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SCENE I.—THE MOTHER of the SEVEN SONS 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. | 5 |
| 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, | 10 |
| 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 | 15 |
| Not your own selves, but his eternal law. | |
| I do not murmur, nay, I 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. | 20 |
| 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,— | 25 |
| I cannot take you now into my lap | |
| And soothe 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 | 30 |
| Transgress the law and customs of our fathers. | |
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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. | |
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THE SAME VOICE (within). God looketh on us, and hath comfort in us; | 35 |
| As Moses in his song of old declared, | |
| He in his servants shall be comforted. | |
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THE MOTHER. I knew thou wouldst not fail!—He speaks no more, | |
He is beyond all pain!
ANTIOCHUS (within). If thou eat not | |
| Thou shalt be tortured throughout all the members | 40 |
Of thy whole body. Wilt thou eat then?
SECOND VOICE (within). No. | |
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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, | 45 |
| 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 | |
| That thou hast breathed into that timid heart | |
| Courage to die for thee. O my Adaiah, | 50 |
| Witness of God! if thou for whom I feared | |
| Canst thus encounter death, I need not fear; | |
The others will not shrink.
THIRD VOICE (within). Behold these hands | |
| Held out to thee, O King Antiochus, | |
| Not to implore thy mercy, but to show | 55 |
| That I despise them. He who gave them to me | |
Will give them back again.
THE MOTHER. O Avilan, | |
| 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. | 60 |
| 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 | 65 |
| 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 | 70 |
To life hereafter.
THE MOTHER. Four! already four! | |
| Three are still living; nay, 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 | 75 |
| 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; | 80 |
| Why dost thou pause? Thou who hast slain already | |
| So many Hebrew women, and hast hung | |
| Their murdered infants round their necks, slay me, | |
| For I too am a woman, and these boys | |
| Are mine. Make haste to slay us all, | 85 |
| And hang my lifeless babes about my neck. | |
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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. | 90 |
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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 | 95 |
| 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, | 100 |
| That might escape the lips of one who dies. | |
| Doth his heart fail him? Doth he fall away | |
| 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! | 105 |
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SCENE II.—THE MOTHER; ANTIOCHUS; SIRION.
THE MOTHER. Are they all dead?
ANTIOCHUS. Of all thy Seven Sons | |
| One only lives. Behold them where they lie; | |
How dost thou like this picture?
THE MOTHER. God in heaven! | |
| Can a man do such deeds, and yet not die | |
| By the recoil of his own wickedness? | 110 |
| Ye murdered, bleeding, mutilated bodies | |
| That were my children once, and still are mine, | |
| I cannot watch o’er you as Rizpah watched | |
| In sackcloth o’er the seven sons of Saul, | |
| Till water drop upon you out of heaven | 115 |
| 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, | 120 |
| 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 | 125 |
| Among thy brothers dead? Art thou afraid? | |
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ANTIOCHUS. 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, | 130 |
| 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. | |
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THE MOTHER. My noble Sirion!
ANTIOCHUS. Therefore I beseech thee, | 135 |
| Who art his mother, thou wouldst speak with him, | |
| And wouldst persuade him. I am sick of blood. | |
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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, | 140 |
| 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 | 145 |
| That were not; and that likewise in this manner | |
| Mankind was made. Then fear not this tormentor; | |
| But, being worthy of thy brethren, take | |
| Thy death as they did, that I may receive thee | |
Again in mercy with them.
ANTIOCHUS. I am mocked, | 150 |
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 | 155 |
| 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! | 160 |
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ANTIOCHUS. He is no God of mine; I fear Him not. | |
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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 | 165 |
| That He would speedily be merciful | |
| Unto our nation, and that thou by plagues | |
| Mysterious and by torments mayest confess | |
That He alone is God.
ANTIOCHUS. Ye both shall perish | |
| By torments worse than any that your God, | 170 |
| Here or hereafter, hath in store for me. | |
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THE MOTHER. My Sirion, I am proud of thee!
ANTIOCHUS. Be silent! | |
| Go to thy bed of torture in yon chamber, | |
| Where lie so many sleepers, heartless mother! | |
| Thy footsteps will not wake them, nor thy voice, | 175 |
| Nor wilt thou hear, amid thy troubled dreams, | |
| Thy children crying for thee in the night! | |
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THE MOTHER. O Death, that stretchest thy white hands to me, | |
| I fear them not, but press them to my lips, | |
| That are as white as thine; for I am Death, | 180 |
| Nay, am the Mother of Death, seeing these sons | |
| All lying lifeless.—Kiss me, Sirion. | |
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