Scene VI.
MATHAN.
At length I have the liberty to speak;
I can expose the truth to open day.
Some monster's rising in that temple reared!
Queen, do not wait the bursting of the cloud.
Abner, attended by the high-priest Joad,
Was there before the break of day: You know
His passion for the offspring of their kings.
And who can say that Joad does not intend,
In place of them, to substitute the boy
By which heaven threatens you. It may perchan
Be his own son.
ATHALIAH.
Mine eyes are opened: I begin to see
Clearly into the warnings of the heavens.
I wish, however, to be free from doubt:
A child is little fit to flourish thoughts,
Yet one may make us judge of great designs.
I must, dear Mathan, see him—question him.
But go yourself, without exciting fears,
And cause my Tyrians to arm themselves.
Scene VII
JOAS, JOSABET, ATHALIAH, ZACHARIAH, ABNER, SALOMITH,
TWO LEVITES, THE CHOIR, SUITE OF ATHALIAH.
JOSABET (to the two Levites).
You, servants of the Lord, upon those children
So dear, so precious, keep a fixed regard.
ABNER (to Josabet).
Princess, have courage, they are in my care.
ATHALIAH.
O heaven! the more I look at him, the more
I scrutinize—'Tis he! my faculties
Again are seized with horror! Josabet
Is that your son?
JOSABET.
Who, he, Madam?
ATHALIAH.
He.
JOSABET.
His mother I am not. This is my son.
ATHALIAH (to Joas.)
And you, my boy, who is your father then?
Come child reply.
JOSABET.
Heaven till to-day—
ATHALIAH.
Why do you hurry to reply for him?
JOSABET.
From such a tender age can you expect
Much information?
ATHALIAH.
That age is artless, its ingenuousness
Does not as yet pervert the simple truth.
Let him explain the whole concerning him.
JOSABET.
Great God, O place Thy wisdom in his mouth!
ATHALIAH.
What is your name?
JOAS.
Eliacin.
ATHALIAH.
Your Father?
JOAS.
They say I am an orphan,
Cast from my birth into the arms of God,
And who my parents were I never knew.
ATHALIAH.
Have you no parents?
JOAS.
They abandoned me.
ATHALIAH.
How? And how long ago?
JOAS.
At my birth.
ATHALIAH.
Do they, at least, not know your native country?
JOAS.
This temple is my country; none I know
Besides—
ATHALIAH.
Where is it said that chance discovered you?
JOAS.
Among the cruel wolves, their helpless prey.
ATHALIAH.
Who placed you in this temple?
JOAS.
An unknown woman, never looked on since,
Who did not say her name.
ATHALIAH.
But who took charge of your most early years?
JOAS.
Does God e'er let his children want in vain?
He gives the smallest birds their nourishment,
And over all His works extends His goodness.
Each day I call on Him. His care paternal
Nourishes me with gifts presented at
The altar.
ATHALIAH.
What strange event again perplexeth me?
The sweetness of his voice, his youthful grace,
Cause my aversion imperceptably
To be succeeded—I could be inclined
To pity.
ABNER.
Is this, then, Madam, that terrific foe '?
The fraud of your false dreams is manifest:
Unless 'tis sympathy that touches you,
It is that fatal blow which makes you tremble.
ATHALIAH (to Joas and Josabet).
Are you going?
JOSABET.
His story you have heard:
His further stay would be importunate.
ATHALIAH.
No, No, return. What do you every day?
JOAS.
Adore the Lord; they train me in His law,
They teach me how to read His sacred book,
And now I copy it with mine own hand.
ATHALIAH.
How does that law instruct you?
JOAS.
That love is what the Lord desires; that He
Sooner or later will avenge His name,
His holy name blasphemed; that He protects
The timid orphan, that He breaks the proud,
And punishes the murderer.
ATHALIAH.
I understand. But what do all the people
Enclosed within that place?
JOAS.
They praise, and bless the Lord.
ATHALIAH.
