Smerdis
A tragedy no country ever knew—
A woman who is beautiful, but doesn't know it's true.
Ahafid
[Sings.]
Oh, for a song to cleanse the heart
Or touch the sceptred power;
Oh, might the gods a strength impart
To meet this tragic hour.
[Exeunt Ahafid and Smerdis.]
[Enter Vashti and Zethar.]
Vashti
Oh, Zethar, do you think this night will end
The revels that dishonor Persia's king?
To-day unknown I strolled through squalid parts
Of this old city and observed the poor.
My lord, unmindful of their misery,
Has laid a heavy tax for his insane
Extravagance upon the helpless child
That begs in Shushan's streets. Not here alone,
This suffering; but Persia's peasantry,
The glory of the old empire, the heart
That once defied the world, is broken on
The wheel of tax. And all for what?
Zethar