JUDAS MACCABÆUS The writing of this tragedy followed immediately upon the dismissal of The Divine Tragedy, and was in a measure an offshoot from it. While the poet's mind was charged with the contemplation of Judaic scenes, there came back to him the thought of a tragedy based upon the history of Judas Maccabæus, which had first visited him twenty years before. In 1850 he had entered it in his note-book as a subject for a poem. Now, he repeats the suggestion December 5, 1871, and five days later he records: "At home all day. Began the tragedy of Judas Maccabæus. The subject is a very striking one-the collision of Judaism and Hel ACT I THE CITADEL OF ANTIOCHUS AT SCENE I. ANTIOCHUS; JASON. ANTIOCHUS. O ANTIOCH, my Antioch, my city! I love thee, and I long to be once more For I have made thee so, and thou art Hast thou seen Antioch the Beautiful? lenism." Elsewhere, he raises the question: "The subject is tragic enough, but has it unity, and a catastrophe to end with?" He began the drama on the 10th of December; on the 12th The Divine Tragedy was published, and on the 21st he had finished his first draft of the new work. "The acts are not long," he writes, "but there are five of them." Judas Maccabæus formed one division of the volume Three Books of Song, which was published May 25, 1872; the other two divisions were The Second Day of Tales of a Wayside Inn and A Handful of Translations. JASON. They shall have more. ANTIOCHUS. They must have hippodromes, and games, Stage-plays and festivals, and most of all 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 Revel and riot through the solemn streets merry Only to think of it!-Thou dost not laugh. JASON. Yea, I laugh inwardly. ANTIOCHUS. The new Greek leaven Set up the statue of Olympian Zeus And mannerless. ANTIOCHUS. JASON. Thou hast done all this. ANTIOCHUS. They must be civilized. As thou wast Joshua once and now art They must be made to have more gods Jason, And from a Hebrew hast become a Greek, Their very natures and their names be ANTIOCHUS. ANTIOCHUS. I like their courage, but it shall not save them. They shall be made to eat the flesh of swine It shall be done. Or they shall die. Where are they? Their manners and their laws and way of Beneath this tower. living Shall all be Greek. They shall unlearn their language, And learn the lovely speech of Antioch. Where hast thou been to-day? Thou comest late. Antiochus the Mad! Ay, that is it. JASON. In the dungeons ANTIOCHUS. There let them stay and starve, Till I am ready to make Greeks of them, After my fashion. Only the royal sanction To give a name unto a nameless temple Upon Mount Gerizim. ANTIOCHUS. Then bid them enter. This pleases me, and furthers my designs. The occasion is auspicious. Bid them enter. SCENE II. ANTIOCHUS; JASON; the SAMAR- ANTIOCHUS. Approach. Come forward; stand not at the door And who hath said it? Who hath set in Wagging your long beards, but demean Of a weird woman, like themselves insane. An audience from the King. What seek 1 THE MOTHER. Be strong, my heart! Break not till they I knew thou wouldst not fail! — He speaks are dead. THE MOTHER. God, I thank thee That thou hast breathed into that timid heart Courage to die for thee. O my Adaiah, Witness of God! if thou for whom I feared Canst thus encounter death, I need not L It is thy voice. For the last time I hear it ; For the last time on earth, but not the last. To death it bids defiance, and to torture. It sounds to me as from another world, And makes the petty miseries of this Seem unto me as naught, and less than naught. Farewell, my Avilan; nay, I should say Welcome, my Avilan; for I am dead Before thee. I am waiting for the others. Why do they linger? FOURTH VOICE (within). It is good, O King, Being put to death by men, to look for hope From God, to be raised up again by Him. But thou - no resurrection shalt thou have To life hereafter. In the last hour from God? O Sirion, Sirion, Art thou afraid? I do not hear thy voice. Die as thy brothers died. Thou must not live! Make haste, An SCENE II. To reunite us; for the sword that cleaves These miserable bodies makes a door Through which our souls, impatient of re lease, Rush to each other's arms. THE MOTHER; ANTIOCHUS ; SIRION. THE MOTHER. FIFTH VOICE (within). Thou hast the power; One only lives. lie; Thou doest what thou wilt. Abide awhile, How dost thou like this picture? |