_Zar._ My brain turns-- My eyes fail--where is he? [_She faints_. _Sar._ (_advancing_). No--set her down; She's dead--and you have slain her. _Sal._ 'Tis the mere Faintness of o'erwrought passion: in the air She will recover. Pray, keep back.--[_Aside_.] I must Avail myself of this sole moment to 420 Bear her to where her children are embarked, I' the royal galley on the river. [SALEMENES _bears her off_. _Sar._ (_solus_). This, too-- And this too must I suffer--I, who never Inflicted purposely on human hearts A voluntary pang! But that is false-- She loved me, and I loved her.--Fatal passion! Why dost thou not expire at _once_ in hearts Which thou hast lighted up at once? Zarina![ah] I must pay dearly for the desolation Now brought upon thee. Had I never loved 430 But thee, I should have been an unopposed Monarch of honouring nations. To what gulfs A single deviation from the track Of human duties leads even those who claim The homage of mankind as their born due, And find it, till they forfeit it themselves! _Enter_ MYRRHA. _Sar._ _You_ here! Who called you? _Myr._ No one--but I heard Far off a voice of wail and lamentation, And thought---- _Sar._ It forms no portion of your duties To enter here till sought for. _Myr._ Though I might, 440 Perhaps, recall some softer words of yours (Although they _too were chiding_), which reproved me, Because I ever dreaded to intrude; Resisting my own wish and your injunction To heed no time nor presence, but approach you Uncalled for:--I retire. _Sar._ Yet stay--being here. I pray you pardon me: events have soured me Till I wax peevish--heed it not: I shall Soon be myself again. _Myr._ I wait with patience, What I shall see with pleasure. _Sar._ Scarce a moment 450 Before your entrance in this hall, Zarina, Queen of Assyria, departed hence. _Myr._ Ah! _Sar._ Wherefore do you start? _Myr._ Did I do so? _Sar._ 'Twas well you entered by another portal, Else you had met. That pang at least is spared her! _Myr._ I know to feel for her. _Sar._ That is too much, And beyond nature--'tis nor mutual[ai] Nor possible. You cannot pity her, Nor she aught but---- _Myr._ Despise the favourite slave? Not more than I have ever scorned myself. 460