THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 BELSHAZZAR: 
 
 A DRAMATIC POEM. 
 
 BY THE REV. H. H. MILMAN, 
 
 PROFESSOR OF POETRY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE-STREET. 
 
 1822.
 
 LONDON : 
 
 HUNTED BY THOMAS DAVISON, WHITEFRIARS.
 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Though, in the following Poem, I have 
 adhered strictly to the outline in Scripture, I 
 have availed myself of whatever appeared to 
 my purpose in the profane historians. My 
 general authorities, where I do not follow the 
 Book of Daniel, are Herodotus and Diodorus 
 Siculus ; but, perhaps, the best English account 
 of Babylon is to be found in Prideaux's Con- 
 nection of the Old and New Testament. 
 
 i 
 
 The publication of the Martyr of Antioch 
 was considerably delayed by unforeseen cir- 
 cumstances. I take the liberty of mentioning 
 this for two reasons. In the first place, because 
 a coincidence in several circumstances between 

 
 iv INTRODUCTION. 
 
 that Poem and the Novel of Valerius, has led 
 to a charge of plagiarism ; when, in fact, the 
 Poem was written, and had been seen by some 
 of my friends, before the publication of the 
 prose work. Secondly, I am unwilling that my 
 Poems should appear to follow each other with 
 a haste and rapidity inconsistent with that de- 
 ference for public opinion, which the manner 
 of their reception would rather increase than 
 diminish. 
 
 May I presume to hope that this, as well as 
 the preceding works of the same nature, may 
 tend to the advancement of those interests, in 
 subservience to which alone our time and ta- 
 lents can be worthily employed — those of piety 
 and religion ?
 
 
 BELSHAZZAR.

 
 
 CHARACTERS. 
 
 The Destroying Angel. 
 
 Belshazzar. 
 
 Arioch, Captain of the Guard. 
 Sararis, Chief Eunuch. 
 Kalassan, High Priest of Bel. 
 
 el, -j 
 
 UAH, ) 
 
 Daniel, 
 
 I ml ah, \-Jctvs. 
 
 Adonijah, 
 
 Nitocris, Mother of Belshazzar. 
 
 Naomi. 
 Benina. 
 
 Babylonian Nobles — Priests — Diviners — Astrologers, §c 
 Scene — Babylon. 
 
 n2
 
 
 BELSHAZZAR. 
 
 The City of Babylon — Morning. 
 
 THE DESTROYING ANGEL. 
 
 Within the cloud-pavilion of my rest, 
 Amid the Thrones and Princedoms, that await 
 Their hour of ministration to the Lord, 
 I heard the summons, and I stood with wings 
 Outspread for flight, before the Eternal Throne. 
 And, from the unapproached depth of light 
 Wherein the Almighty Father of the worlds 
 Dwells, from seraphic sight by glory veiPd, 
 Came forth the soundless mandate, which I felt 
 Within, and sprung upon my obedient plumes. 
 But as I saiTd my long and trackless voyage
 
 BKI.SIIAZZAK. 
 
 Down the deep bosom of unbounded space, 
 
 The manifest bearer of Almighty wrath, 
 
 1 saw the Angel of each separate star 
 Folding his wings in terror, o'er his orb 
 
 Of golden fire ; and shuddering till I pass'd 
 To pour elsewhere Jehovah's cup of vengeance. 
 
 And now I stand upon this world of man, 
 My wonted resting place. — But thou, oh Earth I 
 Thou only dost endure my fatal presence 
 Undaunted. As of old, I hover o'er 
 This haughty city of Chaldean Bel, 
 That not the less pours forth her festal pomp 
 To do unholy worship to her Gods, 
 That are not Gods, but works of mortal hands. 
 
 Behold ! the Sun hath burst the Eastern o- a tes, 
 And all his splendour floods the tower'd walls, 
 Upon whose wide immeasurable circuit 
 The harnessed chariots crowd in long array. 
 Down every stately line of pillarVl street, 
 To each of the hundred brazen gates, young men
 
 BELSHAZZAR. 7 
 
 And flower-crown'd maidens, lead the mazy dance. 
 Here the vast Palace, whence yon airy gardens 
 Spread round, and to the morning airs hang forth 
 Their golden fruits and dewy opening flowers ; 
 While still the low mists creep, in lazy folds, 
 O'er the house-tops beneath. In every court, 
 Through every portal, throng, in servile haste, 
 Captains and Nobles. There, before the Temple, 
 On the far side of wide Euphrates' stream, 
 The Priests of Bel their impious rites prepare : 
 And cymbal clang, and glittering dulcimer, 
 With shrill melodious salutation, hail 
 The welcome morn, awakening all the City 
 To the last dawn that e"cr shall gladden her. 
 
 Babylon ! Babylon ! that wak'st in pride 
 And glory, but shalt sleep in shapeless ruin, 
 Thus, with my broad and overshadowing wings, 
 I do embrace thee for mine own ; forbidding, 
 Even at this instant, yon bright orient Sun, 
 To shed his splendours on thy lofty streets. 

 
 8 BELSHAZZAR. 
 
 Oh, Desolation's sacred place, as now 
 
 Thou 1 rt darken'd, shall the darkness of the dead 
 
 Enwrap thee in its everlasting shade ! 
 
 Babylon ! Babylon ! upon the wreck 
 Of that most impious tower your Fathers reared 
 To scale the crystal battlements of Heaven, 
 I set my foot, here take my gloomy rest 
 Even till that hour be come, that comes full soon. 
 
 Before tlie Temple. 
 Kalassan — The Priests. 
 
 FIRST PRIEST. 
 
 Didst thou behold it ? 
 
 SECOND PRIEST. 
 
 What? 
 
 FIRST PRIEST. 
 
 'Tis gone, "'tis past — 
 And yet but now 'twas there, a cloudy darkness,
 
 BELSHAZZAIt. 9 
 
 That, swallowing up the rays of the orient Sun, 
 Cast back a terrible night o'er all the City. 
 
 THIRD PRIEST. 
 
 Who stands aghast at this triumphant hour ? 
 I tell thee that our Dreamers have beholden 
 Majestic visions. The besieging Mede 
 Was cast, with all his chariots, steeds, and men, 
 Into Euphrates'' bosom. 
 
 KALASSAN. 
 
 Do ye marvel 
 But now that it was dark ? yon orient Sun, 
 The Lord of Light, withdrew his dawning beams, 
 Till he could see the glory of the world, 
 Belshazzar, in his gilded galley riding 
 Across Euphrates. 
 
 FIRST PRIEST. 
 
 Give command that all 
 The brazen gates along the river side, 
 Stand open to receive the suppliant train.
 
 10 BFXSIIAZZAR. 
 
 SECOND PRIEST. 
 
 Hark ! with the trumpet sound their strong recoil 
 Upon their grating hinges harshly mingles. 
 
 THIRD PRIEST. 
 
 Lo ! how the bridge is groaning with the gifts 
 Of the great King. The camels bow their heads 
 Beneath the bright and odorous load they bear ; 
 The proud steeds toss their flower-enwoven manes, 
 And the cars rattle with their ponderous sound ; 
 While, silent, the slow elephants pursue 
 Their wondering way, and bear their crowded towers, 
 Widely reflected on the argent stream. 
 
 FOURTH PRIEST. 
 
 How proudly do the waters toss and foam 
 Before the barges, that with gilded prows 
 Set the pale spray on fire ! The rowers, clad 
 In Egypt's finest tunics, as they strike 
 The waters with their palmy oars, awake 
 Sweet music, as it seems, from all the tide ;
 
 BELSHAZZAR. 11 
 
 So exquisitely to the dashing strokes 
 
 Are the sweet lutes and floating hautboys timed. 
 
 FIRST PRIEST. 
 
 Yon bark, in which, at times, the silken curtains 
 Are by the courteous breezes fann'd aside, 
 Is that in which the Mother of the mightiest, 
 Nitocris, sits. Her presence seems to awe 
 At once, and give a pride to those who row 
 Her queenly state 
 
 KALASSAN. 
 
 Behind — 'tis he ! — 'tis he ! — 
 Belshazzars self — the waters crowd around, 
 As though ambitious to reflect their Sovereign ; 
 And all the throng'd and living shores, that now 
 To the far limits of the City, passM 
 His name in one long shout, have paused to hear 
 Our loftier homage. Are the Seventy here ? 
 
 FIRST PRIEST. 
 
 All. 
 
 KALASS W. 
 
 Lift we, then, the solemn strain, in praisi
 
 12 BELSHAZZAR. 
 
 Of the great King, and all the suppliant court 
 Will answer us in praise of mightiest Bel. 
 
 SONG OF THE PRIESTS. 
 
 Where are the thousand-throned kings, 
 Beneath whose empires' spacious wings, 
 The wide earth lay. in mute repose? 
 He rose — Chaldea's King arose ! 
 And bow'd was every crowned head, 
 And every marshalPd army fled ; 
 Before his footstool bow'd they down, 
 The all-conquering Lord of Babylon ! 
 
 SONG OF THE SUPPLIANTS. 
 
 Where are the thousand-shrined Gods, 
 Within whose temples' 1 proud abodes 
 The nations crowded to invoke ? 
 He woke, Chaldea's God awoke ! 
 And mute was every sumptuous feast, 
 And rite, and song, and victim ceased ; 
 And every Fane was overthrown, 
 Before the God of Babylon !
 
 BELSHAZZAR 13 
 
 PRIESTS. 
 
 Amnion's crested pride lay low, 
 And broke was Elam's horned bow ; 
 Damascus heard the ponderous fall 
 Of old Benhadad's palace wall ; 
 The ocean redden'd with the fire 
 From the rock-built strengths of Tyre. 
 False was fierce Philistia's trust, 
 Desert Moab mourns in dust. 
 Lo ! in chains our Captains bring 
 Haughty Zion's eyeless King. 
 Kedar's tents are struck, her bands 
 Scatter'd o'er her burning sands, 
 And Egypt's Pharaoh quails before 
 The Assyrian Lion's conquering roar. 
 
 THE SUPPLIANTS. 
 
 From his high Philistine fane, 
 Sea-born Dagon fled amain ; 
 Moloch, he whose valley stood 
 Deep with infant's blameless blood:
 
 14 BELSHAZZAB. 
 
 Chemos, struck with pale affright, 
 Left his foul unfinished rite. 
 Her waning moon Astarte veil\l, 
 When the Tyrian's sea-wall faiTd. 
 In vain Damascus 1 children meet 
 At lofty Rimmon's molten feet. 
 And vain were Judah's prayers to him, 
 Between the golden Cherubim ; 
 In vain the Arab, in his flight, 
 CalTd on the glittering stars of night ; 
 And vain Osiris' timbrels blew 
 Over Egypt's maddening crew. 
 
 KALASSAN. 
 
 Lord of the world, and of the eternal city, 
 That wear'st Chaldea's regal diadem 
 Wreath'd with Assyria's, wherefore art thou here 
 Before the Temple of all-powerful Bel ? 
 
 BELSHAZZAR. 
 
 Chief of the Seventy chosen Priests, that serve 
 Within the Temple of our God, thou know'st
 
 BELSHAZZAlt. 1 
 
 That the rebellious Mede, confederate 
 With Ashkenaz and Elam, and the might 
 Of Persia, hath begirt with insolent siege 
 Our city walls, and I would know what swift 
 And terrible vengeance is ordain'd on high 
 For the revolted from Chaldea's sway ? 
 
 KALASSAN. 
 
 Live thou, oh King, for ever ! We are holding 
 This day our solemn rite. Our Priests and Seers 
 Each at his office stands throughout the Temple ; 
 And all our eight ascending towers that rise, 
 Each above each, in heavenward range, are throng'd 
 With those that strike the cymbal, and with voice 
 And mystic music summon down the Gods 
 To give us answer. 
 
 BELSIIAZZAR. 
 
 Priests of Bel, and thou 
 High mitred Chief, Kalassan ! Lo, I bring 
 Gifts worthy of the Gods and of Belshazzar : 
 All that the world in its vast homage casts 
 
 -.
 
 16 BELSHAZZAR. 
 
 Before our royal feet ; the gold that flows 
 
 In the red waters of the farthest East ; 
 
 The fragrant balm that weeps from glittering trees ; 
 
 The ivory, and the thin and snowy robes 
 
 Of Egypt ; and the purple merchandize 
 
 Of Sidon ; and the skins of beasts that far 
 
 In the dark forests fly the sight of man, 
 
 Yet not so far but that Assyria's servants 
 
 Track them, and rend away their bloody tribute ; 
 
 And slaves of every hue, and every age, 
 
 From all the kingdoms of our rule. 
 
 KALASSAN. 
 
 Great King, 
 What answer wouldst thou, which such sumptuous 
 
 offerings 
 May not compel ! 
 
 BELSHAZZAR. 
 
 Declare ye to our Gods, 
 Thus saith Belshazzar : wherefore am I calTd 
 The King of Babylon, the scepter'd heir
 
 BELSHAZZAR. 17 
 
 Of (I) Nabonassar's sway, if still my sight 
 Must be infested by rebellious arms, 
 That hem my city round ; and frantic cries 
 Of onset, and the braying din of battle 
 Disturb my sweet and wonted festal songs ? 
 
 NITOCRIS. 
 
 In the Gods* 1 name, and in mine own, I answer ! 
 When Nabonassars heir shall take the sword 
 Of Nabonassar in his valiant hand ; 
 With the inborn awe of majesty appal 
 Into the dust Rebellion's crested front : 
 When for the gliding bark on the smooth waters, 
 Whose motion doth but lull his silken couch, 
 He mounts the rushing chariot, and in arms 
 Asserts himself the lord of human kind. 
 
 sabaris. 
 Will he endure it ? 
 
 NITOCRIS. 
 
 Oh, my son ! my son ! 
 Must I repent me of that thrill of joy
 
 18 BELSHAZZAR. 
 
 I felt, when round my couch the slaves proclaimed 
 
 I had brought forth a man into the world, 
 
 A child for empire born, the cradled Lord 
 
 Of Nations— oh, my son !— and all the pride 
 
 With which I saw thy fair and open brow 
 
 Expand in beauteous haughtiness, commanding 
 
 Ere thou coukVst speak? And with thy growth, thy 
 
 greatness 
 
 Still ripen'd : like the palm amid the grove 
 Thou stood'st, the loftiest, at once, and comeliest 
 Of all the sons of men. And must I now 
 Wish all my pangs upon a shapeless offspring, 
 Or on a soft and dainty maiden wasted, 
 That might have been, if not herself, like her 
 Thy martial ancestress, Semiramis, 
 Mightiest — at least the Mother of the Mighty ? 
 
 BELSHAZZAR. 
 
 Queen of Assyria, Nabonassars daughter ! 
 
 Wife of my royal father, Merodaeh ! 
 
 Greater than all, from whom myself was born !
 
 BELSHAZZAR. 19 
 
 The Gods that made thee mother of Belshazzar, 
 Have arm'd thee with a dangerous licence. Thou, 
 Secure, may'st utter what from meaner lips 
 Had calFd upon the head the indignant sword 
 Of Justice. But to thee we deign reply. 
 Is 't not the charge of the great Gods t 1 uphold 
 The splendour of the world that doth them homage ? 
 As soon would they permit the all-glorious Sun 
 To wither from their palace vault in heaven, 
 As this rich empire from the earth. 
 
 NITOC1US. 
 
 And therefore 
 Be as the Gods, Belshazzar, and stand forth 
 To sweep away the desolating foe ! 
 As when the thunders scatter all abroad 
 The lowering clouds at midnight, all the stars 
 Look glittering through the bright pellucid sky, 
 And in the glorious calm themselves have strew'd, 
 Repose triumphant the great Gods. 
 
 c 2
 
 «0 BELSHAZZAR. 
 
 HELSIIAZZAIJ. 
 
 Oh, queen ! 
 
 The mother of Chaldeans royal lord 
 Ne'er ask'd in vain. Myself this day will mount 
 The car of battle, and along the walls 
 Display my terrors, for Assyria's hosts 
 To kindle into valour at my presence ; 
 And the pale rebels from their distant camp, 
 Like hunters that have roused the sleeping lion, 
 Snatch up their toils, and fly 
 
 NITOCRIS. 
 
 Along the walls ! 
 And not along the dusty battle plain ? 
 Yet 'tis enough — the fire but sleeps within thee. 
 And as the warhorse that hath sported long 
 On the green meads, beholds the flash of arms 
 Bright on the fountain where he bathes, and hears 
 The martial trumpet sounding, start erect 
 His kindling ears, his agitated mane
 
 BELSHAZZAR. 21 
 
 Trembles ; already on his back he feels 
 The gorgeous trappings and the armed rider, 
 And treads the sward as though he trampled down 
 Whole hosts before him ; thus Belshazzar's soul, 
 At sight of Babylon's exulting foes, 
 Shall waken to the warrior's noble wrath. 
 
