 | The Captivity |  |
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ACT I
Scene I
Israelites sitting on the Banks of the EuphratesFIRST PROPHET
Recitative
Ye captive tribes, that hourly work and weep
Where flows Euphrates murmuring to the deep,
Suspend awhile the task, the tear suspend,
And turn to God, your father and your friend.
Insulted, chained, and all the world a foe,
Our God alone is all we boast below.
CHORUS OF ISRAELITES
Our God is all we boast below,
To him we turn our eyes;
And every added weight of woe
Shall make our homage rise.
To him we turn our eyes;
And every added weight of woe
Shall make our homage rise.
And though no temple richly dressed
Nor sacrifice is here,
We'll make his temple in our breast,
And offer up a tear.
Nor sacrifice is here,
We'll make his temple in our breast,
And offer up a tear.
SECOND PROPHET
Recitative
That strain once more; it bids remembrance rise,
And calls my long-lost country to mine eyes.
Ye fields of Sharon, dressed in flowery pride,
Ye plains where Jordan rolls its glassy tide,
Ye hills of Lebanon with cedars crowned,
Ye Gilead groves that fling perfumes around,
These hills how sweet! those plains how wondrous fair,
But sweeter still, when Heaven was with us there!
Air
And calls my long-lost country to mine eyes.
Ye fields of Sharon, dressed in flowery pride,
Ye plains where Jordan rolls its glassy tide,
Ye hills of Lebanon with cedars crowned,
Ye Gilead groves that fling perfumes around,
These hills how sweet! those plains how wondrous fair,
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O memory, thou fond deceiver,
Still importunate and vain;
To former joys recurring ever,
And turning all the past to pain;
Still importunate and vain;
To former joys recurring ever,
And turning all the past to pain;
Hence, deceiver, most distressing,
Seek the happy and the free:
They who want each other blessing,
Ever want a friend in thee.
Seek the happy and the free:
They who want each other blessing,
Ever want a friend in thee.
FIRST PROPHET
Recitative
Yet, why repine? What, though by bonds confined,
Should bonds enslave the vigour of the mind?
Have we not cause for triumph when we see
Ourselves alone from idol-worship free?
Are not this very day those rites begun,
Where prostrate error hails the rising sun?
Do not our tyrant lords this day ordain
For superstition's rites and mirth profane?
And should we mourn? should coward virtue fly,
When impious folly rears her front on high?
No; rather let us triumph still the more,
And as our fortune sinks, our wishes soar.
Should bonds enslave the vigour of the mind?
Have we not cause for triumph when we see
Ourselves alone from idol-worship free?
Are not this very day those rites begun,
Where prostrate error hails the rising sun?
Do not our tyrant lords this day ordain
For superstition's rites and mirth profane?
And should we mourn? should coward virtue fly,
When impious folly rears her front on high?
No; rather let us triumph still the more,
And as our fortune sinks, our wishes soar.
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The triumphs that on vice attend
Shall ever in confusion end;
The good man suffers but to gain,
And every virtue springs from pain:
Shall ever in confusion end;
The good man suffers but to gain,
And every virtue springs from pain:
As aromatic plants bestow
No spicy fragrance while they grow;
But crushed, or trodden to the ground,
Diffuse their balmy sweets around.
No spicy fragrance while they grow;
But crushed, or trodden to the ground,
Diffuse their balmy sweets around.
SECOND PROPHET
Recitative
But hush, my sons, our tyrant lords are near;
The sound of barbarous mirth offends mine ear;
Triumphant music floats along the vale;
Near, nearer still, it gathers on the gale;
The growing note their near approach declares;
Desist, my sons, nor mix the strain with theirs.
Enter Chaldean Priests attended
FIRST PRIEST
Air
Come on, my companions, the triumph display;
Let rapture the minutes employ;
The sun calls us out on this festival day,
And our monarch partakes of our joy.
Let rapture the minutes employ;
The sun calls us out on this festival day,
And our monarch partakes of our joy.
Like the sun, our great monarch all pleasure supplies,
Both similar blessings bestow;
The sun with his splendour illumines the skies,
And our monarch enlivens below.
Both similar blessings bestow;
The sun with his splendour illumines the skies,
And our monarch enlivens below.
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Air
Haste, ye sprightly sons of pleasure;
Love presents its brightest treasure,
Leave all other sports for me.
CHALDEAN ATTENDANT
Or rather, love's delights despising,
Haste to raptures ever rising:
Wine shall bless the brave and free.
SECOND PRIEST
Wine and beauty thus inviting,
Each to different joys exciting,
Whither shall my choice incline?
FIRST PRIEST
I'll waste no longer thought in choosing;
But, neither love nor wine refusing,
I'll make them both together mine.
Recitative
But, neither love nor wine refusing,
I'll make them both together mine.
But whence, when joy should brighten o'er the land,
This sullen gloom in Judah's captive band?
Ye sons of Judah, why the lute unstrung?
Or why those harps on yonder willows hung?
Come, leave your griefs and join our warbling choir,
For who like you can wake the sleeping lyre?
This sullen gloom in Judah's captive band?
Ye sons of Judah, why the lute unstrung?
Or why those harps on yonder willows hung?
Come, leave your griefs and join our warbling choir,
For who like you can wake the sleeping lyre?
SECOND PROPHET
Bowed down with chains, the scorn of all mankind,
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Is this a time to bid us raise the strain,
And mix in rites that Heaven regards with pain?
No, never! May this hand forget each art
That speeds the powers of music to the heart,
Ere I forget the land that gave me birth,
Or join with sounds profane its sacred mirth.
FIRST PRIEST
Insulting slaves! if gentler methods fail,
The whips and angry tortures shall prevail.
[Exeunt Chaldeans
FIRST PROPHET
Why, let them come, one good remains to cheer;
We fear the Lord, and know no other fear.
CHORUS
Can whips or tortures hurt the mind
On God's supporting breast reclined?
Stand fast, and let our tyrants see
That fortitude is victory.
End of the First Act
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