I wish to thank you that you have not divided My heart from all that's left it now to love-- Those who are yours and mine, who look like you, And look upon me as you looked upon me Once----but _they_ have not changed.
_Sar._ Nor ever will.
I fain would have them dutiful.
_Zar._ I cherish Those infants, not alone from the blind love 260 Of a fond mother, but as a fond woman.
They are now the only tie between us.
_Sar._ Deem not I have not done you justice: rather make them Resemble your own line than their own Sire.
I trust them with you--to you: fit them for A throne, or, if that be denied----You have heard Of this night's tumults?
_Zar._ I had half forgotten, And could have welcomed any grief save yours, Which gave me to behold your face again.
_Sar._ The throne--I say it not in fear--but 'tis 270 In peril: they perhaps may never mount it: But let them not for this lose sight of it.
I will dare all things to bequeath it them; But if I fail, then they must win it back Bravely--and, won, wear it wisely, not as I[ag]
Have wasted down my royalty.
_Zar._ They ne'er Shall know from me of aught but what may honour Their father's memory.
_Sar._ Rather let them hear The truth from you than from a trampling world.
If they be in adversity, they'll learn 280 Too soon the scorn of crowds for crownless Princes, And find that all their father's sins are theirs.
My boys!--I could have borne it were I childless.
_Zar._ Oh! do not say so--do not poison all My peace left, by unwishing that thou wert A father. If thou conquerest, they shall reign, And honour him who saved the realm for them, So little cared for as his own; and if----
_Sar._ 'Tis lost, all Earth will cry out, "thank your father!"
And they will swell the echo with a curse. 290
_Zar._ That they shall never do; but rather honour The name of him, who, dying like a king, In his last hours did more for his own memory Than many monarchs in a length of days, Which date the flight of time, but make no annals.
_Sar._ Our annals draw perchance unto their close; But at the least, whate'er the past, their end Shall be like their beginning--memorable.
_Zar._ Yet, be not rash--be careful of your life, Live but for those who love.
_Sar._ And who are they? 300 A slave, who loves from passion--I'll not say Ambition--she has seen thrones shake, and loves; A few friends who have revelled till we are As one, for they are nothing if I fall; A brother I have injured--children whom I have neglected, and a spouse----
_Zar._ Who loves.
_Sar._ And pardons?
_Zar._ I have never thought of this, And cannot pardon till I have condemned.
_Sar._ My wife!
_Zar._ Now blessings on thee for that word!
I never thought to hear it more--from thee. 310
_Sar._ Oh! thou wilt hear it from my subjects. Yes-- These slaves whom I have nurtured, pampered, fed, And swoln with peace, and gorged with plenty, till They reign themselves--all monarchs in their mansions-- Now swarm forth in rebellion, and demand His death, who made their lives a jubilee; While the few upon whom I have no claim Are faithful! This is true, yet monstrous.
_Zar._ 'Tis Perhaps too natural; for benefits Turn poison in bad minds.
_Sar._ And good ones make 320 Good out of evil. Happier than the bee, Which hives not but from wholesome flowers.
_Zar._ Then reap The honey, nor inquire whence 'tis derived.
Be satisfied--you are not all abandoned.
_Sar._ My life insures me that. How long, bethink you, Were not I yet a king, should I be mortal; That is, where mortals _are_, not where they must be?
_Zar._ I know not. But yet live for my--that is, Your children's sake!
_Sar._ My gentle, wronged Zarina!
I am the very slave of Circumstance 330 And Impulse--borne away with every breath!
Misplaced upon the throne--misplaced in life.
I know not what I could have been, but feel I am not what I should be--let it end.
But take this with thee: if I was not formed To prize a love like thine, a mind like thine, Nor dote even on thy beauty--as I've doted On lesser charms, for no cause save that such Devotion was a duty, and I hated All that looked like a chain for me or others 340 (This even Rebellion must avouch); yet hear These words, perhaps among my last--that none E'er valued more thy virtues, though he knew not To profit by them--as the miner lights Upon a vein of virgin ore, discovering That which avails him nothing: he hath found it, But 'tis not his--but some superior's, who Placed him to dig, but not divide the wealth Which sparkles at his feet; nor dare he lift Nor poise it, but must grovel on, upturning 350 The sullen earth.
_Zar._ Oh! if thou hast at length Discovered that my love is worth esteem, I ask no more--but let us hence together, And _I_--let me say _we_--shall yet be happy.
Assyria is not all the earth--we'll find A world out of our own--and be more blessed Than I have ever been, or thou, with all An empire to indulge thee.
_Enter_ SALEMENES.
_Sal._ I must part ye-- The moments, which must not be lost, are passing.
_Zar._ Inhuman brother! wilt thou thus weigh out 360 Instants so high and blest?
_Sal._ Blest!
_Zar._ He hath been So gentle with me, that I cannot think Of quitting.
_Sal._ So--this feminine farewell Ends as such partings end, in _no_ departure.
I thought as much, and yielded against all My better bodings. But it must not be.
_Zar._ Not be?
_Sal._ Remain, and perish----
_Zar._ With my husband----
_Sal._ And children.
_Zar._ Alas!
_Sal._ Hear me, sister, like _My_ sister:--all's prepared to make your safety Certain, and of the boys too, our last hopes; 370 'Tis not a single question of mere feeling, Though that were much--but 'tis a point of state: The rebels would do more to seize upon The offspring of their sovereign, and so crush----
_Zar._ Ah! do not name it.
_Sal._ Well, then, mark me: when They are safe beyond the Median's grasp, the rebels Have missed their chief aim--the extinction of The line of Nimrod. Though the present King Fall, his sons live--for victory and vengeance.
_Zar._ But could not I remain, alone?