JOAD, JOSABET, AZARIAH, THE CHOIR, AND SEVERALLEVITES.JOAD.Well, Azariah, is the temple closed?AZARIAH.The gates have all been made before my eyesJOAD.Your saintly troops and you alone remain?AZARIAH.Twice I have walked around the sacred courts,And all are fled; dispersed without return,Scattered in fear—a miserable crew!God by His holy tribe's no longer served:—E'er since that people Pharoah's steps escaped,An equal panic has not seized on them.JOAD.A people in performance loose, and bornFor slavery—bold against God alone!Let us pursue our work. But who retainsThese children, even in our midst?One of the daughters of the choirAlas, could we, sire, part ourselves from you?In the Lord's temple are we aliens?Around you are our fathers and our sires.Another.Ha! if to avenge the shame of IsraelOur hands may not as Jael's, formerly,Have power to pierce God's impious enemies' head,Yet we at least may give our lives to Him.Whilst you are fighting for His temple stormed,We may, at least, invoke Him with our tears.JOAD.Eternal Wisdom, in Thy quarrel armedHere, then, are Thine avengers—priests and children!But Thou sustaining, who can cast us down?From death Thou canst recall us when Thou wilt!Thou strikest and Thou healest, Thou destroyestAnd Thou resuscitatest. We relyNot on our own deserts, but on Thy name,Invoked so frequently, and on Thy oathSworn to the most devout of all our kings,Within this temple made Thy holy dwelling,And which the sun's duration is to last.But whence this sacred thrilling of my soul?Am I transported by the Holy Spirit?It is so: it inflames me: speaks to me:My eyes are opened, and the times obscureUnveil themselves before me! Levites, lendYour harmony of sounds, and by their swellSupport my ecstacy!The Choir sing to the sound of every symphony of theinstruments.O let the voice of God be heard,And to our hearts, His oracle divine,Be as the freshness of the mornIs to the tender grass in spring.JOAD.Heaven, hear my voice. Earth, lend thine ear.No more, O Jacob, say thy God doth slumber,O sinners disappear; the Lord's awake.Here the symphonies are resumed, and Joad instantlycontinues.How into worthless lead pure gold is changed!Who is that priest slain in the holy place?Weep, weep Jerusalem, perfidious city,Wretched destroyer of the sacred seers;God of His love for thee divests Himself;Thy incense in His eyes is incense foul.Where do you take those children and those wives?The queen of cities God has overthrown:Her priests are captives, and her kings disowned.Temple be overthrown! Cedars cast your flames!Jerusalem, thou object of my grief,Who in one day has ravished all thy charms?O who will change, to weep thy miseries,Mine eyes to two fountains of tears?AZARIAH.O holy temple!JOSABET.O David!THE CHOIR.Restore, O God of Sion, O restore,Thy ancient benefactions in her favour.The symphonies resume, and immediately after Joadcontinues.What new Jerusalem arises fromThe desert's depths in dazzling splendour,And bears upon her brow a stamp immortal?JOAD.Sing, people of the earth,Jerusalem reborn more grand and beautiful!Whence on all sides repair to herThe progeny not fostered in her bosom?Lift high, Jerusalem, lift high thy head!Look on those monarchs of thy marvellous glory:The kings of nations are before thee prostrate,Kissing the dust of thy feet:The people in thy light walk emulous.Blest, who for Sion with a holy fervourDoth feel his soul expanded!Heavens scatter your dew, and let the earthBring forth its Saviour!JOSABET.Alas! from whence this signal benefaction?If kings from whom Messiah's to descend—JOAD.Let Josabet prepare the diademWhich David's self bore on his sacred brow.(To the Levites.)And you, attend me to the place to armYourselves, where is concealed from strangers' eyesThat formidable heap of swords and lances,Which ever in Philistine's blood were drenched;And which triumphant David, full of yearsAnd honours, caused to be unto the GodThat had protected him made consecrate.Could we employ them in a nobler cause %Follow, I will myself distribute them.
