Phar. Hail! king Darius, live for ever!
Dar. Welcome!
Welcome, my princes, presidents, and friends!
Now, tell me, has your wisdom aught devis'd
To aid the commonwealth? In our new empire,
Subdued Chaldea, is there aught remains
Your prudence can suggest to serve the state,
To benefit the subject, to redress
And raise the injur'd, to assist th' oppress'd,
And humble the oppressor? If you know,
Speak freely, princes! Why am I a king,
Except to poise the awful scale of justice
With even hand; to minister to want;
To bless the nations with a lib'ral rule,
Vicegerent of th' eternal Oromasdes?
Phar. So absolute thy wisdom, mighty king,
All counsel were superfluous.
Dar. Hold, Pharnaces!
No adulation; 'tis the death of virtue;
Who flatters, is of all mankind the lowest,
Save he who courts the flatt'ry. Kings are men,
As feeble and as frail as those they rule,
And born, like them, to die. The Lydian monarch,
Unhappy Craesus, lately sat aloft,
Almost above mortality; now see him!
Sunk to the vile condition of a slave,
He swells the train of Cyrus! I, like him,
To mis'ry am obnoxious. See this throne;
This royal throne the great Nebassar fill'd;
Yet hence his pride expell'd him! Yonder wall,
The dread terrific writing to the eyes
Of proud Belshazzar showed; sad monuments
Of heaven's tremendous vengeance! and shall I,
Unwarn'd by such examples, cherish pride?
Yet to their dire calamities I owe
The brightest gem that glistens in my crown,
Sage Daniel. If my speech have aught of worth,
Or if my life with aught of good he graced,
To him alone I owe it.
Sor. Now, Pharnaces,
Will he run o'er, and dwell upon his praise,
As if we ne'er had heard it; nay, will swell
The nauscous catalogue with many a virtue
His own fond fancy coins.
Phar. O great Darius!
Let thine unworthy servant's words find grace,
And meet acceptance in his royal ear
Who subjugates the East! Let not the king
With anger hear my prayer.
Dar. Pharances, spralt;
I know thou lov'st me; I hat meant to chide
Thy flatt'ry, not reprove thee for thy zeal.
Speak boldly, friends, as man should speak to man.
Perish the harb'rous maxims of the East,
Which basely would enslave the freeborn mind,
And plunder man of the best gift of heaven,
His liberty of soul.
Phar. Darius! hear me.
Thy princes, and the captains of thy bands,
Thy presidents, the nobles who bear rule
O'er provinces, and I, thine humble creature,
Less than the least in merit, but in love,
In zeal, and duty, equal with the first,
We have devised a measure to confirm
Thy infant empire, to establish firmly
Thy power and new dominion, and secure
Thy growing greatness past the power of change.
Dar. I am prepar'd to hear thee; speak, Pharnaces,
Phar. The wretched Babylonians long have groan'd
Beneath the rule of princes, weak or rash.
The rod of power was sway'd alike amiss
By feeble Merodach and fierce Belshazzar.
One let the slacken'd reins too loosely float
Upon the people's neck, and lost his power
By nerveless relaxation. He who follow'd
Held with a tyrant's hand the cruel curb,
And check'd the groaning nation till it bled;
On diff'rent rocks they met one common ruin.
Their edicts were irresolute, their laws
Were feebly plann'd, their councils ill advised;
Now so relax'd, and now so overstrain'd,
That the tired people, wearied with the weight
They long have borne, will soon disdain control,
Tread on all rule, and spurn the hand that guides them.
Dar. But say, what remedy?
Phar. That too, O king!
Thy servants have provided. Hitherto
They hear the yoke submissive. But to fix
Thy power and their obedience, to reduce
All hearts to thy dominion, yet avoid
Those deeds of cruelty thy nature starts at,
Thou shouldst begin by some imperial act
Of absolute dominion, yet unstain'd
By aught of barbarous. For know, O king!
Wholesome severity, if wisely fram'd
With sober discipline, procures more reverence
Than all the lenient counsels and weak measures
Of frail irresolution.
Dar. Now proceed
To thy request.
Phar. Not I, but all request it.
Be thy imperial edict issued straight,
And let a firm decree be this day pass'd,
Irrevocable, as our Median laws
Ordain, that for the space of thirty days
No subject in thy realm shall aught request
Of god or man, except of thee, O king!
Dar. Wherefore this strange decree?
Phar. 'Twill fix the crown
With lasting safety on thy royal brow,
And by a bloodless means, preserve th' obedience
Of this new empire. Think how much 'twill raise
Thy high renown! 'Twill make thy name revered
And popular beyond example. What!
To be as heaven, dispensing good and ill
For thirty days! With thine own ears to bear
Thy people's wants, with thine own lib'ral hands
To bless thy suppliant subjects! O Darius!
Thou'lt seem as bounteous as a giving god!
And reign in every heart in Babylon
As well as Media! What a glorious state,
To be the sovereign arbiter of good!
The first efficient cause of happiness!
To scatter mercies with a plenteous hand,
And to be blest thyself in blessing others!
Dar. Is this the general wish?
Chief Pres. Of one, of all.
Behold thy princes, presidents, and lords,
Thy counsellors, and captains! See, O king
Behold the instrument our zeal has drawn;
The edict is prepar'd. We only wait
The confirmation of thy gracious word,
And thy imperial signet.
Dar. Say, Pharances,
What penalty awaits the man who dares
Transgress our mandate?
Phar. Instant death, O king!
This statute says, " Should any subject dare.
Petition for the space of thirty days,
Of God or man, except of thee, O king!
He shall be thrown into yon dreadful den
Of hungry lions! "
Dar. Hold! Methinks a deed
Of such importance should be wisely weigh'd.
Phar. We have revolv'd it, mighty king! with care,
With closest scrutiny. On us devolve
Whatever blame occurs!
Dar. I'm satisfied.
Then to your wisdom I commit me, princes.
Behold the royal signet: see, 'tis done.
Phar. There Daniel fell! That signet seal'd his doom.
Dar. Let me reflect — Sure I have been too rash!
Why such intemp'rate haste? But you are wise;
And would not counsel this severe decree
But for the wisest purpose. Yet, methinks,
I might have weigh'd, and in my mind revolv'd
This statute, ere, the royal signet stamp'd,
It had been past repeal. Sage Daniel too!
My counsellor, my guide, my well-tried friend,
He should have been consulted; he whose wisdom
I still have found oracular.
Phar. Mighty king!
'Tis as it should be. The decree is past
Irrevocable, as the steadfast law
Of Mede and Persian, which can never change.
Those who observe it live, as is most meet,
High in thy grace; — who violate it, die.