I am thy prisoner, Judas Maccabaeus, And it would ill become me to conceal My name or office.
JUDAS.
Over yonder gate There hangs the head of one who was a Greek.
What should prevent me now, thou man of sin, From hanging at its side the head of one Who born a Jew hath made himself a Greek?
JASON.
Justice prevents thee.
JUDAS.
Justice? Thou art stained With every crime against which the Decalogue Thunders with all its thunder.
JASON.
If not Justice, Then Mercy, her handmaiden.
JUDAS.
When hast thou At any time, to any man or woman, Or even to any little child, shown mercy?
JASON.
I have but done what King Antiochus Commanded me.
JUDAS.
True, thou hast been the weapon With which he struck; but hast been such a weapon, So flexible, so fitted to his hand, It tempted him to strike.So thou hast urged him To double wickedness, thine own and his.
Where is this King? Is he in Antioch Among his women still, and from his windows Throwing down gold by handfuls, for the rabble To scramble for?
JASON.
Nay, he is gone from there, Gone with an army into the far East.
JUDAS.
And wherefore gone?
JASON.
I know not.For the space Of forty days almost were horsemen seen Running in air, in cloth of gold, and armed With lances, like a band of soldiery;It was a sign of triumph.
JUDAS.
Or of death.
Wherefore art thou not with him?
JASON.
I was left For service in the Temple.
JUDAS.
To pollute it, And to corrupt the Jews; for there are men Whose presence is corruption; to be with them Degrades us and deforms the things we do.
JASON.
I never made a boast, as some men do, Of my superior virtue, nor denied The weakness of my nature, that hath made me Subservient to the will of other men.
JUDAS.
Upon this day, the five and twentieth day Of the month Caslan, was the Temple here Profaned by strangers,--by Antiochus And thee, his instrument.Upon this day Shall it be cleansed.Thou, who didst lend thyself Unto this profanation, canst not be A witness of these solemn services.
There can be nothing clean where thou art present.
The people put to death Callisthenes, Who burned the Temple gates; and if they find thee Will surely slay thee.I will spare thy life To punish thee the longer.Thou shalt wander Among strange nations.Thou, that hast cast out So many from their native land, shalt perish In a strange land.Thou, that hast left so many Unburied, shalt have none to mourn for thee, Nor any solemn funerals at all, Nor sepulchre with thy fathers.--Get thee hence!
(Music.Procession of Priests and people, with citherns, harps, and cymbals.JUDASMACCABAEUS puts himself at their head, and they go into the inner courts.)SCENE III.-- JASON, alone.
JASON.
Through the Gate Beautiful I see them come With branches and green boughs and leaves of palm, And pass into the inner courts.Alas!
I should be with them, should be one of them, But in an evil hour, an hour of weakness, That cometh unto all, I fell away From the old faith, and did not clutch the new, Only an outward semblance of belief;For the new faith I cannot make mine own, Not being born to it.It hath no root Within me.I am neither Jew nor Greek, But stand between them both, a renegade To each in turn; having no longer faith In gods or men.Then what mysterious charm, What fascination is it chains my feet, And keeps me gazing like a curious child Into the holy places, where the priests Have raised their altar?--Striking stones together, They take fire out of them, and light the lamps In the great candlestick.They spread the veils, And set the loaves of showbread on the table.
The incense burns; the well-remembered odor Comes wafted unto me, and takes me back To other days.I see myself among them As I was then; and the old superstition Creeps over me again!--A childish fancy!--And hark! they sing with citherns and with cymbals, And all the people fall upon their faces, Praying and worshipping!--I will away Into the East, to meet Antiochus Upon his homeward journey, crowned with triumph.
Alas! to-day I would give everything To see a friend's face, or to hear a voice That had the slightest tone of comfort in it!
ACT V.
The Mountains of Ecbatana.
SCENE I.-- ANTIOCHUS; PHILIP; ATTENDANTS.
ANTIOCHUS.
Here let us rest awhile.Where are we, Philip?
What place is this?
PHILIP.
Ecbatana, my Lord;
And yonder mountain range is the Orontes.
ANTIOCHUS.
The Orontes is my river at Antioch.
Why did I leave it? Why have I been tempted By coverings of gold and shields and breastplates To plunder Elymais, and be driven From out its gates, as by a fiery blast Out of a furnace?
PHILIP.
These are fortune's changes.
ANTIOCHUS.
What a defeat it was! The Persian horsemen Came like a mighty wind, the wind Khamaseen, And melted us away, and scattered us As if we were dead leaves, or desert sand.
PHILIP.
Be comforted, my Lord; for thou hast lost But what thou hadst not.
ANTIOCHUS.
I, who made the Jews Skip like the grasshoppers, am made myself To skip among these stones.
PHILIP.
Be not discouraged.
Thy realm of Syria remains to thee;
That is not lost nor marred.
ANTIOCHUS.
O, where are now The splendors of my court, my baths and banquets?
Where are my players and my dancing women?
Where are my sweet musicians with their pipes, That made me merry in the olden time?
I am a laughing-stock to man and brute.
The very camels, with their ugly faces, Mock me and laugh at me.
PHILIP.
Alas! my Lord, It is not so.If thou wouldst sleep awhile, All would be well.
ANTIOCHUS.
Sleep from mine eyes is gone, And my heart faileth me for very care.
Dost thou remember, Philip, the old fable Told us when we were boys, in which the bear Going for honey overturns the hive, And is stung blind by bees? I am that beast, Stung by the Persian swarms of Elymais.
PHILIP.
When thou art come again to Antioch These thoughts will be as covered and forgotten As are the tracks of Pharaoh's chariot-wheels In the Egyptian sands.
ANTIOCHUS.
Ah! when I come Again to Antioch! When will that be?
Alas! alas!
SCENE II -- ANTIOCHUS; PHILIP; A MESSENGERMESSENGER.
May the King live forever!
ANTIOCHUS.
Who art thou, and whence comest thou?