SALOMITH, THE CHOIR.SALOMITH.What fears my sisters, O what mortal broils!All powerful God, are these the sacrifices,The first-fruits and the perfumes weThis day should offer at Thy altars?One of the daughters of the Choir.What spectacle unto our timid eyes!Who could have feared we ever should beholdThe murderous sword, the homicidal lanceFlashing within the house of peace?Another.Whence comes it that Jerusalem,Full of indifference to her God,Is silent in her present danger?Whence comes it, sisters, that for our protectionBrave Abner, at the least, speaks not aloud?SALOMITH.Ah! in a court, in which prevailsNo other law than force and violence;In which its honours and employments areThe price of blind and base obedience,Who will desire, my sister, to lift upHis voice for sorrowing innocence?Another.For whom's that sacred diadem preparedIn this confusion—peril violent?SALOMITH.The Lord has deigned to speak;But who can make us understandWhat to his prophet He has now revealed?Arms He Himself in our defence?Or does He arm to overwhelm us?All the choir sing,O promise! threatening! mysterious gloom!What evil and what good by turns foretold!How can we reconcileSo much of wrath and love?One voice alone.Sion will be no more; a cruel flameWill burn up all her excellence.Another voice.O God, shield Sion; Thy eternal wordShe holds for her foundations.The firstHow all her splendour fades before my eyes.The second.I see on every side her glory radiantThe first.Sion is sunk to a profound abyss.The second.Sion, whose brow is in the heavens.The firstWhat sorrowful abasement!The second.What immortal glory!The firstWhat wailings!The second.What songs of victory!A third.Let us cease from troubling; our God one dayWill reconcile this mystery sublime!All three.Let us revere His anger; trust His love.Another.God! of a heart that loveth TheeWho can disturb the peace?Itself forgetting ever,It seeks, in all, Thy will supreme.On earth—in heaven even can there bloomAnother blessing than the tranquil peaceOf a heart that loveth Thee?END OF THE THIRD ACT.
JOAS, JOSABET, ZACHARIAH, SALOMITH, A LEVITE,THE CHOIR.SALOMITH.With a majestic step, beside my mother,Near Zachariah, walks Eliacin.What hide they, sisters, underneath their cloaks?In short, what is that sword that's borne before them?JOSABET (to Zachariah).Place on that table, reverentially,The book redoubted of our holy law:And also you, my loved Eliacin,This diadem place near the book divine.Levites we must have there, Joad orders it,The sword of David close beside the crown.JOAS.Princess, what then is this strange spectacle?This sacred book, this diadem, this sword?I ne'er have seen example of like form,Since in His temple God accepted me.JOSABET.Soon all your doubts, my son, will be dispelled.JOAS.Why will you fit this diadem on my brow?Ah, princess! keep its glory unprofaned!Respect the memory of the king who wore it.A wretched child abandoned to the bears—JOSABET (tries on the diadem).Allow me, son, I do what I am ordered.JOAS.But from your lips I hear your sobs arise!Princess, you weep, What pity touches you?To-day presented as burnt offeringAm I, as formerly was Jeptha's daughter,By my own death to appease the wrath of God?Alas! a child has nought a father mayNot claim.JOSABET.Here's one will tell you of the will of Heaven;Fear nothing. Let us leave these precincts.JOAD, JOAS.( Joas running into the arms of the high-priest.)
JOAD.Well, my son?JOAS.What is it, pray, that they prepare?JOAD.'Tis right my sonI should inform you, even before all,Of God's great ends o'er you and o'er His people.Be armed with new fidelity and zeal!'Tis time to show this ardour and this faith,Which to the bottom of your heart my caresHave cultivated; and to pay to GodThe debt you owe Him. Do you feel this nobleAnd generous aspiration?JOAS.I feel prepared, if wished, to give my life.JOAD.You've oft heard read the history of our kings:My son, do you remember what strict lawMust be imposed on him who takes the crown?JOAS.Thus God Himself declares that a wise kingDoes not rely on riches and on gold;But fears the Lord his God; and ever hathBefore him His stern judgments, precepts, laws,And crusheth not his brethren with oppression.JOAD.But of our kings, if you must copy one,Which, from your choice, my son, would you be like?JOAS.David, who full of loyal love to God,Appears the type most perfect of great kings.JOAD.Then, in their riot, you'd not imitateThe faithless Joram, godless Ochoziah?JOAS.O my father!JOAD.Continue, say what you think.JOAS.Whoe'er resembles, may he die like them.(Joad prostrates himself at his feet).My father, in what state are you before me?JOAD.I render you the homage of my king.JOAS.Joas! me?JOAD.You know the signal grace by whichGod, foiling the designs of a bad woman,Already with her dagger in your breast,He chose, and saved you from amid the carnage.You have not yet eluded all her madness:With the same passion she has ever hungeredTo lose in you the last child of her son,Her cruelty is fixed to reach your death;Under your name assumed, she hunts you still.But 'neath your standard I have now arrangedA people prompt to vengeance and obedience.Come, generous chiefs of sacred families,By turns be honoured by the holy priest.
