinctly from its bank. Then
fly,-

And as you sail, turn back; but still keep on
Your way along the Euphrates: if you reach
The land of Paphlagonia, where the queen
Is safe with my three sons in Cotta's court.
Say what you saw at parting, and request
That she remember what I said at one
Parting more mournful still.

Pania. That royal hand!

Let me then once more press it to my lips; And these poor soldiers who throng round you, and

Would fain die with you!

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

To you in that absorbing element,
Which most personifies the soul as leaving
The least of matter unconsumed before
Its fiery workings:-and the light of this
Most royal of funereal pyres shall be
Not a mere pillar form'd of cloud and flame,
A beacon in the horizon for a day,
And then a mount of ashes, but a light
To lesson ages, rebel nations, and
Voluptuous princes. Time shall quench
full many

A people's records, and a hero's acts;
Sweep empire after empire, like this first
Of empires, into nothing; but even then
Shall spare this deed of mine, and hold
it up

[The Soldiers and Pania throng round
him, kissing his hand and the hem | A problem few dare imitate, and none
of his robe.
Despise but, it may be, avoid the life
Which led to such a consummation.

Sard. My best! my last friends!
Let's not unman each other-part at once:
All farewells should be sudden, when for

[blocks in formation]

Hence, and be happy: trust me, I am not
Now to be pitied; or far more for what
Is past than present; -for the future, 'tis
In the hands of the deities, if such
There be I shall know soon. Farewell
farewell.

[Exeunt Pania and the Soldiers. Myrrha. These men were honest: it is comfort still

That our last looks shall be on loving faces.
Sard. And lovely ones, my beautiful!—
but hear me!

If at this moment, for we now are on
The brink, thou feelst 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?
Sard. Do so. Is that thy answer?
Myrrha. Thou shalt see. [Exit Myrrha.
Sard. (solus) She's firm. My fathers!
whom I will rejoin,
It may be, purified by death from some
Of the gross stains of too material being,
I would not leave your ancient first abode
To the defilement of usurping bondmen ;
If I have not kept your inheritance
As ye bequeath'd it, this bright part of it,
Your treasure, your abode, your sacred

relics

Of arms, and records, monuments, and spoils,

MYRRHA returns with a lighted Torch in one
Hand, and a Cup in the other.
Myrrha. Lo!

I've lit the lamp which lights us to the stars.
Sard. And the cup?

Myrrha. Tis my country's custom to
Make a libation to the gods.

Sard. And mine

To make libations amongst men.
I've not
Forgot the custom; and although alone.
Will drain one draught in memory of many
A joyous banquet past.

[Sardanapalus takes the cup, and after
drinking and tinkling the reversed
cup, as a drop falls, exclaims-

And this libation

Is for the excellent Beleses.
Myrrha. Why

Dwells thy mind rather upon that man's name
Than on his mate's in villany?

Sard. The other

[blocks in formation]

Purged from the dross of earth, and earthly | And loveliest spot of earth! farewell Ionia! passion, Be thou still free and beautiful, and far

Mix pale with thine. A single thought | Aloof from desolation! My last prayer

yet irks me.

Sard. Say it.

Myrrha. It is that no kind hand will gather

The dust of both into one urn.

Sard. 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,

Or kine, for none know whether those
proud piles

Be for their monarch, or their ox-god Apis:
So much for monuments that have forgotten
Their very record!

Myrrha Then farewell, thou earth!

Was for thee, my last thoughts, save one, were of thee!

Sard. And that?
Myrrha. Is yours.

[The trumpet of Pania sounds without. Sard. Hark! Myrrha. Now!

Sard. 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.
Now, Myrrha!

Myrrha. Art thou ready?
Sard. As the torch in thy grasp.
[Myrrha fires the pile.
Myrrha. 'Tis fired! I come.
[As Myrrha springs forward to throw
herself into the flames, the Curtain
falls.

WERNER,

A TRAGEDY.

TO

THE ILLUSTRIOUS GÖTHE

BY ONE OF HIS HUMBLEST ADMIRERS THIS
TRAGEDY IS DEDICATED.

PREFACE.

merely refer the reader to the original story, that he may see to what extent I have borrowed from it; and am not unwilling that he should find much greater pleasure in perusing it than the drama which is founded upon its contents.

But I have generally found that those who had read it, agreed with me in their estimate of the singular power of mind and conception which it developes. I should also add conception, rather than execution; for the story might, perhaps, have been more developed with greater advantage. Amongst those whose opinions agreed with mine upon this story, I could mention some THE following drama is taken entirely very high names; but it is not necessary, from the "German's Tale, Kruitzner," nor indeed of any use; for every one must published many years ago in "Lee's Can-judge according to their own feelings. I terbury Tales;" written (I believe) by two sisters, of whom one furnished only this story and another, both of which are considered superior to the remainder of the collection. I have adopted the characters, plan, and even the language, of many parts of this story. Some of the characters are modified or altered, a few of the names changed, and one character (Ida of Stralenheim) added by myself: but in the rest the original is chiefly followed. When I was young (about fourteen, I think) I first read this tale, which made a deep impression upon me; and may, indeed, be said to contain the germ of much that I have since written. I am not sure that it ever was very popular; or at any rate its popularity has since been eclipsed by that of other great writers in the same department.

I had begun a drama upon this tale so far back as 1815 (the first I ever attempted, except one at thirteen years old, called "Ulric and Ilvina,” which I had sense enough to burn), and had nearly completed an act, when I was interrupted by circumstances. This is somewhere amongst my papers in England; but as it has not been found, I have re-written the first, and added the subsequent acts.

The whole is neither intended, nor in any shape adapted, for the stage. February, 1822.

« ՆախորդըՇարունակել »