The poetical works of lord Byron, complete. (Pearl ed.).

Dare not?

And is all lost?

Myr. Sar. Our walls, Though thinly mann'd, may still hold out against Their present force, or aught save treachery: But i' the field

Myr.

I thought 't was the intent
Of Salemenes not to risk a sally
Till ye were strengthen'd by the expected succours.
Sar. I overruled him.
Myr.
Well, the fault's a brave one.
Sar. But fatal. Oh, my brother! I would give
These realms, of which thou wert the ornament,
The sword and shield, the sole-redeeming honour,
To call back-But I will not weep for thee;
Thou shalt be mourn'd for as thou wouldst be
mourn'd.

It grieves me most that thou couldst quit this life
Believing that I could survive what thou
Hast died for-our long royalty of race.
If I redeem it, I will give thee blood
Of thousands, tears of millions, for atonement
(The tears of all the good are thine already).
If not, we meet again soon,-if the spirit
Within us lives beyond-thou readest mine,
And dost me justice now. Let me once clasp
That yet warm hand, and fold that throbless heart
[Embraces the body.

To this which beats so bitterly. Now, bear
The body hence.

Sar.

While millions dare revolt with sword in hand!
That's strange. I pray thee break that loyal silence
Which loathes to shock its sovereign; we can hear
Worse than thou hast to tell.
Pan.
Proceed, thou hearest.
Offi. The wall which skirted near the river's brink
Is thrown down by the sudden inundation
Of the Euphrates, which now rolling, swoln
From the enormous mountains where it rises,
By the late rains of that tempestuous region,
O'erfloods its banks, and hath destroy'd the bul-
wark.

Pan. That's a black augury! it has been said
For ages, "That the city ne'er should yield
To man, until the river grew its foe."

Sar. I can forgive the omen, not the ravage. How much is swept down of the wall?

Though men, and gods, and elements, and omens,
Have risen up 'gainst one who ne'er provoked them,
My fathers' house shall never be a cave
For wolves to horde and howl in.

Pan.

With your sanction,
I will proceed to the spot, and take such measures
For the assurance of the vacant space
As time and means permit.

Sar.
About it straight,
And bring me back, as speedily as full
And fair investigation may permit,
Report of the true state of this irruption
Of waters.
Myr.

Sar. I'm answer'd! When a king asks twice, | Against you.

and has

A question as an answer to his question,

It is a portent. What! they are dishearten'd? Pan. The death of Salemenes, and the shouts Of the exulting rebels on his fall,

Have made them

[Exeunt PANIA and the Officer. Thus the very waves rise up

Sar. They are not my subjects, girl, And may be pardon'd, since they can't be punish'd. Myr. I joy to see this portent shakes you not. Sar. I am past the fear of portents: they can

tell me

Nothing I have not told myself since midnight:

Sar. Rage-not droop-it should have been. Despair anticipates such things. We'll find the means to rouse them.

Pan.

Might sadden even a victory.

Sar.

Such a loss

Alas!

[and we

Who can so feel it as I feel? but yet,
Though coop'd within these walls, they are strong,
Have those without will break their way through
hosts,

To make their sovereign's dwelling what it was-
A palace; not a prison, nor a fortress.

Enter an Officer, hastily.

Sar. Thy face seems ominous. Speak! Offi.

Sar. No; not despair precisely. When we know
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.

Myr.
Save one deed-the last
And greatest to all mortals; crowning act
Of all that was, or is, or is to be-
The only thing common to all mankind,
So different in their births, tongues, sexes, natures,
Hues, features, clin.es, times, feelings, intellects,

I dare not. Without one point of union save in this,

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
Along its golden frame as bearing for

A time what late was Salemenes). Search
The secret covert to which this will lead you;
"T is 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. [pleasure,
Thence launch the regal barks, once form'd for
And now to serve for safety, and embark.
The river's broad and swoln, and uncommanded
(More potent than a king) by these besiegers.
Fly! and be happy!

Sar. You shall know Anon-what the whole earth shall ne'er forget.

PANIA, returning with a Herald.

Pan. My king, in going forth upon my duty, This herald has been brought before me, craving An audience.

The King Arbaces-Sar. What, crown'd already ?-But, proceed. Her.

The anointed high-priest

Beleses,

Sar. 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.

Her.

And Satrap Ofratanes

Given up as hostages.

Sar. (ironically).

The generous victors!

Her. I wait the answer. Sar.

Answer, slave! How long

Have slaves decided on the doom of kings?
Her. Since they were free.
Sar.

Mouthpiece of mutiny!
Thou at the least shalt 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!

Pan.

[PANIA and the Guards seizing him. I never yet obey'd Your orders with more pleasure than the present. Hence with him, soldiers! do not soil this hall Of royalty with treasonable gore;

Put him to rest without.

Her.

My office, king, is sacred.