JOAS, JOAD, AZARIAH, ISHMAEL, THREE OTHER LEVITECHIEFS.JOAD.King, here are the avengers on your foes.Priests, here's the king that I have promised you.AZARIAH.What, is't Eliacin?ISHMAEL.What! that amiable child—JOAD.Is true inheritor of Judah's throne,Last born of tristful Ochoziah's children,Reared up, you know it, by the name of Joas.All Israel wept like you the destinyOf this sweet flower, cut down so soon, and thoughtThat with his brother he was wrapt in death.Attacked with the perfidious steel like them:But God knowing how to turn aside the blow,Kept in his heart the life-warmth near extinct,Allowing Josabet to carry himAll bleeding in her bosom, and avoidThe assassin's vigilance. She having noneExcept myself the accomplice of her theft,Concealed the child, and reared him in the temple.JOAS.Alas! for so much love, so many blessings,Father, how shall I e'er acquit myself?JOAD.For other times reserve this gratitude.Here then behold your king, your only hope!Till now my care has treasured him for you;You, servants of the Lord, must bear it out.Informed that Ochoziah's son still lives,The murderess, Athaliah, soon will rush,To hurry him again into the tomb.Already, without knowing him, she pantsTo ruin sacred ministers 'tis yoursTo anticipate her fury; now 'tis timeTo end the shameful slavery of the Jews,To avenge our princes' deaths, exalt our laws,And make our king be owned by our two tribes.The enterprize is great and dangerous;Attacking on her throne a haughty queen,Who sees a numerous camp of hardy strangersAnd traitorous Hebrews march beneath her standards!But God's my strength, whose interest guideth me.Think that all Israel lives within this child!Already God the avenger troubles her.Eluding whom, I have assembled you;She deems us armless here, without defence.Let us crown quickly and proclaim Joas king:Then, fearless soldiers of the new crowned prince,March and invoke the Arbiter of battles;And rousing in the people's hearts their faith,Even in her palace, seek our enemy.Then those so long in lazy slumber sunk,Beholding us advance in saintly garbs,Will haste with zeal to follow our example!A king whom in His temple God has nourished:Aaron's successor, followed by his priests,Leading the house of Levi to the combat;And in these hands, by all tribes venerated,The arms of David consecrate to God!The Lord will scatter terror on His foes.Bathe without fear in unbelievers' blood!Strike Syrian, and even Israelite!From those famed Levites do you not descend,Who, when to Nilus' god inconstant IsraelPaid in the desert adoration vile,The saintly homicides of their own house,Did dedicate their hands in treacherous blood,And by that awful deed acquired for youThe rank of sole presiders at the altar?But now I see you burn to follow me!Swear on this sacred volume, then, Yore allTo live, to combat, and to die for him,The king, whom heaven presenteth you to-day.AZARIAH (at the end of the table, laying his handthe sacred book),Yes, swear we, for our brothers and ourselves,To establish Joas upon his father's throne;That we again will not lay down our armsUntil avenged upon his enemies:If any' violator break this vow,O may he feel, great God, Thy vengeful wrath!And may with him his children be debarredThy heritage, as those Thou knowest no more!JOAD.And to this law, your ever present guide,Will you not, king, swear always to be true?JOAS.Can I not to that law conform myself?JOAD.Allow, my son—I still dare call you so—This tenderness, and tolerate the tearsDrawn from my eyes for you with just alarms.Alas! far from the throne instructed, youAre ignorant of the enpoisoned cup;The drunkenness of unrestricted power;The voice of the enchantress flattery.Soon will they tell you that the sacred laws,Which sway the common people, bow to kings;That his own will's the sovereign's sole restraint;That all to his supreme magnificenceIs to be sacrificed; that unto tearsAnd toils his subjects are condemned; and thatThey must be governed by an iron sway;Who soon or late, if not subdued, subdue.And thus from snare to snare, and gulf to gulf,Fouling the lovely chasteness of your morals,At length they bring you to despise the truthBy painting virtue in a frightful form;Alas! they have misled the kings most wise!Swear on this book, before these witnesses,That God shall always be your first of cares;Stern to the wicked, refuge of the good:That 'twixt the poor and you the Lord shall judge.Remember you, my son, that in this dress,Like them you were an orphan, like them, poor.JOAS (at the middle of the table, having his handthe sacred book,)I promise to obey the law ordained;God punish me if I abandon you.JOAD.Come, and anoint him with the holy oil;Josabet, appear: you now may show yourself.
