The autumn's silvery down may indicate

The ripened fruit of wisdom which your youth

Has never tasted. Smerdis, you are blind!

My beard is white, but vision clear. The king

Does daily waste the substance of his realm,

And nightly dissipates his energies

In vices of the blood. Vashti, the queen,

The idol of her people, is in grief.

Smerdis

In grief for what? Does she too wish the king

To take the field? I know our queen is fair

Of face and most voluptuous of form.

Perhaps her grief is due to jealousy.

Would she monopolize his love, because

Her beauty is surpassing?

Ahafid

Vashti does

Not know that she is beautiful. She loves

Her country and is brave as well as good.

[4]

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