Sal.
The triumph is
Flattering: they are beaten backward from
the palace,

And we have open'd regular access
To the troops station'd on the other side
Euphrates, who may still be true; nay,
must be,

When they hear of our victory. But where
Is the chief victor? where's the king?

Enter SARDANAPALUS, cum suis, etc., and MYRRHA.
Sar.
Here, brother.

Sal. Unhurt, I hope.
Sar. Not quite; but let it pass. 330
We've clear'd the palace -
Sal.
And I trust the city.
Our numbers gather; and I've order❜d on-
ward

A cloud of Parthians, hitherto reserved,
All fresh and fiery, to be pour'd upon them
In their retreat which soon will be a flight.
Sar. It is already, or at least they
march'd

Faster than I could follow with my Bactrians,

Who spared no speed. I am spent: give

me a seat.

Sal. There stands the throne, sire.

20

Me more to see than him to suffer. No:
Let Nature use her own maternal means,
And I await to second, not disturb her.
Sar. (awakening). Not so-although ye
multiplied the stars,

And gave them to me as a realm to share From you and with you! I would not so purchase

The empire of eternity. Hence - hence Old hunter of the earliest brutes! and ye, Who hunted fellow-creatures as if brutes! Once bloody mortals - and now bloodier idols,

30

If your priests lie not! And thou, ghastly beldame !

Dripping with dusky gore, and trampling

on

The carcasses of Inde - away! away! Where am I? Where the spectres ? Where No — that