Arsaces: I swear it; and this arm that fought for her, This heart obedient ever to her voice, Which next the voice of heaven I still revered, This blood which flowed with pleasure for her sake, Shall be devoted to that royal master Whom she appoints.

High Priest: I wait the great award Of heaven and Sémiramis.

Sémiramis: Enough: Each to his place, and now attend, my people. [She seats herself on the throne. Azema, Assur, Oroes (the high priest) and Arsaces take their places, and she proceeds.] If in that hand which custom and the laws Of an imperious husband had confined To homely cares, and to a distaff chained, I bore aloft the sceptre and the sword, Beyond my subjects’ hope, nor sunk beneath The weight of empire, let me now extend To latest times its glory: ’tis my purpose This day to take a partner in the throne: The gods must be obeyed, whose dread command At length subdued my long unconquered heart: They who deprived me of my son, perhaps May one day raise an heir to Babylon Worthy of empire, who shall follow me Through all the thorny paths that I have trod, Finish my work, and make my reign immortal. I might have chosen a sovereign from the kings That dwell around me, but they are all my foes, Or tributary slaves: a foreign hand Shall never wield this sceptre: my own subjects Are better than the kings which they have conquered: Belus was born a subject; if he gained The diadem, he owed it to the people, And to himself: by rights like his I hold The power supreme; and, mistress of a kingdom Larger than his, have bent beneath my yoke The nations of the East, which Belus ne’er Had seen or heard of: what he but attempted Sémiramis performed; for they who found A kingdom, and they only, can preserve it. You want a king who may be worthy of you, Worthy of such an empire, shall I add Worthy the hand that crowns him, and the heart Which I shall give: I have consulted heaven, My country’s weal, the interest of mankind, And choose a king to make the world more happy. Adore the hero, see in him revived The princes of my honored race; observe him, And know, this king, this hero, is—Arsaces. [She descends from the throne, and they all rise.]

Azema: Arsaces! the perfidious—

Assur: Rage and vengeance!

Arsaces: Believe me, Azema—

Oroes: Just heaven! avert These omens.

Sémiramis: Thou who sanctifiest my choice, Confirm it at the altar: see in him Ninus and Ninias both restored. [It thunders, and the tomb shakes.] O heaven! What do I hear?

Oroes: Great gods, protect us now!