P HARNACUS , S ORANUS .

Phar. 'Tis done — success has crown'd our scheme, Soranus;
And Daniel falls into the deep-laid tolls
Our prudence spread.
Sor. That he should fall so soon,
Astonishes e'en me. What! not a day!
What! not a single moment to defer
His rash devotions? Madly thus to rush
On certain peril quite transcends belief!
When happened it, Pharances?
Phar. On the instant:
Scarce is the deed accomplish'd. As he made
His ostentatious prayer, e'en in the face
Of the bright god of day, all Babylon
Beheld the insult offer'd to Darius.
For, as in hold defiance of the law,
His windows were not closed. Our chosen bands,
Whom we had placed to note him, straight rush'd in,
And seiz'd him in the warmth of his blind zeal,
Ere half his prayer was finish'd. Young Araspes,
With all the wild extravagance of grief,
Prays, weeps, and threatens. Daniel silent stands,
With patient resignation, and prepares
To follow them. But see, the king approaches.
Sor. How's this? deep sorrow sits upon his brow!
And stern resentment fires his angry eye.

Dar. O, deep-laid stratagem! O, artful wile!
To take me unprepar'd, to wound my heart,
E'en where it feels most tenderly, in friendship!
To stab my fame! to hold me up a mark
To future ages, for the perjur'd prince
Who slew the friend he lov'd! O Daniel, Daniel,
Who now shall trust Darius? Not a slave
In my wide empire, from the Indian main
To the cold Caspian, but is more at ease
Than I, his monarch. Yes! I've done a deed
Will blot my honour with eternal stain!
Pharances! O, thou heary sycophant!
Thou wily politician! thou hast snared
Thy unsuspecting master.
Phar. Great Darius,
Let not resentment blind thy royal eyes.
In what am I to blame? who could suspect
This obstinate resistance to the law?
Who could foresee that Daniel would perforce
Oppose the king's decree?
Dar. Thou, thou forsaw'st it!
Thou knew'st his righteous soul would ne'er endure
So long an interval of prayer. But I,
Deluded king! 'twas I should have foreseen
His steadfast piety. I should have thought
Your earnest warmth had some more secret source,
Something that touch'd you nearer than your love,
Your well-feign'd zeal, for me — I should have known
When selfish politicians, hackney'd long
In fraud and artifice, affect a glow
Of patriot fervour, or fond loyalty,
Which scorns all show of interest, that's the moment
To watch their crooked projects. Well thou know'st
How dear I held him; how I prized his truth!
Did I not choose him from a subject world,
Unbless'd by fortune, and by birth ungraced,
A captive and a Jew? Did I not love him?
Was he not rich in independent worth?
And great in native goodness? That undid him!
There, there he fell! If he had been less great,
He had been safe. Thou couldst not bear his brightness;
The lustre of his virtues quite obscured
And dimm'd thy fainter merit. Rash old man!
Go, and devise some means to set me free
From this dread land of guilt! Go, set at work
Thy plotting genius to redeem the life
Of venerable Daniel!
Phar. 'Tis too late.
He has offended gainst the new decree;
Has dared to make petition to his God,
Although the dreadful sentence of the act
Full well he knew. And by th' establish'd law
Of Media, by that law irrevocable,
Which he has dared to violate, he dies!
Dar. Impiety! presumption! monstrous law!
Irrevocable? Is there aught on earth
Deserves that name? Th' eternal laws alone
Of Oromasdes are unchangeable!
All human projects are so faintly framed,
So feebly plann'd, so liable to change,
So mix'd with error in their very form,
That mutable and mortal are the same.
But where is Daniel? Wherefore comes he not
To load me with reproaches? to upbraid me
With all the wrongs my barb'rous haste has done him.
Where is he?
Phar. He prepares to meet his fate.
This hour he dies, for so the act decrees.
Dar. Suspend the bloody sentence. Bring him hither,
Or rather let me seek him, and implore
His dying pardon, and his parting prayer.