Athaliah | Page 6

Of all the rest I'm ignorant, and I returned to tell You of this woeful uproar.
{JOSABET.}
She came, no doubt, to tear him from our arms; Her fury came to seek him at the altar! Perhaps, the object of so many tears Is at this moment--God, who seest my grief, Do Thou remember David!
{SALOMITH.}
What is the reason of your flooding tears?
{ZACHARIAH.}
Ah! Is Eliacin's life in danger?
{SALOMITH.}
Has he attracted Athaliah's rage?
{ZACHARIAH.}
What! does she fear a child without support, And fatherless?
{JOSABET.}
Ah! here she is. Come, let us go: we must Avoid her.

Scenes III and IV.
{ATHALIAH, AGAR, ABNER, SUITE OF {ATHALIAH.}} {AGAR.}
Why, Madam, do you linger in this place? Here all the objects wound and anger you. Unto the priest, who dwells within it, leave This temple, flee this tumult, and go calm Your agitated spirit in your palace.
{ATHALIAH.}
No, no, I cannot: my perplexity And weakness thou behold'st. Give my commands That Mathan instantly must hasten hither. Happy if I can find, by his assistance, The peace I seek--that's always shunning me!
{ATHALIAH, ABNER, SUITE OF ATHALIAH.}
{ABNER.}
Your pardon, Madam, if I dare defend him: Joad's zeal should not have struck you with surprise: Such is the eternal order of the God We serve: His temple and His altar He, Himself, forbade to us; to Aaron's sons Alone, His sacrifices were committed; He marked the Levites' office and their place, And, above all, to their posterity forbade All intercourse with other gods. Indeed, both wife and mother of our kings, Are you in this respect a stranger to us? Do you not know our laws? Must I to-day-- Here is your Mathan; I will take my leave.
{ATHALIAH.}
Abner, your presence here is requisite. No more of Joad's rash violence; of all That heap of superstition, which bars out All other nations from your sanctuary; A subject more momentous stirs my fears. I know, from infancy brought up to arms, That Abner has a noble heart; that he Can render, when necessity demands, His duty to his God, and what he owes Unto his queen. Remain.

Scene V.
{ATHALIAH, MATHAN, ABNER, SUITE OF ATHALIAH.}
{MATHAN.}
Great queen! is this a fitting place for you? What trouble agitates you--fear congeals? What do you come to seek amidst your foes? Dare you approach this temple of profaneness? Have you cast off that hatred so intense--
{ATHALIAH.}
List both of you attentively: I wish not here to call to mind the past, Nor render an account of blood that's flowed; I do not take a hasty crowd for judge; In what its violence has dared put forth, To justify me, heaven itself has cared. The great achievements of my rooted power Have made my name respected to both seas: By me Jerusalem's a calm profound; Jordan no longer sees the vagrant Arabs', Nor proud Philistines' constant ravages, Lay waste her banks, as in your sovereigns' times; The Syrian treats me as a sister queen; At length the treacherous scourger of my house.
{ATHALIAH.}
Who was to drive his cruelty on me, Jehu, the haughty Jehu, in Samaria Is trembling; pressed by potent neighbours On every side, whom I have found the means To raise against that murderer; and I Am left the royal mistress of those lands; In peace the fruit of my sagacity Enjoying. But, some days ago, there came A sleepless trouble to arrest the course Of my prosperity. A dream (why should a dream Disquiet me?) feeds in my heart a pang That wrings it; everywhere I try to shun it; But everywhere it follows me. It was During the horror of the night profound, My mother, Jezebel, before me stood, Apparelled gorgeously, as on the day Of her decease; misfortunes had not crushed Her dignity; and even she had still That borrowed tint, with which it was her care To bloom and ornament her countenance, In order to repair the ravages Of years irreparable. 'Tremble, daughter, Thou worthy of myself,' to me she said; 'The cruel God of Judah over thee Will certainly prevail: I pity thee, My daughter, falling into His dread hands.' These fearful words completed, towards my bed Her shadow seemed to bend itself, and I Held out my arms in order to embrace it; But only found confusion horrible Of mangled bones and flesh dragged in the mud, And tatters soaked in gore, of hideous limbs, That dogs, devouring, fought for with each other.
{ABNER.}
Great God!
{ATHALIAH.}
In this disorder came before mine eyes A tender boy, in radiant robes arrayed, As one beholds the Hebrew priests attired. My sunken spirits rallied at the vision; But when recovering from my deadly trouble, His sweetness, noble air, and modesty I was admiring, all at once I felt A homicidal steel, plunged by the traitor Deep through my breast.--Of objects so diverse The strange assemblage, seems to you perhaps A work of chance; and I myself,