Semiramide

“ She paused to sigh, then turned to Huzim with a smile: "Among the stars above strange happenings are ordained, yet perchance unto Ninus I may whisper soon, in that he rouseth from his lethargy."
The Indian regarded her both earnestly and long.
"Mistress," he answered, grimly, in the manner of one who is charged with truth, "if thou wouldst whisper in the ear of Assyria's King, first make its opening larger with the barb of thy hunting spear."
"Nay," laughed Semiramis; "a woman's wit may sink far deeper and will leave no scar. Now point me out where my good lord Menon hath set his camp." ”

“ About Semiramis were gathered her chiefs of war, Prince Asharal of Babylon, Boabdul Ben Hutt whose scimitar could match a score of swords, Huzim the faithful, Dagas who loved and whose shield was hers in any cause, while many more stout arms were there to work her will; but of these the Queen thought not as she faced the coming throng.
"Ye dogs!" she stormed, "am I to be sickened by the yelpings of your pack? Ye swine of Assyria! who have fattened on the plenty of Shammuramat! I who have puffed your bellies with the food of gods! Have done! ”

“ Her beauty was for him—the master of men—the lord of a woman's yielding soul—the love-mad king who groveled at a shrine of craft.
So Semiramis suffered the King's caress, smiling her smiles of promise, while she hushed the curses of her fury-throated hate. She waited now, even as the tigress stalks her kill, patient, tireless, crouching till a shifting wind had passed, to rise again and steal toward the pouncing-point. King Ninus she might have slain by day or night, and there were moments when her fingers clung to a weapon hungrily; yet the King was King, and his nation might not be slain. ”

“ Ah, if he could but bend her pride, how simple would be the rest!
"Listen," he begged, with deep humility. "In the hour of stress we stoop to many things. What harm if the lady Shammuramat conceal her beauty beneath an humble cloak and fare with Kishra to the river bank? By boat we may cross, returning ere the night is old, and none would be the wiser, for the city gates are free to me."
"No!" declared Semiramis, with a gesture of disdain. "I trust you not, nor will I leave the palace mound, though you prayed till dawn." ”

“ Heed ye and remember one who hath wrought this evil in my soul! The King! who hath crucified a woman's love! The King! who hath torn a woman's heart from out her breast and set a raging devil as the master of her blood! So harken, ye children of Assyria, and ye who write on tablets and the graven stele! Remember! And now make ready for a war!"
"A war?" cried Nakir-Kish, who knew that the nations rested on their arms and were at peace. "What war?"
Semiramis turned upon him with a cry of consuming rage, and with the scepter of an hundred lands she smote him across his mouth. ”

“ Now it chanced that when the King was gone Semiramis held council with her lord, and in that council wrought more woe unto herself than in all her other days since she lay, a deserted babe, among the rocks of Ascalon.
"Menon," said she, "'tis well that thou and I bask always in the light of uncommon things. Mayhap our works may oft' times fret the King to jealousy; yet, even so, we win the homage of Assyria and Babylon. Go, therefore, thyself and, leaving Huzim here to guard my tent, point out the way to the Bactrians' secret place." ”

“ For the first time since the battle with the Kurds she marked a frown of anger upon the servant's brow, yet little she reckoned of the wrath of any man.
"Huzim," she answered, and her teeth shone white in the light of a riding moon, "I know not what path is best for fools to take, nor if you would hide in idleness beneath the desert's sands; but as for me, as Ishtar hears my oath, I go to Bactria."
"But why?" he demanded, in a tone of keen despair. "Why tempt the gods when wisdom pointeth out the way?"
Once more Semiramis raised her arms toward the stars, and her fists were clenched. ”

“ Semiramis laughed aloud. Through the open tent she pointed to a cleft which split two mountain peaks in twain:
"Climb yonder and pass between, then journey down the further slope till the second mountain stream is reached; hunt northward toward its source, and the foam-tongued waters will shout thy way, even as hounds lift up their song on the quarry's trail." She paused to laugh again: "In truth, King Ninus is of little wisdom, else to him I might have pointed out this open path, even as I point it out to thee." ”