And does He wish that one should always pray
And meditate.
JOAS.
All deeds profane are banished from His temple.
ATHALIAH.
What are your pleasures, then?
JOAS.
Sometimes unto the high priest I present
Either the salt or incense at the altar:
I hear them sing of God's unbounded greatness,
I see the sumptuous order of His rites.
ATHALIAH.
Alas! have you no pastimes more delightful?
I pity the sad fate of one like you.
Come to my palace, see my splendour there.
JOAS.
I! I should lose the memory of God's blessings!
ATHALIAH.
No. I would not constrain you to forget Him.
JOAS.
You do not pray to Him.
ATHALIAH.
But you can pray to Him.
JOAS.
But I should see another god invoked.
ATHALIAH.
I have my god to serve, and you have yours.
They both are powerful gods.
JOAS.
Mine must be feared, for He alone is God,
And yours is nothing, Madam.
ATHALIAH.
Pleasures, near me, will seek you out, in crowds.
JOAS.
The blessings of the wicked pass away,
As doth a torrent
ATHALIAH.
The wicked! Who are they?
JOSABET.
Pray, Madam! excuse a child.
ATHALIAH
I like to see how you are training him.
At length, Eliacin, you have amused me;
You're, doubtless, not an ordinary child.
You see I am a queen, without an heir:
Cast off these garments, quit this menial trade,
And all my riches I will share with you.
Try the conclusion of my promises:
Beside me at my table, everywhere,
I promise you shall sit as my own son.
JOAS.
As your own son?
ATHALIAH.
Yes, would it please you?
JOAS.
Ah what a father I should leave, and for—
ATHALIAH.
Well!
JOAS.
What kind of mother!
ATHALIAH.
His memory's faithful; and in all he says
I recognise your animus and Joad's.
Behold, how here, corrupting simple youth,
You both employ the peace I leave you in!
Their hate and fury you already foster:
Only with horror you pronounce my name
To them.
JOSABET.
Can we conceal the history of our wrongs?
All know it, and you boast of it yourself.
ATHALIAH.
Yes, of my righteous rage, and I am proud
To avenge my parents on posterity.
My father and my brother saw I slaughtered;
My mother from her palace window hurled;
And even in one day murdered at once—
Dread sight!—more than twice twenty sons of kings:
And wherefore? To avenge some nameless prophets
Whom she had punished for their senseless frenzy:
And I, cold queen, and daughter without love,
Slave of a cowardly and frivolous folly,
Shall even not return to this blind rage
Insult for insult, death for every death,
And shall not treat all David's progeny
As Ahab's wretched remnant were by them!
Where should I be to-day, had I not had
A tenderness for my torn, strangled mother;
And, conquering my weakness, with my hand
Shedding in torrents my own people's blood,
Had not repressed your plots by that fierce blow!
At length, the inflexible vengeance of your God,
Betwixt our houses all alliance breaks:
David of me's in horror; and his sons,
Though of my blood, are strangers unto me.
JOSABET.
In all you have succeeded. Let God see
And judge.
ATHALIAH.
That God, a long time past, your only refuge,
Of what effect will be His prophecies?
Let Him produce that King, told to the nations,
That Son of David, your support, your hope—
But we shall meet again. Adieu, I go,
Quite satisfied. I wished to see: I have seen.
ABNER (to Josabet).
I promised you; and I return the charge
That you committed to me.
Scenes VIII and IX.
JOAD, JOSABET, JOAS, ZACHARIAH, ABNER, SALOMITH,
LEVITES, AND THE CHOIR.
JOSABET (to Joad).
My lord, Did you o'erhear that haughty queen?
JOAD.
I heard the whole, and I bewailed your anguish.
To lend you aid, these Levites and myself,
Were close at hand, resolved to die with you.
(To Joas.)