 BELSIIAZZAR. 
 
 Give instant order ! 
 
 NITOCRIS. 
 
 Oh, tiara'd Mede ! 
 And thou fierce Persian that dost boast thyself 
 As hardy as thy native mountains ! Thou, 
 The shepherd's nursling, Cyrus ! feel ye not 
 A prescient terror of your coming conqueror? 
 The towers with which ye have girt your spacious camp, 
 Do they not rock even to their deep foundations, 
 In conscious awe? But thou, my noble son ! 
 Thy mother's heart, that beat but in thy presence, 
 Even when thou laid'st in soft inglorious dalliance, 
 When home thou com'st, high plumed with victory, hosts 

 
 22 BELSHAZZAB. 
 
 In chains around thee, and the routed armies 
 Crowding to gaze upon their conqueror, 
 As though it were a solace in their fall 
 That great Belshazzar stoop'd to overthrow them ; 
 When all the myriads of vast Babylon 
 Shout in the triumph of their kingly lord; 
 That heart, my son, with such excess of pride 
 Will swell, that it will burst. Even now it fills 
 My woman's eyes with tears : when I should wear 
 A brow all rapture, I can only weep. 
 
 KALASSAN. 
 
 Lord of the Nations ! with our richest rites 
 Do we propitiate the eternal Gods. 
 Upon the golden altar, never wet 
 Save with the immaculate blood of yearling lambs (2) 
 We sacrifice — and on our topmost tower, 
 Where, on his couch, amid his native clouds, 
 The God reposes, must the chosen Virgin, ( •' ,, 
 Whom to our wandering search he first presents, 
 Await the bright descending Deity.
 
 BELSHAZZAK. 23 
 
 BELSHAZZAR. 
 
 What then ! — the Gods hold festival to-night ! 
 And shall the courts of great Chaldea's palace 
 Be silent of the festal song ? At eve 
 Our banquet shall begin ; and dusky night, 
 Astonislfd at our splendour, think his reign 
 Usurp'd as by a brighter day. Kalassan ! 
 Whence are those golden vessels richly carved, 
 And bossy with enchased fruits and flowers ; 
 Goblets, and lavers, and tall chandeliers, 
 That, like to blossoming almond trees, branch out 
 In knots of glittering silver ? — meet were they 
 To minister at great Belshazzar's feast. 
 
 KAL \ss \\. 
 Kins of the Universe ! those vessels stood 
 Erst in the Temple of the Hebrew's God; 
 But when Chaldea's arms laid waste the City, 
 And from their Temple, with destroying fire, 
 Scar'd the unresisting Deity, the spoils 
 Were seiz'd, and consecrate to mightier Bel.
 
 24 BELSHAXZAK. 
 
 BELSHAZZAR. 
 
 Let them be borne to grace our feast ! 
 
 KALASSAN. 
 
 Most honoured 
 Were they by sucli a noble profanation ! 
 
 Give ye the order 
 
 Ha ! what frantic shriek 
 Peals through the courts ? 
 
 PRIEST. 
 
 The slaves that girt themselves 
 To bear those vessels, on a sudden, all, 
 As though by viewless lightnings struck to earth, 
 Lie groveling on the pavement, and they clench 
 Their vacant hands in horror. 
 
 KALASSAN. 
 
 Raise them up, 
 And lash them to their duty. 
 
 SECOND PRIEST. 
 
 King of Earth I 
 The armed statue of thy ancestor,
 
 BELSHAZZAlt. 25 
 
 Great Nabonassar, on its firm-set pedestal 
 Shakes, and its marble panoply resounds 
 Like distant thunder ! 
 
 KALASSAN. 
 
 How ! the pavement rocks 
 Beneath our feet, like a tempestuous sea ! 
 
 BELSIIAZZAR. 
 
 What ! are Belshazzar's mandates thus delay'd 
 For the pale fears of slaves, and idle sounds 
 That shake the earth, but not his kingly soul ? 
 Away with them ! we will not brook remonstrance 
 From vanquish^ men or Gods ! — Away ! I say — 
 
 CHORUS. 
 
 Sovereign of all the streams that flow 
 From hills of everlasting snow, 
 Through vast Chaldea's fertile reign, 
 Down to the red and pearly (4) main ; 
 And ere thy giant course is done, 
 Through all imperial Babylon ;
 
 26 BELSHAZZAR. 
 
 By stately towers and palace fair, 
 
 And blooming gardens hung- in air ; 
 
 By every glowing brazen gate, 
 
 Rollest thy full exulting state. 
 
 Proud River ! strew thy waves to rest, 
 
 And smooth to peace thy azure breast, 
 
 While slowly o'er thy willing tide, 
 
 Belshazzar's gilded galleys ride. 
 
 Hear, King of Floods ! Euphrates, hear ! 
 
 And pay the homage of thy fear. 
 
 CHORUS OF SUPPLIANTS. 
 
 Sovereign of all the lamps that shine 
 
 In yon empyreal arch divine, 
 
 That rolTst through half the fiery day, 
 
 O'er realms that own Chaldea's sway ; 
 
 O'er thrones whose monarchs wear her yoke, 
 
 And cities by her conquests broke ; 
 
 Thou Sun, whose morning splendours dwell 
 
 Upon the Temple towers of Bel,
 
 BELSHAZZAR. 27 
 
 The quiver of thy noontide rays 
 Exhaust in all their fiery blaze, 
 Upon the cloud-aspiring throne 
 Where rests the God of Babylon ! 
 So shall the God in glory come 
 Down to his sumptuous earthly home. 
 Hear ! Monarch of the Planets ! hear — 
 And pause upon thy fleet career. 
 
 The Quartet- of the Jewish Slaves. 
 I ML ah, Naomi, Benina. 
 
 BENINA. 
 
 Father ! dear Father ! said'st thou that our feet 
 Shall tread the glittering paths of Sion's hill ; 
 And that our lips shall breathe the fragrant airs 
 That blow from dewy Hermon, and the fount 
 Of Siloe flow in liquid music by us ?
 
 28 BELSHAZZAlt. 
 
 [ML AH. 
 
 Oh, daughter of captivity, and born 
 To eat the bitter bread of servitude, 
 Benina, child of sadness ! — yet the dearer 
 Because thou art the joy of desolate hearts 
 That have no joy but thee ! — what knowest thou 
 Of that fair city, where our Fathers dwelt 
 While unforsaken by their God ? 
 
 BENINA. 
 
 My father ! 
 Have I not seen my mother and thyself 
 Sit by the river side, and dwell for ever 
 On Salem's glories, and the Temple's pride, 
 Till tears have choked your sad though pleasant speech ? 
 In the deep midnight, when our lords are sleeping, 
 IVe seen the Brethren from the willows take 
 Their wind-caressed harps, their half-breathed sounds 
 Scarce louder than the rippling rivers dash 
 Around the matted sedge ; and still they pour'd 
 Their voices down the stream, as though they wish'd
 
 BELSHAZZAR. XQ 
 
 Their songs to pass away to other lands 
 Beyond the bounds of their captivity. 
 I've listen'd in an ecstacy of tears, 
 Till purer waters seenfd to wander near me, 
 And sweeter flowers to bloom beneath my feet, 
 And towers of fairer structure to arise 
 Under the moonlight ; and I felt the joy 
 Of freedom in my light and sportive limbs. 
 
 IMLAH. 
 
 My sweetest child, and thou that gav'st to me 
 This dearest treasure, Naomi, thyself, 
 Even as thou wert in virgin loveliness 
 My plighted bride, renewed to tenderest youth ! 
 I will not say I hope not (though my fears 
 And conscience of our ill desert reprove me) 
 That God even now prepares the promised hour, 
 When Israel shall shake off' Assyria's chains, 
 And build long-wasted Sion's lovely walls. 
 The sands of the appointed years are run ; 
 The signs break out, as in the cloudy night
 
 530 liELSHAZZAH. 
 
 The stars ; and buried Prophets 1 voices seem 
 As from their graves to cry aloud, and mark 
 The hour that labours with our Israel's glory; 
 And, more than all, but yesterday I saw 
 The holy Daniel 
 
 NAOMI. 
 
 Daniel ! what of him, 
 Dear Imlah ? 
 
 IMLAH. 
 
 Till but lately he was girt 
 With sackcloth, with the meagre hue of fasting 
 On his sunk cheek, and ashes on his head ; 
 When, lo ! at once he shook from his gray locks 
 The attire of woe, and calFd for wine ; and since 
 He hath gone stately through the wondering streets 
 With a sad scorn. Amid the heaven-piercing towers, 
 Through cool luxurious courts, and in the shade 
 Of summer trees that play o'er crystal fountains, 
 He walks, as though he trod o'er moss-grown ruins, 
 ''Mid the deep desolation of a city
 
 BELSHAZZAR. 31 
 
 Already by the almighty wrath laid waste. 
 And sometimes doth he gaze upon the clouds, 
 As though he recognized the viewless forms 
 Of arm'd destroyers in the silent skies. 
 And it is said, that at the dead of night 
 He hath pour'd forth thy burden, Babylon, 
 And loud proclaim'd the bowing down of Bel, 
 The spoiling of the spoiler. Even our lords, 
 As conscious of God's glory gathering round him. 
 Look on him with a silent awe, nor dare 
 To check his motion, or reprove his speech. 
 
 NAOMI. 
 
 Oh, Imlah ! shall our buried bones repose 
 In our own land ? 
 
 BENINA. 
 
 Speak on, my dearest Father, 
 Thy words arc like the breezes of the wist. 
 That breathe of Canaan's honey-flowing land. 
 
 IMLAN. 
 
 My child ! my child ! thy nuptials shall not be 
 With song suppress'd, and dim half curtain \l lamp,
 
 32 BELSHAZZAK. 
 
 Stol'n from the observance of our jealous lords, 
 
 As mine and thy fond mother's were. — Who's here? 
 
 BENINA. 
 
 'Tis Adonijah : he hath heard thee name him, 
 And he will see the burning on my cheek, 
 And so detect our cause of fond discourse. 
 
 IMLAH. 
 
 I named him not 
 
 BENINA. 
 
 Nay, father, now thou mock'st me. 
 
 IMLAH. 
 
 Alas ! poor deer, thou'rt deeply stricken ! Well — 
 
 It is a noble boy, that dares to fear 
 
 His God, nor makes his youth a privilege 
 
 For licence, and intemperate scorn of rule. 
 
 The above, Adonijah. 
 IMLAH. 
 
 Whence com'st thou, Adonijah, with thy brow 
 Elate, and full of pride, that scarce beseems 
 A captive ?
 
 BELSHAZZAH. iV,', 
 
 ADONIJAH. 
 Imlah ! from the dawn of day 
 I have been gazing from the walls, and saw 
 The Persian reining in his fiery squadrons. 
 Like ostriches they swept the sandy plain, 
 As though they would outstrip the tardy winds ; 
 And paus'd and wheel'd, and through the clouds of dust 
 That rose around them, as round terrible Angels, 
 Their scimitars in silver radiance flaslVd. 
 Oh, will it ever be, that once again 
 The Lord of Hosts will lift the Lion banner 
 Of Judah, and her sons go forth to war 
 Like Joshua, or like him whose beardless strength 
 O'erthrew the giant Philistine ! 
 
 BENINA. 
 
 Ah, me ! 
 And would'st thou, Adonijah, seek the war, 
 The ruthless, murtherous, and destroying war ? 
 
 ADONIJAH. 
 
 Why, yes ! nor would Benina love me less
 
 34 BELSHAZZAR. 
 
 For bringing home the spoil of God's proud foes, 
 To hang within his vindicated Temple. 
 
 BENINA. 
 
 So thou didst bring thyself unharm'd, unchanged, 
 Benina were content. 
 
 ADONIJAH. 
 
 Heaven's blessings on thee ! 
 
 IMLAH. 
 
 Hear me, young Adonijah; thou dost love 
 My child : Benina, shall I say, or leave it 
 To thine own lips or eloquent eyes to tell, 
 How well thou lov'st the noble Adonijah ? 
 But, youth, I seek not to delay thy joy 
 With the cold envious prudence of old age, 
 That never felt the boiling blood of youth ; 
 For if I did, there's one would chide me here 
 For my forgetfulness of hours like these. 
 But yet I would not have my daughter wed 
 With the sad dowry of a master's stripes; 
 I would not, Adonijah, on the eve
 
 BELSHAZXAR. 3o 
 
 Of our deliverance, that the wanton Gentile 
 Should pass his jest on our cold entertainment, 
 And all the cheerless joy when captives wed, 
 To breed a race, whose sole inheritance 
 Shall be their parents' tasks and heavy bondage 
 Our father Jacob served seven tardy years 
 For beauteous Rachel, but I tax not thee 
 With such a weary service. 
 
 ADONIJAH. 
 
 Be they ages, 
 So the life beat within this bounding heart, 
 The love shall never fail ! 
 
 IMLAH. 
 
 Here's one would trust thee, 
 Youth, should my cautious age be slow. Come hither, 
 Thou tender vine, that need'st a noble stem : 
 Thou not repin'st because I wed thee not 
 To this fair elm, until the gentle airs 
 Of our own land, and those delicious dews 
 That weej) like angels' tears of Love, o'er all 
 The hill of Sion, gladden your sweet union, 
 
 D tl
 
 36 BELSHAZZAR. 
 
 And make you bear your clustering fruits in joy. 
 So now, enough, thou dost accept the terms, 
 And in the name of Him that rules on high, 
 I thus betroth the noble Adonijah 
 To soft Benina. — 
 
 Now, to him that hears 
 The captive's prayer. How long — oh, Lord! — how 
 
 long 
 Shall strangers trample down thy beauteous Sion P 
 How long shall Judah's hymns arise to thee 
 On foreign winds, and sad Jerusalem 
 On all her hills be desolate and mute ? 
 
 God of the Thunder ! from whose cloudy seat 
 
 The fiery winds of Desolation flow : 
 Father of Vengeance ! that with purple feet, 
 
 Like a full wine-press, tread'st the world below. 
 The embattled armies wait thy sign to slay, 
 Nor springs the beast of havoc on his prey, 
 Nor withering Famine walks his blasted way, 
 
 Till thou the guilty land hast seaTd for woe.
 
 BELSHAZZAR. 37 
 
 God of the Rainbow ! at whose gracious sign 
 
 The billows of the proud their rage suppress : 
 Father of Mercies ! at one word of thine 
 
 An Eden blooms in the waste wilderness! 
 And fountains sparkle in the arid sands, 
 And timbrels ring in maidens'' glancing hands, 
 And marble cities crown the laughing lands, 
 And pillar'd temples rise thy name to bless. 
 
 O'er Judalfs land thy thunders broke — oh, Lord ! 
 
 The chariots rattled o'er her sunken gate, 
 Her sons were wasted by the Assyrian sword, 
 
 Even her foes wept to see her fallen state ; 
 And heaps her ivory palaces became, 
 Her Princes wore the captive's garb of shame, 
 Her Temple sank amid the smouldering flame, 
 
 For thou didst ride the tempest cloud of fate. 
 
 O'er Judah\s land thy rainbow, Lord, shall beam, 
 And the sad City lift her crownless head;
 
 38 RELSHAZZAR. 
 
 And songs shall wake, and dancing footsteps gleam, 
 
 Where broods o'er fallen streets the silence of the dead. 
 The sun shall shine on Salem's gilded towers, 
 On CarmcTs side our maidens cull the flowers, 
 To deck, at blushing eve, their bridal bowers, 
 And angel feet the glittering Sion tread. 
 
 Thy vengeance gave us to the stranger's hand, 
 
 And Abraham's children were led forth for slaves ; 
 With fetter'd steps we left our pleasant land, 
 
 Envying our fathers in their peaceful graves. 
 The stranger's bread with bitter tears we steep, 
 And when our weary eyes should sink to sleep, 
 'Neath the mute midnight we steal forth to weep, 
 Where the pale willows shade Euphrates' waves. 
 
 The born in sorrow shall bring forth in joy ; 
 
 Thy mercy, Lord, shall lead thy children home ; 
 He that went forth a tender yearling boy, 
 
 Yet, ere he die, to Salem's streets shall come.
 
 BELSHAZZAK. 39 
 
 And Canaan's vines for us their fruits shall bear. 
 
