The Works of Lord Byron Volume V Part 15

_Sar._ Altada--Zames--forth, and arm ye! There Is all in readiness in the armoury. 120 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.

_Enter_ SFERO _and others with the King's Arms, etc._

_Sfe._ King! your armour.

_Sar._ (_arming himself_). Give me the cuira.s.s--so: my baldric; now My sword: I had forgot the helm--where is it?

That's well--no, 'tis too heavy; you mistake, too-- It was not this I meant, but that which bears 130 A diadem around it.

_Sfe._ Sire, I deemed That too conspicuous from the precious stones To risk your sacred brow beneath--and trust me, This is of better metal, though less rich.

_Sar._ You deemed! Are you too turned a rebel? Fellow!

Your part is to obey: return, and--no-- It is too late--I will go forth without it.

_Sfe._ At least, wear this.

_Sar._ Wear Caucasus! why, 'tis A mountain on my temples.

_Sfe._ Sire, the meanest Soldier goes not forth thus exposed to battle. 140 All men will recognise you--for the storm Has ceased, and the moon breaks forth in her brightness.

_Sar._ I go forth to be recognised, and thus Shall be so sooner. Now--my spear! I'm armed.

[_In going stops short, and turns to_ SFERO.

Sfero--I had forgotten--bring the mirror[19].

_Sfe._ The mirror, Sire?

_Sar._ Yes, sir, of polished bra.s.s, Brought from the spoils of India--but be speedy.

[_Exit_ SFERO.

_Sar._ Myrrha, retire unto a place of safety.

Why went you not forth with the other damsels?

_Myr._ Because my place is here.

_Sar._ And when I am gone---- 150

_Myr._ I follow.

_Sar._ _You!_ to battle?

_Myr._ If it were so, 'Twere not the first Greek girl had trod the path.

I will await here your _return_.

_Sar._ The place Is s.p.a.cious, and the first to be sought out, If they prevail; and, if it be so, And I return not----

_Myr._ Still we meet again.

_Sar._ How?

_Myr._ In the spot where all must meet at last-- In Hades! if there be, as I believe, A sh.o.r.e beyond the Styx; and if there be not, In ashes.

_Sar._ Darest thou so much?

_Myr._ I dare all things 160 Except survive what I have loved, to be A rebel's booty: forth, and do your bravest.

_Re-enter_ SFERO _with the mirror_.

_Sar._ (_looking at himself_).

This cuira.s.s fits me well, the baldric better, And the helm not at all. Methinks I seem [_Flings away the helmet after trying it again_.

Pa.s.sing well in these toys; and now to prove them.

Altada! Where's Altada?

_Sfe._ Waiting, Sire, Without: he has your shield in readiness.

_Sar._ True--I forgot--he is my shield-bearer By right of blood, derived from age to age.

Myrrha, embrace me;--yet once more--once more-- 170 Love me, whate'er betide. My chiefest glory Shall be to make me worthier of your love.

_Myr._ Go forth, and conquer!

[_Exeunt_ SARDANAPALUS _and_ SFERO.

Now, I am alone: All are gone forth, and of that all how few Perhaps return! Let him but vanquish, and Me perish! 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 180 To yield him no more of it than a grave; And yet I love him more. Oh, mighty Jove!

Forgive this monstrous love for a barbarian, Who knows not of Olympus! yes, I love him Now--now--far more than----Hark--to the war shout!

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 sh.o.r.es, and taught me How to preserve, shall free me! It had freed me Long ere this hour, but that I loved until 190 I half forgot I was a slave:--where all Are slaves save One, and proud of servitude, So they are served in turn by something lower In the degree of bondage: we forget That shackles worn like ornaments no less Are chains. Again that shout! and now the clash Of arms--and now--and now----

_Enter_ ALTADA.

_Alt._ Ho, Sfero, ho!

_Myr._ He is not here; what wouldst thou with him? How Goes on the conflict?

_Alt._ Dubiously and fiercely.

_Myr._ And the King?

_Alt._ Like a king. I must find Sfero, 200 And bring him a new spear with his own helmet.[w]

He fights till now bare-headed, and by far Too much exposed. The soldiers knew his face, And the foe too; and in the moon's broad light, 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.

_Myr._ Ye G.o.ds, Who fulminate o'er my father's land, protect him!

Were you sent by the King?

_Alt._ By Salemenes, 210 Who sent me privily upon this charge, Without the knowledge of the careless sovereign.

The King! the King fights as he revels! ho!

What, Sfero! I will seek the armoury-- He must be there. [_Exit_ ALTADA.

_Myr._ 'Tis no dishonour--no-- 'Tis no dishonour to have loved this man.

I almost wish now, what I never wished Before--that he were Grecian. If Alcides Were shamed in wearing Lydian Omphale's She-garb, and wielding her vile distaff; surely 220 He, who springs up a Hercules at once, Nursed 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 be his paramour, And a Greek bard his minstrel--a Greek tomb His monument. How goes the strife, sir?