Thy spirit is present in the past, and sees And when man was not, and how man became AHASUERUS. 760 Disdain thee?-not the worm beneath my feet! The Fathomless has care for meaner things Than thou canst dream, and has made pride for those Who would be what they may not, or would seem That which they are not. Sultan ! talk no more But look on that which cannot change-the One, As Calpe the Atlantic clouds-this Whole Of suns, and worlds, and men, and beasts, and flowers, With all the silent or tempestuous workings MAHMUD. What meanest thou? Thy words stream like a tempest Of dazzling mist within my brain-they shake The earth on which I stand, and hang like night On Heaven above me. What can they avail? They cast on all things surest, brightest, best, 790 Doubt, insecurity, astonishment. AHASUERUS. Mistake me not! All is contained in each. Is that which has been, or will be, to that 799 They are, what that which they regard appears, Knock and it shall be opened-look and, lo! MAHMUD. Wild, wilder thoughts convulse My spirit-Did not Mahomet the Second Win Stamboul? AHASUERUS. Thou wouldst ask that giant spirit The written fortunes of thy house and faith. Thou wouldst cite one out of the grave to tell 810 How what was born in blood must die. As of the assault of an imperial city, The roar of giant cannon; the earthquaking blood, And one sweet laugh, most horrible to hear, 821 As of a joyous infant waked and playing loud The mingled battle-cry,-ha! hear I not AHASUERUS. The sulphurous mist is raised-thou seest MAHMUD. A chasm, 830 As of two mountains in the wall of Stamboul; Directs the torrent of that tide of men, 840 AHASUERUS. What thou seest Is but the ghost of thy forgotten dream,- Poised by the flood, e'en on the height thou holdest, Thou mayst now learn how the full tide of power Ebbs to its depths.-Inheritor of glory, Conceived in darkness, born in blood, and nourished 850 With tears and toil, thou seest the mortal throes Of that whose birth was but the same. Past Now stands before thee like an Incarnation The Of the To-come; yet wouldst thou commune with That portion of thyself which was ere thou Didst start for this brief race whose crown is death, Dissolve with that strong faith and fervent passion Which called it from the uncreated deep, Yon cloud of war, with its tempestuous phantoms Of raging death; and draw with mighty will 860 The imperial shade hither. [Exit AHASUERUS. MAHMUD. Approach! PHANTOM. I come Thence whither thou must go! The grave is fitter To take the living than give up the dead;' 870 A later Empire nods in its decay: The autumn of a greener faith is come, And wolfish change, like winter, howls to strip The foliage in which Fame, the eagle, built 1 Compare the Persæ again (verses 685-6) : ἄλλως τε πάντως χοὶ κατὰ χθονὸς θεοὶ : |