_Arb._ But no less we owe them; And I should blush far more to take the grantor's![16]
_Bel._ Thou may'st endure whate'er thou wilt--the stars Have written otherwise.
_Arb._ Though they came down, And marshalled me the way in all their brightness, I would not follow.
_Bel._ This is weakness--worse Than a scared beldam's dreaming of the dead, 350 And waking in the dark.--Go to--go to.
_Arb._ Methought he looked like Nimrod as he spoke, Even as the proud imperial statue stands Looking the monarch of the kings around it, And sways, while they but ornament, the temple.
_Bel._ I told you that you had too much despised him, And that there was some royalty within him--What then? he is the nobler foe.
_Arb._ But we The meaner.--Would he had not spared us!
_Bel._ So-- Wouldst thou be sacrificed thus readily? 360
_Arb._ No--but it had been better to have died Than live ungrateful.
_Bel._ Oh, the souls of some men!
Thou wouldst digest what some call treason, and Fools treachery--and, behold, upon the sudden, Because for something or for nothing, this Rash reveller steps, ostentatiously, 'Twixt thee and Salemenes, thou art turned Into--what shall I say?--Sardanapalus!
I know no name more ignominious.
_Arb._ But An hour ago, who dared to term me such 370 Had held his life but lightly--as it is, I must forgive you, even as he forgave us-- Semiramis herself would not have done it.
_Bel._ No--the Queen liked no sharers of the kingdom, Not even a husband.[17]
_Arb._ I must serve him truly----
_Bel._ And humbly?
_Arb._ No, sir, proudly--being honest.
I shall be nearer thrones than you to heaven; And if not quite so haughty, yet more lofty.
You may do your own deeming--you have codes, And mysteries, and corollaries of 380 Right and wrong, which I lack for my direction, And must pursue but what a plain heart teaches.
And now you know me.
_Bel._ Have you finished?
_Arb._ Yes-- With you.
_Bel._ And would, perhaps, betray as well As quit me?
_Arb._ That's a sacerdotal thought, And not a soldier's.
_Bel._ Be it what you will-- Truce with these wranglings, and but hear me.
_Arb._ No-- There is more peril in your subtle spirit Than in a phalanx.
_Bel._ If it must be so-- I'll on alone.
_Arb._ Alone!
_Bel._ Thrones hold but one. 390
_Arb._ But this is filled.
_Bel._ With worse than vacancy-- A despised monarch. Look to it, Arbaces: I have still aided, cherished, loved, and urged you; Was willing even to serve you, in the hope To serve and save Assyria. Heaven itself Seemed to consent, and all events were friendly, Even to the last, till that your spirit shrunk Into a shallow softness; but now, rather Than see my country languish, I will be Her saviour or the victim of her tyrant-- 400 Or one or both--for sometimes both are one; And if I win--Arbaces is my servant.
_Arb._ _Your_ servant!
_Bel._ Why not? better than be slave, The _pardoned_ slave of _she_ Sardanapalus!
_Enter_ PANIA.
_Pan._ My Lords, I bear an order from the king.
_Arb._ It is obeyed ere spoken.
_Bel._ Notwithstanding, Let's hear it.
_Pan._ Forthwith, on this very night, Repair to your respective satrapies Of Babylon and Media.
_Bel._ With our troops?
_Pan._ My order is unto the Satraps and 410 Their household train.
_Arb._ But----
_Bel._ It must be obeyed: Say, we depart.
_Pan._ My order is to see you Depart, and not to bear your answer.
_Bel._ (_aside_). Aye[o]!
Well, Sir--we will accompany you hence.
_Pan._ I will retire to marshal forth the guard Of honour which befits your rank, and wait Your leisure, so that it the hour exceeds not.
[_Exit_ PANIA.
_Bel._ Now then obey!
_Arb._ Doubtless.
_Bel._ Yes, to the gates That grate the palace, which is now our prison-- No further.
_Arb._ Thou hast harped the truth indeed! 420 The realm itself, in all its wide extension, Yawns dungeons at each step for thee and me.
_Bel._ Graves!
_Arb._ If I thought so, this good sword should dig One more than mine.
_Bel._ It shall have work enough.