JOAS, JOAD, JOSABET, ZACHARIAH, SALOMITH, AZARIAH,ISHMAEL, THREE OTHER LEVITE CHIEFS, THE CHOIR.JOSABET(embracing Joas).O king, offspring of David!JOAS.My only mother! Come, dear Zachariah,Embrace me.JOSABET (to Zachariah).My son, prostrate yourself before your king.JOAD (whilst they embrace.)Children, may thus your hearts be always one.JOSABET (to Joas).You know then to what source you owe your life?JOAS.And also know the hand, which, but for you,Had robbed me of it.JOSABET.I then can call you by your own name, Joas.JOAS.Joas will never cease to love you.THE CHOIR.What! is it—JOSABET.It is Joas.JOAD.Let us hear that Levite.
JOAS, JOAD, JOSABET, ZACHARIAH, SALOMITH, AZARIAH,ISHMAEL, THREE OTHER LEVITE CHIEFS, A LEVITE,THE CHOIR.A LEVITE.I know not what design they have 'gainst God;But threatening boldness growls on every side:Amidst their standards they have lighted fires,And doubtless Athaliah joins her forces;Already every path for succour's closed:The sacred mount on which the temple's rearedIs quite infested with fierce Tynans;Blaspheming, one of them came forth and said,"Your Abner is in chains, and cannot aid you."JOSABET (to Joas)Dear child, whom Heaven in vain reserved for me,I've done whate'er I could to rescue you:But God no longer knows your father, David.JOAD (to Josabet).What! fear you not to draw His wrath on you,And on this king so dear unto your love?Though God should tear him from your arms for ever,And will that David's house should be extinct,Are you not here upon the holy mount,Where 'gainst his innocent son the Jewish sire,Raised, without murmur, his obedient arm;And, as burnt-offering, on the altar placedThe finit of his old age, leaving with GodThe oversight of bearing out His promise,And yielded up to Him, with his loved son,His house's hope, contained in him alone?Friends let us go. Let Ishmael to his charge,Take all the side that looks unto the east;You take the northern portion, you the west,And you the centre. Let not too much zeal,Betraying my designs, cause priest or LeviteTo quit his place, and charge before the time;And, finally, let all impelled as oneKeep to the death the post I have assigned them.The foe beholding us in his blind rage,As a vile herd reserved for massacre,Thinks but to meet disorder and dismay.You, Azariah, keep beside the king.(To Joas.)Come, you dear scion of a valiant race,With a new courage fill your champions;Assume the diadem before their eyes,And fall as king, at least, if fall you must.(To a Levite.)Follow him, Josabet. Give me those arms.(To the Choir.)Children, to God present your innocent tears.
