_Enter an Officer, hastily_. _Sar._ Thy face seems ominous. Speak! _Offi._ I dare not. _Sar._ Dare not? While millions dare revolt with sword in hand! That's strange. I pray thee break that loyal silence Which loathes to shock its sovereign; we can hear Worse than thou hast to tell. _Pan._ Proceed--thou hearest. _Offi._ The wall which skirted near the river's brink Is thrown down by the sudden inundation 190 Of the Euphrates, which now rolling, swoln From the enormous mountains where it rises, By the late rains of that tempestuous region, O'erfloods its banks, and hath destroyed the bulwark. _Pan._ That's a black augury! it has been said For ages, "That the City ne'er should yield To man, until the River grew its foe." _Sar._ I can forgive the omen, not the ravage. How much is swept down of the wall? _Offi._ About Some twenty stadia.[29] _Sar._ And all this is left 200 Pervious to the assailants? _Offi._ For the present The River's fury must impede the assault; But when he shrinks into his wonted channel, And may be crossed by the accustomed barks, The palace is their own. _Sar._ That shall be never. Though men, and gods, and elements, and omens, Have risen up 'gainst one who ne'er provoked them, My father's house shall never be a cave For wolves to horde and howl in. _Pan._ With your sanction, I will proceed to the spot, and take such measures 210 For the assurance of the vacant space As time and means permit. _Sar._ About it straight, And bring me back, as speedily as full And fair investigation may permit, Report of the true state of this irruption Of waters. [_Exeunt_ PANIA _and the Officer_. _Myr._ Thus the very waves rise up Against you. _Sar._ They are not my subjects, girl, And may be pardoned, since they can't be punished. _Myr._ I joy to see this portent shakes you not. _Sar._ I am past the fear of portents: they can tell me 220 Nothing I have not told myself since midnight: Despair anticipates such things. _Myr._ Despair! _Sar._ No; not despair precisely. When we know All that can come, and how to meet it, our Resolves, if firm, may merit a more noble Word than this is to give it utterance. But what are words to us? we have well nigh done With them and all things.