“ Then Huzim raised him up, and he called aloud on the sons of Naïri, his children of war, who would harken to a father's battle-cry; and as that cry rang out, they knew him once again, and knelt before him, weeping bitterly.
"And now," called Semiramis to her kneeling warriors, "I ask that you follow me to pluck a vulture from his roost on Assyria's throne! To cast him out, as a father might cast a serpent from the bosom of his babe! The King! who hath shorn me of my joy in life! The King! ”

“ Thus the kingdom of Assyria grew apace. The fathers of men had fashioned a map of the countries of all the world; yet it fitted not the fancy of Semiramis, so the War Queen changed it, with a finger dipped in blood.
Where the fury of battle knotted its tightest snarl, there she would drive her chariot, to leap at the throat of danger, breast the surf of death, ride over it, and leave a crimson trail behind. And the warriors bowed down and worshipped her, half in unknowing passion, half in awe, forgetting the glory of the high god Asshur in the glory of a woman-god. ”

“ O, for your own dear life, Semiramis,
Let Ninus know not I am Artavan!
Sem. He dare not touch me, for the army ’s mine!
(Goes into Ninus’ chamber)
Sol. My love!
Art. ’Tis welcome and farewell, my Sola!
Sol. O, she will save thee!
Art. Teach me not to hope.
(A band of dancing maidens enter, left, and sing a bridal chorus before the doors of Ninus’ chamber)
Love and Beauty now are one,
No more wandering away! Love ’s the sky to Beauty’s sun,
From him she can not stray. And he is bright by her fair light or none!
Love and Beauty dreaming lie,
Who shall say it is not meet? ”

“ This is the accepted legend of the origin of Semiramis.
The farmers bore her tenderly to the house of Simmas, chief warden of the royal flocks, a kindly man who reared her as his own; and they called her Shammuramat, which name, in the Syrian tongue, means Dove.
Thus the offspring of a goddess, and adopted child of doves and mortal man, grew swiftly to a strength and beauty of the gods themselves. From early childhood she loved the lake, where she sported among the waves till none might match her in speed or grace of stroke ”

“ His couch had been set beside a fountain's edge, beneath a trellaced arbor whereon a vine of Syria climbed, the great black grapes in clusters peeping from their leaves and set apart for the lips of the King alone. At his hand were a jeweled flagon and a dish of fruit on which he regaled himself from time to time as he waited for Semiramis, while at his head stood a eunuch who waved a fan of feathered plumes and watched lest a buzzing insect rest upon his monarch's skin. ”

“ Semiramis leaned across the parapet, shaking her hard-clenched fist toward the lines of marching men which had swallowed up the purple litter of the wounded King. Hour by hour she watched the armies move, like restless waves on the breast of a shoreless sea, the sunlight flashing on their polished gear. Line on line of footmen swung in measured stride, archers, slingers, pikemen, and those who fought with axes and with staves; vast clouds of riders skirting the Khusur river's edge where the way was cleared for the monster catapults now knocked apart and bound upon carts with wooden wheels. ”

“ For a moment Kishra sat staring at Semiramis, while through his evil brain shot the knowledge of his own credulity. From the first she had gulled him, luring him to lie in a muddy fish pond, harkening unto whisperings. No runner waited for her fish of malachite. Her tremblings and her tears were but a mask. Even in her well-feigned fury she had fed him with designs for his own undoing, and he, in his gross cupidity, had eaten of the fruit of fools. No treasure lay hidden on the river shore, but enemies who smiled and waited for their own. ”

“ The servant wept in gladness, and would have kissed her feet, but she raised him gently and bade him seek the King; so Huzim went out from Semiramis, rejoicing, with the half forgotten songs of childhood bubbling beneath his tongue.
Thus it came to pass that in royal barges, manned by boatmen of Phoenicia, King Ninus and his train fared down the Tigris, even to the point of its marriage with the Euphrates, and thence to the gulf beyond; and throughout the journey Semiramis sat apart with her tiring-maids, nor did the King pay court to her, but minded his own affairs in the wisdom of the fox. ”

“ In the valley among the foothills, hidden from the sight of Zariaspa's walls, an army of slaves began to dig a mighty trench; full twenty cubits deep it was, running from north to south in a line which must cross the hidden river-bed. For eleven days they dug, yet all in vain, till many looked askance upon Semiramis, believing her tale to be the fancies of some foolish dream; and of those who doubted, the first was Nakir-Kish, while Ninus followed close upon his heels.
The King set watch upon Semiramis, commanding that Menon come not into the western camp till proof of her word was manifest ”

