SHUMAKIM: [Bitterly.]

How can he punish me? Has he not already made me a fool? Hark, here comes my brother the High Priest, and my brother the King. Rimmon made us all; but nobody knows who made Rimmon, except the High Priest; and he will never tell.

[Gongs and cymbals sound. Enter REZON with priests, and the King with courtiers. They take their seats. A throng of Khali and Kharimati come in, TSARPI presiding; a sacred dance is performed with torches, burning incense, and chanting, in which TSARPI leads.]

CHANT.

Hail, mighty Rimmon, ruler of the whirl-storm,

Hail, shaker of mountains, breaker-down of forests,

Hail, thou who roarest terribly in the darkness,

Hail, thou whose arrows flame across the heavens!

Hail, great destroyer, lord of flood and tempest,

In thine anger almighty, in thy wrath eternal,