The honourable, yet fatal Oath taken by the Bride, was to be continued as the Wife,--but its sacredness could only be _proved_ by the Widow. Upon the death of the Husband, it was easy for the King to seize upon the enviable riches of the Prince and Priest; if this death should occur before the Princess was blessed by the name of Mother, the absence of an heir would place, by constructive law, all the wealth (except the widow's dower) in the quiet possession of the avaricious Tyrant. His Sister's oath formed a barrier against the existence of any future heir,--and consequently the death of her first and only Husband must be accomplished with expedition, otherwise Nature might claim her prerogative and adorn the Wife with the title of Parent, and thus place before the Nation, not only an heir to the Father's riches, but to the Throne itself. In the foregone manner most probably the envious King reasoned and reflected; and like the usurper of ancient Scotia when contemplating the acquisition of wealth and power, and when the virtuous means whereby they could only be accomplished, were about to leave the citadel of conscience, his resolution was-- "If it were done, when 'tis done, then 'twere well It were done quickly." Thus resolved, the Royal assassin instantly carried into effect, the demoniac murder of his Sister's newly married Husband. [B. C. 861.] It is in trials of adversity that our natures are proved,--and Woman at such a time stands pre-eminent,--she treads the steps of the fiery ordeal triumphantly:--though blinded by the blow of fate, still her after-resolution illumines her path, and proves to wondering Man, that the ploughshares of cruelty have been heated in vain! Never was this proved to a greater degree than by the Tyrian Princess. Scarcely had Acerbas been thus basely deprived of life, when secret intelligence of the deed was conveyed to the Wife,--as, also, the cause which led to it, and by whose authority the murder was committed. Terrible indeed must have been the triple-tongued intelligence that conveyed to her the maddening truth, that one act had made her a widowed bride,--a fond Husband murdered, and her Sovereign and Brother that cruel Assassin! In the whole range of fiction, or poetry, there is not to be found a tragic incident, equal to this fact from the romance of History.