_Now_!

_Sar._ Adieu, Assyria!
I loved thee well, my own, my fathers' land,
And better as my country than my kingdom.
I sated thee with peace and joys; and this
Is my reward! and now I owe thee nothing,
Not even a grave. [_He mounts the pile_.
Now, Myrrha!

_Myr._ Art thou ready?

_Sar._ As the torch in thy grasp.
[MYRRHA _fires the pile_.

_Myr._ 'Tis fired! I come.

[_As_ MYRRHA _springs forward to throw herself into
the flames, the Curtain falls_.[33]

FOOTNOTES:

[1] {4}[For a description of the fall of Nineveh, see _Nahum_ ii. 1,
sqq.--"He that dasheth in pieces is come up before thy face.... The
shield of his mighty men is made red, the valiant men are in scarlet....
The chariots shall rage in the streets, they shall justle one against
another in the broad ways: they shall seem like torches, they shall run
like the lightnings. He shall recount his worthies: they shall stumble
in their walk; they shall make haste to the wall thereof, and the
defence shall be prepared. The gates of the rivers shall be opened, and
the palace shall be dissolved," etc.]

[2] {7}["A manuscript dedication of _Sardanapalus_ ... was forwarded to
him, with an obliging inquiry whether it might be prefixed to the
tragedy. The German, who, at his advanced age, was conscious of his own
powers, and of their effects, could only gratefully and modestly
consider this Dedication as the expression of an inexhaustible
intellect, deeply feeling and creating its own object. He was by no
means dissatisfied when, after long delay, _Sardanapalus_ appeared
without the Dedication; and was made happy by the possession of a
facsimile of it, engraved on stone, which he considered a precious
memorial."--_Lebensverhaeltnik zu Byron_, _Werke_, 1833, xlvi. 221-225.
(See, too, for translation, _Life_, p. 593.)]

[3] {9}[_Sardanapalus_ originally appeared in the same volume with _The
Two Foscari_ and _Cain_. The date of publication was December 19, 1821.]

[4] {10}["Sardanapalus, the Thirtieth from Ninus, and the last King of
the Assyrians, exceeded all his Predecessors in Sloth and Luxury; for
besides that he was seen of none out of his family, he led a most
effeminat