 • 
 
 And Hermon's bees their honied stores prepare ; 
 And we shall kneel again in thankful prayer, 
 
 Where, o'er the cherub-seated God, full blaz'd tlf 
 
 irradiate dome. 
 
 The Walk of Babylon. 
 Belsiiazzar in his Chariot, Nitocris, Ariocii, Sabaris, 8$c. 
 
 BELSHAZZAR. 
 
 For twice three hours our stately cars have rolfd 
 Along the broad highway that crowns the walls 
 Of mine imperial City, nor complete 
 Our circuit by a long and ample space. 
 And still our eyes look down on gilded root's, 
 And towers and temples, and the spreading tops 
 Of cedar groves, through which the fountains gleam ; 
 And every where the countless multitudes, 
 Like summer insects in the noontide sun, 
 Come forth to bask in our irradiate presence.
 
 40 BELSHAZZAR. 
 
 Oh, thou vast Babylon ! what mighty hand 
 Created thee, and spread thee o'er the plain 
 Capaeious as a worl d ; and girt thee round 
 With high tower'd walls, and bound thy gates with brass; 
 And taught the indignant river to endure 
 Thy bridge of cedar and of palm, high hung 
 Upon its marble piers ? — What voice proclaim^, 
 Amid the silence of the sands, " Arise ! 
 And be earth's wonder ?" Was it not my fathers ? 
 Yea, mine entombed ancestors awake, 
 Their heads uplift upon their marble pillows ; 
 They claim the glory of thy birth. Thou hunter, 
 That didst disdain the quarry of the field, 
 Choosing thee out a nobler game of man, 
 Nimrod ! and thou that with unfeminine hand 
 Didst lash the coursers of thy battle-car 
 O'er prostrate thrones, and necks of captive kings, 
 Semiramis ! and thou whose kingly breath 
 Was like the desart wind, before its coming 
 The people of all earth fell down, and hid
 
 BELSHAZZAR. 41 
 
 Their humble faces in the dust ! that mad'st 
 
 The pastime of a summer day € overthrow 
 
 A city, or cast down some ancient throne ; 
 
 Whose voice each ocean shore obey'd, and all 
 
 From sable Ethiopia to the sands 
 
 Of the gold-flowing Indian streams ; — oh ! thou 
 
 Lord of the hundred thrones, high Nabonassar ! 
 
 And thou my father, Merodach ! ye crown'd 
 
 This City with her diadem of towers — 
 
 Wherefore ? — but prescient of Belshazzar's birth, 
 
 And conscious of your destin'd son, ye toil'd 
 
 To rear a meet abode. Oh, Babylon ! 
 
 Thou hast him now, for whom through ages rose 
 
 Thy sky-exalted towers — for whom yon palace 
 
 Rear'd its bright domes, and groves of golden spires ; 
 
 In whom, secure of immortality 
 
 Thou stand'st, and consecrate from time and ruin, 
 
 Because thou hast been the dwelling of Belshazzar ! 
 
 NITOCRIS. 
 
 I hear thy words: like thine, thy mother's heart
 
 42 BELSHAZZAR. 
 
 Swells, oh, my son ! to see thy seat of empire. 
 But will the Lord of Babylon endure, 
 What in yon plain beneath offends our sight, 
 The rebel Persian ? 
 
 BELSHAZZAR. 
 
 Gave we not command, 
 To Tartan and to Artamas, to sweep 
 Yon tribes away, or ere our car approached 
 The northern wall ? 
 
 ARIOCH. 
 
 They hasted forth, oh, King ! 
 But Tartan came not back, nor Artamas. 
 
 BELSHAZZAR. 
 
 Slaves ! did they dare fall off from their allegiance ? 
 
 ARIOCH. 
 
 To the dominion they fell off of him 
 That hath the empire o'er departed souls. 
 
 NITOCRIS. 
 
 Look down ! look down ! where, proud of his light 
 conquest,
 
 BELSHAZZAR. 43 
 
 The Persian rides — it is the youthful Cyrus ; 
 How skilfully he winds through all the ranks 
 His steed, in graceful ease, as though he sate 
 Upon a firm-set throne, yet every motion 
 Obedient to his slack and gentle rein, 
 As though one Avill controlTd the steed and rider ; 
 Now leaps he down, and holds a brief discourse 
 With yon helm'd captain ; like a stooping falcon, 
 Now vaults he to the patient courser's back. 
 Happy the mother of that noble youth ! 
 
 BELSHAZZAR. 
 
 Now, by great Bel ! thou dost abuse our patience. 
 Is that the rebel king to whom Belshazzar 
 Should vail his pride, and stoop to be his foe ; 
 Him with the brazen arms, that, dimly bright, 
 Scarce boast distinction from the meaner host ? 
 Where are his golden attributes of power, 
 The glorious ensigns of his sovereignty ; 
 The jewel'd diadem, the ivory sceptre, 
 The satrap circled throne, the kneeling hosts?
 
 44 BELSHAZZAU. 
 
 NIT0CR1S. 
 Dost ask, my son, his marks of sovereignty ? 
 The armies that behold his sign, and trust 
 Their fate upon the wisdom of his rule, 
 Confident of accustom'd victory; 
 The unconquerable valour, the proud Ion e 
 Of danger, and the scorn of silken ease ; 
 The partnership in suffering and in want, 
 Even with his meanest follower ; the disdain 
 Of wealth, that wins the spoil but to bestow it, 
 Content with the renown of conquering deeds. 
 
 BELSHAZZAR. 
 
 By all our Gods ! 
 
 SABARIS. 
 
 Great Queen ! it ill beseems 
 The lowest of Chaldea's slaves to oppose 
 The mother of our king with insolent speech ; 
 But my bold zeal for him that rules the world 
 Has made me dauntless. Is it not heaven's will, 
 Written in the eternal course of human things,
 
 BELSHAZZAR. 45 
 
 Some kings arc born to toil, and some to enjoy ; 
 Some to build up the palace domes of power, 
 That in their glowing shade their sons may sit 
 Transcendent in luxurious ease, as they 
 In conquest ? 'Tis the privilege of the chosen, 
 The mark'd of fate, and favourites of the Gods, 
 To find submissive earth deck'd out, a fair 
 And summer garden house, for one long age 
 Of toilless pleasure, and luxurious revel. 
 
 BELSHAZZAR. 
 
 The slave speaks well : and thee, oh, queen Nitocris ! 
 
 This eve will we compel, with gracious violence, 
 
 To own our loftier fate. This sacred eve 
 
 We'll have an army wide as yon that spreads 
 
 Its tents on the hot sands; and they shall feast 
 
 Around me, all reclin'd on ivory couches, 
 
 Strew'd with Sidonian purple, and soft webs 
 
 Of Egypt ; fannM by bright and glittering plumes 
 
 Held in the snowy hands of virgin slaves ; 
 
 And o'er their turbarfd heads shall lightly wave 
 
 The silkni canopies, that softly tremble
 
 4(j BELSHAZZAR. 
 
 To gales of liquid odour : all the courts 
 
 Shall breathe like groves of cassia and of nard. 
 
 And every paradise of golden fruits, 
 
 The forests and the tributary streams, 
 
 In this one banquet shall exhaust their stores 
 
 Of delicates ; the swans and Phasian birds, 
 
 And roes and deer from off' a thousand hills, 
 
 Serv'd in the spices of the farthest East. 
 
 And we will feast to dulcimers and lutes, 
 
 And harps and cymbals, and all instruments 
 
 Of rapturous sound, till it shall seem the stars 
 
 Have stoop'd the nearer to our earth, to crown 
 
 Our banquet with their heavenly concert. There, 
 
 Our captains and our counsellors, our wives 
 
 And bright-ey'd concubines, through all the palace 
 
 Th' array of splendour shall prolong — while I, 
 
 In state supreme, and glory that shall shame 
 
 The setting sun amid his purple clouds, 
 
 Will on my massy couch of gold recline : 
 
 Then shalt thou come, and seeing thy son the orb 
 
 And centre of this radiance, even thyself
 
 BELSHAZZAR. 47 
 
 Shalt wonder at thy impious speech, that dared 
 To equal aught on earth to great Belshazzar. 
 And now, lead on ! — 
 
 The above, Benina, Imlaji, Adonijah, Priests. 
 
 BENINA. 
 
 Ah, save me ! save me ! 
 
 ARIOCH. 
 
 Peace ! 
 
 Before the king ! — 
 
 BELSHAZZAR. 
 
 What frantic maid is this, 
 That shrieks and flics, with loose and rending garments, 
 And streaming hair ? — And who art 1 these that circle her, 
 And sing around her ? 
 
 SABARIS. 
 
 Live, oh king, for ever ! 
 Chaldea's priests, that seek this evening's bride 
 For mightiest Bel.
 
 48 BELSHAZZAR. 
 
 PRIESTS. 
 
 Beauteous damsel ! chosen to meet 
 First our wandering heaven-led feet. 
 Spotless virgin ! thee alone 
 The great God of Babylon, 
 From his starry seat above, 
 Hath beheld with looks of love. 
 Bride of him that rules the sky ! 
 Cast not down thy weeping eye. 
 Daughter of the captive race ! 
 For thine high and blissful place, 
 In the heaven-hung chamber laid, 
 Many a Babylonian maid 
 To the voiceless midnight air, 
 Murmurs low her bashful prayer. 
 With enamour'd homage see, 
 Round and round we circle thee ; 
 Round and round each dancing foot 
 Glitters to the breathing lute.
 
 BELSHAZZAR. 19 
 
 SABARIS. 
 
 Why dost thou struggle thus, fond slave ? 
 
 BENINA. 
 
 My father !— 
 My dearest Adonijah ! speak to him — 
 The panting breath swells in my throat, my words 
 Can find no utterance, save to thee. 
 
 IMLAH. 
 
 Great king ! 
 They rend away my child, mine only child ! — 
 
 BELSIIAZZAR. 
 
 Peace ! she is borne to serve the God of Babylon : 
 And ye should fall, and kiss their garment hems, 
 And bless them for the glory that awaits 
 The captive maiden 
 
 ADONIJAH. 
 
 Glory ! call ye it, 
 To be the lustful prey 
 
 BENINA. 
 
 Sweet youth ! no more. 
 
 E
 
 50 BELSHAZZAR. 
 
 Oh, speak not !— by the love thou bearest me — 
 By all our hopes— alas ! what hopes have we ? — 
 Let me endure no sufferings but my own. 
 
 BELSHAZZAR. 
 
 Priests, to your office ! — 
 
 BENINA. 
 
 Oh ! no mercy — none — 
 Not even in thee, that wear'st a woman's form, 
 But all the cold relentless pride of man — 
 Mightiest of queens !— would I might add most gracious- 
 
 IMLAH. 
 
 God of our fathers ! that alone canst save, 
 
 Look down upon this guileless innocent. 
 
 Lo ! pale and fainting, like a wounded fawn 
 
 She hangs upon their arms — death scarce could throw 
 
 A sadder paleness, or more icy torpor, 
 
 Over that form, whose loveliness is now 
 
 Its bane, and stamps it for the worst of misery. 
 
 ADONIJAH. 
 
 Oh, for a Median scimitar !
 
 BELSHAZZAR. 51 
 
 ARIOCH. 
 
 What said he ? 
 
 BENINA. 
 
 Nought — nought — 
 
 ARIOCH. 
 
 The slave forgets that scourges hang 
 Upon our walls — 
 
 IMLAH. 
 
 And we had fondly thought 
 The bitter dregs of our captivity 
 
 Drank out ! Farewel, my child ! thou dost not hear me — 
 Thou liest in cold and enviable senselessness, 
 And Ave might almost fear, or hope, that death — 
 Compassionate death — had freed thee from their violence. 
 What now, my child ? 
 
 ADONIJAH. 
 
 Oh, beautiful Benina ! 
 Why do thy timorous dove-like eyes awake, 
 And glow with scorn ? why dost thou shake away 
 The swoon of bashful fear, and stand erect,
 
 52 BELSHAZZAR. 
 
 Thou, that didst hang, but now, like a loose woodbine, 
 Trailing its beauteous clusters in the dust? 
 
 BENINA. 
 
 Give place, and let me speak unto my father, 
 
 And to this youth. 
 
 Fierce men ! your care is vain — 
 I will not stoop to fly. 
 
 IMLAH. 
 
 My soul is lost 
 In wonder ; yet I touch thee once again, 
 And that is rapture. 
 
 BENINA. 
 
 Did ye not behold him 
 Upon the terrace top ? — the Man of God ! 
 The anointed Prophet ! 
 
 IMLAH. 
 
 Daniel ! 
 
 BENINA. 
 
 He whose lips 
 Burn with the fire from heaven ! I saw him, father :
 
 BELSHAZZAR. 53 
 
 Alone he stood, and in his proud compassion 
 
 Looked down upon this pomp that blaz'd beneath him, 
 
 As one that sees a stately funeral. 
 
 IMLAH. 
 He spoke not ? — 
 
 BENIN A. 
 
 No: — like words articulate, 
 His looks address'd my soul, and said — oh, maid, 
 Be of good cheer — and, like a robe of light, 
 A rapture fell upon me, and I caught 
 Contagious scorn of earthly power ; and fear 
 And bashful shame are gone, and in the might 
 Of God, of Abraham's God, our father's God, 
 I stand, superior to the insulting heathen. 
 
 BELSHAZZAR. 
 
 What ! wait ye still to lead the Gods their slave, 
 And thus delay Belshazzars course? 
 
 bemn \. 
 
 Your Gods ! 
 Whom I disdain to honour with mv dread.
 
 54 BELSHAZZAK. 
 
 BELSHAZZAR. 
 
 Oft' with her ! and advance our royal car : — 
 Set forward. — 
 
 [Belmiazz.ih departs "with his train. 
 
 BENINA. 
 
 Ye shall need no force to drag me. 
 My father ! — Adonijah ! — gaze not thus, 
 Blaspheming, with your timorous doubts, the arm 
 Of the Most High, that waves above mine head 
 
 In silent might unseen 
 
 .-> 
 
 And thou — go on, 
 Go on thy stately course — Imperial Lord 
 Of golden Babylon ! the scourge that lash'd 
 The Nations, from whose mantling cup of pride 
 Earth drank, and with the fierce intoxication 
 ScofTd at the enduring heavens. 
 
 Go on, in awe 
 And splendour, radiant as the morning star, 
 But as the morning star to be cast down 
 Into the deep of deeps. Long, long the Lord
 
 BELSHAZZAR. 55 
 
 Hath bade his Prophets cry to all the world, 
 
 That Babylon shall cease ! Their words of fire 
 
 Flash round my soul, and lighten up the depths 
 
 Of dim futurity ! I hear the voice 
 
 Of the expecting grave ! — I hear abroad 
 
 The exultation of unfetter'd earth ! — 
 
 From East to West they lift their trampled necks, 
 
 Th 1 indignant nations: earth breaks out in scorn; 
 
 The valleys dance and sing ; the mountains shake 
 
 Their cedar-crowned tops ! The strangers crowd 
 
 To gaze upon the howling wilderness, 
 
 Where stood the Queen of Nations. Lo ! even now, 
 
 Lazy Euphrates rolls his sullen waves 
 
 Through wastes, and but reflects his own thick reeds. 
 
 I hear the bitterns shriek, the dragons cry ; 
 
 I see the shadow of the midnight owl 
 
 Gliding where now are laughter-echoing palaces ! 
 
 O'er the vast plain I see the mighty tombs 
 
 Of kings, in sad and broken whiteness gleam 
 
 Beneath the oYrgrown cypress — but no tomb
 
 56 BELSHAZZAR. 
 
 Bears record, Babylon, of thy last lord; 
 Even monuments are silent of Belshazzar ! 
 
 PRIEST. 
 
 Still must we hear it ? — 
 
 BENINA. 
 
 Yea, ye must ! — the words 
 Of God will find a voice in every wind ; 
 The stones will speak, the marble walls cry out ! 
 
 PRIEST. 
 
 Maid, in Bel's appointed bride 
 We must brook the words of pride ; 
 Mortal voice may ne'er reprove 
 Whom the bright immortals love ; 
 Nor hand of mortal violate 
 Her, the chosen immortal's mate. 
 
 BENINA. 
 
 Oh, Adonijah ! soothe my mother's tears; 
 Be to my father what I should have been ;
 
 BELSHAZZAR. 57 
 
 And now farewel ! Forget not her whose thoughts, 
 In terror and in rapture, still will dwell 
 On thee : in prayer, at morn and eve, forget not 
 Her who will need prayers worthier than her own. 
 
 Before the House of Imlah. 
 Iml.iii, Adonijah. 
 