A single word:

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? [act
Sar. He's right.-Let him go free.-My life's last
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.
Her. I thank you doubly for my life, and this
Most gorgeous gift, which renders it more precious.
But must I bear no answer?

Sar.

An hour's truce to consider.

Her.

Yes, I ask

But an hour's?

Sar. 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.

Her.

I shall not fail

To be a faithful legate of your pleasure.

Sar. And hark! a word more.
Her.

Whate'er it be.

Sar.

Thy vow't is sacred and irrevocable.
Pan. Since it is so, farewell.
Sar.

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 banks. Then fly,-
And as you sail, turn back; but still keep on
Your way along the Euphrates: if you reach
The land of Paphlagonia, where the queen

I shall not forget it, Is safe with my three sons in Cotta's court,

Commend me to Beleses;

And tell him, ere a year expire, I summon
Him hence to meet me.

[Exit Herald.
Pania!-

Sar.
Now, my good Pania!-quick-with what I order'd.
Pan. My lord,-the soldiers are already charged.
And see they enter.

[Soldiers enter, and form a Pile about the Throne, xc.
Sar.
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
'T were 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?
Pan.

I understand you, now.

Ay, for a kingdom's.

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, kiss-
ing his hand and the hem of his robe.
Sar.
My best my last friends!
Let's not unman each other: part at once:
All farewells should be sudden, when for ever,
Else they make an eternity of moments,
And clog the last sad sands of life with tears.
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, 't is
In the hands of the deities, if such
There be: I shall know soon. Farewell-Farewell.
[Exeunt PANIA and Soldiers.
Myr. These men were honest: it is comfort still
That our last looks should be on loving faces.
Sar. And lovely ones, my beautiful! but hear me!
If at this moment-for we now are on
The brink-thou feel'st an inward shrinking from
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.
Myr.
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?
Sar. Do so. Is that thy answer?
Myr.

Thou shalt see.

[Exit MYRRHA.

Sar. (solus). She's firm. My fathers! whom I My Myrrha! dost thou truly follow me,

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,

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
A problem few dare imitate, and none
Despise-but, it may be, avoid the life
Which led to such a consummation.

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Now, farewell; one last embrace. Myr. Embrace, but not the last; there is one more. Sar. True, the commingling fire will mix our ashes.

Myr. And pure as is my love to thee, shall they, Purged from the dross of earth, and earthly passion, Mix pale with thine. A single thought yet irks me. Sar. Say it.

Myr.

It is that no kind hand will gather The dust of both into one urn.

Sar.
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!

Myr.

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 Sar. And that?

And mine

[thee!

[The trumpet of PANIA sounds without.

Hark!

Now!

Adieu, Assyria!

I loved thee well, my own, my fathers' land,
And better as my country than my kingdom.
I sated thee with peace and joys; and this
Is my reward! and now I owe thee nothing,
Not even a grave.

Myr.

[He mounts the pile.

Now, Myrrha!

Sar. As the torch in thy grasp.

Myr.

Art thou ready?

[MYRRHA fires the pile. "T is fired! I come. LAS MYRRHA springs forward to throw herself into the flames, the Curtain falls.

THE TWO FOSCARI.

AN HISTORICAL TRAGEDY.

"The father softens, but the governor's resolved."-CRITIC.

DRAMATIS PERSONE.

MEN.

FRANCIS FOSCARI, Doge of Venice.
JACOPO FOSCARI, Son of the Doge.
JAMES LOREDANO, a Patrician.
MARCO MEMMO, a Chief of the Forty.
BARBARIGO, a Senator.

Other Senators, The Council of Ten, Guards,
Attendants, &c. &c.

WOMAN.

MARINA, Wife of young FOSCARI.

SCENE. The Ducal Palace, Venice.

Lor.

No-he,

True-true

Will nothing move you?

Bar. He shows it not.

Lor.

Feels he, think you?

I have mark'd that-the wretch! Bar. But yesterday, I hear, on his return To the ducal chambers, as he pass'd the threshold The old man fainted.

Lor. It begins to work, then. Bar. The work is half your own. Lor. And should be all mineMy father and my uncle are no more. Bar. I have read their epitaph, which says they By poison. [died Lor. When the Doge declared that he Should never deem himself a sovereign till ⚫ The death of Peter Loredano, both The brothers sicken'd shortly :-he is sovereign. Bar. A wretched one. Lor. Orphans ?

What should they be who make

Bar.

But did the Doge make you so?

Bar. What solid proofs ?

Lor.

When princes set themselves To work in secret, proofs and process are Alike made difficult; but I have such Of the first, as shall make the second needless. Bar. But you will move by law?

Lor.

Which he would leave us.

Bar.

By all the laws

They are such in this

Our state as render retribution easier

Than 'mongst remoter nations. Is it true That you have written in your books of commerce (The wealthy practice of our highest nobles),

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