KNOW this : that through all time past Love has
been
So sweet that none could perish and not live
Forthwith again.
Ere Persia from the East
Burst, whelming earth with empire – while, subdued
By swarthy alien chiefs, whose martial pomp
Outbraved her foes, proud Egypt drowsed in peace,
Half-dreaming of her ancient wisdom still –
While, yet unwearied, from her mighty past,
Assyria stirred, and crushed as with a stroke
The realms around her, and imperial Tyre
Fell at her touch; while they who had begotten
Rome were a tribe yet; while the world was thus
Elate, as now, with battling nations – One,
Hard by the western confines near the clear
Light of all Greece divine, a shoreless land,
Green over vine-clad hills and fertile heights,
Lay Sardis merry with two meeting worlds –
Lay Sardis vibrant with bewildering tongues
And diverse customs, where all peoples met
In commerce and in pleasure, in the flash
Of crimson, blue, and saffron, to the sound
Of never-flagging lutes and flutes, which piped
Perpetually of all the world’s desires,
And all the gladness of men’s mortal lives.
Candaules spoke : “Gyges, my words are truth,
Else were I faithless, though she be my wife.
Since I am king, my strength and prowess are known –
Descent from Hercules accounts me great;
Wherefore my kingly merit proves that she
Excels all sweetness ever woman showed –
Else had a thousand concubines been mine
To flout her imperfections to her face.
If she were not all that consummate love
Fulfils for my desire I
“Yet would I prove
Not by my speech, but by herself. My voice
Less than her fragrance must profane her – yes.
And mock her with the vanity of words.
My care is in thy doubt – that maddens me !
Therefore thou shalt behold her – not her mere
Swathed shape, the rich, royal garments that she wears,
Her gem-spun silk and regal raiment – no !
Nor merely see her once unveiled; but this:
As with my sight survey her chastity.
Yet chaster still to thee, beyond the moon
More distant by her sovereignty and mine.
This night thou shalt behold her naked!”
He turned then to Gyges, who stept back, and, pale,
Shook as with fear, and could not speak. At length :
“O king, unto thy gracious will not now
Dare I be bent! Nay, sire, it is not meet
That I should venture thus – ‘twould sully her.
Nor is this lawful, though thou be the king,
And I in all things as thou wilt, my lord.
Thy words possess me. Truly, all thou hast
Told I believe: that she is fairer far
Than any woman that has ever lived.
Moreover, if I saw her that would soil
Thee also, sire – and vengeance would be just! . .
Sire, I confess this – that I love her now.
For I have heard her voice. To see her face
Will madden me. Sire, if I see yet more.
May the gods pity me and help me then”
Candaules answered: “Thou shalt see her – she
Yet shall know nothing. I myself will hide thee.
I do not seek to test thy constancy,
Nor match myself, heroic by my birth.
Against thee whom I cherish. Pity me !
Let this thought soften thee; think how I gaze
On her perfection, marvelling at her, I,
Alone, as in a wilderness of love!”
Said Gyges; “Thou art king; thou art my lord.
To do this thing is needless. She is all
Thou sayest – acquit me!”
But Candaules cried :
“This night thou seest the loveliest woman, thou !
No word can turn or change me. Thou shalt see
Her! – and, remember, rage and friendship both
Alike achieve my choice, and thou must act
As I’ve resolved, most fortunate ! – for thou
Shalt see her, see her naked self this night!”
Candaules strode forth, frowning; Gyges knelt.
From the huge carven hall, past prostrate slaves.
The king went; and, beneath the dazzling blue,
His escort gleamed and jangled as they rode
Across the rushing Pactolus, whose banks
Were grey with sheepskins, tethered for the gold
That flew by in the waters from the far
Green mountains rich and ruddy with ripe fruit.
He in his chariot, through the tangled streets.
Sped from the city, past the sculptured shapes
Which loomed along the road – of heroes, gods.
And tales portrayed of his royal dynasty –
Of wars victorious, and of captured kings.
And damsels, slaves, and all the happy wealth
That men in their mortality desire.