 IMLAH. 
 
 We are here at length : — we two have glided on 
 Like voiceless ghosts, along the crowded streets. 
 The miserable pour their tale of anguish 
 Into the happy ear, and feel sweet solace 
 From his compassion ; but the wretched find 
 No comfort from imparting mutual bitterness. 
 I know I ought to feel that God protects 
 My child — I can but think that heathen arms 
 Have torn her from my bleeding heart! I know
 
 58 BELSHAZZAK. 
 
 I ought to kindle with the heavenly fire 
 Of her rapt spirit, to dauntlessness like hers. 
 I can but tremble for her tender loveliness, 
 That us'd to cling to me for its support, 
 Like a soft lily, for the world's rude airs 
 Too frail. 
 
 ADONIJAH. 
 
 Scarce dare I speak, lest I speak rashly. 
 I have rebuked and struggled with my sorrow, 
 Till I detected in my secret heart 
 A proud reproach, that I was born a son 
 Of Abraham, to be trampled in the dust 
 Like a base worm, that dare not turn to sting 
 The insulting foot. 
 
 IMLAIT. 
 
 Oh cool decline of day, 
 That wert the captive's hour of joy, his tasks 
 FulfilFd, his master's wayward pride worn out, 
 How wert thou wont to lead my weary foot 
 To such a blissful home, — I 've oft forgot
 
 BELSHAZZAR. 59 
 
 It was a captive's. Naomi, my wife, 
 I never fear'd to meet thy loving looks 
 Till now. 
 
 The above, Naomi. 
 
 NAOMI. 
 
 So, Imlah, thou'rt return'd: — and thou, 
 My son, I'll call thee. — Sweet it is t 1 anticipate, 
 And make the fond tongue thus familiar 
 With words that it so oft must use. Stay, stay, 
 Beloved ! and I'll call forth, or ere ye enter, 
 My child, whose welcome will be sweeter to you 
 Than the cold babbling of her aged mother : — 
 I had forgot — she went abroad with you. 
 
 IMLAH. 
 
 Have mercy, Heaven ! 
 
 NAOMI. 
 
 Now, whither is she gone ? 
 To seek for thee the cup of sparkling water 
 With which she used to lave thy burning brow;
 
 60 KKI.SHA/ZAK. 
 
 Or gather thee the rosy fruit, that gaui'd 
 Fresh sweetness to thy taste, from that dear hand 
 That offer'd it. She ever thought— though weary 
 Herself and wanting food — of ministering 
 First to the ease and joy of those she loVd. — 
 Ha! tears upon thy brow, thy noble brow, 
 Which I have seen endure 
 
 IMI.AH. 
 
 Go in ! — no, stay 
 Without ! I cannot venture where some mark 
 Of her fond duty and officious care, 
 Will be the first thing mine eyes see. — My wife, 
 Why dost thou tear thine hair, and clasp thy brain ? 
 I have not told thee 
 
 NAOMI. 
 
 What hast thou to tell me ? 
 ThouVt here without her: — thou and this brave youth 
 Have eyes that burst with tears. She's lost! — she's dead ! 
 
 IMLAII. 
 
 Would that she were !
 
 BELSHAZZAR. 61 
 
 N \OMI. 
 
 Unnatural father ! wretch, 
 That hast no touch of human pity in thee, 
 To tell a mother thou canst wish her child 
 Where her fond arms can never fold her more ! — 
 Oh, Imlah ! Imlah ! tell me — tell me all — 
 Ye cannot tell me more than what I fear. 
 
 IMLAH. 
 
 They tore her from us, for a paramour 
 For their false Gods 
 
 N V.OMI. 
 
 'Tis ever thus : — most bless'd 
 Hut to be made most wretched ! 
 
 [ML \ll. 
 
 Pardon her, 
 Oh Lord ! oh, we can chide on others 1 lips, 
 What our own burn to utter! 
 
 NAOMI. 
 
 All my care, 
 My jealous, vigilant, and restless care.
 
 ()2 BELSHAZZAR; 
 
 To veil her from the eyes of man, to keep her 
 Like a sweet violet, that the airs of heaven 
 Scarcely detect in its secluded shade, 
 All waste and vain ! I was so proud, to think 
 I had conceal'd our treasure from the knowledge 
 Of our rude masters — and I thought how envied 
 I should return among our barren mothers, 
 To Salem. 
 
 IMLAH. 
 
 Dearest ! she beheld — she felt 
 The arm of Israel's God protecting her. 
 Thou canst not think with what a beauteous scorn 
 Our soft and timorous child o'erawed the spoiler — 
 How nobly she reproved our fears. 
 
 NAOMI. 
 
 Poor fool ! 
 To be deluded by those tender arts 
 She ever used — her only arts — to spare 
 Our bleeding hearts from knowing when she suffer'd. 
 What ! she look\i fearless, did she ? She in the arms
 
 BELSHAZZAR. 63 
 
 Of sinful men, that trembled at heaven's airs, 
 When they came breathing o'er her blushing cheek. 
 And ye — thou, Adonijah, that dost know 
 Her timorous nature, wert deceiv'd ? — cold comfort ! 
 Have ye no better ? 
 
 IMLAII. 
 
 Oh, weep ! weep, my wife ! 
 Look not upon me with those stony eyes! 
 Oh, think — the cup is bitter, but the Lord 
 May change it; — think of him that lost so many, 
 His sons and daughters, at their jocund feast, 
 All at one blow — and said — * God gave, and God 
 I lath taken away. 
 
 NAOMI. 
 
 Had he but one, like ours ; 
 One that engross'd his undivided love ; 
 One such as ne'er before blest human heart, 
 Would he have said so ? 
 
 • .fob i. 21.
 
 (J4 BELSHAZZAR. 
 
 \Yilt not tell me, too, 
 How Sarah in her old age bore a child, 
 To be a joy within her desolate house. 
 Go on — go on — recount each act of love, 
 Each merciful miracle, that we may know 
 How gracious God hath been to all — but us. 
 
 IMLAH. 
 
 Hear her not, God of Israel ! — oh, my son ! 
 
 We must distract this phrensy, or 'twill blight 
 
 Heaven's hop'd for blessings to a barren curse, 
 
 And intercept some soft descending mercy. 
 
 What shall we do ? — what say ? — to dissipate 
 
 Her brooding thoughts? We'll take the harps that hang 
 
 Around us, and are us'd to feel the hand 
 
 Of sorrow trembling on their mournful strings. 
 
 When ye demand sweet Sion's songs to mock them, 
 
 Proud strangers, our right hands forget their cunning. 
 
 But ye revenge you, wringing from our hearts 
 
 Sounds that might melt your senseless stones to pity.
 
 BELSHAZZAR. 65 
 
 HYMN. 
 
 Oil, thou that wilt not break the bruised reed, 
 Nor heap fresh ashes on the mourner's brow, 
 
 Nor rend anew the wounds that inly bleed, 
 The only balm of our afflictions thou, 
 
 Teach us to bear thy chastening wrath, oh God ! 
 
 To kiss with quivering lips — still humbly kiss thy rod ! 
 
 We bless thee, Lord, though far from Judalfs land ; 
 
 Though our worn limbs are black with stripes and chains; 
 Though for stern foes we till the burning sand ; 
 
 And reap, for others 1 joy, the summer plains; 
 We bless thee, Lord, for thou art gracious still, 
 Even though this last black drop o'erflow ourcupof ill ! 
 
 We bless thee for our lost, our beauteous child ; 
 
 The tears, less bitter, she hath made us weep; 
 The weary hours her graceful sports have 'guiled, 
 
 And the dull cares her voice hath sung to sleep ! 
 
 F
 
 G(i BELSHAZZAR. 
 
 She was the dove of hope to our lorn ark ; 
 
 The only star that made the strangers 1 sky less dark ! 
 
 Our dove is fallen into the spoiler's net ; 
 
 Rude hands defile her plumes, so chastely white ; 
 To the bereaved their one soft star is set, 
 
 And all above is sullen, cheerless night ! 
 But still we thank thee for our transient bliss — 
 Yet, Lord, to scourge our sins remain'd no way but this? 
 
 As when our Father to Mount Moriah led 
 
 The blessing's heir, his age's hope and joy, 
 Pleased, as he roam'd along with dancing tread, 
 
 Chid his slow sire, the fond, officious boy, 
 And laugh 'd in sport to see the yellow fire 
 Climb up the turf-built shrine, his destined funeral pyre- 
 Even thus our joyous child went lightly on; 
 Bashfully sportive, timorously gay,
 
 BELSHAZZAR. 61 
 
 Her white foot bounded from the pavement stone 
 
 Like some light bird from off the quiv'ring spray; 
 And back she glanced, and smiled, in blameless glee, 
 The cars, and helms, and spears, and mystic dance to see. 
 
 By thee, oh Lord, the gracious voice was sent 
 That bade the Sire his murtherous task forego : 
 
 When to his home the child of Abraham went 
 His mother's tears had scarce begun to flow. 
 
 Alas ! and lurks there, in the thicket's shade, 
 
 The victim to replace our lost, devoted maid ? 
 
 Lord, even through thee to hope were now too bold ; 
 
 Yet 'twere to doubt thy mercy to despair. 
 'Tis anguish, yet 'tis comfort, faint and cold, 
 
 To think how sad we are, how blest we were ! 
 To speak of her is wretchedness, and yet 
 It were a grief more deep and bitterer to forget ! 
 
 Oh Lord our God ! why was she e'er our own ? 
 Why is she not our own — our treasure still ? 
 
 f 2
 
 G8 BELSHAZZAB. 
 
 We could have pass'd our heavy years alone. 
 
 Alas ! is this to bow us to thy will ? 
 Ah, even our humblest prayers we make repine, 
 Nor, prostrate thus on earth, our hearts to thee resign. 
 
 Forgive, forgive — even should our full hearts break ; 
 
 The broken heart thou wilt not, Lord, despise : 
 Ah ! thou art still too gracious to forsake, 
 
 Though thy strong hand so heavily chastise. 
 Hear all our prayers, hear not our murmurs, Lord ; 
 And, though our lips rebel, still make thyself ador'd.
 
 BELSHAZZAR. f>'<) 
 
 The Front of the Temple. 
 
 PRIESTS WITHIN. 
 
 Hark ! what dancing footsteps fall 
 Light before the Temple wall ? 
 Who are ye that seek to pass 
 Through the burnish'd gate of brass? 
 Come ye with the gifts of Kings, 
 With the peacock's bright-eyed wings ? 
 With the myrrh and fragrant spice? 
 With the spotless sacrifice ? 
 With the spoils of conquered lands? 
 With the works of maidens 1 hands, 
 O'er the glittering loom that run, 
 I nderneath the orient sun ? 
 Bring ye pearl, or choicest gem, 
 From a plunder" d diadem ? 
 Ivory wand, or ebony 
 From the sable Indian tree ?
 
 70 BELSHAZZAR. 
 
 Purple from the Tyrian shore ; 
 Amber cup, or coral store, 
 From the branching trees that grow 
 Under the salt sea-water's flow ? 
 
 PRIESTS, WITH BENINA. 
 
 With a fairer gift we come 
 To the God's majestic home 
 Than the pearls the rich shells weep 
 In the Erythrean deep. 
 All our store of ebony 
 Sparkles in her radiant eye. 
 Whiter far her spotless skin 
 Than the gauzy vestures thin, 
 Bleacli'd upon the shores of Nile ; 
 Grows around no palmy isle 
 Coral like her swelling lips, 
 Whence the gale its sweetness sips, 
 That upon the spice-tree blown 
 Seems a fragrance all its own ;
 
 BELSIIAZZAlt. 71 
 
 Never yet so fair a maid 
 On the bridal couch was laid ; 
 Never form beseem'd so well 
 The immortal arms of Bel. 
 
 PRIESTS, LEADING HER IN. 
 
 Mid the dashing fountains coo], 
 In the marble vestibule, 
 Where the orange branches play, 
 Freshen'd by the silver spray, 
 Heaven-led virgin, take thy rest, 
 While we bear the silken vest 
 And the purple robe of pride 
 Meet for Bel's expected bride. 
 
 ALL THE PRIESTS. 
 
 Bride-like now she stands array'd ! 
 Welcome, welcome, dark-hair'd maid ! 
 Lead her in, with dancing feet, 
 Lead her in, with music sweet,
 
 72 BELSHAZZAR. 
 
 With the cymbals glancing round, 
 And the hautboy's silver sound. 
 See the golden gates expand, 
 And the Priests, on either hand, 
 On their faces prone they fall 
 Entering the refulgent Hall. 
 With the tread that suits thy state, 
 Glowing cheek, and look elate, 
 With thine high unbending brow, 
 Sacred maiden, enter thou. 
 
 FIRST PRIEST. 
 
 Chosen of Bel, thou stand'st Avithin the Temple, 
 Within the first and lowest of our Halls, 
 Yet not least sumptuous. On the jasper pavement, 
 Each in his deep alcove, Chaldea's Kings 
 Stand on their carved pedestals. Behold them ! 
 Their marble brows still wear the conscious awe 
 Of sovereignty — the mightiest of the dead, 
 As of the living. Eminent, in the centre,
 
 BELSHAZZAR. 75 
 
 The golden statue (5,/ stands of Nabonassar, 
 That in the plain of Dura, to the sound 
 Of harp, and lute, and dulcimer, received 
 The homage of the world. The Scythian hills, 
 The margin of the Syrian sea, the Isles 
 Of Ocean, their adoring ti'ibes cast down ; 
 And the high sun, at noonday, saw no face 
 Of all mankind turn'd upward from the dust, 
 Save the imperial brow of Nabonassar, 
 That rose in lonelv loftiness, as now 
 Yon awe-crown'd image. 
 
 BENINA. 
 
 Have ye wrought him, too, 
 As when he prowl'd the plain, th 1 associate 
 Of the brute herd that browsed around, nor own'd 
 The dread of a superior presence, beat 
 By the uncourtly rains and wintry winds 
 Upon the undiadenVd head ? 
 
 PRIEST. 
 
 Cease, cease, nor tempt
 
 74 BELSHAZZAK. 
 
 The loving patience of the God too far ! 
 Advance ! and wind along the aspiring stair. 
 
 PRIESTS. 
 
 Haste ! the fading light of day 
 Scarce will gild our lofty way. 
 Haste, nor tremble, tender maid ! 
 To the sculptuVd balustrade 
 Cling not thus with snowy hand ; 
 None but slaves around thee stand, 
 On thy footsteps proud to wait : 
 Hark ! the slow-recoiling gate 
 Opens at our trumpets' 1 call ; 
 Enter, now, our second Hall. 
 
 SECOND PRIEST. 
 
 Well mayst thou hold thine alabaster hand, 
 Through which the rosy light so softly shines, 
 Before thine eyes, oh ! maiden, as thou enterest 
 The Chamber of the Tribute. Here thou seest
 
 BELSHAZZAlt. 75 
 
 The wealth of all the subjeet world, piled up 
 In order — from its multitude that seems 
 Confusion : in each deep, receding vault, 
 O'er all the spacious pavement, 'tis the same; 
 The flaming gold, and ivory, and the gems — 
 If all mankind were Kings, enough to crown 
 Each brow with an imperial diadem ! 
 
 BENINA. 
 
 Oh ! rapt Isaiah, were they not thy words — 
 How hath she ceased — the golden city ceased ! 
 Will all that wealth but ransom thee an hour, 
 Or bribe the impartial and undazzled Ruin 
 One instant to suspend its swooping wing ? 
 
 PRIESTS. 
 
 Breathe again the clear blue air; 
 Mount again the marble stair : 
 Still we mount — on high — on high, 
 To the exulting harmony! 
 Hark ! the strain of triumph rings 
 In the Hall of Captive Kings.
 
 7(i BELSHAZZAR. 
 
 THIRD PRIEST. 
 
 Now pause again : yon chained images 
 
 Are those that ruled the world, or ere the Lord 
 
 Of great Chaldea took the all-ruling sceptre 
 
 Into his iron hand, and laid the pride 
 
 Of all the kingdoms prostrate at his feet. 
 
 BENINA. 
 
 Oh ! King of Judah, thou art there ! Thy foes, 
 
 In eharitable cruelty, did quench 
 
 Thy sightless eyes, lest thou should'st see the dwelling 
 
 Which thou had'st changed for Sioifs beauteous hill ; 
 
 Lest thou should'st more than hear thy sorrowing people 
 
 DoonVd by thy sins, and by their own, to bondage. 
 
