them;

When the Jews suffer, ye are Medes and Persians: SCENE L-THE MOTHER of the SEVEN SONS

I know that in the days of Alexander

Ye claimed exemption from the annual tribute

In the Sabbatic Year, because, ye said,

Your fields had not been planted in that year.
Ambassador (reading). "Our fathers, upon
certain frequent plagues,

And following an ancient superstition,
Were long accustomed to observe that day
Which by the Israelites is called the Sabbath,
And in a temple on Mount Gerizim
Without a name, they offered sacrifice.
Now we, who are Sidonians, beseech thee,
Who art our benefactor and our savior,
Not to confound us with these wicked Jews,
But to give royal order and injunction
To Apollonius in Samaria,

Thy governor, and likewise to Nicanor,
Thy procurator, no more to molest us;
And let our nameless temple now be named
The Temple of Jupiter Hellenius."

Aut. This shall be done. Full well it pleaseth

me

Ye are not Jews, or are no longer Jews,

But Greeks; if not by birth, yet Greeks by cus

tom.

Your nameless temple shall receive the name
Of Jupiter Hellenius. Ye may go!

SCENE III-ANTIOCHUS; JASON.

Ant. My task is easier than I dreamed.
These people

Meet me half-way. Jason, didst thou take note
How these Samaritans of Sichem said

They were not Jews? that they were Medes and

Persians,

They were Sidonians, anything but Jews?
"Tis of good augury.
The rest will follow
Hellenized.

Till the whole land is
Jason.

My Lord,

These are Samaritans. The tribe of Judah

Is of a different temper,
Will be more difficult.

Ant.

and the task

alone, listening.

The Mother. Be strong, my heart! Break not
till they are dead,

All, all my Seven Sons; then burst asunder,
And let this tortured and tormented soul
Leap and rush out like water through the shards
Of earthen vessels broken at a well.

O my dear children, mine in life and death,
I know not how ye came into my womb;

I neither gave you breath, nor gave you life,
And neither was it I that formed the members
Of every one of you. But the Creator,
Who made the world, and made the heavens

above us,

Who formed the generation of mankind,
And found out the beginning of all things,
He gave you breath and life, and will again
Of his own mercy, as ye now regard
I do not murmur, nay,
Not your own selves, but his eternal law.
thank thee, God,
That I and mine have not been deemed unworthy
To suffer for thy sake, and for thy law,
And for the many sins of Israel.

Hark! I can hear within the sound of scourges!
I feel them more than ye do, O my sons!
But cannot come to you. I, who was wont
To wake at night at the least cry ye made,
To whom ye ran at every slightest hurt,-

I cannot take you now into my lap
And sooth your pain, but God will take you all
Into his pitying arms, and comfort you,
And give you rest.

A Voice (within). What wouldst thou ask of
us?

Ready are we to die, but we will never
Transgress the law and customs of our fathers.
The Mother. It is the voice of my first-born!
O brave

And noble boy! Thou hast the privilege
Of dying first, as thou wast born the first.
The same Voice (within). God looketh on us,
and hath comfort in us;

As Moses in his song of old declared,

Dost thou gainsay me? He in his servants shall be comforted.

The Mother. I knew thou wouldst not fail!- Doth his heart fail him? Doth he fall away

He speaks no more,

He is beyond all pain!

Ant. (within).

If thou eat not

Thou shalt be tortured throughout all the mem-
bers

Of thy whole body. Wilt thou eat then?
Second Voice (within). No.

The Mother. It is Adaiah's voice. I tremble
for him.

I know his nature, devious as the wind,
And swift to change, gentle and yielding always.
Be steadfast, O my son!

The same Voice (within). Thou, like a fury,
Takest us from this present life, but God,
Who rules the world, shall raise us up again
Into life everlasting.

The Mother.

God, I thank thee

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.

The Mother. Four already four!
Three are still living; nav, they all are living,
Half here, half there. Make haste, Antiochus,
To reunite us; for the sword that cleaves
These miserable bodies makes a door
Through which our souls, impatient of release,
Rush to each other's arms.

Fifth Voice (within). Thou hast the power;
Thou doest what thou wilt. Abide awhile,
And thou shalt see the power of God, and how
He will torment thee and thy seed.
The Mother.

O hasten;

Why dost thou pause? Thou who hast slain already

So many Hebrew women, and hast hung

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!

Can a man do such deeds, and yet not die
By the recoil of his own wickedness?
Ye murdered, bleeding, mutilated bodies
That were my children once, and still are mine,
I cannot watch o'er you as Rispah watched
In sackcloth o'er the seven sons of Saul,
Till water drop upon you out of heaven
And wash this blood away! I cannot mourn
As she, the daughter of Aiah mourned the dead,
From the beginning of the barley-harvest
Until the autumn rains, and suffered not
The birds of air to rest on them by day,
Nor the wild beasts by night. For ye have died
A better death, a death so full of life
That I ought rather to rejoice than mourn.-
Wherefore art thou not dead, O Sirion?
Wherefore art thou the only living thing
Among thy brothers dead? Art thou afraid?
Ant. O woman, I have spared him for thy
sake,

For he is fair to look upon and comely;
And I have sworn to him by all the gods
That I would crown his life with joy and honor.
Heap treasures on him, luxuries, delights,
Make him my friend and keeper of my secrets,
If he would turn from your Mosaic Law
And be as we are; but he will not listen,
The Mother. My noble Sirion!
Ant.