That night Candaules whispered, “Art thou there?
Dismiss the guard!” And led him secretly
Along hushed, darkened, empty corridors.
And paused outside his chamber, and he spoke:
“Here thou shalt enter. Thou shalt see her there
Disrobe herself – she will not once suspect.
Look on her and retire – mark well; and I
Shall know what thou dost think of beauty then.”
And weakly Gyges stuttered: “Ere too late,
Give heed to this. Sire, I have seen her eyes;
I have seen her body’s movements, and have heard
Her speak. O, gracious king, it is too much!
This I aver, at least, that even now
I thrill and tingle with a speechless love
For her, O king ! This folly were my doom 1
To see her thus will damn me with desires
Forever helpless. Rather strike me down
Dead at thy feet I”
Candaules said, “Thou shalt
Now judge her loveliness.” And Gyges cried:
“Sire, I were shamed, though but a herdsman born,
If even a man beheld me nude. O, king.
As into swamps of treason I am thrust,
My very eyes must prostitute thy wife!
Sire, thou didst raise me once, and wilt thou now
Thus humble me, and shame thyself and her?”
The king made answer: “Gyges, thou dost know
How she conceals herself, for none have seen.
Save I, her face since she was wed, as is
The stringent custom of her folk. Thou knowest
My thought is half Hellenic. I would gaze
All day upon her naked beauty here.
Endeavouring thus to comprehend the joy
Within her! Yea, ’tis torture, daily woe,
For me to watch her, and to think that none
Save I may thus behold her.
“If I failed
To share this gladness, then my niggardly
Will would betray me, and would sting itself –
A frenzied scorpion – for a joy unshared
Is venom. Thou shalt see her. Tarry here.”
And Gyges waited. Through the curtains he
Scanned the broad room. The polished silver set
Round the high, carven walls reflected clear
Stark from bright, chequered carpets and tiled floor,
Voluted columns, and the marble frieze
Portrayed with huntsmen, warriors, slaves, and priests,
And tales of antique wisdom, gods, and men,
And all the retinues of peace and war.
Anon she came. He gazed as slowly she
Unveiled and showed the glory of her face;
Untwisted her thick hair, and lazily
Released her jewelled belt and silken robes;
Let fall her purple tunic webbed with gold.
Till, naked in his sight, she stood and paused
Candaules there heard not a sound; but she,
Mayhap, was modest, that she saw herself.
Whose eyes that day had looked on ready men.
Or felt some violation in the air
She did not speak – she did not sleep that night.
Dawn broke; the noon glared; and at length the dusk
Fell, faint with roses, drowsy with the spring;
And Gyges, thrilled with rapture, that recalled
The night, felt in his flesh a feverish joy
That wantoned through his blood inebriate,
Sick with surpassing grief, whose ecstasy
Beyond all hope burned, tantalising him.
A eunuch stept before him, bowed, and crouched
Prone on the ground, and murmured : “From the queen.
This message, lord; that thou dost come to her
Forthwith. She charges me conduct thee thither.”
And Gyges saw the king, who smiled at him,
And he bowed low beneath the sculptured porch;
Then down the long white galleries walked apace,
Behind the lithe form of the stealthy slave,
Until he stood before her; and she spoke,
And he looked up, and saw they were alone.
Save for three jetty eunuchs, whose oiled thews.
It seemed, were flickering from the darkness where
Each at a doorway held his post as guard.
Approaching Gyges mournfully she sighed:
“Too well I know my sorrow. Barely yet
Can I be nerved to speech.
“I know not how
He has seduced thee – ^by what wiles he made
Thee blemish thus my honour; that is past.
Thou shalt repair in part his treachery –
Thou canst be slain !”
And Gyges, being mute,
She drew so near him quickly that the air
Flushed, trembling with her presence; adding then,
Impassive: “Die thou shalt, if thou dost fear
What all men crave for – power, and wealth, and love.
And if thou hast contempt for life, then die!
Do thus or thus. ‘Tis thou who shalt decide –
Be slain or slay him who dishonoured me !
