No More Learning

_Sal. _ What! leave 380
Your children, with two parents and yet orphans--
In a strange land--so young, so distant?

_Zar. _ No--
My heart will break.

_Sal. _ Now you know all--decide.

_Sar. _ Zarina, he hath spoken well, and we
Must yield awhile to this necessity.
Remaining here, you may lose all; departing,
You save the better part of what is left,
To both of us, and to such loyal hearts
As yet beat in these kingdoms.

_Sal. _ The time presses.

_Sar. _ Go, then. If e'er we meet again, perhaps 390
I may be worthier of you--and, if not,
Remember that my faults, though not atoned for,
Are _ended_.
Yet, I dread thy nature will
Grieve more above the blighted name and ashes
Which once were mightiest in Assyria--than----
But I grow womanish again, and must not;
I must learn sternness now. My sins have all
Been of the softer order----_hide_ thy tears--
I do not bid thee _not_ to shed them--'twere
Easier to stop Euphrates at its source 400
Than one tear of a true and tender heart--
But let me not behold them; they unman me
Here when I had remanned myself. My brother,
Lead her away.

_Zar. _ Oh, God! I never shall
Behold him more!

_Sal. _ (_striving to conduct her_).
Nay, sister, I _must_ be obeyed.

_Zar. _ I must remain--away! you shall not hold me.
What, shall he die alone? --_I_ live alone?

_Sal. _ He shall _not die alone_; but lonely you
Have lived for years.