 Thou, Zedekiah, (,!) did'st desert thy God, 
 
 And wert of God deserted; — nor to thee 
 
 Is given, withdrawn into a foreign grave, 
 
 To feel again soft Canaan's fragrant gales 
 
 On thy blind brow, almost persuading thee 
 
 That, in thy darkness, thou canst still behold 
 
 Some once-lov'd spot, or dim-remembered scene. 
 
 The glad deliverance that comes to Judah
 
 BELSHAZZAR. 77 
 
 Comes not to thee. Alas ! to sad Benina, 
 Oh, gracious God of Abraham, will it come ? 
 
 PRIESTS. 
 
 Maid, again we lift the song ; 
 Thy soft feet have rested long ; 
 Nearer, nearer as we climb 
 To the highest Hall sublime, 
 Bride of the Immortal, thee 
 All the city throngs to see, 
 Floating, like a snowy dove, 
 In the azure clouds above. 
 Lo ! thi' fourth of our abodes. 
 Chamber of the captive Gods ' 
 
 BENINA. 
 Oh, Lord of Hosts ! I dare not gaze around me, 
 Lest in yon heaps of monstrous forms uncouth 
 The scaly Dagon, and the brute Osiris, 
 Moon-crownYl Astarte, or the Sun-like Mithra, 
 Some shape I should behold by the blind Gentile
 
 78 HKLSHAZZAK. 
 
 Held worthy to enclose th 1 Illimitable 
 That fills the Heaven and Earth. The Cherubim, 
 Perchance, are here, behind whose golden wings 
 Thy fiery presence dwelt, but dwells no more. 
 I know that danger waits me on yon height, 
 But thither haste I rather than behold 
 Profaning Heathens scorn what thou hast glorified. 
 Lead on 
 
 PRIESTS. 
 
 Half thy journey now is past ; 
 Who shall wonder at thine haste: — 
 Dost not wish for wings to fly 
 To thy blissful destiny? 
 Yet, oh tread with footstep light 
 As the falling dews of night ; 
 Like the gliding serpent creep 
 Where the gifted Dreamers sleep ; 
 Fold thou close thy fluttering dress, 
 Even thy panting breath suppress, 
 Lest some glorious dream we break : — 
 Lo ! 'tis vain — they move — they wake !
 
 BELSHAZZAR. ~<) 
 
 THE DREAMERS. 
 
 Hark ! hark ! the foot — we hear the trembling foot, 
 With motion like the dying wind upon a silver lute : 
 Upon our sleep it came, as soft itself as sleep ; 
 It shone upon our visions like a star upon the deep. 
 
 Lo ! lo ! the form, the graceful form we see 
 
 That seem'd, through all the live-long night, before our 
 
 eyes to be : 
 Above, the eyes of sparkling jet, the brow like marble fair ; 
 And down, and o'er the snowy breast, the dark and 
 wandering hair. 
 
 Hark ! hark ! the song — we hear the bridal sons — 
 Amid the listening stars it flows the sounding heavens 
 
 along ! 
 It follows the Immortal down from his empyreal sky, 
 Descending to his mortal bride in full divinity! 
 
 BENINA. 
 
 What! are your dreams so soft ; and saw ye nought
 
 80 BELSHAZZAR. 
 
 Of midnight flames, that clomb the palace walls, 
 
 And ran along the terrace colonnades, 
 
 And pourYl the liquid walls in torrent flames 
 
 Of dark asphaltns ? — Heard ye not the wail 
 
 Of wounded men, and shrieks of flying women ; 
 
 And the eaiVd Gods daslVd down in cumbrous ruin 
 
 On their own shrines ? 
 
 PRIESTS. 
 
 Great Bel avert the omen ! 
 
 PRIESTS. 
 
 Hurry on, nor more delay ; 
 Shadows darken on our way; 
 Only in the hall we tread ; 
 Ask of those the stars that read, 
 Catching every influence 
 Their all-ruling orbs dispense. 
 From those silent Prophets bright 
 That adorn the vault of night, 
 Watchers of the starry sky, 
 Know ve, feel ye, who is nigh ?
 
 BELSHAZZAR. 81 
 
 ASTROLOGERS. 
 
 What planet rolls its pearly car, 
 
 What orb of mild or angry hue ? 
 The star of love, the silver star, 
 
 Glides lonely through yon depth of blue. 
 We see her sailing motion calm ; 
 
 We hear the music of her sound ; 
 We drink Mylitta's (7) breathing balm, 
 
 In odorous clouds distilTd around. 
 And calm, and musical, and sweet 
 
 < 
 
 Is she that star's mild influence leads — 
 The maid that, with her snowy feet, 
 Even now the sacred pavement treads. 
 
 BENINA. 
 
 Enough of this ! Oh ! chaste and quiet stars, 
 And pure, as all things from infecting Earth 
 Remov 1 d, and near the throne of God ; whose calm 
 And beautiful obedience to the laws 
 Of your great Maker is a mute reproach 
 
 G
 
 82 RELSHAZZAR, 
 
 To the unruly courses of this world, 
 Would they debase you to the ministers 
 And guilty favourers of their sinful purpose? 
 
 PRIESTS. 
 
 Now our toil is all but done ; 
 Now the height is all but won ; 
 By the High Priest's lonely scat, 
 By Kalassan's still retreat, 
 Where, in many a brazen fold, 
 The slumbering Dragon lies outroll\l, 
 Pass we on, nor pause. Nor thou 
 Gaze, oh Priest, with wondering brow ! 
 Lovelier though her cheek appears 
 For her toil and for her tears ; 
 And the bosom's vest beneath 
 Heaves the quick and panting breath. 
 
 KALASSAN. 
 
 More beautiful ne'er trod our marble stairs !
 
 BELSHAZZAR. 83 
 
 PRIESTS. 
 
 None ! — but still the maid dismiss 
 To her place of destined bliss : — 
 That no mortal eye may see — 
 On ! we may not follow thee : 
 Only with our music sweet 
 We pursue thy mounting feet. 
 Now, upon the topmost height, 
 Thou art lost to mortal sight ! 
 Lo ! the couch beside thee spread, 
 Where the Heaven-loved maids are wed. 
 Till the bridal midnight deep 
 Bow thy head in balmy sleep — 
 Sleep that shall be sweetly broken 
 When the God his bride hath woken. 
 
 BENINA. 
 
 Alone ! alone upon this giddy height ! 
 Yet, better thus than by that frantic rout 
 Encircled: yet a while, and I shall breathe 
 
 -
 
 St KELSHAZZAR'. 
 
 With freedom. Oil ! thou cool, delicious silence, 
 How grateful art thou to the ears that ring 
 With that wild music's turbulent dissonance ! 
 By slow degrees the starlight face of things 
 Grows clear around my misty, swimming eyes. 
 Oh, Babylon ! how art thou spread beneath me ! 
 Like some wide plain, with rich pavilions set 
 Mid the dark umbrage of a summer grove. 
 Like a small rivulet, that from bank to bank 
 Is ruffled by the sailing cygnet's breast, 
 Euphrates seems to wind. Oh ! thou vast city, 
 Thus dwindled to our human sight, what art thou 
 To Him that from his throne, above the skies, 
 Beyond the circuit of the golden Sun, 
 
 Views all the subject world ! 
 
 The parting day 
 
 To twilight and the few faint early stars 
 
 Hath left the city. On yon western lake 
 
 A momentary gleam is lingering still. 
 
 Thou 'rt purpling now, oh Sun, the vines of Canaan,
 
 feELSHAZZAK. 85 
 
 And crowning, with rich light, the cedar top 
 
 Of Lebanon, where but oh! without their daughter — 
 
 Soon my sad parents shall return. Where are ye, 
 
 Beloved ? I seek in vain the lonely light 
 
 Of our dear cabin on Euphrates 1 side, 
 
 Amid yon kindling fires. And have ye quencrTd it, 
 
 That all your dwelling be as darkly sad 
 
 As are your childless hearts ? — And thou — mine own, 
 
 I thought this morn, and called thee — Adonijah, 
 
 Art thou, too, thinking of that hour like this; 
 
 The balmy, tranquil, and scarce starlight hour, 
 
 When the soft Moon had sent her harbinger, 
 
 Pale Silence, to foreshow her coming presence ; 
 
 To hush the winds, and smooth tin- clouds before her ? 
 
 That hour, that, with delicious treachery, stole 
 
 The secret from Benina's lips she long'd, 
 
 From her full heart, t 1 unburthen ? Better, now, 
 
 Had it been buried in eternal darkness, 
 
 Than thus have kindled hopes that shone so softly — 
 
 Were quenclfd so soon, so utterly. — 
 
 Fond heart,
 
 86 BKLSHAZZAIt. 
 
 These soft, desponding, yet delightful thoughts, 
 Must not dissolve thee to mistrust in him 
 That filFd thee as with fire, and touch'd my lips 
 With holy scorn of all the wealth and pride 
 That blazed around my path. Even now I feel 
 My trembling foot more firm ; and, like the eagle's, 
 Mine eyes familiar with their cloudy height 
 
 What's here? — an hurried tread 
 
 What art thou ? speak ! 
 
 KALASSAN. 
 
 The honour'd of the God that honours thee. 
 Oh, miracle of beauty ! I beheld thee, 
 And strove with my impatient spirit within 
 To wait th 1 appointed hour ; — but, as the pilgrim 
 Sees the white fountain in the palmy shade, 
 Nor brooks delay, even thus my thirsty eyes 
 Demand their instant feast. 
 
 BENINA. 
 
 Thou should'st have brought 
 The sage Diviners to unfold the meaning 
 Of this dark language.
 
 BFXSHAZZAR. «S7 
 
 KALASSAN. 
 
 Loveliest bashfulness ! 
 Or is it but the sportive ignorance 
 That laughs beneath the dark and glittering eyelids, 
 At the delighted dupe of its dissembling ? 
 
 BENINA. 
 
 Peace, and avaunt ! 
 
 KALASSAN. 
 
 Oh maid ! that art so beauteous 
 That yon bright Moon is rising, all in haste, 
 To gaze on thee, or to display thy grace 
 To him, that, lost in wonder, scarce hath melted 
 
 To love. 
 
 The snowy light falls where she treads, 
 As 'twere a sacred place ! in her loose locks 
 It wanders, even as with a sense of pleasure ! 
 And trembles on her bosom, that hath caught 
 Its gentle restlessness, and trembles, too, 
 Harmonious. 
 
 TSENINA. 
 
 Must mine ears endure thee still i
 
 88 BELSHAZZAR. 
 
 KALASSAN. 
 
 And know'st thou not why thou art here ; what bliss, 
 What bridal rapture waits thee ? 
 
 BENINA. 
 
 There are sins 
 Whose very dread infects the virgin's soul, 
 Tainting the fountain of her secret thoughts ; 
 I'm here to suffer evil — what, I know not, 
 But will remain in holy ignorance, 
 Till my dai'k hour of trial. 
 
 KALASSAN. 
 
 Hast thou never, 
 Soft maid, when fervid noon bathes all the world 
 In silence, in thy fond and wandering thoughts, 
 Beheld a noble bridegroom seated near thee, 
 And heard him, 'mid sweet falls of marriage-music, 
 Whispering what made thy pale cheek burn ? 
 
 BENINA. 
 
 Away !- 
 And must he see my tears ? and think me weak, 
 And of my God abandon'd ?
 
 BELSHAZZAR. 89 
 
 KALASSAN. 
 
 Lo! the couch 
 Bestrewn with flowers, whose fragrance and whose hues 
 Shall not have faded, till great Bel come down 
 Beneath that dimly canopied alcove 
 
 BENINA. 
 
 There 's that within thy words I ought to fear : 
 But it should seem, that with the earth I've left 
 All earthly fears beneath me. I defy 
 Thee and thy Gods alike. 
 
 KALASSAN. 
 
 Alike in truth ; 
 For sometimes doth the Mightiest not disdain 
 To veil his glories in a mortal shape, 
 Even great KalassaiVs. Look on me, and say 
 If he could choose a nobler. 
 
 BENINA. 
 
 What ! and fear'st not 
 Thine own false Gods — thou worse than Idol wor- 
 shipper ?
 
 90 BELSHAZZARj 
 
 Why even the senseless wood and stone might wake 
 
 To indignation, and their fiery vengeance 
 
 Break forth from Heaven. Alas! and what have they, 
 
 Whose name thou dost usurp to eloke thy sin, 
 
 To do with Heaven more than thy loathsome self? 
 
 KALASSAN. 
 
 Thine eyes, albeit so full of scorn, survey not 
 My form in vain. I tell thee, Maid, I tread 
 This earth so conscious that the best of Deity, 
 The power and majesty reside within me, 
 That I but stoop to win myself a bride 
 Beneath another name : here 'mid the clouds 
 I stand, as in mine own appropriate place. 
 
 BENINA. 
 
 The darkest pit of Tophet were too light 
 For thine offence. 
 
 KALASSAN. 
 
 Oh ! soft and musical voice, 
 Art thou so lavish of injurious words? 
 Erewhile thou "It be as prodigal of fondness;
 
 BELSHAZZAR. 91 
 
 So now prepare thee : ere two hours are past 
 Thou wedoVst Kalassan, or Kalassan's God, 
 Or both, or either, which thou wilt. Farewell 
 A little while : but I beseech thee, wear 
 When I return this soft becoming pride ; 
 Nor imitate, as yet, the amorous slaves 
 That weary with officious tenderness. 
 Be as thou seem'st, a kindred spirit with mine. 
 And we will mate like eagles in the Heavens, 
 And give our children an immortal heritage 
 To bathe their plumage in the fiery sun. 
 
 BEN IN A {alone). 
 Did the earth bear thee, monster ! or art thou 
 Th' Eternal Enemy in the human shape ? 
 Oh! 'tis the innocent's best security, 
 That the unrighteous pluck the thunderbolt 
 With such resistless violence on their heads. 
 Lord of the insulted Heavens ! thou canst not strike 
 This impious man, without delivering me ;
 
 92 BELSHAZZAR. 
 
 Me, else unworthy of thy gracious mercy. 
 
 But lo ! what blaze of light beneath me spreads 
 O'er the -wide city. Like yon galaxy 
 Above mine head, each long and spacious street 
 Becomes a line of silver light, the trees 
 In all their silent avenues break out 
 In flowers of fire. But chief around the Palace 
 Whitens the glowing splendour ; every court 
 That lay in misty dimness indistinct, 
 Is traced by pillars and high architraves 
 Of crystal lamps that tremble in the wind : 
 Each portal arch gleams like an earthly rainbow, 
 And o'er the front spreads one entablature 
 Of living gems of every hue, so bright 
 That the pale Moon, in virgin modesty, 
 Retreating from the dazzling and the tumult, 
 Afar upon the distant plain reposes 
 Her unambitious beams, or on the bosom 
 Of the blue river, ere it reach the walls.
 
 BELSHAZZAR. 93 
 
 Hark ! too, the sounds of revelry and song 
 
 Upon the pinions of the breeze come up 
 
 Even to this height. No eye is closed in sleep ; 
 
 None in vast Babylon but wakes to joy — 
 
 None — none is sad and desolate but I. 
 
 Yet over all, I know not whence or how, 
 
 A dim oppression loads the air, and sounds 
 
 As of vast wings do somewhere seem to brood 
 
 And hover on the winds; and I that most 
 
 Should tremble for myself, the appointed prey 
 
 Of sin, am bowM, as with enforced compassion, 
 
 To think on sorrows not mine own, to weep 
 
 O'er those whose laughter and whose song upbraids 
 
 My prodigality of mis-spent pity. 
 
 I will go rest, if rest it may be calPd — 
 
 Not, Adonijah — not to think of thee. 
 
 Oh ! bear a brief unwilling; banishment 
 
 From thine own home, my heart ; I cannot cope 
 
 With thy subduing image, and be strong.
 
 \)\ in : is i! \v / w\ 
 
 CHORUS OF BABYLONIANS BEFORE mi PALACE. 
 
 A. wake I awake] put on thy garb of pride, 
 Array thee like a sumptuous royal bride, 
 o festal Babylon! 
 
 1 ,;nl\ , w llOSe n or\ 1 1 Hi >i il- 
 ls by the Bide <>f man]/ azure waters .' 
 In floating dance, like birds upon the wing, 
 Send tinkling forth thy silver-sandaled daughters; 
 
 Send in the solemn march, 
 
 Beneath each portal arch, 
 Thy rich-robed lords to crowd the banquet of their King. 
 
