Would fain die with you!

399

[The Soldiers and PANIA throng round him, kissing his hand and the hem of his robe.

Sar. My best! my last friends! Let's not unman each other-part at once: All farewells should be sudden, when for ever,

Else they make an eternity of moments, And clog the last sad sands of life with tears.

Hence, and be happy: trust me, I am not
Now to be pitied; or far more for what
Is past than present; - for the future, 't is
In the hands of the deities, if such
There be: I shall know soon. Farewell

Farewell. [Exeunt PANIA and Soldiers. Myr. These men were honest: it is comfort still

410

That our last looks should be on loving

faces.

Of arms, and records, monuments, and spoils,

In which they would have revell'd, I bear with me

To you in that absorbing element,
Which most personifies the soul as leaving
The least of matter unconsumed before
Its fiery workings: and the light of this
Most royal of funereal pyres shall be
Not a mere pillar form'd of cloud and
flame,

A beacon in the horizon for a day,
And then a mount of ashes, but a light 440
To lesson ages, rebel nations, and
Voluptuous princes. Time shall quench
full many

A people's records, and a hero's acts;
Sweep empire after empire, like this first
Of empires, into nothing; but even then
Shall spare this deed of mine, and hold it

up

A problem few dare imitate, and none Despise but, it may be, avoid the life Which led to such a consummation.