“ Yet the chieftains waited, so at last he strode to the center of their ring and raised his arms.
"'Tis even as she telleth," he cried aloud, and Semiramis smiled, with the air of one who conquers Kings; then Ninus arose and spoke:
"Peace, Nakir-Kish! It is not meet that our works be heralded abroad. Let the woman tell of the Bactrians' store-house hidden from our mortal eyes."
The Syrian shook her head.
"My lord," she made reply, "'tis true the merchant selleth wares, yet the merchant hath a price."
"Name it," growled the King. "If thy words be true, I give a chariot's weight in gold ”

“ She, too, looked down, on a caldron of murder seething in the pool of Zariaspa's walls; then she raised her round young arms, and, even as the conquering eagle screams, so screamed Semiramis, in a vaunting battle-cry.
In the streets below that cry reechoed from the thirst-parched tongues of a raging multitude that thundered at the fast-locked gates and trod on a floor of slain; then the bolts were drawn and the halls of the citadel were gorged with the inrush of a conquering horde. ”

“ Once more she started, yet controlled her voice, answering in a tone of wonderment:
"A leathern sack of gems? In truth I know naught of it. As Bêlit liveth, your words are the words of foolishness."
"True," grinned Kishra; "no treasure is hidden on the river bank, nor is there a garden-seat before our eyes, nor a fish pond near at hand where a man may hide his body beneath the scum and harken unto whisperings."
At his taunting speech Semiramis raised her fist as if to dash it in his evil face, then let it fall beside her, while she sank upon the garden seat in bitter tears. ”

“ So, pondering upon the strangeness of these things, proud Akki-Bul went forth to spy the way, ten spear lengths in advance of those who followed after him.
Through the opening in her tent Semiramis watched an army steal across the plain and disappear into a valley's dip; then she slept, to dream of her home in Ascalon, of Dagon's lake, of the creatures that swim therein, and of Menon—with a little green fish of malachite that nestled against his heart.
In a chamber beneath the citadel lay a sorely stricken man. In fever and pain he lay, and cried aloud to the far, unlistening gods. ”

“ I ’ll tell thee all he said—thy Artavan,—
Ay, every word, and how his eyes grew soft
With dimness sweeter than their vanquished light
When thou wert his dear theme!
(They move to curtains. Semiramis stops and listens)
Go in. I ’ll come. (Sola goes in) Sem. (Listening) Is that a chariot? My father!... Nay!
He ’s safe with Artavan! Whatever comes
His son will be his heart and bear him up!
Safe, safe, Menones, and thy grizzled locks
Shall wear their laurels to an honored grave! ”

“ Awake! Art sleeping, Dagon, that thou heedest not? Awake, I say! 'Tis I who call—Shammuramat! [#] Am I, too, not a child of gods, whom the good witch Schelah sayeth will one day rule the world? Heed, or I tear thy temple down and set a Moloch in thy stead! Awake, thou fool! Awake!"
[#] The name "Shammuramat" has been corrupted by the Greeks into Semiramis, in which form the great Assyrian Queen is better known.
The shrill voice ceased. The pale girl listened with a chill of terror till the echoes died in the temple's dome. ”

“ By the gleam of the stars alone they toiled, till a sickly glow came stealing from out the east; and then, as the sun came up, they stood at last on the mountain's spine, poor Habal dropping at their feet with heaving flanks and a lolling tongue.
Semiramis heaved a sigh. Beneath her lay the land of Bactria, yet hidden now by a ghostly sea of mist—a mist that writhed and heaved, revealing giant peaks that seemed to peep out timidly, to turn and flee as though pursued by spirits of the under-world ”

“ In sooth it were wise to hide away in some secret place where the tramp of Assyria's hosts was but an echo down the wind, and India offered many a safe retreat. Yet, one grown lazy at a post of power revolts at the thought of poverty and toil, for the cup and a savory dish were as musk to the eunuch's nose. If he could but lay his hand on the treasure of Semiramis! To dwell in plenty and in ease! To swing the lash above the backs of a hundred slaves! Ah, this were peace! These jewels lay hidden in a leathern sack—a sack concealed in a bed of river mud. Mayhap, if craft were exercised—! ”