 They come! they come from both the illumined shores; 
 Down each long street the festive tumuli pours; 
 
 Along the waters dark 
 
 shoots many ;« gleaming bark, 
 1,11m' stars along the midnighl welkin flashing, 
 And galleys, with their masts enwreath'd with light, 
 From their quick oars the kindling waters dashing;
 
 BELSHAZZAR. 95 
 
 In one Ions; moving line 
 Along the bridge they shine, 
 And with their glad disturbance wake flie peaceful night. 
 
 Hang forth, hang forth, in all your avenues, 
 The arching lamps of more than rainbow hues, 
 
 Oh ! gardens of delight ! 
 
 With the cool airs of night 
 Are lightly waved your silver-foliaged trees, 
 Tin' deep-embower , d yet glowing blaze prolong 
 Height above height the lofty terraces ; 
 
 Seeing this new day-break, 
 
 The nestling birds awake. 
 The nightingale hath hush'd her sweet untimely song. 
 
 Lift up, lift up your golden-valved doors, 
 Spread to the glittering dance your marble floors, 
 
 Palace! whose spacious halls. 
 
 And far-receding walls.
 
 96 BELSHAZZAR. 
 
 Are hung with purple like the morning skies ; 
 
 And all the living luxuries of sound 
 
 Pour from the long out-stretching galleries ; 
 
 Down every colonnade 
 
 The sumptuous board is laid, 
 With golden cups and lamps and bossy chargers crown'd. 
 
 They haste, they haste ! the high-crown'd Rulers stand, 
 Each with his sceptre in his kingly hand ; 
 
 The bearded Elders sage, 
 
 Though pale with thought and age ; 
 Those through whose bounteous and unfailing hands 
 The tributary streams of treasure flow 
 From the rich bounds of earth's remotest lands ; 
 
 All but the pomp and pride 
 
 Of battle laid aside, 
 Chaldea's Captains stand in many a glittering row. 
 
 They glide, they glide ! each, like an antelope, 
 Bounding in beauty on a sunny slope,
 
 BELSHAZZAU. 97 
 
 With full and speaking eyes, 
 
 And graceful necks that rise 
 O'er snowy bosoms in their emulous pride, 
 The chosen of earth's choicest loveliness ; 
 Some with the veil thrown timidly aside, 
 
 Some boastful and elate 
 
 In their majestic state 
 Whose bridal bed Belshazzar's self hath deignVl to bless. 
 
 Come forth ! come forth ! and crown the peerless feast, 
 Thou whose high birthright was the effulgent east ! 
 
 On th' ivory seat alone, 
 
 Monarch of Babylon ! 
 Survey the interminable wilderness 
 Of splendour, stretching far beyond the sight ; 
 Nought but thy presence wants there now to bless : 
 
 The music waits for thee, 
 
 Its fount of harmony, 
 Transcending glory thou of this thrice glorious night ! 
 
 H
 
 98 11KI.SITAZZATC. 
 
 Behold ! behold ! each gem-crown 1 d forehead proud 
 And every plume and crested helm is bow'd, 
 
 Each hieh-arch 1 d vault alono- 
 
 Breaks out the blaze of song, 
 Belshazzar comes ! nor Bel, when he returns 
 From riding on his stormy thunder-cloud, 
 To where his bright celestial palace burns, 
 
 Alights with loftier tread, 
 
 More full of stately dread, 
 While under his fix\l feet the loaded skies are bow'd.
 
 BELSHAZZAR. 99 
 
 The Hall of Banquet. 
 
 CHORUS. 
 
 Mightiest of the sons of man ! 
 
 The lion in his forest lair, 
 
 The eagle in the fields of air, 
 Amid the tumbling waves Leviathan, 
 
 In power without or peer or mate, 
 
 Hold their inviolable state : 
 
 Alone Belshazzar stands on earth, 
 Pre-eminent o'er all of human birth, 
 
 Mightiest of the sons of man ! 
 
 Richest of the sons of man ! 
 For thee the mountains teem with gold, 
 The spicy groves their bloom unfold, 
 The bird of beauty bears its feathery fan, 
 And amber paves the yellow seas, 
 And spread the branching coral trees, 
 
 ii <2
 
 100 BELSHAZZAR. 
 
 Nor shrouds the mine its deepest gem, 
 Ambitious to adorn Belshazzar's diadem, 
 Richest of the sons of man ! 
 
 Fairest of the sons of man ! 
 
 Tall as the cedar towers thine head, 
 
 And fleet and terrible thy tread, 
 As the strong coursers in the battled van ; 
 
 An Eden blooms upon thy face ; 
 
 Like music, thy majestic grace 
 
 Holds the mute gazer's breath supprcss'd, 
 And makes a tumult in the wondering breast, 
 
 Fairest of the sons of man ! 
 
 Noblest of the sons of man ! 
 The first a kingly rule that won, 
 Wide as the journey of the sun, 
 From Nimrod thine high-sceptred race began ; 
 And gathering splendour still, went down 
 From sire to son the eternal crown,
 
 BELSHAZZAR. 101 
 
 Till full on great Belshazzars crest 
 Its high meridian glory shone confest, — 
 Noblest of the sons of man ! 
 
 Happiest of the sons of man ! 
 
 In wine, in revel, and in joy 
 
 Was softly nursed the imperial boy ; 
 His golden years like Indian rivers ran, 
 
 And every rapturous hour surpast 
 
 The glowing rapture of the last, 
 
 Even till the plenitude of bliss 
 Did overflow and centre all in this, 
 
 Happiest of the sons of man ! 
 
 SABARIS. 
 
 Peace! peace! the king vouchsafes his gracious speech. 
 
 Sit ye like statues silent ! ye have quafTd 
 The liquid gladness of the blood-red wine, 
 And ye have eaten of the golden fruits 
 That the sun ripens but for kingly lips,
 
 102 BELSHAZZAB. 
 
 And now ye are about to feast your ears 
 With great Belshazzar's voice. 
 
 ARIOCH. 
 
 The crowded hall 
 Suspense, and prescient of the coming joy, 
 Is silent as the cloudless summer skies. 
 
 BELSHAZZAR. 
 
 Oh ye, assembled Babylon ! fair youths 
 
 And hoary Elders, Warriors, Counsellors, 
 
 And bright eyed Women, down my festal board 
 
 Reclining ! oh ye thousand living men, 
 
 Do ye not hold your charter'd breath from me ? 
 
 And I can plunge your souls in wine and joy ; 
 
 Or by a word, a look, dismiss you all 
 
 To darkness and to shame : yet, are ye not 
 
 Proud of the slavery that thus enthrals you ? 
 
 What king, what ruler over subject man 
 
 Or was, or is, or shall be like Belshazzar? 
 
 I summon from their graves the sceptred dead 
 
 Of elder days, to see their shame. T cry
 
 BELSIIAZZAlt. 103 
 
 Unto the cloudy Past, unfold the thrones 
 That glorified the younger world : I call 
 To the dim Future — lift thy veil and show 
 The destined lords of humankind : they rise, 
 They bow their veil'd heads to the dust, and own 
 The throne whereon Chaldea's Monarch sits, 
 The height and pinnacle of human glory. 
 
 Oh ancient cities, o'er whose streets the grass 
 Is o-reen, whose name hath withered from the face 
 Of earth ! Oh ye by rich o'erflowing Nile, 
 Memphis, and hundred-gated Thebes— and thou, 
 Assyrian Nineveh, and ye golden towers 
 That redden o'er the Indian streams, what are ye 
 To Babylon — Eternal Babylon ! 
 That's girt with bulwarks strong as adamant, 
 O'er whom Euphrates 1 restless waves keep watch, 
 That, like the high and everlasting Heavens, 
 Grows old, yet not less glorious ? Yes, to you 
 I turn, oh azure-curtain'd palaces ! 
 Whose lamps are stars, whose music, the sweet motion
 
 104 BELSHAZZAR. 
 
 Of your own spheres, in whom the banqueters 
 Are Gods, nor fear my Babylonian halls, 
 Even with your splendours to compare. 
 
 Bring wine! 
 I see your souls are jocund as mine own : 
 Pour in yon vessels of the Hebrews 1 God 
 Belshazzar , s beverage — pour it high. Hear, earth ! 
 
 Hear, Heaven ! my proud defiance ! Oh, what man, 
 
 What God 
 
 SABARIS, AND MANY VOICES. 
 
 The king ! the king ! look to the king ! 
 
 ARIOCH. 
 
 Where ? I can see nor king nor people — nothing 
 But a bewildering, red, and gloom-like light 
 That swallows up the fiery canopy 
 Of lamps. 
 
 SABARIS. 
 
 Hath blindness smitten thee ? 
 
 ARIOCH. 
 
 I know not ;
 
 BELSHAZZAR. 105 
 
 But all things swim around me in a darkness 
 That dazzles 
 
 SABARIS. 
 
 See, his shuddering joints are loosenM, 
 And his knees smite each other : such a face 
 Is seen in tombs : — what means it ? 
 
 ARIOCH. 
 
 ■ 
 
 See^t not thou 
 
 That taunted'st me but now — upon the wall — 
 
 There — there — it moves 
 
 BELSHAZZAR. 
 
 Oh dark and bodiless hand, 
 What art thou — thus upon my palace wall 
 Gliding in shadowy, slow, gigantic blackness? 
 Lo ! fiery letters, where it moves, break out : 
 ,r fis there — 'tis gone : — 'tis there again — no, nought 
 Cut those strange characters of flame, that bum 
 Upon the unkindled wall : — I cannot read them — 
 Can ye ? 
 
 I sec your quivering lips that speak not —
 
 106 BELSHAZZAK. 
 
 Sabaris — Arioch — Captains — Elders — all 
 As pale and horror-stricken as myself! 
 
 Are there no wiser? Call ye forth the Dreamers, 
 And those that read the stars, and every priest, 
 And he that shall interpret best shall wear 
 The scarlet robe and chain of gold, and sit 
 Third ruler of my realm. Away ! — No — leave me not 
 To gaze alone ; — alone, on those pale signs 
 Of destiny — the unextinguishable, 
 
 The indelible Strew, strew my couch where best 
 
 I may behold what sears my burning eyeballs 
 
 To gaze on — and the cold blood round my heart 
 
 To stand, like snow. No — ache mine eyes, and quiver 
 
 My palsied limbs — I cannot turn away — 
 
 Here am I bound as by thrice linked brass, 
 
 Here, till the burthen of mine ignorance 
 
 Be from my loaded soul taken off, in silence 
 
 Deep as the midnight round a place of tombs.
 
 BELSHAZZAK. 107 
 
 The Summit of the Temple. 
 
 BENINA. 
 
 How long, O Lord 1 how long must I endure 
 This restlessness of danger ? — I have wish'd 
 That even the worst were come, I am so sick 
 And weary with suspense : I have sate and gazed 
 Upon the silent moon, as she pursued 
 Her journey to yon blue celestial height. 
 Pilgri m of Heaven ! the white translucent clouds, 
 Through which she wanders, fall away, nor leave 
 A taint upon her spotless orb : Shall I, 
 O Lord ' emerge in purity as stainless 
 From the dark clouds that dim mine earthly course ? 
 And sometimes as a whispering sound came up, 
 Though but the voice of some light breathing wind 
 Along the stair, I felt my trembling heart, 
 And I grew guilty of a timorous doubt 
 In Him, whose guardian hand is o'er me.
 
 108 BELSHAZZAR. 
 
 Hark! 
 Hark ! all around — above — beneath — it bursts, 
 
 The long deep roll of in yon cloudless skies : 
 
 It cannot be God's thunder, and the fires, 
 
 Blue as the sulphurous lightning, rise from earth, 
 
 Not Heaven. Oh madly impious ! dare ye thus 
 
 Mimic the all-destroying arms that rage 
 
 Against the guilty ? the vast temple shakes, 
 
 And all the clouded atmosphere is red 
 
 With the hell-born tempest— like to rushing chariots 
 
 Upon a stony way, like some vast forest 
 
 Ablaze with an heaven-kindled conflagration, 
 
 It comes, it comes — as in a tent of clouds, 
 
 Rent at each moment by the flashing light, 
 
 The gloom rolls back — it bursts. Speak ! — who art thou, 
 
 Whose robes are woven as from the starry Heavens ? 
 
 What means that sceptre, and the wreaths, like mist, 
 
 That turban thy dusk brow ? — I know thee now — 
 
 I see it grow into a hideous likeness — 
 
 Kalassan !
 
 BELSHAZZAR. 1 09 
 
 KALASSAN. 
 
 Oh most sweet humility, 
 That doth disdain the modest palliation 
 Of being a Deity "^ enforced bride ; 
 Her fond detection pierces every veil, 
 And springs in raptures to her mortal lover. 
 
 BENINA. 
 
 Oh can I wonder that thou dost bely 
 
 The innocent helpless virgin, when thy falsehood 
 
 Aspires with frantic blasphemy t 1 attaint 
 
 The immaculate Heavens? 
 
 KALASSAN. 
 
 lloll on ! I say, — roll on 
 My bridal music ! the ear-stunning tambour — 
 Blaze forth my marriage fires ! 
 
 BENINA. 
 
 Avaunt ! — My cries 
 
 KALASSAN. 
 
 Thy cries! Thou mightst as well, on Taurus 1 brow- 
 Call to the shipman on the Caspian Sea ! 
 Scvst thou how far thou art from earth?
 
 110 BELSHAZZAlt. 
 
 BENINA. 
 
 See'st thou 
 How near to Heaven ? 
 
 KALASSAN. 
 
 To Heaven ! behold, the stars 
 Pierce not the cool pavilion, where soft Darkness, 
 Our handmaid, hangs her nuptial canopy, 
 At times illumiiVd by the flashing light 
 That loves to linger on thy kindling beauty. 
 
 BENINA. 
 
 'Tis as he says ! — nor sound, nor gleam of succour 
 
 Thy bride — oh, Adonijah ! — ah, no bride 
 
 Of thine ! — lost — lost to thee — would 'twere by death ! 
 
 Is't for the sin of loving thee too fondly 
 
 I am deserted ! — Spare me, Man of Terror, 
 
 And prayers for thee (they say, God loves the prayers 
 
 Of the undefiled) shall rise as constantly 
 
 As summer-dews at eve. 
 
 KALASSAN. 
 
 Now louder ! louder!
 
 BELSHAZZAR. Ill 
 
 Let tlicrc be triumph in your martial sounds. 
 
 BENINA. 
 
 Oh God ! oh God ! I have condemned myself, 
 And fallen from the faith. Ah, not for me ! 
 For thine own glory suffer not the Heathen 
 
 To boast of Ha ! — all silence, and all gloom — 
 
 I tremble — but he trembles too 
 
 KALASSAN. 
 
 With wrath ! 
 Slaves ! wherefore have ye quench'd mine earthly light, 
 And still'd mv storm ? 
 
 
 VOICE BELOW. 
 
 
 
 Kalassan ! 
 
 
 
 KALASSAN. 
 VOICE. 
 BENINA. 
 
 Slaves ! 
 
 Kalassan ! 
 
 Thou'rl call'd 
 

 
 112 BELSHAZZAR. 
 
 VOICE. 
 
 Kalassan ! to Belshazzars presence 
 We are summon 'd: — Priest, Diviner, Seer, thyself; — 
 If thou delay 'st, stern Arioch's sword must sever 
 The disobedient head ! 
 
 BENINA. 
 
 With tears, not words, 
 I bless thee, Lord ! 
 
 KALASSAN. 
 
 Is this thy God ? 
 
 BENINA. 
 
 My God, 
 
 In his omnipotence, doth make the wrath 
 
 Of hurricanes and desolating fires 
 
 His ministers — why not the breath of Kings ? 
 
 KALASSAN. 
 
 The hour will come in which to tame thy scorn ! 
 
 BENINA. 
 
 The hour is come that frees me from thy presence : 
 Haste, haste
 
 BELSHAZZAR. 113 
 
 VOICE. 
 
 Kalassan ! 
 
 KALASSAN. 
 
 Slaves ! I come. 
 
 BENINA. 
 
 Away ! 
 Thou 'It pardon me my fond solicitude, 
 Impatient of thy lingering. 
 
 KALASSAN. 
 
 Fare thee well 
 Till I return. 
 
 BENINA. 
 
 Till thou return'st He 's gone ! 
 
 I did not think that I could hear his tread, 
 
 His angry tread, with such a deep delight. 
 
 Oh ! my fond parents ! when we meet again, 
 
 We shall not meet with strange, averted looks : 
 
 Ye will not, in sad pity, take me back 
 
 A shamed and blighted child to your cold bosoms. 
 
 And thou, betrothed, bclov\l — I shall endure 
 
 i
 
 114 BELSHAZZAR. 
 
 To stand before thy face, nor wish the earth 
 
 To shroud me from thine imrcproaehing gaze ; 
 
 For were I all I fear'd, thou hadst ne'er reproach'd me ! 
 