The Choir sing.Children of Aaron, go—depart;In never more illustrious causeBattled the zeal of your progenitors.Children of Aaron, go—depart;It is your king, your God, for whom ye fight.One voice alone.Where are those thunderbolts Thou launchest,Great God, in Thy just wrath?Art Thou no more the jealous God?Art Thou no longer the avenger?Another,Where, God of Jacob, are Thy former favours?Amid the horrors, that encompass us,Hearest Thou alone the voiceOf our iniquities?Art Thou no longer the forgiving God?The Choir.Where, God of Jacob, are Thy former favours?One voice alone.It is against Thyself that in this strifeThe armies of the wicked aim assault.Come let us cause to cease, say they,God's festivals upon the earth;And from His tiresome yoke deliver man:Let all His saints be slaughtered;His altars overthrown;That of His name and gloryNo memory may be left;That neither He, nor Christ may reign o'er us.The Choir.Where are the thunderbolts Thou launchest,Great God, in Thy just wrath?Art Thou no more the jealous God?Art Thou no longer the avenger?One voice alone.Sad remnant of our kings,Dear and last bloom of such a beauteous stem,Ah! 'neath the dagger of a cruel damShall we, a second time, behold thee fall?Say, did an angel at thy cradle side,Beloved prince! against thy murderersDefend thee with his care;Or in the darkness of the tombDid God re-animate thy ashes?Another.Dost Thou, great God, impute the guilty deedsOf father and grandfather unto him?Abandon him without relenting pity?The Choir.Where, God of Jacob, are Thy former favours?Art Thou no longer the forgiving God?One of the daughters of the Choir (speaking).Dear sisters, hear you not the soundOf the fierce Tyrians' trumpet?SALOMITH.I even hear the barbarous soldiers' cries,And I shiver with horror.Come, let us fly to our refugeUnder the sanctuary's shadow.
ZACHARIAH, SALOMITH, THE CHOIR.SALOMITH.Dear Zachariah, well! what have you learnt?ZACHARIAH.Redouble to the Lord your fervent prayers:Perhaps we are approaching our last hour;The order's given for the horrid conflict.SALOMITH.What is Joas doing?ZACHARIAH.He has just been crowned:On him the high-priest's poured the holy oil.O heaven, what joy was seen in every eye,Beholding him, the ransomed from the tomb!My sisters, still is seen the dagger's scar.Also his faithful nurse appeared to us,Who guarding that dear charge has had no eyeTo note her cares but God's and Josabet's.Our Levites wept with joy and tenderness,%And mixed their sobs with shouts of ecstacy.He, midst those transports, courteous, without pride,To one his hand, to others gave his look,And swore to govern by their frank advice,Naming them all his brothers or his sires.SALOMITH.Think you this secret's spread beyond these walls?ZACHARIAH.This secret to the temple's still confined;The band of Levi's race, distributed,Have placed themselves all silent at the doors;All are to rush together on the foe,And for the signal cry, "Long live King Joas!"My father wills that Zachariah guardThe king, forbidden to expose himself.Meanwhile the queen, with poniard in her hand,Laughs at the feeble check of our brass gates.To crush them she attends the fatal engines,Breathing, in short, but blood and devastation.Some priests, my sister, at the first proposed,That in a secret cave, our fathers' dug,The precious ark at least should be concealed."O base insulting fear my father cried,The ark which caused so many gorgeous towersTo fall, and forced the Jordan's backward course;So many times triumphant o'er the godsOf nations, must it flee at the approachOf insolent woman?" My mother, nearThe king, in deadly trouble, now her eyeBeing on the altar, and now turned on him,Silent, and sinking 'neath the weight of dread,Would have extorted tears from eyes of brass.The king from time to time embracing herConsoled her: then she said, "my sisters dear,All follow me, and if our king to-dayMust perish, let one fate unite ourselvesWith him."SALOMITH.What rugged hand knocks with repeated blows?Why those disordered Levites put to flight?And what precaution makes them hide their arms?Is the temple stormed?ZACHARIAH.Disperse your fears, God sends us Abner.