I offer thee life and my love – or death!
I offer thee this kingdom and myself.
Or thou shalt perish – yea, this moment, now!”
Awe-struck, he could not speak.
Implacably,
“Slay or be slain,” she said, “thou hast thy choice.”
And he replied, “Thy mercy, I beseech.
Queen, for myself and him The evil done
Was love-inspired – nay, had his love not been
So measureless, perchance, he might have scorned
Thee, whom to view can be but to desire,
Love, and revere! Nay, pardon us, O Queen!”
Unmoved, she answered, “Thou shalt die, or kill
Him who defamed me. You two shared last night.
With your adulterous vision, myself disrobed.
One may survive; one dies to bring me back
My chastity. His fault gives thee the choice.”
He pondered, and at length looked up. His voice
Was heavy with the horror of the dead –
Articulate, yet sanguine, though forlorn :
“Death were as nothing if men did not love;
But men who love lose more than life by death.
“Queen, since I love thee, I, who oft have braved
The clash of battle in the foremost ranks
At gallop through great walls of avid spears.
Can tremble now – and, queen, I cannot die!”
Then at her feet : “I pray thy clemency.
He is my benefactor and my king,
Whom I would serve and honour. Spare him, queen !”
And she, aloof, again rejoined: “One dies,
P’or, while you both live, my sweet fame lies dead,
And I myself am sick, yea, stricken down,
Till I regain my virtue which he filched!”
And then, erect, he seized her hands and cried:
“He shall be slain ! Who dies unwittingly
Knows not he does not live.”
Then, at a sign,
Her guard stept forth and led him from the room.
He strove within himself, yet knew full well
That one was doomed. His honour and his love
Filled, thrilled, and shamed him – flames of pain and
joy-
For on his buoyant passion all joy was
His love from all the boundaries of the world;
The very light that round herself shone clear
Caught his life upward to her; and, beside,
All earth was as a dream for him to scorn –
Till once again his old thoughts held him fast.
She was remorseless. His love made him weak;
Nor could he wake the king and tell him all.
A sudden stab had surely quenched his voice,
Or else the wrathful king had haled him out.
And flayed him in the public view as one –
An impious churl – who dared to rape the throne.
At midnight, dark, behind the curtains, where
One night before he stood, again he stood.
The dagger given him itched in his grasp.
The huge, black, stealthy eunuchs seemed to mock
His fate – prepared to shape him to her will
With his death if ’twere needed; and himself.
He seemed but as a petty puppet, placed
To raise the scorn of the derisive gods.
And the cold blade seemed thirsty for his blood –
His own – who watched there till the king should sleep.
He watched the moon that fled through realms of
night.
And the clouds that struggled over restless skies;
And heard nought but the whisperings of his fear,
And knew nought save his passion and his dread;
Till the faint moonlight struck the columns white,
And, flashing from the silver mirrors, fell
Like death, unpitying, on the sleeping king –
Oblivious to the wealth of all that land.
And dead to those barbaric joys recalled
Of glad processions and wild festivals,
Of damsels, warriors, huntsmen, and the whole
Pomp of his perished life and royal estate.
Gyges crept forth and stood beside his bed;
He stooped, perchance, as though to kiss the king;
He saw her hair dark on the pillow strewn.
And watched her bosom stirring as she breathed –
And felt his fingers itch to slay himself.
He caught the rapture of her piercing glance,
And in the raging conflict of desire.
Love, and remorse, he swayed.
He felt her breath
Burn through him; and his whole life fell away
Effete, contemptible.
He plucked aside
The damask, thrust his arm down, and his arm
Was strong, unflinching. Then he lifted up
The dripping dagger that proclaimed him king!
(E J Rupert Atkinson)
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Based on Topics: Love Poems, Man Poems, God Poems, Life Poems, World Poems, Night Poems, Mind Poems, Sadness Poems, Death & Dying Poems, War & Peace Poems, Faces PoemsBased on Keywords: seduced, hellenic, unwittingly, festivals, jangled, filched, derisive, eunuchs, huntsmen, maddens, assyria