MYRRHA, _an Ionian female Slave, and the
Favourite
Mistress
of_ SARDANAPALUS.
of_ SARDANAPALUS.
Byron
Where he has failed, the failure is in the architect,--and
not in the art.
In this tragedy it has been my intention to follow the account of
Diodorus Siculus;[4] reducing it, however, to such dramatic regularity
as I best could, and trying to approach the unities. I therefore suppose
the rebellion to explode and succeed in one day by a sudden conspiracy,
instead of the long war of the history.
DRAMATIS PERSONAE
MEN.
SARDANAPALUS, _king of Nineveh and Assyria, etc. _
ARBACES, _the Mede who aspired to the Throne_.
BELESES, _a Chaldean and Soothsayer_.
SALEMENES, _the King's Brother-in-Law_.
ALTADA, _an Assyrian Officer of the Palace_.
PANIA.
ZAMES.
SFERO.
BALEA.
WOMEN.
ZARINA, _the Queen_.
MYRRHA, _an Ionian female Slave, and the Favourite Mistress
of_ SARDANAPALUS.
_Women composing the Harem of_ SARDANAPALUS, _Guards,
Attendants, Chaldean Priests, Medes, etc. , etc. _
SCENE. --A Hall in the Royal Palace of Nineveh.
SARDANAPALUS. [5]
ACT I.
SCENE I. --_A Hall in the Palace_.
_Salemenes_ (_solus_).
He hath wronged his queen, but still he is her lord;
He hath wronged my sister--still he is my brother;
He hath wronged his people--still he is their sovereign--
And I must be his friend as well as subject:
He must not perish thus. I will not see
The blood of Nimrod and Semiramis
Sink in the earth, and thirteen hundred years
Of Empire ending like a shepherd's tale;
He must be roused. In his effeminate heart
There is a careless courage which Corruption 10
Has not all quenched, and latent energies,
Repressed by circumstance, but not destroyed--
Steeped, but not drowned, in deep voluptuousness.
If born a peasant, he had been a man
To have reached an empire: to an empire born,
He will bequeath none; nothing but a name,
Which his sons will not prize in heritage:--
Yet--not all lost--even yet--he may redeem
His sloth and shame, by only being that
Which he should be, as easily as the thing 20
He should not be and is. Were it less toil
To sway his nations than consume his life?
To head an army than to rule a harem?
not in the art.
In this tragedy it has been my intention to follow the account of
Diodorus Siculus;[4] reducing it, however, to such dramatic regularity
as I best could, and trying to approach the unities. I therefore suppose
the rebellion to explode and succeed in one day by a sudden conspiracy,
instead of the long war of the history.
DRAMATIS PERSONAE
MEN.
SARDANAPALUS, _king of Nineveh and Assyria, etc. _
ARBACES, _the Mede who aspired to the Throne_.
BELESES, _a Chaldean and Soothsayer_.
SALEMENES, _the King's Brother-in-Law_.
ALTADA, _an Assyrian Officer of the Palace_.
PANIA.
ZAMES.
SFERO.
BALEA.
WOMEN.
ZARINA, _the Queen_.
MYRRHA, _an Ionian female Slave, and the Favourite Mistress
of_ SARDANAPALUS.
_Women composing the Harem of_ SARDANAPALUS, _Guards,
Attendants, Chaldean Priests, Medes, etc. , etc. _
SCENE. --A Hall in the Royal Palace of Nineveh.
SARDANAPALUS. [5]
ACT I.
SCENE I. --_A Hall in the Palace_.
_Salemenes_ (_solus_).
He hath wronged his queen, but still he is her lord;
He hath wronged my sister--still he is my brother;
He hath wronged his people--still he is their sovereign--
And I must be his friend as well as subject:
He must not perish thus. I will not see
The blood of Nimrod and Semiramis
Sink in the earth, and thirteen hundred years
Of Empire ending like a shepherd's tale;
He must be roused. In his effeminate heart
There is a careless courage which Corruption 10
Has not all quenched, and latent energies,
Repressed by circumstance, but not destroyed--
Steeped, but not drowned, in deep voluptuousness.
If born a peasant, he had been a man
To have reached an empire: to an empire born,
He will bequeath none; nothing but a name,
Which his sons will not prize in heritage:--
Yet--not all lost--even yet--he may redeem
His sloth and shame, by only being that
Which he should be, as easily as the thing 20
He should not be and is. Were it less toil
To sway his nations than consume his life?
To head an army than to rule a harem?
