our golden plate.

RAKHAZ:
Yes, and all who speak for peace in the council shall be enriched;
our heads shall be crowned with seats of honour in the processions
of the Assyrian king. He needs wise counsellors to help him guide
the ship of empire onto the solid rock of prosperity. You must be
with us, my lords Izdubhar and Saballidin, and let the stars of
your wisdom roar loudly for peace.

IZDUBHAR:
He talks like a tablet read upside down,--a wild ass braying in the
wilderness. Yet there is policy in his words.

SABALLIDIN:
I know not. Can a kingdom live without a people or an army? If we
let the Bull in to sup on the lentils, will he not make his breakfast
in our vineyards?

[_Enter other courtiers, following SHUMAKIM, a crooked little jester,
in blue, green and red, a wreath of poppies around his neck and a
flagon in his hand. He walks unsteadily, and stutters in his speech._]

HAZAEL:
Here is Shumakim, the King's fool, with his legs full of last night's
wine.

SHUMAKIM: [_Balancing himself in front of them and chuckling._]
Wrong, my lords, very wrong! This is not last night's wine, but a
draught the King's physician gave me this morning for a cure. It