  Prophet. Come, you avenging Powers, who with swords Smite at the bidding of your overlords; Come, all you threatening things, who, with slant eyes, Wait to snatch spirits in the mood unwise; Come, eagle spirits, that do drink man’s blood, Hurry on smeared wings hither to your food: I, who am Prophet, give you King and Queen. Enter Ashobal. Ashobal. What are you raging for? Be silent, Prophet, The King is coming hither. Prophet. Tell him this: “I am the herald of a mightier King, Who bids me stand before this palace door And cry a curse on Ahab and his wife. Ahab, the dog, Ahab, the murderer, And Jezebel the harlot murderess.” Enter Ahab. Ahab. So! Hast thou found me, O mine enemy? Prophet. Yes, I have found thee, and before I lose thee Will speak one word. What hast thou done, thou devil, On Naboth, that most upright man of God! Ahab. An upright man is in God’s hands, O Prophet. Prophet. True, he is in God’s hands. Who sent him there? Ahab. I know not, Prophet, but if he be there, He will be much at peace. Prophet. You fiend of hell! You, who hath murdered Naboth, to exult Over his corpse, still bleeding as it is. Ahab. I have not murdered Naboth, nor do know That he is dead, nor how, nor why. Explain. Prophet. You damned him to be stoned for blasphemy. Ahab. I, do you say? Prophet. Yes, you; or if not you, Your bloody-hearted hirelings and the priests. Ahab. The priests alone can judge of blasphemy. Which do you call my hirelings? Prophet. The accursed Idolaters who follow on your Queen. Enter Jezebel. Jezebel. I am the Queen. Where is the man who dares Call those who follow me accurst? Prophet. Here, devil. Here is the man who dares call you and them Accurst as murderers of Naboth dead. Ahab. You say that priests condemned him for blaspheming. Prophet. You stirred the priests to prosecuting him. Ahab. No, not in any way soever, Prophet. Prophet. Then you, co-devil with him, did this thing. Jezebel. Hearken, old ruffian, and be warned by Naboth. He cursed his God and King here in my presence, Breaking the kingdom’s laws of blasphemy. I, who uphold this kingdom’s laws, gave order That he should be arraigned for blasphemy. Do I conclude that there are still some men Who do their ruler’s bidding in this kingdom? Ahab. He was arraigned, condemned, and stoned? Prophet. He was. Jezebel. So perish all such breakers of the law. Prophet. Easily spoken words for King and Queen; And easy laws for King and Queen to keep, Living in purple in the ivory room; And useful laws for killing enemies. But there are other laws which do persist After the enemies are killed. For Naboth We left his body lying on its face, And the wild dogs slink in and lick his blood; And the bald birds that watch in heaven for deaths Settle, and wait until the dogs have done. But ... as those dogs and buzzards come to Naboth, I tell you this ... Since you have sold yourself thus to work evil, I will bring evil on you, take away All your posterity, and make your house Like Jeroboam’s house, And like the accursed house, Baasha’s house. Those of your house that die within the city The dogs shall eat, and those that die afield The fowls of the air shall eat; and Jezebel ... Dogs shall eat Jezebel by the city wall. Now royal rottenness in purple hedged, I call a great cry from the Spirit of God. Come all you dogs and vultures, Come on your noiseless wings out of great Heaven, Come upon padding footsteps stealthily. Follow your victims in the hearts of men, And by the ways of men, and take their blood As they took his, as they took his, as they Took his, upon the stones; blood, blood, that shrieks. (The spirit passes out of him. He swoons.) Ahab. So, Jezebel, you see what you have done. Jezebel. Would you have pardoned Naboth, had you heard him? Ahab. No; but to give our enemies this handle Jezebel. The laws are plain: would you have pardoned him? Ahab. I tell you, no. Jezebel. Then what would you have done? Ahab. Made him a mocking, or imprisoned him, Or had him publicly displayed and shamed. Jezebel. Why did you not then do as you have said? I told you plainly of the need of action. One of us rulers had to play the King And check this rebel. Since you did not, I did. And he is checked for ever, and his friends Daunted: so daunted that you have the chance Now to take hold and be indeed the King, And rule according to your royal will, Not as the frenzy of a rebel bids. Ahab. This thing that you have done has ruined all The little chance I had of governing. You bring me to the pitch of having to choose Between your fancies and the people’s will. The evil that must follow from your folly. Naboth is dead: this prophet shows our future; If there be any future left for us. Do not now answer me; I must debate this Within myself. You may have ruined me, But that or no, you have been mad, by Heaven. [Exit Ahab. Jezebel. How blest to be a prophet, who forever Does but condemn another man’s endeavour. How