Therefore I beseech thee,
Who art his mother, thou wouldst speak with

him

And wouldst persuade him. I am sick of blood. The Mother. Yea, I will speak with him and will persuade him

O Sirion, my son! have pity on me,

On me that bare thee, and that gave thee suck,
And fed and nourished thee, and brought thee
up

With the dear trouble of a mother's care
Unto this age. Look on the heavens above thee,
And on the earth and all that is therein;
Consider that God made them out of things
That were not; and that likewise in this manner
Mankind was made. Then fear not this tormen-
tor;

But, being worthy of thy brethren, take
Their murdered infants round their necks, slay Thy death as they did, that I may receive thee

me,

For I too am a woman, and these boys
Are mine. Make haste to slay us all,
And hang my lifeless babes about my neck.
Sixth Voice (within). Think not, Antiochus,
that takest in hand

To strive against the God of Israel,
Thou shalt escape unpunished, for his wrath
Shall overtake thee and thy bloody house.
The Mother. One more, my Sirion, and then
all is ended.

Having put all to bed, then in my turn
I will lie down and sleep as sound as they.
My Sirion, my youngest, best beloved!
And those bright golden locks, that I so oft
Have curled about these fingers, even now
Are foul with blood and dust, like a lamb's fleece,
Slain in the shambles.-Not a sound I hear.
This silence is more terrible to me
Than any sound, than any cry of pain,
That might escape the lips of one who dies.

Again in mercy with them.

Ant.

I am mocked,
Yea, I am laughed to scorn.
Sirion.
Whom wait ye for?
Never will I obey the King's commandment,
But the commandment of the ancient Law,
That was by Moses given unto our fathers.
And thou, O godless man, that of all others
Art the most wicked, be not lifted up,
Nor puffed up with uncertain hopes, uplifting
Thy hand against the servants of the Lord,
For thou hast not escaped the righteous judgment
Of the Almighty God, who seeth all things!
Ant. He is no God of nine; I fear him not.
Sirion. My brothers, who have suffered a

brief pain,

Are dead; but thou, Antiochus, shalt suffer
The punishment of pride. I offer up
My body and my life, beseeching God
That he would speedily be merciful
Unto our nation, and that thou by plagues

SCENE I.-JUDAS MACCABÆUS in armor before Buckle that armor on; and for a watch-word

Thou hast the nobler virtues of thy race, Without the failings that attend those virtues. SCENE IL-JUDAS MACCABEUS; JEWISH FUGI- Thou canst be strong, and yet not tyrannous,

Held by a host of forty thousand foot,
And horsemen seven thousand. What hast thou
To bring against all these?
Judas.

The power of God,

Whose breath shall scatter your white tents abroad,

As flakes of snow.

Nic.

Will not do battle on the Seventh Day;

It is his day of rest.

Judas.

Captains. The Lord is with us!
Judas.

Hark! I hear the trumpets
Sound from Beth-horon; from the battle-field
Of Joshua, where he smote the Amorites,
Smote the Five Kings of Eglon and of Jarmuth,
Of Hebron, Lachish, and Jerusalem,

As we to-day will smite Nicanor's hosts

Your Mighty One in heaven And leave a memory of great deeds behind us.
Captains and Soldiers. The help of God!
Judas.
Be Elohim Yehovah !
Lord, thou didst send thine Angel in the time
Of Esekias, King of Israel,

Silence, blasphemer.

Shall it be war or peace?

Judas. War, war, and only war. Go to thy

tents

That shall be scattered, as by you were scattered
The torn and trampled pages of the Law,
Blown through the windy streets.
Nic.
Farewell, brave foe!
Judas. Ho, there, my captains! Have safe
conduct given

Unto Nicanor's herald through the camp,
And come yourselves to me.-Farewell, Nicanor!

SCENE IV. JUDAS MACCABÆUS; CAPTAINS
AND SOLDIERS.

Judas. The hour is come. Gather the host
together

For battle. Lo, with trumpets and with songs
The army of Nicanor comes against us.

Go forth to meet them, praying in your hearts,
And fighting with your hands.

Captains.

Look forth and see!
The morning sun is shining on their shields
Of gold and brass; the mountains glisten with
them,

And shine like lamps. And we who are so few
And poorly armed, and ready to faint with fasting,
How shall we fight against this multitude?

Judas. The victory of a battle standeth not
In multitudes, but in the strength that cometh
From heaven above. The Lord forbid that I
Should do this thing, and flee away from them.
Nay, if our hour be come, then let us die;
Let us not stain our honor.

Captains.

"T is the Sabbath.

Wilt thou fight on the Sabbath, Maccabæus?
Judas. Ay; when I fight the battles of the
Lord,

I fight them on his day, as on all others.
Have ye forgotten certain fugitives
That fled once to these hills, and hid themselves
In caves? How their pursuers camped against
them

Upon the Seventh Day, and challenged them?
And how they answered not, nor cast a stone,
Nor stopped the places where they lay concealed,
But meekly perished with their wives and chil-
drer,

Even to the number of a thousand souls?
We who are fighting for our laws and lives
Will not so perish.

Captains.

Lead us to the battle! •

Judas. And let our watchword be, "The
Help of God!"

Last night I dreamed a dream; and in my vision
Beheld Onias, our High-Priest of old,
Who holding up his hands prayed for the Jews.
This done, in the like manner there appeared
An old man, and exceeding glorious,
With hoary hair, and of a wonderful
And excellent majesty. And Onias said:
"This is a lover of the Jews, who prayeth
Much for the people and the Holy City,-
God's prophet Jeremias." And the prophet
Held forth his right hand and gave unto me
A sword of gold; and giving it he said:
"Take thou this holy sword, a gift from God,
And with it thou shalt wound thine adversaries."

The weakness of my nature, that hath made SCENE I.

There can be nothing clean where thou art pres- Out of a furnace?