University of Virginia Library

WHEN Persia's sceptre trembled in a hand
Wilted with harem-heats, and all the land
Was hovered over by those vulture ills
That snuff decaying empire from afar,
Then, with a nature balanced as a star,
Dara arose, a shepherd of the hills.
He who had governed fleecy subjects well,
Made his own village by the self-same spell
Secure and quiet as a guarded fold;
Then, gathering strength by slow and wise degrees,
Under his sway, to neighbor villages
Order returned, and faith, and justice old.
Now when it fortuned that a king more wise
Endued the realm with brain, and hands, and eyes,
He sought on every side men brave and just;
And having heard our mountain shepherd's praise,
How he refilled the mould of elder days,
To Dara gave a satrapy in trust.
So Dara shepherded a province wide,
Nor in his viceroy's sceptre took more pride
Than in his crook before; but envy finds

More food in cities than on mountains bare;
And the frank sun of spirits clear and rare
Breeds poisonous fogs in low and marish minds.
Soon it was whispered at the royal ear
That, though wise Dara's province, year by year,
Like a great sponge, sucked wealth and plenty up,
Yet, when he squeezed it at the king's behest,
Some yellow drops more rich than all the rest
Went to the filling of his private cup.
For proof, they said that, wheresoe'er he went,
A chest, beneath whose weight the camel bent,
Went with him; and no mortal eye had seen
What was therein, save only Dara's own.
But, when 't was opened, all his tent was known
To glow and lighten with heaped jewels' sheen.
The king set forth for Dara's province straight,
Where, as was fit, outside the city's gate,
The viceroy met him with a stately train,
And there, with archers circled, close at hand,
A camel with the chest was seen to stand.
The king's brow reddened, for the guilt was plain.
“Open me here,” he cried, “this treasure chest.”
'T was done, and only a worn shepherd's vest
Was found within. Some blushed and hung the head;
Not Dara; open as the sky's blue roof
He stood, and “O my lord, behold the proof
That I was faithful to my trust,” he said.
“To govern men, lo, all the spell I had!
My soul in these rude vestments ever clad
Still to the unstained past kept true and leal,

Still on these plains could breathe her mountain air,
And fortune's heaviest gifts serenely bear,
Which bend men from their truth and make them reel.
“For ruling wisely I should have small skill,
Were I not lord of simple Dara still:
That sceptre kept, I could not lose my way.”
Strange dew in royal eyes grew round and bright,
And strained the throbbing lids; before 't was night,
Two added provinces blest Dara's sway.