Behold, upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings,
That publisheth peace!
II
THE DOOM OF NINEVEH
(In describing the doom of Nineveh, the writer draws one of the most vivid pictures of war that was ever written.)
The Hammer is come up to thy face!
Hold the rampart! Keep watch on the way!
Brace the loins! Pull thyself firmly together!
The shields of the heroes are red,
The warriors are in scarlet;
Like fire is the shining of his chariots in the day of his muster,
And the horsemen are prancing.
Through the markets rage chariots,
They tear across the squares;
The look of them is like torches,
Like lightnings they dart to and fro.
And now they flee. "Stand, stand!" but there is none to rally.
Plunder silver, plunder gold!
Infinite treasures, mass of all precious things!
Void and devoid and desolate is she.
Melting hearts and shaking knees,
And anguish in all loins,
And nothing but faces full of black fear. [{388}] Where is the Lion's den,
And the young lion's feeding ground?
Whither has the Lion retreated,
The whelps of the Lion with none to make afraid:
The Lion who tore enough for his whelps,
And strangled for his lionesses.
And he filled his pits with prey,
And his dens with rapine.
Lo, I am at thee,
I will put up thy lair in flames,
The sword shall devour thy young lions;
I will cut off the earth from thy rapine,
And the noise of thine envoys shall no more be heard.
Woe to the City of Blood,
All of her guile, robbery full, ceaseless rapine!
Hark the whip,
And the rumbling of the wheel,
And horses galloping,
And the rattling dance of the chariot!
Cavalry at the charge, and flash of sabres,
And lightning of lances,
Mass of slain and weight of corpses,
They stumble on their dead!
All thy fortresses are fig trees with figs early ripe:
Be they shaken they fall on the mouth of the eater.
Lo, thy folk are but women in thy midst:
To thy foes the gates of thy land fly open;
Fire has devoured thy bars.
"THE PROPHETS"
From the frieze of "The Prophets," by Sargent, in the Boston Public Library.
The prophets here represented are Amos, Nahum, Ezekiel, and Daniel.
