Who live on cheese of mare’s milk and go on
For ever over never-ending grass,
And have no home except the black felt tent
And the great plain and the great sky and silence.
AHASUERUS.
A good life, that, for men. Who, next to those?
HYDASPES.
The race of Sittras by the sacred river;
They are all men, grown grey; no women there.
They have put by their wives and families,
Their crowns, their swords, their households and their cares,
And seek for wisdom there, until they die.
AHASUERUS.
Do they find wisdom?
HYDASPES.
No, but they find peace.
AHASUERUS.
Do they, by Heaven; as a dead man does.
Wisdom is life upon the tickle edge,
Not the blind staring of the stupefied
At nothing out of nothing. I envy you
For travelling thus and seeing all these things,
Which I shall only hear of.
Tell me now,
When you were wandering, did you meet the Jews?
HYDASPES.
No, never, Lord.
AHASUERUS.
Nor heard about their race?
HYDASPES.
Not in the East.
AHASUERUS.
But in the West you have?
HYDASPES.
Yes, here at home.
AHASUERUS.
What have you heard?
HYDASPES.
That they are heathen men,
Brought from beyond the desert in the wars;
Not desert savages, nor civilised,
But enemies of both.
AHASUERUS.
Who told you this?
HYDASPES.
Prince Haman told me.
AHASUERUS.
They are now condemned;
They have been plotting here. You do not know
Any of their rebellious stock, by chance?
HYDASPES.
No, Lord, not one.
AHASUERUS.
Go to that door, Hydaspes.
Is someone listening to us, as we speak?
HYDASPES [_Going to door_].
No, Lord; the guard is at the door beyond.
AHASUERUS.
Come nearer me. That captain of the guard,
Is he a Jew?
HYDASPES.
No, Lord, a Persian, surely,
Pordánatha, from lovely Arisai,
The city white like snow; Persian as you.
AHASUERUS.
Thank you, Hydaspes.
These times are dangerous. Go now from here,
See the guards doubled at Queen Esther’s doors.
These Jews are secret like that desert tribe
Whom none has seen, who walk the moonless night
And strike men dead, and go, and leave no trace
Save the dead body.
HYDASPES.
I will place the guards
Myself, great King.
[_Exit_ HYDASPES.]
AHASUERUS.
Esther, the Queen, not yet a trusted Queen.
Not lightly can an Emperor put his trust
In man or woman. She is proud, and pride
Is slow to give or take in confidence.
How the Queen Vashti comes into my mind!
She disobeyed my order at the feast,
So she is put away, and lives in exile.
How little quiet have I known since then!
Plot, plot and counter-plot, and none to comfort,
Nor to advise, as Vashti used to do.
Was it a plot that made her disobey?
I sent Prince Memucan to bring her to me:
He brought back word that she refused to come.
How if Prince Memucan were lying to me?
Misquoting what she said, to make me rage
And put her from her place beside my throne?
For since she went, Prince Memucan has been
About me day and night, and grows in power.
Who are the comrades of Prince Memucan?
Meres, Adathan; but his chiefest friend
Is Haman, my most trusted councillor.
Haman, my friend, to whom I love to give
Princedoms and palaces and silver mines.
And yet, what if the two conspired together
To rid me of the Queen, that they might rule me?
I will send Memucan beyond the seas
Upon some dangerous mission of great honour:
He shall away to-morrow in all haste.
But Haman I can trust.
[_He tries to compose himself to sleep._]
Princedoms, and palaces, and silver mines,
Pomps, glories, splendours, princedoms, palaces--
Vashti the Queen, and enemies, and princedoms--
A long, long life, and heavy hours of time!
[_He sleeps. A clink of metal to mark
passage of time._]
AHASUERUS [_Starting up_].
It was not I,
It was the slave Harbonah poisoned him,
Not I. I was not there. I never knew.
Horrible white face with the blotch of death;
Harbonah gave it in the honey cake--
The honey cake, I never gave it you.
I was not at the feast, it is well known
I was most sick that night.
[_He wakes._]
Merach! Merach! begone! It was not Merach,
But someone at the footing of the bed.
Someone, a Jew, with bones instead of face
And blood that dripped.
[_He gropes at foot of bed. He rises._]
O blessed night, so full of peace, so calm,
After that horror.
Ah! I know it now,
What the Chaldean told me long ago,
That I should know no quiet rest at night,
Being a King, unless I ate of bread
Baked in a house where sorrow never came.
O blessed bread, would I could eat of thee!
[_Goes Back._]
Guards! are the gates secure?
GUARDS [_Off_].
God save the King!
The King’s gates are made sure, and the gates’ keys
Here, under guard. May the King live for ever!
AHASUERUS.
The sentries on the walls; do they report
All quiet in the city?
GUARD.
All, great King.
AHASUERUS.
No armed men moving, no suspicious thing?
GUARD.
Nothing, O Son of Heaven, but silent darkness,
And here and there a priest of the great sun
Praying long life and blessing on our Monarch.
AHASUERUS.
Long life, long misery!
It is within this room the horror is--
That thing, that Jew, that thing out of the grave.
No, nothing, nothing! I can see there’s nothing.
So--I will sleep. I will repeat that song
Made long ago by one who could not sleep,
To help his fellow-sufferers.
[_Repeats._]
_Along the beach a wave comes slowly in,
And breaks, and dies away, and dies away_;
The moon is dimmed and all the ropes are taut.
_Along the beach a wave comes slowly in,
And breaks and dies away, and dies away_,
It is no season, sailor, to quit port.
_Along_--etc.
[_He sleeps._] [_Enter_ GHOST OF THARES.
_The_ GHOST _comes behind_ AHASUERUS
_and across stage. It stands still and
hinnies like a snipe._]
AHASUERUS [_In his sleep_].
O no! Spare me! Spare me!
Loose me my hands. O they have tied my feet!
I cannot get from bed, and now they come.
Merciful Gods! my thigh-bones are both broken.
I cannot stir. Who is it gibbering there?
Who are you? Who?
THARES [_In a disguised, piping voice_].
The shadow of what I was,
Come for your blood.
AHASUERUS.
I’ll give you gold--my kingdom--
But let me go!
THARES [_Creeping slowly across, hands out_].
I cannot, Ahasuerus,
I want your life, the soul out of your body.
See, I come nearer and a little nearer,
A little nearer still, and put out hands--
Lean, skinny hands, that used to serve your food,
Thin hands to put your powerless hands aside
And take you by the throat as now I do,
And squeeze, and squeeze the life out of your flesh!
[_He begins to strangle_ AHASUERUS.]
AHASUERUS [_With effort_].
Ah, gods! He kills me! Kills me!
Out, O gods!
Hydaspes! Help!
Hydaspes! Guards! Hydaspes!
[_Exit_ THARES, _L._]
HYDASPES [_R._].
Lord!
AHASUERUS.
The villain strangled me. It was a dream.
A dreadful dream! And yet I knew his face.
Who was the man? One who made plots against me,
And died, from torture, as a due reward.
Who was the man?
Go, bring the records here,
The wise Chaldeans and the record-writers,
And let them read the records, for I know
The man’s name will be there.
[_Exit_ HYDASPES.]
It was his spirit.
An evil thing, a harbinger of evil,
A plotter coming as the vulture comes
Before the corpse. But the Chaldean scribes
Will know his name, and by their magicry
Tell me what evil comes.
Thares it was--
Thares, the man was, who was put to death
For plotting with the other, Bigdana.
[_Goes Back._]
Let pass the wise Chaldeans when they come.
THE GUARD [_Off_].
God save the King! May the King live for ever!
CURTAIN.
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