University of Virginia Library

SCENE THE THIRD.

Michal, David.
Mi.
David, hast thou not heard? My father scarce
Rose from a joyous banquet, when towards him
Abner advanced, and spake to him an instant.
I enter'd, he retired; I found the king
No longer what he was.

Da.
But yet, what said he?
What couldest thou infer? ...

Mi.
Erewhile was he
Devoted to our cause; with us he wept;
Alternately embraced us; and from us,
As if in his defence, he prophesied
A race of future heroes. He appear'd
To us, as he said this, more than a father;
More than a king he now appears to me.

Da.
Ah! do not weep, oh wife, before thy time:
Saul is our king; his will in us must be
Accomplish'd. So that he to-day obtain
The battle, let him 'gainst myself to-morrow
Resume his cruel thoughts: I will resume
My abject state, my bitter banishment,
My fugitive and apprehensive life.
My true and only death is thus to leave thee:
And yet I ought to do it ... Ah vain hopes!
Ah nuptial ties for thee how inauspicious!
Another consort, that of which I rob thee,
To thee had given, a prosperous royal state.
Wretch that I am! ... Nor canst thou ever make me,
(Thy ever fugitive and homeless consort,)
The father of a numerous blooming offspring.

Mi.
Ah no! we never shall again be parted:
No one will dare to rend thee from my breast.
I never shall return, no, never more,
To that disconsolate life which I dragg'd on
Deprived of thee: rather than so return
May I become an inmate of the grave.
I languish'd in that palace of despair,
Alone and weeping, through the tedious days;
The shades of night with horrible dreams were fraught.
Now I beheld my cruel father's sword
Suspended o'er thy head; thy voice I heard
Persuasive, weeping, supplicating, such
As might from breasts of adamant dislodge
Deep-rooted hate and fell obduracy;
And yet the barbarous Saul, in spite of this,
Plunged in thy heart the dagger. Now I saw thee
'Mid secret labyrinths of low-brow'd caves,
Pillowing thy body on unyielding flint;
While at the motion of a rustling leaf
Thy faint heart trembled; and thou sought'st another,
And thence another, yet in vain to find
A place of rest, or quietness, or friends:
Sick, anxious, weary ... worn with parching thirst ...
And ravening hunger ... Can I represent
My pangs, my apprehensions, and my woes?—
No more, no, never will I leave thee, never.

Da.
Thou torturest my heart: ah cease: ... This day
Is consecrated to blood, and not to tears.

Mi.
Provided that an obstacle to-day
Arise not to thy fighting, I fear not
The fight on thy account. Thou hast a shield
Proof against all assaults, Almighty God:
But I am fearful lest perfidious Abner,
On thy account, frustrate, or intercept
The victory to-day.

Da.
And what, did Saul
Seem to thee doubtfully to trust to me
To-day the conduct of the enterprize?

Mi.
I heard not that; but sternly did he frown,
And whisper'd to himself I know not what
Of trait'rous priests, of strangers in the camp,
Of simulated virtue ... Broken, dark,
Mournful, tremendous words, to her who is
The wife of David and the child of Saul.

Da.
See him: we will be heard.

Mi.
Just God, I pray thee,
Succour to-day thy consecrated servant:
Confound blasphemers; reillumine my father;
Protect my husband; and defend thy people.