blest, not to decide, nor be, nor do, But help the many to condemn the few. Enter Joram. Joram, my son, do you come to comfort your mother? Joram. No, mother, I do not. I come to look for my father. Jezebel. If you are looking for the King, this is the King. Joram. What is this body, Madam? The prophet? Is he dead? Jezebel. Only swooned from cursing your father and mother. Joram. Mother, you are talking very strangely. Jezebel. I have been mad, by Heaven. Why, Joram, you come to tell my father so; do you not, boy? Joram. I do not know how to answer you. Jezebel. You reckon me a curse upon this country? Joram. As my father’s officer I have to report what the citizens feel. Jezebel. You feel it with them. Joram. Whatever I feel I can restrain; but since you insist, I say that it is hard that my father should be ruined by your Syrian policy and gods and self. Jezebel. You are half-Syrian. Joram. Through you, I was. But in this war, while I lay wounded, a Syrian trooper kicked me and spurred me in the face. That took my last drop of Syrian blood; your blood. There is nothing Syrian in me now. But I mean to pay the Syrians for that kicking and spurring when they lie wounded. You Jezebel. You are leagued with your father’s enemies. And do you think that they will make you the King? Joram. It is not a question of what I think, but of the needs of this land. Jezebel. When the mob comes to sack the palace, there is always some prince to open the door. Joram. If I ever am the King, the Syrians will see. Jezebel. May it be long before you become King. Joram. Your killing Naboth may make it very long. But I am not here to talk with you, but with the King. Jezebel. As I told you, this is the King, here on the ground. Enter Ahab. Joram. Save you, O King, I bring a message from the Council. Ahab. What is it? Joram. Something that would be better said by Ahaziah than myself. Ahab. Let me hear it. Joram. If I did not bring it as a message, it would be my duty as your officer to bring it as a report. Jezebel. The Council sends word by your son that you, the King, should banish the Queen. Joram. Madam, do not add to the pain of my mission. The Council is composed of manly and godly men, the best of our country, whose wills are worth the weighing. They bid me say, sir, this, that they deplore that such a King should have for counsellor one who brings peace with Syria, and the death of an upright man whom they esteemed. Ahab. By this counsellor they mean your mother, the Queen? Joram. Sir, you are ever wise and they ever respectful. They feel that a foreign influence is not for your people’s good, nor for justice in your people’s causes. Jezebel. My son, speak openly, for the people’s good. Ahab. What do they demand? Joram. They bid me say, sir, that they cannot doubt that you would care only for your people’s good, were it made apparent. Jezebel. Make it apparent. Joram. Sire, I would that the prince, my brother, might have had this task. Jezebel. I, too, wish that, my son. Is not banishment enough, then? Do they ask for my death? Joram. Sir, those are their feelings. Ahab. They hate my Queen and wish her gone? Joram. Sir, truth cannot be hidden from you. Ahab. And if I ignore their feelings, or crush their mutterings? Joram. Sir, they think you too great a man, for either way. Ahab. But if they err, and I do? Joram. You would not. Ahab. If I did, what then? Joram. Your Majesty has too good a memory. Ahab. What do you mean by that, boy? Joram. Sir, your father only came to the crown because a former King ignored men’s feelings. King Nadab ignored his subjects’ feelings. What happened to him? King Elah did. What happened to him? King Zimri did. What happened to him? Men now living saw all these Kings; and what came to them? The crown is granted on certain terms, according with the Life of this Race. My father, I beseech you, think what this Race asks. Ahab. I never cease to think it. Leave us. [Exit Joram. You heard what he said? Jezebel. Yes. Ahab. They want me to put you aside. Jezebel. Yes, Ahab. Ahab. What urged you to prosecute Naboth at such a time? Jezebel. Someone had to act. Ahab. You acted fatally. Jezebel. I was myself, Ahab; a princess of Sidon; your Queen. Ahab. This is not Sidon, but Shemer. Jezebel. I will not plead for your forgiveness, then. Dismiss me from your council and your court And let me be; the hated foreign woman Who tried and failed. I will be nothing here. After these years of hatred it will be Peace to be nothing. When my son returns, (The captain, Ahaziah) send him hence. I sent for him to help me govern here. Since I am nothing now, he must not stay. But now that I am nothing, I say this: That you must be upon your guard, King Ahab, More; you must play the King, and being King, For they are linked together against peace. Ahab. What proofs have you? Jezebel. A woman has no proofs, Only an instinct fortified by love Stronger than any