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SCENE I.—ANTIOCHUS; PHILIP; ATTENDANTS.
ANTIOCHUS. HERE let us rest awhile. Where are we, Philip? | |
What place is this?
PHILIP. Ecbatana, my Lord; | |
| And yonder mountain range is the Orontes. | |
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ANTIOCHUS. The Orontes is my river at Antioch. | |
| Why did I leave it? Why have I been tempted | 5 |
| By coverings of gold and shields and breast-plates | |
| To plunder Elymais, and be driven | |
| From out its gates, as by a fiery blast | |
Out of a furnace?
PHILIP. These are fortune’s changes. | |
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ANTIOCHUS. What a defeat it was! The Persian horse-men | 10 |
| Came like a mighty wind, the wind Khamáseen, | |
| And melted us away, and scattered us | |
| As if we were dead leaves, or desert sand. | |
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PHILIP. Be comforted, my Lord; for thou hast lost | |
But what thou hadst not.
ANTIOCHUS. I, who made the Jews | 15 |
| Skip like the grasshoppers, am made myself | |
To skip among these stones.
PHILIP. Be not discouraged. | |
| Thy realm of Syria remains to thee; | |
That is not lost nor marred.
ANTIOCHUS. Oh, where are now | |
| The splendors of my court, my baths and banquets? | 20 |
| Where are my players and my dancing women? | |
| Where are my sweet musicians with their pipes, | |
| That made me merry in the olden time? | |
| I am a laughing-stock to man and brute. | |
| The very camels, with their ugly faces, | 25 |
Mock me and laugh at me.
PHILIP. Alas! my Lord, | |
| It is not so. If thou wouldst sleep awhile, | |
All would be well.
ANTIOCHUS. Sleep from mine eyes is gone, | |
| And my heart faileth me for very care. | |
| Dost thou remember, Philip, the old fable | 30 |
| Told us when we were boys, in which the bear | |
| Going for honey overturns the hive, | |
| And is stung blind by bees? I am that beast, | |
| Stung by the Persian swarms of Elymais. | |
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PHILIP. When thou art come again to Antioch, | 35 |
| These thoughts will be as covered and forgotten | |
| As are the tracks of Pharaoh’s chariot-wheels | |
In the Egyptian sands.
ANTIOCHUS. Ah! when I come | |
| Again to Antioch! When will that be? | |
Alas! alas!
SCENE II.—ANTIOCHUS; PHILIP; A MESSENGER.
MESSENGER. May the King live forever! | 40 |
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ANTIOCHUS. Who art thou, and whence comest thou?
MESSENGER. My Lord, | |
| I am a messenger from Antioch, | |
Sent here by Lysias.
ANTIOCHUS. A strange foreboding | |
| Of something evil overshadows me. | |
| I am no reader of the Jewish Scriptures; | 45 |
| I know not Hebrew; but my High-Priest Jason, | |
| As I remember, told me of a Prophet | |
| Who saw a little cloud rise from the sea | |
| Like a man’s hand, and soon the heaven was black | |
| With clouds and rain. Here, Philip, read; I cannot; | 50 |
| I see that cloud. It makes the letters dim | |
Before mine eyes.
PHILIP (reading). “To King Antiochus, | |
The God, Epiphanes.”
ANTIOCHUS. Oh mockery! | |
| Even Lysias laughs at me!—Go on, go on! | |
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PHILIP (reading). “We pray thee hasten thy return. The realm | 55 |
| Is falling from thee. Since thou hast gone from us | |
| The victories of Judas MaccabÆus | |
| Form all our annals. First he overthrew | |
| Thy forces at Beth-horon, and passed on, | |
| And took Jerusalem, the Holy City. | 60 |
| And then Emmaus fell; and then Bethsura, | |
| Ephrou and all the towns of Galaad, | |
| And Maccabæus marched to Carnion.” | |
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ANTIOCHUS. Enough, enough! Go call my chariotmen; | |
| We will drive forward, forward, without ceasing, | 65 |
| Until we come to Antioch. My captains, | |
| My Lysias, Gorgias, Seron, and Nicanor, | |
| Are babes in battle, and this dreadful Jew | |
| Will rob me of my kingdom and my crown. | |
| My elephants shall trample him to dust; | 70 |
| I will wipe out his nation, and will make | |
| Jerusalem a common burying-place, | |
| And every home within its walls a tomb! Throws up his hands, and sinks into the arms of attendants, who lay him upon a bank. | |
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PHILIP. Antiochus! Antiochus! Alas, | |
| The King is ill! What is it, O my Lord? | 75 |
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ANTIOCHUS. Nothing. A sudden and sharp spasm of pain, | |
| As if the lightning struck me, or the knife | |
| Of an assassin smote me to the heart. | |
| ’T is passed, even as it came. Let us set forward. | |
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PHILIP. See that the chariots be in readiness; | 80 |
We will depart forthwith.
ANTIOCHUS. A moment more. | |
| I cannot stand. I am become at once | |
| Weak as an infant. Ye will have to lead me. | |
| Jove, or Jehovah, or whatever name | |
| Thou wouldst be named,—it is alike to me,— | 85 |
| If I knew how to pray, I would entreat | |
To live a little longer.
PHILIP. O my Lord, | |
| Thou shalt not die; we will not let thee die! | |
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ANTIOCHUS. How canst thou help it, Philip? Oh the pain! | |
| Stab after stab. Thou hast no shield against | 90 |
| This unseen weapon. God of Israel, | |
| Since all the other gods abandon me, | |
| Help me. I will release the Holy City, | |
| Garnish with goodly gifts the Holy Temple. | |
| Thy people, whom I judged to be unworthy | 95 |
| To be so much as buried, shall be equal | |
| Unto the citizens of Antioch. | |
| I will become a Jew, and will declare | |
| Through all the world that is inhabited | |
The power of God!
PHILIP. He faints. It is like death. | 100 |
| Bring here the royal litter. We will bear him | |
Into the camp, while yet he lives.
ANTIOCHUS. O Philip, | |
| Into what tribulation am I come! | |
| Alas! I now remember all the evil | |
| That I have done the Jews; and for this cause | 105 |
| These troubles are upon me, and behold | |
| I perish through great grief in a strange land. | |
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PHILIP. Antiochus! my King!
ANTIOCHUS. Nay, King no longer. | |
| Take thou my royal robes, my signet ring, | |
| My crown and sceptre, and deliver them | 110 |
| Unto my son, Antiochus Eupator; | |
| And unto the good Jews, my citizens, | |
| In all my towns, say that their dying monarch | |
| Wisheth them joy, prosperity, and health. | |
| I who, puffed up with pride and arrogance, | 115 |
| Thought all the kingdoms of the earth mine own, | |
| If I would but outstretch my hand and take them, | |
| Meet face to face a greater potentate, | |
| King Death—Epiphanes—the Illustrious! [Dies. | |
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