 And oh, sweet Siloe ! oh, my Fathers' land ! 
 
 Land where the feet may wander where they will — 
 
 Land where the heart may love without a fear ! 
 
 I feel that I shall tread thee ; for the Lord 
 
 Pours not his mercies in a sparing measure. 
 
 This is the earnest of his love — the seal 
 
 With which he marks us for his own, his blest, 
 
 His ransom'd ! Oh ! fair Zion, lift thou up 
 
 Thy crown, that glitters to the morning Sun ! 
 
 They come — thy lost, thy banish'd children come — 
 
 And thy streets rise to sounds of melody !
 
 UELSHAZZAR. 11- 
 
 The Hall of Banquet, with the Fiery Letters on the 
 
 Wall 
 
 ARIOCH. 
 
 Hath the King spoken ? 
 
 SABARJS. 
 
 Not a word : as now, 
 He hath sate, with eyes that strive to grow familiar 
 With those red characters of fire : but still 
 The agony of terror hath not pass'd 
 From his chill frame. But, if a word, a step, 
 A motion, from those multitudes reclined 
 Down each long festal board ; the bursting string 
 Of some shrill instrument ; or even the wind, 
 Whispering amid the plumes and shaking lamps, 
 Disturb him — by some mute, imperious gesture, 
 Or by his brow's stern anger, he commands 
 All the vast Halls to silence. 
 
 ARIOCH. 
 
 Peace ! he hears 
 i 2
 
 116 BFXSHAZZAR. 
 
 Our munnur'd speech. 
 
 SABARIS. 
 
 No. 
 
 ARIOCH. 
 
 Did ye not observe him, 
 When his hand fell upon the all-ruling sceptre, 
 The bitter and self-mocking laugh that pass'd 
 O'er his pale cheek ? 
 
 SABARIS. 
 
 His lips move, but he speaks not! 
 All still again 
 
 ARIOCH. 
 
 They are here :— the Priests and Seers ; 
 Their snowy garments sweep the Hall. 
 
 SABARIS. 
 
 Behold! 
 He motions them to advance and to retreat 
 At once — and pants, yet shudders, to demand 
 Their answer.
 
 BELSHAZZAlt. 117 
 
 BELSHAZZAR. 
 
 Oh ! Chaldea's worshipp'd Sages — 
 Oh ! men of wisdom, that have pass'd your years — 
 Youc long and quiet, solitary years, 
 In tracing the dim sources of tK events 
 That agitate this world of man — oh ! ye 
 That in the tongues of every clime discourse ; 
 Ye that hold converse with the eternal stars, 
 And, in their calm prophetic courses, read 
 The destinies of empires ; ye whose dreams 
 Are throng'd with the predestined images 
 Of tilings that are to be ; to whom the Fates 
 Unfold their secret councils ; to whose sight 
 The darkness of Futurity withdraws, 
 And one vast Present fills all Time — behold 
 Yon burning characters ! and read, and say 
 Why the dark Destinies have hung their sentence 
 Thus visible to the sight, but to the mind 
 Unsearchable ? — Ye have heard the rich reward ; 
 And I but wait to see whose neck shall wear
 
 118 liKLSHAZZAK. 
 
 The chain of glory — 
 
 Ha ! each pale fallen lip 
 Voiceless ! and each upon the other turns 
 
 His wan and questioning looks. Kalassan ! thou 
 
 Art like the rest, and gazest on thy fellows 
 
 In blank and sullen ignorance. — Spurn them forth ! 
 
 Ye wise ! ye learned ! ye with Fate's mysteries 
 
 Entrusted ! Spurn, I say, and trample on them ! 
 
 Let them be outcast to the scorn of slaves ! 
 
 Let children pluck their beards, and every voice 
 
 Hoot at them as they pass ! 
 
 Despair! Despair! 
 This is thy palace now ! No throne, no couch 
 Beseems the King, whose doom is on his walls 
 Emblazed — yet whose vast empire finds not one 
 Whose faithful love can show its mystic import ! 
 Low on the dust, upon the pavement-stone, 
 Belshazzar takes his rest ! — Ye hosts of slaves, 
 Behold your King ! the Lord of Babylon ! — 
 Speak not — for he that speaks, in other words
 
 liELSHAZZAR. 119 
 
 But to expound those fiery characters, 
 Shall ne'er speak more ! 
 
 nitocris (entering). 
 
 As thou dicTst give command, 
 My son, I 'm here to see the all-glorious feast 
 That shames the earth, and copes with Heaven ! 
 
 Great Powers ! 
 Is 't thus ? Oh ! look not with that mute reproach, 
 More terrible than anger, on thy mother ! 
 Oh, pardon my rash taunts ! — my son ! my son ! 
 Thou art but now the beauteous, smiling child, 
 That from my bosom drank the flowing life ; 
 By whom I 've pass'd so many sleepless nights 
 In deeper joy than slumber e'er could give ! 
 The sole refreshment of my weary spirit 
 To gaze on thee ! — Alas ! 'twas all my crime : — 
 I gave to thy young lips the mantling cup 
 Of luxury and pride ; I taught thee first 
 That the wide earth was made for thee, and man 
 Born for thy uses !
 
 L'20 BELSHAZZAR. 
 
 BELSHAZZAR. 
 
 Find me who will read it, 
 And thou wilt give me, then, a life more precious 
 Than that I once received of thee. 
 
 N1TOCRIS. 
 
 'Twas he ; 
 I saw him as I pass'd along the courts, 
 The Hebrew, that, when visions of the night 
 Shook the imperial soul of Nabonassar, 
 Like one to whom the dimly-peopled realms 
 Of sleep were clear as the bright noontide Heavens, 
 Spake 
 
 BELSHAZZAR. 
 
 With the speed of lightning call him hither. 
 No more, my mother — till he comes, no more. 
 
 ARIOCH. 
 
 King of the world, he 's here. 
 
 BELSHAZZAR. 
 
 Not yet ! not yet ! 
 Delay him ! hold him back ! — My sold "s not strung
 
 BELSHAZZAR. 121 
 
 To the dire knowledge. 
 
 Up the voiceless hall 
 He moves ; nor doth the white and ashen fear, 
 That paints afl faces, change one line of his. 
 Audacious slave ! walks he erect and firm, 
 When kings are groveling on the earth ? — Give place ! 
 Why do ye crowd around him ? Back ! I say. 
 Is your king heard — or hath he ceased to rule ? 
 
 NITOCRIS. 
 
 Alas ! my son, fear levels kings and slaves. 
 
 BELSHAZZAR. 
 
 Art thou that Daniel of the Hebrew race, 
 
 In whom the excellence of wisdom dwells 
 
 As in the Gods? I have heard thy fame: — behold 
 
 Yon mystic letters, flaming on the wall, 
 
 That, in the darkness of their fateful import, 
 
 Baffle the wisest of Chaldea's sages ! 
 
 Read, and interpret ; and the satrap robe 
 
 Of scarlet shall invest thy limbs ; the chain 
 
 Of gold adorn thy neck ; and all the world
 
 122 BELSHAZZAK. 
 
 Own thee third ruler of Chaldea's realm ! 
 
 DANIEL. 
 
 Belshazzar, be thy gifts unto thyself, 
 
 And thy rewards to others. I, the servant 
 
 Of God, will read God's writing to the King. 
 
 The Lord of Hosts to thy great Ancestor, 
 
 To Nabonassar, gave the all-ruling sceptre 
 
 O'er all the nations, kingdoms, languages ; 
 
 Lord paramount of life and death, he slew 
 
 Where'er he will'd ; and where he will'd men lived ; 
 
 His word exalted, and his word debased ; 
 
 And so his heart swell'd up ; and, in its pride, 
 
 Arose to Heaven ! But then the Lord of earth 
 
 Became an outcast from the sons of men — 
 
 Companion of the browsing beasts ! the dews 
 
 Of night fell cold upon his crownless brow, 
 
 And the wild asses of the desert fed 
 
 Round their unenvied peer ! And so he knew 
 
 That God is Sovereign o'er earth's sceptred Lords. 
 
 But thou, his son, unwarn'd, untaught, untamed,
 
 LELSHAZZAlt. 123 
 
 Belshazzar, hast arisen against the Lord, 
 
 And in the vessels of his house hast quafFd 
 
 Profane libations, 'mid thy slaves and women, 
 
 To gods of gold, and stone, and wood ; and laugh 'd 
 
 The King of Kings, the God of Gods, to scorn. 
 
 Now hear the words, and hear their secret meaning — 
 
 "Number'd!" twice " NumberM ! Weigh'd ! Divided!" 
 
 King, 
 Thy reign is number'd, and thyself art weiglVd, 
 And wanting in the balance, and thy realm 
 Sever'd, and to the conquering Persian given ! 
 
 ARIOCH. 
 
 What vengeance will he wreak ? The pit of lions — 
 The stake 
 
 BELSHAZZAR. 
 
 Go — lead the Hebrew forth, array'd 
 In the proud robe, let all the city hail 
 The honour'd of Belshazzar. Oh ! not lone 
 Will that imperial name command your awe ! 
 And, oh! ye bright and festal halls, whose vaults 

 
 124 BELSHAZZAR. 
 
 Were full of sweet sounds as the summer groves, 
 
 Must ye be changed for chambers, where no tone 
 
 Of music sounds, nor melody of harp, 
 
 Or lute, or woman's melting voice ? — My mother ! — 
 
 And how shall we two meet the coming ruin ? 
 
 In arms ! thou say'st ; but with what arms, to front 
 
 The Invisible, that in the silent air 
 
 Wars on us ? Shall we seek some place of silence, 
 
 Where the cold cypress shades our Fathers 1 tombs, 
 
 And grow familiar with the abode of Death ? 
 
 And yet how calm, how fragrant, how serene 
 The night ! — When empires fall, and Fate thrusts down 
 The monarchs from their ancient thrones, 'tis said, 
 The red stars meet, with ominous, hostile fires; 
 And the dark vault of Heaven flames aD across 
 With meteors ; and the conscious earth is rock'd ; 
 And foaming rivers burst their shores ! But now, 
 Save in my soul, there is no prescient dread : — 
 Nought but my fear-struck brow is dark and sad. 
 All sleeps in moonlight silence : ye can wave,
 
 BELSHAZZAIt. 125 
 
 Oh happy gardens ! in the cool night airs 
 Your playful branches ; ye can rise to Heaven, 
 And glitter, my unconscious palace-towers ; 
 No gliding hand, no Prophet's voice, to you 
 Hath rent the veil that hides the awful future ! 
 Well, we '11 go rest once more on kingly couches, 
 My mother, and we '11 wake and feel that earth 
 Still trembles at our nod, and see the slaves 
 Reading their fate in our imperial looks ! 
 
 And then — and then Ye Gods ! that I had still 
 
 Nought but my shuddering and distracting fears ; 
 
 That those dread letters might resume once more 
 
 Their dark and unintelligible brightness ; 
 
 Or that 'twere o'er, and I and Babylon 
 
 Were — what a few short days or hours will make us ! 

 
 12G BKLS1IAZZA11. 
 
 Above the City. 
 
 THE DESTROYING ANGEL. 
 
 The horn* is come ! the hour is come ! With voice 
 
 Heard in thy inmost soul, I summon thee, 
 
 Cyrus, the Lord's anointed ! And thou River, 
 
 That flow'st exulting in thy proud approach 
 
 To Babylon, beneath whose shadowy walls 
 
 And brazen gates, and gilded palaces, 
 
 And groves, that gleam with marble obelisks, 
 
 Thy azure bosom shall repose, with lights 
 
 Fretted and chequer'd like the starry heavens : 
 
 I do arrest thee in thy stately course, 
 
 By Him that pourcl thee from thine ancient fountain, 
 
 And sent thee forth, even at the birth of Time, 
 
 One of his holy streams, to lave the mounts 
 
 Of Paradise. Thou hear'st me : thou dost check 
 
 Abrupt thy waters, as the Arab chief
 
 BELSHAZZAR. I2"t 
 
 His headlong squadrons. Where the unobserved 
 Yet toiling Persian breaks the ruining mound, 
 I see thee gather thy tumultuous strength ; 
 And, through the deep and roaring Naharmalcha, {H) 
 Roll on, as proudly conscious of fulfilling 
 The Omnipotent command ! While, far away, 
 The lake, that slept but now so calm, nor moved 
 Save by the rippling moonshine, heaves on high 
 Its foaming surface, like a whirlpool gulf, 
 And boils and whitens with the unwonted tide. 
 
 But silent as thy billows used to flow, 
 And terrible the hosts of Elam move, 
 Winding their darksome way profound, Avhere man 
 Ne'er trod, nor light e'er shone, nor air from Heav'n 
 Breathed. Oh ! ye secret and unfathom'd depths, 
 How are ye now a smooth and royal way 
 For th 1 army of God's vengeance ! Fellow slaves, 
 And ministers of the Eternal purpose, 
 Not guided by the treacherous injured sons 
 Of Babylon, but by my mightier arm,
 
 128 BELSHAZZAH. 
 
 Ye come, and spread your banners, and display 
 
 Your glittering arms as ye advance, all white 
 
 Beneath th" 1 admiring moon. Come on ! the gates 
 
 Are open — not for banqueters in blood 
 
 Like you ! — I see on either side o'erflow 
 
 The living deluge of arnVd men, and cry 
 
 Begin, begin, with fire and sword begin 
 
 The work of wrath. Upon my shadowy wings 
 
 I pause and float a little while to see 
 
 Mine human instruments fulfil my task 
 
 Of final ruin. Then I mount, I fly, 
 
 And sing my proud song, as I ride the clouds, 
 
 That stars may hear, and all the hosts of worlds, 
 
 That live along the interminable space, 
 
 Take up Jehovah's everlasting triumph !
 
 BELSHAZZAR. 129 
 
 The Streets of Babylon. 
 
 Adonijah, Imlah. 
 
 adonijah. 
 Imlah ! this way he motion'd me to pass. 
 
 IMLAH. 
 
 My son ! (alas ! I ever call thee son, 
 
 Though my old childless heart but bleeds the more 
 
 At that fond name), the broad Euphrates lies 
 
 That way, nor boat nor bark is wont to moor 
 
 By that inhospitable pier; he meant 
 
 Toward the Temple — that way leads not thither. 
 
 ADONIJAH. 
 
 Father, the Lord will make a way, where'er 
 His Prophets do direct our feet. Thou saw'st not 
 As I ; they led him at the king's command 
 Along the streets, in scarlet clad, and made 
 
 K
 
 180 BELSHAZZAR. 
 
 Their trumpets clamour, and their voices shout 
 Before great Daniel ; but it seenfd he mark'd 
 Nor trumpet sound, nor voice of man : the garb, 
 Th' array, the triumph touch'd not him : he held 
 A strange, elate, and voiceless intercourse 
 With some dark being in the clouds ; for now 
 I saw him, as the torches shone upon him — 
 His brow like some crown'd warrior's, when his hosts 
 Are spreading, in their arm'd magnificence, 
 Over a conquer'd realm ; and now he seem'd 
 To count impatient the slow time ; and now 
 He look'd, where in the distant darkness rose 
 The Temple, now where still the palace shone 
 With its rich festal light, as though he watch'd 
 And listenM for some earthquake to o'erthrow them. 
 His ominous looks were terrible with ruin ; 
 The majesty of God's triumphant vengeance 
 Was in his tread : even thus the Patriarch look'd, 
 When, mounting in his ark, he saw the deluge 
 Come sweeping o'er the doonVd yet heedless world.
 
 HEI-SHAZZAR. 131 
 
 Something, be sure, the hand of God prepares 
 To rescue, to revenge. 
 
 IMLAH. 
 
 Too late ! too late ! 
 Oh that last night ! 
 
 ADONIJAH. 
 
 My father ! 
 
 IMLAH. 
 
 Thou art ngnt ; 
 "Twas rashly, madly spoken — but my spirit 
 Is wrung almost to find a deadly pleasure 
 In madly uttering what the heart abhors. 
 1 11 on with thee. 
 
 ADONIJAH. 
 
 He motion 1 d me alone. 
 
 IMLAH. 
 
 He did — and he must be obey'd : farewell, 
 Dear youth — dear son ! if thou should'st meet with her 
 Cast forth in scorn, and groveling on the earth, 
 Chide her not, Adonijah — speak not to her, 
 
 K 2
 
 132 P.KLSHAZZAK. 
 
 Lest thy compassion seem to mock her shame : 
 But, pray thee, lead her to the old man's home — 
 To the old man's heart, that will not love her less, 
 Though his love have less of pride and more of sorrow. 
 Farewell, and prosper ! 
 