May God watch over you whose courage, child,
Has just returned this noble testimony
Unto His name! I recognize, dear Abner,
This important service: bear in mind
The hour when Joad expects you. We, whose sight
This inpious, murderous woman has defiled,
Whose prayers has interrupted, will return:
And let immaculate blood, shed by my hands,
Cleanse to the marble what her steps have touched.
THE CHORUS.
One of the daughters of the Choir.
What star has burst upon our sight?
What will that marvellous child one day become?
He braveth pompous haughtiness,
And will not let himself be lured
By any of her dangerous baits.
Another.
Whilst each to Athaliah's god
With incense to the altar runs,
A child unfearing publishes
That God alone eternal is,
And speaks as once Elijah spoke
Before the other Jezebel.
Another. Who will reveal to us thy secret birth
Dear child? Art thou some holy prophet's son?
Another.
And thus the lovely Samuel was seen
To grow beneath the tabernacle's shadow;
Become the Hebrews' hope and oracle.
May'st thou like him console our race!
Another sings.
O blessed, a thousand times,
The child that loves the Lord,
Who early hearkens to His voice,
Whom God, Himself, doth deign to teach!
Far from the world he, nurtured, is adorned
By all heaven's blessings from his birth;
And the contagious company of the bad
Doth alter not his innocence.
All the Choir.
O happy, happy is the child
That God instructs and vindicates!
The same voice alone. So, in a secret vale upon the banks
Of a pellucid stream,
Beneath the shadow of an oak,
A tender lily bloometh, nature's love.
Far from the world arising, 'tis adorned
With all heaven's blessings from its birth;
And the contagious company of the bad
Doth alter not its innocence.
All the Choir.
O blest, a thousand times, the child
That God doth render docile to His laws.
One voice alone.
My God, how can a growing virtue walk
Amongst so many dangers with sure step %
What obstacles are found to his designs
Who seeketh Thee, and wisheth innocence
What enemies make war on him!
Where can Thy saints conceal themselves?
The evil-doers overspread the earth.
Another.
O David's palace, and his cherished city,
Famed mount, where even God a long time dwelt,
Why hast thou from the heavens drawn down His
wrath?
Sion, dear Sion, what sayest thou,
When thou, alas! beholdst upon the throne
Of thine own kings, an impious stranger sat?
All the Choir. Sion, dear Sion, what sayest thou,
When thou, alas! beholdst upon the throne
Of thine own kings, an impious stranger sat!
The same voice continues.
Instead of David's pleasing strains,
In which he poured his holy raptures,
And blessed his God, his Father and his Lord:
Sion, dear Sion, what sayest thou,
When thou dost hear them laud the strangers' god,
And curse the name thy princes have adored?
One voice alone.
How long, O Lord, and yet again how long
Shall we behold the wicked rise 'gainst Thee?
They come into Thy temple braving Thee:
The people who adore Thee, treat as frenzied.
How long, O Lord, and yet again How long
Shall we behold the wicked rise 'gainst Thee?
Another.
Wherefore, say they, this sombre piety?
Why flee the use of many joys so sweet?
Your God does naught for you.
Another.
Come laugh and sing, exclaims this impious band;
From flower to flower, from sweet to sweet,
Let us give air to our desires,
In the insensate future who confides?
Doubtful the number of our fleeting years:
Then let us haste to-day to relish life;
Who knows if we shall be to-morrow?
All the Choir. O let them weep, my God, and groan for fear,
The miserable, who will not see
The eternal splendour of Thy holy city.
But we must chant, to whom Thou dost reveal
Thy everlasting light;
Of all Thy gifts and grandeur we must sing.
One voice alone. What will remain of all their empty pleasures
In which their soul is sunk? I' the dregs of dreams
Whose error's recognized.
At their awaking—awaking full of horror!—
Whilst at the table the just poor will taste
The sweets of peace unspeakable,
The hideous cup exhaustless they will drink,
Which in the day of wrath thou wilt present
To all the guilty race.
All the Choir. O waking full of horror!
O fleeting dream!
O dangerous error!
END OF THE SECOND ACT.
