JUDAS MACCABÆUS

JUDAS MACCABE US

ACT I.

The Citadel of Antiochus at Jerusalem.

SCENE I. ANTIOCHUS; JASON.

ANTIOCHUS.

ANTIOCH, my Antioch, my city!

Queen of the East! my solace, my delight!

The dowry of my sister Cleopatra

When she was wed to Ptolemy, and now
Won back and made more wonderful by me!
I love thee, and I long to be once more
Among the players and the dancing women
Within thy gates, and bathe in the Orontes,
Thy river and mine. O Jason, my High-Priest,
For I have made thee so, and thou art mine,
Hast thou seen Antioch the Beautiful?

JASON.

Never, my Lord.

ANTIOCHUS.

Then hast thou never seen

The wonder of the world. This city of David

Compared with Antioch is but a village,
And its inhabitants compared with Greeks
Are mannerless boors.

JASON.

And mannerless.

They are barbarians,

ANTIOCHUS.

They must be civilized.

They must be made to have more gods than one; And goddesses besides.

JASON.

They shall have more.

ANTIOCHUS.

They must have hippodromes, and games, and

baths,

Stage-plays and festivals, and most of all

The Dionysia.

JASON.

They shall have them all.

ANTIOCHUS.

By Heracles! but I should like to see

These Hebrews crowned with ivy, and arrayed

In skins of fawns, with drums and flutes and thyrsi,

Revel and riot through the solemn streets

Of their old town. Ha, ha! It makes me merry

Only to think of it!-Thou dost not laugh.