against thee. 100

_Sar._ 'Gainst _me!!_ What would the slaves?

_Sal._ A king.

_Sar._ And what
Am I then?

_Sal._ In their eyes a nothing; but
In mine a man who might be something still.

_Sar._ The railing drunkards! why, what would they have?
Have they not peace and plenty?

_Sal._ Of the first
More than is glorious: of the last, far less
Than the King recks of.

_Sar._ Whose then is the crime,
But the false satraps, who provide no better?

_Sal._ And somewhat in the Monarch who ne'er looks
Beyond his palace walls, or if he stirs 110
Beyond them, 'tis but to some mountain palace,
Till summer heats wear down. O glorious Baal!
Who built up this vast empire, and wert made
A God, or at the least shinest like a God
Through the long centuries of thy renown,
This, thy presumed descendant, ne'er beheld
As king the kingdoms thou didst leave as hero,
Won with thy blood, and toil, and time, and peril!
For what? to furnish imposts for a revel,
Or multiplied extortions for a minion. 120

_Sar._ I understand thee--thou wouldst have me go
Forth as a conqueror. By all the stars
Which the Chaldeans read--the restless slaves[e]
Deserve that I should curse them with their wishes,
And lead them forth to glory.

_Sal._ Wherefore not?
Semiramis--a woman only--led
These our Assyrians to the solar shores
Of Ganges.

_Sar._ Tis most true. And _how_ returned?

_Sal._ Why, like a _man_--a hero; baffled, but
Not vanquished. With but twenty guards, she made 130
Good her retreat to Bactria.

_Sar._ And how many
Left she behind in India to the vultures?

_Sal._ Our annals say not.

_Sar._ Then I will say for them--
That she had better woven within her palace
Some twenty garments, than with twenty guards
Have fled to Bactria, leaving to the ravens,
And wolves, and men--the fiercer of the three,
Her myriads of fond subjects. Is _this_ Glory?
Then let me live in ignominy ever.

_Sal._ All warlike spirits have not the same fate.