University of Virginia Library

Scene IV.

—The City.
A street on a high, airy plateau, overlooking the course of a great river. In the centre stand the unfinished walls of the temple; opposite to them a house larger than the others, its front hung with garlands, and an arch of green boughs spanning the entrance. The people, several hundred in number, are drawn up in lines on both sides of the street, with branches in their hands. Shouts are heard in the distance, announcing the arrival of the train: then David appears on horseback, a little in advance, bare-headed, and wearing a long white mantle: the people cast their branches before him.
HYMN.
We have left the land of Egypt
For the place of our desire:
Fallen is the gated city;
And the woe thereof is dire:
The boughs of the tree are withered,
And the women set them on fire!
Lo! who is he that cometh
In the name of the Holy One?
The bearers of gladsome tidings
Before his pathway run:
He bringeth us out of darkness,
As the star that brings the sun.
[The women step forward on each side, and sing, Livia Romney, with a crown in her hand, standing in the midst.]
Hail, all hail, to the prophet,
Whose reign begins to-day!
Who hath laid his firm foundations
In the dust of the world's decay:
He maketh the dry bough blossom;
He gathers the sheep that stray.

DAVID
(Aside.)
It is herself! How beautiful she stands,
Forgetful of the stare of wondering eyes,
And filled with promise of mysterious power!
She's Miriam now, and sings deliverance.
I breathe again: the weight falls off my soul,
As poising rocks are started by a sound;
And I am glad and strong for what may come.

LIVIA
(Stepping forward.)
Thrice hail, O Prophet! Bow but once before
Thy humble handmaid, not as honoring her,
But that she reach thy consecrated brow.
[David bends down his head: she places the crown upon it.]
Forgive me, that, when first I did believe,
I failed to follow: thus it came to pass
I went before to seal mine evidence,
Lest that were vain which I would ask of thee.

HUGH
(To Nimrod.)
Who is the woman?

NIMROD
More than is her name
I cannot say. 'Tis but four days ago
She landed from the river. Worldly store
She seems to have, and knowledge of the world,
Notable cunning of the hand and eye,
And influence with her sex—perhaps with ours.
Foremost in planning this array was she;
Went here and there; was always first and last;
And therefore fell to her, by proper right,
The place she wanted.

DAVID
(After a pause.)
Thou art one of us.
There is no high or low: each bows to each
In whom the Spirit lives. I saw thy faith,
And called thee: well it was that thou didst hear.
Not they who yield when buffeted by words,
And shaken by the signs, but they who feel,
Like wandering birds, where lies tho summer-land,
And strike their way across the printless air,
Build up the kingdom. Thine obedience
Is as a soil for planting of the power.
What is it thou wouldst ask?

LIVIA
The gift of tongues.

DAVID
(After looking in her face a moment, beckons. She comes nearer.)
Take thou the gift, in measure as thy faith
Shall justify, and even so exercise.

LIVIA
(Steps back a pace, keeping her eyes fixed on David. She rises to her full height, with uplifted head, and points towards the temple.)
Aïro pamétha loydór óndis abárka!

[Movements and murmurs among the people.]
A MAN
What tongue is that?

A SECOND
It must be ancient Greek,
Or Hebrew, maybe, as Isaiah spoke.
The sound is glorious.

A THIRD
Never did I hear
Such mighty words. Our preacher once came down
With “Armageddon, Pandemonium, Baal;”
But they were nought to hers.

THE FIRST.
'Tis prophecy!
He understands: his face is like a flame.

LIVIA
Oráthmedón ádra, bánnorim ádra slávo!

DAVID
(Rapidly and eagerly.)
It shall arise! The tempests of the world
Shall not prevail against it! Every stone
Shall testify! From its completed towers
A light go forth till darkened Edom sees;
And here, even here, where our Shechinah stands,
When all mankind is gathered to our fold,
Shall angels plant the ladder of the Lord
For His descending. Be ye not as them
That craved new signs, and were rebuked of Him!
Who feeleth not the presence of the power
Above us, in us, moving in our works,
And only sparing insomuch as saves
From easy heart, slack will, and idle hand,
Let him go forth!

CRIES OF THE PEOPLE
Nay, nay, we will abide!

DAVID
Forget that you have ever lived ere now,
As strips the serpent her uneasy skin,
And comes forth new and shining, cast ye out
Old hopes and hates, old passions and desires.
Be as a fallow field that waits new seed:
Take rain and sunshine in their times; lie bare
To the invisible influence of heaven;
And be assured from your warm breast shall spring
The holy harvest! Ye have welcomed me
With faithful hearts and voices: so, henceforth
No more as one that in the wilderness
Cries to the stocks and stones, shall I be heard,
But as a father 'mid his children teach,
And as a brother 'mid his brethren love,
And as one chosen lead ye all to share
An equal power and glory.

THE PEOPLE
Hail, all hail!

NIMROD
(Coming forward.)
Here is your home: by her on whom the tongue
Descended at your bidding, it was dressed.
The humble house is like a bride that waits
The bridegroom's coming: enter, and be blessed!
I, and my brethren of the Twelve, have charge
That all, ere nightfall, shall be snugly housed,
New brethren mixed with old, but in such peace
And kindly fellowship, as, until now,
Hath not been witnessed, to the world's disgrace!

THE WOMEN
(At a sign from Livia, sing.)
Make haste, Belovèd of Zion!
The porch and the chamber shine:
We have gathered the myrrh and manna,
And filled the flagons with wine:
Now comfort the souls of thy daughters,
As the Lord shall comfort thine.

[David waits, standing under the arch, while Peter assists Rhoda to alight from the wagon.]
PETER
Well, here's the end! Our Zion's rather bare,
But makes a good beginning.

RHODA
(Giving him her child.)
Carry him,
But hold him gently: he is tired and scared.
I, too, am wearier than I thought to be,
And hardly happy in beholding home
Till I possess it. David, come with me!

[They enter the house.