Shall I light

Myr.
One of the torches which lie heap'd beneath
The ever-burning lamp that burns without,
Before Baal's shrine, in the adjoining hall?
Sar. Do so. Is that thy answer?

Myr.

Thou shalt see.

[Exit MYRRHA.

Sar. (solus.) She's firm. My fathers! whom I will

rejoin,

It may be, purified by death from some
Of the gross stains of too material being,
I would not leave your ancient first abode
To the defilement of usurping bondmen;
If I have not kept your inheritance

As ye bequeath'd it, this bright part of it,
Your treasure, your abode, your sacred relics
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

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.

MYRRHA returns with a lighted Torch in her Hand, and a Cup in the other.

Myr.

Lo!

I've lit the lamp which lights us to the stars.

I've not

To make libations amongst men.

Forgot the custom; and although alone,
Will drain one draught in memory of many
A joyous banquet past.

[SARDANAPALUS takes the cup, and after drinking
and tinkling the reversed cup, as a drop falls,
exclaims-

Is for the excellent Beleses.

Myr.

And this libation

Why

Dwells thy mind rather upon that man's name
Than on his mate's in villany?

Sar.

The other

Is a mere soldier, a mere tool, a kind

Of human sword in a friend's hand; the other
Is master-mover of his warlike puppet:

But I dismiss them from my mind.-Yet pause,
My Myrrha! dost thou truly follow me,

Freely and fearlessly?

Myr.

And dost thou think

A Greek girl dare not do for love, that which
An Indian widow braves for custom?

Sar.

We but await the signal.

Myr.

In sounding.

Sar.

Then

It is long

Now, farewell; one last embrace. Myr. Embrace, but not the last; there is one more. Sar. True, the commingling fire will mix our ashes. Myr. And pure as is my love to thee, shall they, Purged from the dross of earth, and earthly passion, Mix pale with thine. A single thought yet irks me. Sar. Say it.

Myr.

It is that no kind hand will gather The dust of both into one urn.

Sar.

The better:
Rather let them be borne abroad upon
The winds of heaven, and scatter'd into air,
Than be polluted more by human hands
Of slaves and traitors; in this blazing palace,
And its enormous walls of reeking ruin,
We leave a nobler monument than Egypt

Hath piled in her brick mountains, o'er dead kings,
Or kine, for none know whether those proud piles
Be for their monarch, or their ox-god Apis:

So much for monuments that have forgotten
Their very record!
Myr.
Then farewell, thou earth!
And loveliest spot of earth! farewell, Ionia!
Be thou still free and beautiful, and far
Aloof from desolation! My last prayer

Was for thee, my last thoughts, save one, were of thee!

I loved thee well, my own, my fathers' land,
And better as my country than my kingdom.
I satiated thee with peace and joys; and this
Is my reward! and now I owe thee nothing,
Not even a grave.

[He mounts the pile.

Art thou ready?

[MYRRHA fires the pile. 'Tis fired! I come.

[AS MYRRHA springs forward to throw herself into the flames, the Curtain falls.

NOTES.

Note 1, page 171, line 17.

And thou, my own Ionian Myrrha.

"The Ionian name had been still more comprehensive, having included the Achaians and the Baotians, who, together with those to whom it was afterwards confined, would make nearly the whole of the Greek nation, and among the orientals it was always the general name for the Greeks.”— Mitford's Greece, vol. i. p. 199.

Note 2, page 192, last lines.

"Sardanapalus

"The king, and son of Anacyndaraxes,
"In one day built Anchialus and Tarsus.

"Eat, drink, and love; the rest's not worth a fillip."

"For this expedition he took only a small chosen body of the phalanx, but all his light troops. In the first day's march he reached Anchialus, a town said to have been founded by the king of Assyria, Sardanapalus. The fortifications, in their magnitude and extent, still in Arrian's time, bore the character of greatness, which the Assyrians appear singularly to have affected in works of the kind. A monument representing Sardanapalus was found there, warranted by an inscription in Assyrian characters, of course in the old Assyrian language, which the Greeks, whether well or ill, interpreted thus: Sardanapalus, son of Anacyndaraxes, in one day founded Anchialus and Tarsus. Eat, drink, play: all other human joys are not worth a fillip.' Supposing this version nearly exact (for Arrian says it was not quite so), whether the purpose has not been to invite to