Oh, prophet! I remember thee indeed.
[Runs out. They follow in the utmost confusion. Enter several Jews, Medes, and Babylonians.
He comes, he comes! the long predicted prince,
Cyrus! the destined instrument of Heaven,
To free our captive nation, and restore
JEHOVAH's temple. Carnage marks his way,
And conquest sits upon his plume-crown'd helm.
Hark! 'tis Belshazzar's voice.
BELSHAZZAR (without).
O soldier, spare my life, and aid my flight!
Such treasures shall reward the gentle deed
As Persia never saw. I'll be thy slave;
I'll yield my crown to Cyrus; I'll adore
His gods and thine; I'll kneel and kiss thy feet,
And worship thee. It is not much I ask-
I'll live in bondage, beggary, and pain,
So thou but let me live.
The wretched king breath'd out his furious soul
In that tremendous groan.
Then, Judah, thou art free! The tyrant's fall'n!
Jerusalem, Jerusalem is free!
BEL boweth down, and haughty Nebo stoops:
The idols fall; the god and worshipper
Together fall; together they bow down ;
Each other, or themselves, they cannot save.
O Babylon, where is thy refuge now?
Thy wisdom and thy knowledge, meant to save,
Pervert thee, and thy blessing is thy bane.
Where are thy brutish deities, Chaldea?
Where are thy gods of gold?—O Lord of life,
Thou very God, so fall thy foes before thee.
First JEW.
So fell beneath the terrors of thy name
The idol Chemosh, Moab's empty trust;
So Ammonitish Moloch sunk before thee;
So fell Philistine Dagon: so shall fall,
To Time's remotest period, all thy foes,
Triumphant Lord of Hosts!
Not for myself, O Judah!
1 shed these tears of joy.
How chang'd our fate! but for thee,
For I no more
Must view the cedars which adorn the brow
Of Syrian Lebanon; no more shall see
Thy pleasant stream, O Jordan; nor the flocks
Which whiten all the mountains of Judea !
No more these eyes delighted shall review
'Or Carmel's heights, or Sharon's flowery vales.
I must remain in Babylon; so Heaven,
To whose awards I bow me, has decreed.
I ne'er shall see thee, Salem: I am old;
And few and toilsome are my days to come.
But we shall meet in those celestial climes,
Compared with which created glories sink;
Where sinners shall have power to harm no more,
And martyr'd Virtue rests her weary head.
Tho' ere my day of promis'd grace shall come,
I shall be tried by perils strange and new;
Nor shall I taste of death, so have I learn'd,
Till I have seen the captive tribes restor❜d.
First JEW.
And shall we view once more thy hallow'd tow'rs,
Imperial Salem?
Yes, my youthful friends!
You shall behold the second temple rise,
With grateful ecstasy; but we, your sires,
Now bent with hoary age; we, whose charm'd eyes Beheld the matchless glories of the first,
Should weep, remembering what we once had seen, That model of perfection!
Shall such a wondrous structure grace the earth.
Well have you borne affliction, men of Judah!
Well have sustain'd your portion of distress;
And, unrepining, drank the bitter dregs
Of adverse fortune! Happier days await you.
O guard against the perils of success!
Prosperity dissolves the yielding soul,
And the bright sun of shining fortune melts
The firmest virtue down. Beware, my friends,
Be greatly cautious of prosperity!
Defend your sliding hearts; and, trembling, think
How those, who buffeted affliction's wave
With vigorous virtue, sunk in pleasure's calm.
He, who of special grace had been allow'd
To rear the hallow'd fane to Israel's God,
By wealth corrupted, and by ease debauch'd,
Forsook the God to whom he rais'd the fane;
And, sunk in sensual sloth, consumed his days
In vile idolatrous rites!-Nor think, my sons,
That virtue in sequester'd solitude
Is always found. Within the inmost soul
The hidden tempter lurks; nor less betrays
In the still seeming safety of retreat,
Than where the world her snares entangling spreads,
More visible to sense. Guard every thought:
Who thinks himself secure is half undone;
For sin, unwatch'd, may reach the sanctuary:
'Tis not the place preserves us. Righteous Lot
Stemm'd the strong current of corruption's tide,
E'en in polluted Sodom; safe he lived,
While circumspective virtue's watchful eye
Was anxiously awake; but in the shade,,
Far from the obvious perils which alarm
With palpable temptation, secret sin
Ensnar'd his soul: he trusted in himself!
Security betray'd him, and he fell.
Thy prudent counsels in our hearts shall live,
As if a pen of adamant had grav'd them.
The dawn approaches; let us part, my friend,
Secure of peace, since tyranny is fall'n.
So perish all thine enemies, O Lord!
So, mighty God! shall perish all who seek
Corrupted pleasures in the turbid waves
Of life's polluted stream, and madly quit
The living fountain of perennial grace!
The Righteous is delivered out of trouble, and the Wicked cometh in his stead.-Proverbs of Solomon.
On peut des plus grands rois surprendre la justice.
Incapables de tromper,
Ils ont peine a s'echapper
Des pieges de l'artifice.
Un cœur noble ne peut soupçonner en autrui
La bassesse et la malice
Qu'il ne sent point en lui.
Esther. Tragedie de Racine.
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