SECOND PROPHET.
Down with her, Lord, to lick the dust,
Ere yonder setting sun; 80
Serve her as she hath served the just!
’Tis fixed—it shall be done.
FIRST PRIEST.
RECITATIVE.
No more! When slaves thus insolent presume,
The king himself shall judge, and fix their doom.
Unthinking wretches! have not you, and all, 85
Beheld our power in Zedekiah’s fall?
To yonder gloomy dungeon turn your eyes;
See where dethron’d your captive monarch lies,
Depriv’d of sight and rankling in his chain;
See where he mourns his friends and children slain. 90
Yet know, ye slaves, that still remain behind
More ponderous chains, and dungeons more confin’d.
CHORUS OF ALL.
Arise, all potent ruler, rise,
And vindicate thy people’s cause;
Till every tongue in every land 95
Shall offer up unfeign’d applause.
[Exeunt.
ACT III.
Scene as before.
FIRST PRIEST.
RECITATIVE.
YES, my companions, Heaven’s decrees are past,
And our fix’d empire shall for ever last;
In vain the madd’ning prophet threatens woe,
In vain rebellion aims her secret blow;
Still shall our fame and growing power be spread, 5
And still our vengeance crush the traitor’s head.
AIR.