The Works of Lord Byron | Page 9

centuries of thy renown,?This, thy presumed descendant, ne'er beheld?As king the kingdoms thou didst leave as hero,?Won with thy blood, and toil, and time, and peril!?For what? to furnish imposts for a revel,?Or multiplied extortions for a minion. 120
_Sar._ I understand thee--thou wouldst have me go?Forth as a conqueror. By all the stars?Which the Chaldeans read--the restless slaves[e]?Deserve that I should curse them with their wishes,?And lead them forth to glory.
_Sal._ Wherefore not??Semiramis--a woman only--led?These our Assyrians to the solar shores?Of Ganges.
_Sar._ Tis most true. And _how_ returned?
_Sal._ Why, like a _man_--a hero; baffled, but?Not vanquished. With but twenty guards, she made 130 Good her retreat to Bactria.
_Sar._ And how many?Left she behind in India to the vultures?
_Sal._ Our annals say not.
_Sar._ 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.
_Sal._ All warlike spirits have not the same fate. 140 Semiramis, the glorious parent of?A hundred kings, although she failed in India,?Brought Persia--Media--Bactria--to the realm?Which she once swayed--and thou _mightst_ sway.
_Sar._ _I sway_ them-- She but subdued them.
_Sal._ It may be ere long?That they will need her sword more than your sceptre.
_Sar._ There was a certain Bacchus, was there not??I've heard my Greek girls speak of such--they say?He was a God, that is, a Grecian god,?An idol foreign to Assyria's worship, 150 Who conquered this same golden realm of Ind?Thou prat'st of, where Semiramis was vanquished.
_Sal._ I have heard of such a man; and thou perceiv'st?That he is deemed a God for what he did.
_Sar._ And in his godship I will honour him--?Not much as man. What, ho! my cupbearer!
_Sal._ What means the King?
_Sar._ To worship your new God?And ancient conqueror. Some wine, I say.
_Enter Cupbearer_.
_Sar._ (_addressing the Cupbearer_).?Bring me the golden goblet thick with gems,
Which bears the name of Nimrod's chalice. Hence, 160
Fill full, and bear it quickly. [_Exit Cupbearer_.

_Sal._ Is this moment
A fitting one for the resumption of?Thy yet unslept-off revels?
_Re-enter Cupbearer, with wine_.
_Sar._ (_taking the cup from him_). Noble kinsman,?If these barbarian Greeks of the far shores?And skirts of these our realms lie not, this Bacchus?Conquered the whole of India,[8] did he not?
_Sal._ He did, and thence was deemed a Deity.[f]
_Sar._ Not so:--of all his conquests a few columns.[9]?Which may be his, and might be mine, if I?Thought them worth purchase and conveyance, are 170 The landmarks of the seas of gore he shed,?The realms he wasted, and the hearts he broke.?But here--here in this goblet is his title?To immortality--the immortal grape?From which he first expressed the soul, and gave?To gladden that of man, as some atonement?For the victorious mischiefs he had done.?Had it not been for this, he would have been?A mortal still in name as in his grave;?And, like my ancestor Semiramis, 180 A sort of semi-glorious human monster.?Here's that which deified him--let it now?Humanise thee; my surly, chiding brother,?Pledge me to the Greek God!
_Sal._ For all thy realms?I would not so blaspheme our country's creed.
_Sar._ That is to say, thou thinkest him a hero,?That he shed blood by oceans; and no God,?Because he turned a fruit to an enchantment,?Which cheers the sad, revives the old, inspires?The young, makes Weariness forget his toil, 190 And Fear her danger; opens a new world?When this, the present, palls. Well, then _I_ pledge thee And _him_ as a true man, who did his utmost?In good or evil to surprise mankind. [_Drinks_.
_Sal._ Wilt thou resume a revel at this hour?
_Sar._ And if I did, 'twere better than a trophy,?Being bought without a tear. But that is not?My present purpose: since thou wilt not pledge me,?Continue what thou pleasest.?(_To the Cupbearer_.) Boy, retire. [_Exit Cupbearer_.
_Sal._ I would but have recalled thee from thy dream; 200 Better by me awakened than rebellion.
_Sar._ Who should rebel? or why? what cause? pretext??I am the lawful King, descended from?A race of Kings who knew no predecessors.?What have I done to thee, or to the people,?That thou shouldst rail, or they rise up against me?
_Sal._ Of what thou hast done to me, I speak not.
_Sar._ But?Thou think'st that I have wronged the Queen: is't not so?
_Sal._ _Think!_ Thou hast wronged her!
_Sar._