proof. Ahab. And I have knowledge. Jehu has been my captain of the horse, My comrade in the field, my counsellor, My soldier, who has shed his blood for me In five campaigns, in many years of war. This prophet is indeed the enemy Of much that I have planned, but as for Jehu, I know him, and I know that you have wronged him And speak from bitterness. Jezebel. Ahab, beware. By all our lives together, you beware Of Jehu and this man. Ahab. Had I been ware of you, Queen Jezebel, Many years sooner, I had had no need To be aware of any of my subjects. I cannot longer countenance your dealings. They neither suit my people nor the time. Therefore I do dismiss you from your royalty, From Queenship and command and counselling, From all authority in Shemer here. This shall be straightway published as my will. Prophet. The messenger that spoke through me has gone, And I am cold and broken as with blows, But yet I hear—can you not hear—do you? Ahab. What should we hear, old ruffian from the desert? Prophet. The wings descending and the footsteps coming. The vultures and the dogs coming for blood. Listen. The vultures settle in the court, And there are footsteps coming up the stair, The footsteps of the dogs that come for blood; For blood is coming upon this house, and I Have told you that it comes; I am its herald.
Ahab. What does your coming with these weapons mean? Whose weapons are they? What has happened, Jehu? Is it some challenge? Speak. Jezebel. I know that sword. It’s Ahaziah’s sword. My son is dead? (Jehu nods.) Ahab. What? Ahaziah dead? How did he die? Jehu. While he was riding here, he made a halt, To rest his horses, at the inn at Springs; And leaning on the lattice, looking out, He fell out of the upper balcony, And died soon after, broken by the fall. Here is the witness, who will tell you how. Ahab. Speak, then, and tell the tale. How could he fall? Zakkur. By treachery, by Syrian treachery. Lord, when our Queen commanded the Prince to return here, she sent her orders by a Syrian of the Jezebel. I did, by Malik. Zakkur. Malik was in the pay of the King of Syria. Jezebel. That is false. That lie has been exposed many times over. Zakkur. Madam, alas, it is now proven, by Malik’s confession. Ahab. Who are you who speak? Zakkur. A lieutenant in our late Prince’s troop, my lord. Ahab. Go on, then, about Malik. Zakkur. Before delivering his orders to our late Prince, he showed them to the Syrian officers in the garrison at Ramoth. They saw a chance of intercepting our Prince upon his way. They bribed Malik to lead the Prince, so as to halt at the inn at Springs. They did not wish to set upon him, because they expected the troop to be with the Prince. They sawed through the beams of the balcony of the inn so that when he set foot upon it, the floor should After he had died, my lord, Malik urged us to come away, which I and my colleague would not, without examination. When we found that the beams had been sawn, remembering Malik’s Syrian birth and his suspicious wishes, first to halt there, then to come away, we taxed him with the crime and he confessed, and was secured. The galloper waits at the inn for an escort for the body and the prisoner. It was decided that I should ride here at once with the news. Jezebel. Before he died, did he say anything? Zakkur. Yes, Madam; he muttered about the gods, and about you. Jezebel. What did he say? Zakkur. That we were to tell you that this was the gods’ reward for peace with Syria. Jezebel. Since he is dead, wisdom and peace are dead! [She goes out. Ahab. God, thou hast faced me with my sin this day. My son, who was to follow me as King, Killed by a Syrian plot, by treachery. Killed, coming home to help me in my sorrows. Prophet. Killed by your treachery, that made the peace With Syria, against God’s ordinance. Jehu. Nothing that has been done by Syria Against this land can rank beside this deed; The loss of such a Prince by such a crime Will rouse this country, lord. You will keep peace By your great policy, but through your people A mighty cry for vengeance will arise. Ahab. And not unheeded, Jehu. Listen, all. This was his sword. He was to be the King After my death, fulfilling all my dreams. See, you, and you, and you, I take the sword And draw it out and swear upon its hilt To take a vengeance on the murderers Who brought him to his death. Jehu. Well sworn, O King; Prophet. Surely the Spirit of God is working in you! Ahab. Wait yet, O Prophet; though my heart is sick At having trusted in my enemies, And been ill-paid, I will ask help from God; Counsel and help in any act of justice. Go, gather me the prophets, let them seek Illumination, then bring word to me Whether the spirit do approve a war. I will go seek for guidance, though my heart Seeks less for guidance now than for release. Jehu. Lord, all true hearts commiserate your grief. Ahab. Thank you, good Jehu. [Exit Ahab. Zakkur. Well, he took the story. Jehu. Yes, as