Sémiramis: Arsaces! What sorrows can Arsaces feel when I Am near him, he who thus hath banished mine? Quick, let him come: he knows not yet his power O’er the fond heart of his Sémiramis. O thou dread shade whose voice alarmed my soul, Whose blood no more calls out for vengeance on me, And you, the guardian gods of this great empire. Of the Assyrians, Ninus, and my son, Unite to bless Arsaces! Ha! the sight Alarms me; whence can these strange terrors rise?

SCENE V.

Sémiramis, Arsaces.

Arsaces: O queen, I am devoted to thy service; My life is thine; and when I shed this blood, I am rewarded if it flows for thee. My father had some small renown in arms; I saw him perish bravely in the field, And at the head of thy victorious bands; He left his hapless son a fair example, Perhaps but ill pursued: I’ll not recall The memory of my father’s services. ’Twould ill become me; at your royal knees, Though here I sue for favor and protection: Pity the rashness of a guilty youth, Who listened to the dictates of imprudence. And even in serving feared he might offend you.

Sémiramis: Offend me! thou, Arsaces! fear it not.

Arsaces: To-day you give your kingdom and your hand: My heart, I know, should on the great event Keep secret all its fears, and humbly still In silence, with depending monarchs, wait To know our master; but this Assur steps So haughtily, and triumphs in his conquest, We cannot brook his pride: the people call him Already their new sovereign; his high blood And rank support him: may he prove himself Worthy of both! but I have still a soul Too proud to bend beneath him, or adore The power I had defied: his jealous heart I know detests Arsaces: let me then Retire in safety, far from him, and thee: Permit me to revisit the dear climes Where first I served my royal mistress, there His tyranny can never reach: perhaps I may hereafter—

Sémiramis: Wilt thou leave me then, And fearest thou Assur?

Arsaces: No: Arsaces fears Naught but the anger of Sémiramis. Perhaps thou knowest my fond ambition, then I’ve cause indeed to tremble.

Sémiramis: Hope the best, And know that Assur ne’er shall be thy master.

Arsaces: I own it shocked my soul to look on him As Ninus’ successor: but is he then Designed for Azema? forgive this bold Presumptuous questioner: long since I know She was to Ninias given, proud Assur sprung From the same race, and claims her as his own: I am but a poor subject, yet I dare—