Classic Poem

D ARIUS , A RASPES .

Dar. Oh, good Araspes! what a night of horror!
To me the dawning day brings no return
Of cheerfulness or peace! No balmy sleep
Has seal'd these eyes, no nourishment has pass'd
These loathing lips, since Daniel's fate was sign'd.
Hear what my fruitless penitence resolves —
The thirty days my rashness had decreed
The edict's force should last, I will devote
To mourning and repentance, fasting, prayer,
And all due rites of grief. For thirty days
No pleasant sound of dulcimer or harp,
Sackhut, or flute, or psaltery, shall charm
My ear, now dead to ev'ry note of joy!
Ar. My grief can know no period!
Dar. See that den!
There Daniel met the furious lion's rage!
There were the patient martyr's mangled limbs
Torn piece-meal! Never hide thy tears, Araspes;
'Tis virtuous sorrow, unallay'd, like mine,
By guilt and fell remorse! Let us approach:
Who knows but that dread Pow'r to whom he pray'd,
So often and so fervently, has heard him!
O Daniel, servant of the living God,
He whom thou hast serv'd so long, and lov'd so well,
From the devouring lion's furnish'd jaw
Can he deliver thee?
Dan. He can — he has!
Dar. Methought I heard him speak!
Ar. Oh! wondrous force
Of strong imagination! were thy voice
Loud as the trumpet's blast, it could not wake him
From that eternal sleep!
Dan. Hail! king Darius!
The God I serve has shut the lion's mouth,
To vindicate my innocence,
Dar. He speaks!
He lives!
Ar. 'Tis no illusion: 'tis the sound
Of his known voice.
Dar. Where are my servants? Haste,
Fly swift as lightning, free him from the den;
Release him, bring him hither! Break the seal
Which keeps him from me! See, Araspes! look!
See the charm'd lions! — Mark their mild demeanour;
Araspes, mark! — they have no power to hurt him!
See how they hang their heads and smooth their fierceness
At his mild aspect!
Ar. Who that see this sight,
Who that in after-times shall hear this told,
Can doubt if Daniel's God be God indeed?
Dar. None, none, Araspes!
Ar. Ah, he comes, he comes!
Dan. Hail, great Darius!
Dar. Dost thou live indeed!
And live unhurt?
Ar. Oh, miracle of joy!
Dar. I scarce can trust my eyes! How didst thou 'scape;
Dan. That bright and glorious Being, who voucheaf'd
Presence divine, when the three martyr'd brothers
Essay'd the caldron's flame, supported me!
E'en in the furious lions' dreadful den,
The prisoner of hope, even there I turn'd
To the stronghold, the bulwark of my strength,
Ready to hear, and mighty to redeem!
Dar. Where is Pharnaces? Take the hoary traitor!
Take too Soranus, and the chief abettors
Of this dire edict: let not one escape.
The punishment their deep-laid hate devis'd
For holy Daniel, on their heads shall fall
With teafold vengeance. To the lions' den
I doom his vile accusers! All their wives,
Their children, too, shall share one common fate!
Take care that none escape. — Go, good Araspes.

Dan. Not so, Darius!
O spare the guiltless, spare the guilty too!
Where sin is not, to punish were unjust;
And where sin is, O king, there fell remorse
Supplies the place of punishment!
Dar. No more!
My word is pass'd! Not one request, save this,
Shalt thou e'er make in vain. Approach, my friends:
Araspes has already spread the tale,
And see what crowds advance.
People. Long live Darius!
Long live great Daniel too, the people's friend!
Dar. Draw near, my subjects. See this holy man!
Death had no power to harm him. You fell band
Of famish'd lions, soften'd at his sight,
Forget their nature, and grew tame before him.
The mighty God protects his servants thus!
The righteous thus he rescues from the snare!
While fraud's artificer himself shall fall
In the deep gulf his wily arts devised
To snare the innocent!
A Court. To the same den
Araspes bears Pharnaces and his friends;
Fall'n is their insolence! With prayers and tears,
And all the meanness of high-crested pride
When adverse fortune frowns, they beg for life.
Araspes will not hear. " You heard not me, "
He cries, " when I for Daniel's life implor'd;
" His God protected him I see now if yours
Will listen to your cries! "
Dar. Now hear,
People and nations, languages and realms,
O'er whom I rule! Peace be within your walls!
That I may banish from the minds of men
The rash decree gone out; hear me resolve
To counteract its force by one more just.
In ev'ry kingdom of my wide-stretch'd realm,
From fair Chalden to th' extremest bound
Of northern Media, be my edict sent,
And this my statute known. My heralds haste,
And spread my royal mandate through the land,
That all my subjects bow the ready knee
To Daniel's God — for He alone is L ORD .
Let all adore, and tremble at His name,
Who sits in glory unapproachable
Above the heav'ns — above the heav'n of heav'ns!
His pow'r is everlasting; and His throne,
Founded in equity and truth, shall last
Beyond the bounded reign of time and space,
Through wide eternity! With His right arm
He saves, and who opposes? He defends,
And who shall injure? In the perilous den
He rescued Daniel from the lion's mouth:
His common deeds are wonders; all His works
One everduring chain of miracles!

Ar. All hail, O king! Darius, live for ever!
May all thy foes be as Pharnaces is!
Dar. Araspes, speak!
Ar. Oh, let me spare the tale!
'Tis full of horror! Dreadful was the sight!
The hungry lions, greedy for their prey,
Devour'd the wretched princes ere they reach'd
The bottom of the den.
Dar. Now, now confess,
'Twas some superior hand restrain'd their rage
And tamed their furious appetites.
People. 'Tis true
The God of Daniel is a mighty God!
He saves and He destroys.
Ar. O friend! O Daniel!
No wav'ring doubts can ever more disturb
My settled faith.
Dan. To God be all the glory!