_ No, 'twas mere fancy;
They battle it beyond the wall, and not 60
As in late
midnight
conflict in the very
Chambers: the palace has become a fortress
Since that insidious hour; and here, within
The very centre, girded by vast courts
And regal halls of pyramid proportions,
Which must be carried one by one before
They penetrate to where they then arrived,
We are as much shut in even from the sound
Of peril as from glory.
Byron
Come, look upon it,
The Chaldee's God, which, when I gaze upon,
I grow almost a convert to your Baal.
_Bal._ As now he reigns in heaven, so once on earth
He swayed.
_Myr._ He sways it now far more, then; never 50
Had earthly monarch half the power and glory
Which centres in a single ray of his.
_Bal._ Surely he is a God!
_Myr._ So we Greeks deem too;
And yet I sometimes think that gorgeous orb
Must rather be the abode of Gods than one
Of the immortal sovereigns. Now he breaks
Through all the clouds, and fills my eyes with light
That shuts the world out. I can look no more.
_Bal._ Hark! heard you not a sound?
_Myr.
_ No, 'twas mere fancy;
They battle it beyond the wall, and not 60
As in late
midnight
conflict in the very
Chambers: the palace has become a fortress
Since that insidious hour; and here, within
The very centre, girded by vast courts
And regal halls of pyramid proportions,
Which must be carried one by one before
They penetrate to where they then arrived,
We are as much shut in even from the sound
Of peril as from glory.
_Bal._ But they reached
Thus far before.
_Myr._ Yes, by surprise, and were 70
Beat back by valour: now at once we have
Courage and vigilance to guard us.
_Bal._ May they
Prosper!
_Myr._ That is the prayer of many, and
The dread of more: it is an anxious hour;
I strive to keep it from my thoughts. Alas!
How vainly!
_Bal._ It is said the King's demeanour
In the late action scarcely more appalled
The rebels than astonished his true subjects.
_Myr._ 'Tis easy to astonish or appal
The vulgar mass which moulds a horde of slaves; 80
But he did bravely.