I knew he would. The score’s one each. He has won Naboth, I have Ahaziah. Prophet. Was not the story true? Jehu. The Prince is dead, So much is true; and in an hour from now We can be marching hence with Ahab’s self, If all your prophets will but prophesy. I want him killed in war, outside the city. Go, bid the prophets prophesy for war. [Exit Prophet, with Zakkur. Jehu. So, Ahaziah, you were rude to me. Princes should not be rude to rising men, For men may rise. You will be rude no more. I have been rude to you, my Ahaziah. I kicked the lips that once were rude to me. My foot is on your heart’s blood, Ahaziah. Curtain. FIFTH CHORUSMoon-Blossom. Full of years and wealth and evil, Menelaus died in Sparta, And Queen Helen at his bedside stood and looked upon him dead, He who once had bought her beauty, to be bride to him, by barter, He whom she had loathed and fled from, now lay silenced on the bed. Rose-Flower. Bitter thoughts were in her as she looked upon his meanness, Thoughts of Paris in his beauty when their love was at its height. Paris in his morning, and the King in his uncleanness, And this dead mean thing, her master, and the winner of the fight. Together. All was silent in the palace of the King, Save the soft-foot watchers whispering; All was dark, save in the porch The wind-blown fire of a torch, And the sentries still as in a stound, With their spear-heads drooped upon the ground. Rose-Flower. Then she thought: “These two men had me, and a myriad men have sickened To a fever of a love for me who saw me passing by: When they saw me, all their eyes grew bright, and all their pulses quickened, And to win me or to keep me they went up to Troy to die. Moon-Blossom. “Now the earthly moon, my beauty, and the rose, my youth, have dwindled. I am old, my hair is grey, and none remembers What a fire in men’s hearts Queen Helen kindled Together. All was silent in the palace of the King, Save the wind-blown torch-flame guttering, And a moth that came Beating with his wings about the flame, And the sentries drawing breath, With their spear-heads drooped saluting death. Moon-Blossom. Then she said: “The gods conspired to give gifts of beauty to me, And the beauty gave the gift of death to all who came to woo me; Now of all the men who loved me, none remain, And of both the men who had me neither knew me Surely all my past was evil, for its fruit is bitter pain. Rose-Flower. “I will go to some lone island where I am not made a story, Where my beauty made no widow, nor no orphan wanting bread; Where no human sorrow suffers the disaster of my glory, And my eyes may lose the vision of the hauntings of the dead.” Moon-Blossom. “Day and night the dead men haunt me, whom the madness of my caring Brought from home and wives and children to be bones upon the plain; All the panther-like for beauty, all the lion-like for daring, And they lie among the bindweed now, uncovered by the rain.” Together. All was silent in the palace of the King, Save the soft-foot watchers whispering; All was dark, save in the porch The wind-blown fire of a torch, And the sentries still as in a stound With their spear-heads drooped upon the ground. Then she rose, and cloaked her face, and hurried swiftly from the city, And to sea, away from Hellas, but she dared not show her face, For the women and the orphans would have killed her without pity: She had sown her crop of death too far, she found no resting-place. But in inns where people gathered in the evenings after labour, Where the shepherd’s pipe or viol stirred the blind man to his verse, Till the hearers swayed and trembled and the rough man touched his neighbour, SIXTH CHORUSMoon-Blossom. After long years, when Helen was riding by night In storm, in the Ida forest, alone, not knowing the road, She saw a light in the blackness; she turned to the light, She came to the fort on the crag, the panther-women’s abode. Rose-Flower. Hearing her horse’s stamp, they brought her into the yard, Those women fierce from the killing of lion or boar or man; They came with their torches round her, they stared at her hard, They knew her for Helen the Queen from whom their sorrows began. For years they had longed for her coming, to have her to kill, Her beauty a throat for their knives, her body a prey— Helen, who ruined their lovers, the root of their ill— Moon-Blossom. Still they stared at her there in the torchlight; then one of them said: “God used you to bring things to be; evil things to our city, Evil things to yourself, for your face declares you have paid; You have come to the truth like ourselves; we take not vengeance, but pity.” Then they welcomed her into their hold, and when morning broke clear, They rode with her down to the ruins of what had been Troy; There they left her alone in the wreck of the thing overdear That the gods cannot grant to mankind, but unite to destroy. |
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