ABNER, JOAD, JOSABET, ZACHARIAH, SALOMITH,TWO LEVITES, THE CHOIR.JOAD.Must I believe my eyes,Dear Abner? By what way have you been hereConducted, through a camp besieging us?'Twas said that Ahab's sacrilegious daughterHad loaded with vile chains your generous hands.ABNER.Yes, sire, she feared my fortitude and zeal.Confining me's the least part of her rage;In horrid dungeon by her orders buried,I was expecting that the temple burntTo ashes, and not satiated yet,With many floods of slaughter, she would come,And rid me of a troublesome life, cut shortThe days which would a thousand times have swelledThe grief of being survivor of my kings.JOAD.What miracle has brought about your pardon?ABNER.God only knows what passes in her heart.She sent for me, and with distracted airSaid, "see those soldiers quite surround that temple,A vengeful fire's about to make it ashes;Thy God 'gainst mine can not defend Himself.Howe'er His priests—but they must make quick haste,On two conditions may redeem their lives—That in my power Eliacin be given,With treasures which I know are known to them,Amassed by David, formerly your king,Intrusted to the high-priest's secret care.Go tell them at that price that they may live."JOAD.What counsel, Abner, think you we should follow?ABNER.If, in effect, 'tis true that all the goldOf David's secret treasure you preserve,And from the hands of that rapacious queenYou may thereby save all that's rich and rare,Why, yield it up. Would you that foul assassinsCome break the altar, burn the cherubim,And laying on our ark a violent hand,With your own blood pollute the sanctuary?JOAD.Would it become us, Abner, from kind hearts,To give to torture an unfortunate child,Whom God Himself confided to my care;And at his life's expense redeem our own?ABNER.Alas! God sees my heart. O that our GodWould make the queen forget an innocent child,And that the blood of Abner would contentHer cruelty, and that my death would calmThe heavens that torture her! But what availsYour useless tenderness? If you all perish,Is death the less to him? And does our GodBid you to dare impossibilities?Submitting to a heartless tyrant's law,Moses, left by his mother at the Nile,Was seen almost at birth condemned to fall:But God, preserving him beyond all hope,Made e'en the tyrant tend, his infancy.Who knows God's will towards our Eliacin?And, if preparing him like destiny,He has not, the fierce murderess of our kings,Already made susceptible of pity?At least, short time ago, I saw his aspectMove her (which Josabet observed as well),I saw the tempest of her fury fall.(To Josabet.),Princess! can you be silent in this peril?What, for a boy, who is a stranger to you,Will you allow that Joad shall fruitlesslyLeave you, his son, and people to be slaughtered?And that the fire devour the very placeUpon the earth where God would be adored?Why, were that tender boy a precious relicOf your ancestral kings, could you do more?JOSABET (aside, to Joad).O wherefore do you not speak out, you seeHis tenderness for Israel's kings?JOAD.Princess 'tis not yet time.ABNER.The time's more precious, sire, than you suppose.Whilst hesitating here to answer me,Mathan, beside the queen, indignant flaming,Demands the signal, panting for the carnage.Must I entreat you at your sacred feet,By the place saintly, closed to all but you,Dread place, where dwells the majesty of God?However hard the task on you imposed,We must but think of warding off the blow.O give me only time to breathe—to-morrow,This very night, I will arrange the meansTo save the temple and avenge its wrongs.But ah! I see my tears and vain discourseAre arguments too frail to change your mind:Your austere virtue will not be subdued.Well! bring me then my armour, and a sword,That at the portals of the temple, whereThe foe awaits me, Abner, at the least,May die in combatJOAD.I yield. You give advice which I embrace:Let us avert so many threatening ills.'Tis true there is a treasure left by David;To my fidelity the charge was given:It was the melancholy Jews' last hope,Which from the light my vigilance concealed:But since wemustexpose it to our queen,I'm going to please her. Open wide our gates!Let her, accompanied by her bravest chiefs,Advance, but from our sacred altars, letHer hold at distance the unreasoning furyOf herds of strangers, and protect me fromThe horror of the pillage of the temple.Would a few priests and children rouse suspicion?With her arrange the number of her suite.As to that child, so feared, so terrible—Abner, I know the justness of your heart—I will explain his birth before you both:You'll hear if we should place him in her power,And you shall judge 'twixt him and Athaliah.ABNER.Ah! now, I take him under my protection.Fear nothing, I return to her who sent me.
JOAD, JOSABET, ZACHARIAH, SALOMITH, ISHMAEL, TWOLEVITES, THE CHOIR.JOAD.Great God! Thy hour is come, they bring Thy prey!Ishmael, listen. (Speaks low to him.)JOSABET.Mighty Master of the heavens!Re-bind on her the veil which wrapt her eyes,When rendering all her crimes abortive, ThouConceal'dst that tender victim in my bosom!JOAD.Go, prudent Ishmael, lose not any time,Follow my grave instructions, step by step;And, above all, let everything presentTo her, upon her entry and her way,The picture of a calm profound. You, children,Prepare a throne for Joas. Let him advance,Accompanied by our sacred combatants;And also cause his faithful nurse to come,Princess, and let your tears cease flowing.(To a Levite.)You, when the queen with mad presumption drunk,Has passed the threshold of the temple's doors,That she no more be able to return,Take care that instantly the warlike trumpetShall spread a sudden consternation throughThe enemy's camp; then call upon the peopleTo the support of Judah's king, and letThe marvellous prodigy of Joas preservedResound upon the ear. He comes.
Joad is followed by a procession of priests and Levites',and the chorus. The high-priest arranges them roundtheir king, and orders them to wait in concealment theexpected signal. He seats Joas on the throne, andimmediately after Athaliah arrives. At her approachJoad draws a curtain, by which Joas and the Levitesare hid from view.JOAS, JOAD, JOSABET, ZACHARIAH, SALOMITH, AZARIAH,TROUPES OF PRIESTS AND LEVITES, THE CHOIR.JOAD.Ye saintly Levites, ministers of God,Surround this place, concealed on every side;And, leaving to my charge to guide your zeal,Wait till my voice commands you to appear.(They all conceal themselves.)King, I believe this hope's allowed your vows;You come to see your foes fall at your feet.That one, whose madness in your infancyPursued you, now advances towards this place,With hasty step, intent to ruin you;But fear you not, think, that surrounding you,The exterminating angel, stands with us.Ascend your throne, and—but the doors are opening:Allow this screen to cover you a moment.(He draws the screen.)Princess, you are pale.JOSABET.Without becoming soCan I behold the temple filled with murderers?What! See you not that numerous escort?JOAD.I see them close the sacred temple's doors,That everything is safe.
(Athaliah enters, and addresses Joad.)ATHALIAH.Ah! there thou art, seducer! thouNoxious contriver of conspiracies,Who only on confusion feed'st thy hopes;Perpetual enemy of sovereign power!In the support of God thou hast reposed:Art thou yet disabused of thy vain trust?His temple and thy life he yields to me.I ought upon the altar, where thy handMakes sacrifices, thee.—But with the priceThey offer me I must content myself.What thou hast promised, see to execute:That boy, that treasure must be given to me.Where are they?JOAD.Immediately thou shalt be satisfied;I am about to show them both at once.(The screen is withdrawn. Joas is seen on his throne;his nurse on her knees at his right; Azariah, withhis sword in his hand, is standing at his left; andnear him are Zachariah and Salomith, kneeling onthe steps of the throne; several Levites armed areranged around.)Appear, dear boy, blood worthy Israel's kings!Of our most saintly monarchs, knowst thou, queen,The inheritor? Knowst thou at least these scarsThy dagger made? Behold thy king, thy son,The son of Ochoziah! Abner, youAnd people recognise king Joas!ABNER.Heavens!ATHALIAH (to Joad).Perfidious wretch!JOAD.See'st thou that faithful JewessOf whom, thou knowest well, he drew the breast?Him rescued from thy rage by Josabet,This temple hailed, where God has cared for him,Of David's treasures, see what I have left.ATHALIAH.Thy treachery, traitor, to that child will beMost fatal. Soldiers, deliver me fromThat odious spectre!JOAD.Guards of the living God, defend your king!(The bottom of the temple opens, and the Levites rushupon the scene from all sides.)ATHALIAH.Where am I? Treason! O, unhappy queen!With arms and enemies I am surrounded!JOAD.Thine eyes flash round in vain, escape thou canst not,On every side the Lord's encompassed thee:That God thou hast defied, into my handsHas given thee up: now render an accountTo Him of slaughters which have made thee drunk.ATHALIAH.What fear has petrified my worthless troops?Into what snare hast thou conducted me,Base Abner?ABNER.Queen, God is my testimony—ATHALIAH.Hence with thy God, thou traitor, and avenge me!ABNER.On whom, on Joas, my master?ATHALIAH.He Joas? Thy king? Remember, vile one, thatMy armies still are holding you besieged.I hear my camp demand me with loud cries,They come to aid me, quake, rebellious crew!