 1 11 e;o wander on 
 Through the dusk streets. Poor Naomi ! I left thee, 
 Thy wretchedness had wrought its own relief, 
 Asleep. Oh thou, if thou should'st never wake, 
 Thrice bless'd. Beloved, I should mourn for thee, 
 But envy while I mournM. 
 
 Great King of vengeance, 
 God of my fathers ! thou art here at length. 
 Behold ! behold ! from every street the flames 
 Burst out, and armed men, proud conquering men, 
 Move in the blaze they 've kindled to destroy. 
 Are ye the avenging Spirits of the Lord, 
 Descended on the blast, and clouding o'er 
 The Heavens, as ye come down, with that red cope 
 Deeper than lightning ? No — it is the Mede,
 
 BELSIIAZZAlt. 133 
 
 The ravaging, the slaughtering, merciless Mede. 
 This way they fly, with shrieks, and clashing arms, 
 And multitudes that choke th 1 impassable streets, 
 Till the fierce conqueror hew his ruthless way. 
 Shall not I fly ? and wherefore ? Oh ! waste on, 
 And burn, triumphant stranger ! trample down 
 
 Master and slave alike ! there is one house 
 
 Thou canst not make more desolate : thou canst not 
 
 Pour ills on any of these guilty roofs, 
 
 So hateful as have burst on mine. Who comes ? 
 
 N I TO CMS, I ML. 111. 
 
 
 NITOCRIS. 
 
 My son ! my son ! I heard the cries — I saw 
 
 The flames; I rush'd through all the shrieking palace 
 
 To seek him — and I found him not ; and sprang 
 
 To find him, where I thought not, where I knew not. 
 
 One moment do I plunge into the gloom 
 
 Of some dark court, to shun the foe — the next.
 
 134 BEL&HAZZAR. 
 
 I bless the angrj and destroying light, 
 
 Because I think it may disclose the face, 
 
 The beauteous face of mine Imperial Boy. 
 
 I've pass'd by widows, and by frantic mothers, 
 
 That howl and tear their hair o'er their dead children : 
 
 I cannot find my child, even to perform 
 
 That last sad duty of my love — to mourn him. 
 
 I 've cried aloud, and told them I 'm their queen ; 
 
 They gaze on me, and mock me with their pity, 
 
 Showing that qtieens can be as desolate 
 
 As slaves : and sometimes have I paused and stoop'd 
 
 Cer dying faces, with a hideous hope 
 
 Of seeing my son ! I dare not cry Belshazzar, 
 
 Lest he should hear me, and come forth and meet 
 
 The slaughtering sword. Ye Gods ! his very beauty 
 
 And majesty will mark him out for slaughter : 
 
 And the fierce Persian, that in weary pride 
 
 May scorn to flesh his sword on meaner heads, 
 
 Will win himself an everlasting glory, 
 
 By slaying th 1 unarmed, the succourless Belshazzar.
 
 BELSHAZZAE. 135 
 
 Here 's one — hast seen him ? Slave, I '11 give thee gold, 
 
 I '11 give thee kingdoms ah ! what gold or kingdoms 
 
 Hath the sad queen of captive Babylon 
 
 To give ? but thou hast haply known the love 
 
 That parents bear to those who have been a part 
 
 Of their own selves ; whose lives are twined with theirs 
 
 So subtly, that 'twere worse than death to part them. 
 
 Hast seen the king — my son —the pride of kings — 
 
 My peerless son ? 
 
 IMLAH. 
 
 I had a child this morn, 
 Beautiful as the doe upon the mountains, 
 Pure as the crystal of the brook she drinks ; 
 And when they rent her from her father's heart, 
 
 To death oh no ! — to deeper woe than death, 
 
 The queen of Babylon swept proudly by, 
 Nor stoop'd to waste her pity on the childless. 
 
 NITOCRIS. 
 
 Oh ye just Gods ! but cruel in your justice ! 
 And never met ye more ?
 
 136 BELSHAZZAB. 
 
 IMLAH. 
 
 No more ! 
 
 NITOCRIS. 
 
 Great Heaven ! 
 I own your equal hand : the bitter chalice 
 That we have given to others*' lips, our own 
 Must to the dregs drink out. So, never more 
 Shall I behold thee — not to wind thy corpse — 
 To pour sweet ointments on thy clay cold limbs. 
 Alas ! and what did Nabonassar*s daughter 
 In the dark streets alone ? when there were men 
 To rally, arms to array — my voice, my look, 
 The hereditary terror that is said 
 To dwell on mine imperial brow, had pour'd 
 Dismay and flight upon the conquering Mede. 
 Semiramis, for empire, cast away 
 The woman, and went forth in brazen arms. 
 I could not for my son ! 
 
 My naked feet 
 Bleed where I move ; and on my crownless head
 
 BELSHAZZAR. 137 
 
 (For what have I to do with crowns ?) beat cold 
 The chilling elements ; till but now I felt not 
 My loose, and thin, and insufficient raiment. 
 Well, there 's enough to shroud the dead ; and thee 
 To colder nakedness, my son ! my son ! 
 The spoiler will have stripp'd 
 
 IMLAH. 
 
 God pardon me 
 For taunting her distress ! Rest here, oh queen ! 
 Under this low and wretched roof thou art safe ; 
 The plunderer wars upon the gilded palace, 
 Not the base hovel. There s s a mother there 
 As sad as thou, and sleep may be as merciful 
 To thee as her. 
 
 NITOCRIS. 
 
 Sleep ! sleep ! with Babylon 
 In flames around me ; Nabonassar's realm, 
 The city of earth's sovereigns rushing down, 
 The pride of countless ages, and the glory, 
 By generations of triumphant kings
 
 138 BELSHAZZAR. 
 
 Rear'd up — my sire's, my husband's, and my son's, 
 
 And mine own stately birth-place perishing : 
 
 The summer gardens of my joy cut down ; 
 
 The ivory chambers of my luxury, 
 
 Where I was wed, and bore my beauteous son, 
 
 Howl'd through by strangers ! No — I '11 on, and find 
 
 Death or my son, or both ! My glorious city ! 
 
 My old ancestral throne ! thou 'It still afford 
 
 A burial fire. I Ve lived a queen, the daughter 
 
 Of kings, the wife, the mother — and will die 
 
 Queen-like, with Babylon for my funeral pile !
 
 BELSHAZZAR. 139 
 
 Before the Temple. 
 
 BENINA. 
 
 Oh thou dread night ! what new and awful signs 
 Crowd thy portentous hours, so calm in heav'n, 
 With all thy stars and full-orr/d moon serene 
 Sleeping on crystal and pellucid clouds ! 
 How terrible on earth ! as I rush'd down 
 The vacant stair, nor heard a living sound, 
 Save mine own bounding footstep, all at once 
 Methought Euphrates' 1 rolling waters sank 
 Into the earth ; the gilded galleys rock'd, 
 And plunged and settled in the sandy depths ; 
 And the tall bridge upon its lengthening pier 
 Seem'd to bestride a dark, unfathonVd gulf. 
 Then, where blue waters and the ivory decks 
 Of royal vessels, and their silver prows, 
 Reflected the bright lights of heav'n, they shone 
 Upon the glancing armour, helms, and spears
 
 140 BELSHAZZAR. 
 
 Of a vast army : then the stone-paved walls 
 
 Rang with the weight of chariots, and the gates 
 
 Of brass fell down with ponderous clang : then sank 
 
 O'er the vast city one sepulchral silence, 
 
 As though the wondering conqueror scarce believed 
 
 His easy triumph. But ye revellers 
 
 That lay at rest upon your festal garments, 
 
 The pleasant weariness of wine and joy, 
 
 And the sweet dreams of your scarce-ended pleasures, 
 
 Still hanging o'er your silken couches ! ye 
 
 Woke only, if ye woke indeed, to see 
 
 The Median scimitar that, red with blood, 
 
 FlaslVd o'er you, or the blaze of fire that wrapt 
 
 In sulphurous folds the chambers of your rest. 
 
 Oh Lord of Hosts ! in thine avenging hour 
 
 How dreadful art thou ! Pardon if I weep 
 
 When all my grateful heart should beat with joy 
 
 For my deliverance.
 
 BELSHAZZAR 141 
 
 Kalassan, Benina. 
 kalassan. 
 All is lost ! Great Bel, 
 Thus, thus dost thou avenge thy broken rite ! 
 Now, by thy thunders, 'tis the beauteous bride — 
 Thou givest her to me yet. 
 
 BENINA. 
 
 Miscreant ! what meanst thou ? 
 
 KALASSAN. 
 
 'Twas love before ; and now 'tis love and vengeance ; 
 And I will quaff the doubly-mantling cup, 
 In all its richness. 
 
 BENINA. 
 
 Guilty man! look round, 
 Thou seest my God, the God of Gods, revcaFd 
 In yon wide fires ! Nor thou, nor one of those 
 That walk the death-doom'd streets of Babylon, 
 Have even an hour to live. 
 
 KALASSAN. 
 
 Then I Ve no hour 
 To waste. 'Tis said the Indian widows mount
 
 142 BELSHAZZAK. 
 
 In pride and joy their husbands 1 funeral pyres ; 
 Thou, in thy deep devotion, shalt excel them, 
 And wed thy bridegroom for the loftier glory 
 Of dying by his side. 
 
 BENINA. 
 
 Oh mercy ! 
 
 KALASSAN. 
 
 Mercy ! 
 Ask of the Babylonian maids and wives, 
 If they find mercy ? 
 
 BENINA. 
 
 Ah ! and I presumed 
 To speak of pitying others ! 
 
 KALASSAN. 
 
 Come What 's here ? 
 
 Kalassan, Benina, Adonuah. 
 
 ADONIJAH. 
 
 With unwet foot I trod the river depths : 
 It is the privilege of IsraeFs sons
 
 BELSHAZZAR. 143 
 
 To walk througli seas as on dry land. 
 
 BENINA. 
 
 Oh stranger ! 
 
 That bearst a Persian scimitar No stranger ! 
 
 Is it his angel, with his beauteous brow r 
 
 His eyes, his voice — his clasping arms around me ! — 
 
 Mine own, my brave, my noble Adonijah ! 
 
 Too bounteous Heaven ! 
 
 KALASSAN. 
 
 Fond slave! unclasp thine arms. 
 
 ADONIJAH. 
 
 What — must I rob the Persian of his victim ? 
 Oh ! not in vain this bright and welcome steel 
 GlitterM to court my grasp ! What ! the first foe 
 My warrior arm hath met retreat before me ? 
 I '11 follow thee to earth's remotest verge. 
 
 BENINA. 
 
 Oh ! I could shriek, and weary Heaven with cries 
 
 For my sad self — for thee — for thee ! My lips 
 
 Are parch'd to silence ; and my throat Come back !
 
 144 15ELSHAZZAR. 
 
 Their swords clash — some one falls — and groans : — he 
 
 calls not 
 Upon the God of Israel. — Ha ! perchance 
 He cannot cry ! All 's dark. — Ah me ! how strong, 
 How dreadful was the Heathen in his strength ! 
 He's here ! — I dare not ask, which art thou ? which — 
 Alas, prophetic spirit hast thou left me 
 To ask ? Oh Love ! thou used to know his tread 
 'Mong thousands ! 
 
 ADONUAH. 
 
 Sweet ! where art thou ? 
 
 BENINA. 
 
 On thy bosom. 
 
 ADONUAH. 
 
 The Lord hath triumph'd by his servant's hands : 
 He lies in death, blaspheming his own Gods. 
 
 BENINA. 
 
 Merciful ! I almost thank thee for the dread 
 And danger of this night, that closes thus 
 
 In such o'erpowering joy !
 
 BFXSHAZZAK. 145 
 
 ADONIJAH. 
 
 Hast suffered nought 
 But dread and danger ? 
 
 BENINA. 
 What ? 
 ADONIJAH. 
 
 Thou 'st been where evil 
 Riots uncheck'd, untamed ! 
 
 BENINA. 
 
 Oh Adonijah ! 
 I have endured thy lip upon my cheek, 
 And I endure thine arms clasp'd fondly round me. 
 And on thy bosom I recline, and look 
 Upon thy face with eyes suffused with tears, 
 But not of shame. What would'st thou more ? 
 
 ADONIJAH. 
 
 Nought, nought. 
 Oh pardon that my jealous fears misdoubted 
 Thy pure, thy proud, thy holy love ! Come on ! 
 Come to thy parents' home that wait for thee, 
 
 L
 
 146 BEI.SHAZZAIt. 
 
 And change the voiceless house of desolation 
 To an abode of joy, as mute. 
 
 Come ! come ! 
 Beauteous as her that with her timbrel pass'd 
 Along the Red Sea depths, and cast her song 
 Upon the free airs of the wilderness — 
 The song of joy, of triumph, of deliverance !
 
 BKLSHAXZAH. 1 1-7 
 
 The Streets of Babylon in Flames. 
 
 BELSHAZZAR. 
 
 I cannot fight nor fly : where'er I move, 
 
 On shadowy battlement, or cloud of smoke, 
 
 That dark unbodied hand waves to and fro, 
 
 And marshals me the way to death — to death 
 
 That still eludes me. Every blazing wall 
 
 Breaks out in those red characters of fate ; 
 
 And when I raised my sword to war, methought 
 
 That dark-stoled Prophet stood between, and seem'd 
 
 Rebuking Heaven for its slow consummation 
 
 Of his dire words. 
 
 I am alone : my slaves 
 Fled at the first wild outcry; and my women 
 Closed all their doors against me — for they knew me 
 Mark'd with the seal of destiny : no hand, 
 Though I have sued for water, holds a cuj) 
 To m\ parch'd lips; no voice, as I pass on, 
 
 Li r~
 
 148 BELSHAZZAR. 
 
 Hath bless'd me ; from the very festal garments, 
 That glitter'd in my halls, they shake the dust : 
 Ev'n the priests spurnVl me, as abhorr'd of Heaven. 
 Oh ! but the fiery Mede doth well avenge me ! 
 They 're strew'd beneath my feet — though not in wor- 
 ship ! 
 Oh death ! death ! death ! that art so swift to seize 
 The conqueror on his triumph day, the bride 
 Ere yet her wedding lamps have waned, the king 
 While all mankind are kneeling at his footstool — 
 Thou 'rt only slow to him that knows himself 
 Thy fated prey, that seeks within the tomb 
 A dark retreat from wretchedness and shame. 
 From shame ! — the heir of Nabonassar's glory ! 
 From wretchedness !— the Lord of Babylon— 
 Of golden and luxurious Babylon ! 
 Alas ! through burning Babylon ! the fallen, 
 The city of lamentation and of slaughter ! 
 A fugitive and outcast, that can find, 
 Of all his realm, not even a grave ! — so base, 
 That even the conquering Mede disdains to slay him !
 
 BELSHAZZAll. 149 
 
 Before the House of ' Imlali. 
 
 Imlah, Adonijau, Benina, Naomi. 
 
 imlah. 
 Naomi ! Naomi ! look forth — she 's here ! 
 
 NAOMI. 
 
 I know she is — in dreams : through all the night 
 I Ve seen her, gliding from the fountain side 
 With the pure urn of water, or with lips 
 Apart, and bashful voice, that faintly breath'd 
 One of her country's songs ! I 've seen her kneeling 
 In prayer, alas ! that ne'er was heard on high ! 
 And thou hast scared my vision's joys away — 
 
 To s ee — a ll heav'n on fire, and the vast city 
 
 Imlah ! what mean those massy clouds of smoke, 
 
 Those shrieks and clashings? and — that youth and 
 
 maid, 
 Why stand they there ? we need no sad remembrancers
 
 150 BELSHAZZAR. 
 
 Of our deep desolation ! 
 
 BENINA. 
 
 Doth my mother 
 AVith such cold salutation welcome home 
 Her child ? 
 
 NAOMI. 
 
 No ! no ! ye can no more delude me ! 
 Twice have I woken, and heard that voice, and stretch 'd 
 My arms 
 
 BENINA. 
 
 But hast not folded to thy bosom, 
 As thus, thy child, thy lost, thy loved Benina ! 
 
 NAOMI. 
 
 'Tis living flesh ! it is a breathing lip ! 
 
 And the heart swells like Oh no ! — not like mine ! 
 
 Oh ! thou twice born ! the sorrow and the joy 
 That I endured to bring my beauteous babe 
 Into the world were nought to this ! 
 
 BENINA. 
 
 Dear mother,
 
 BELSHAZZAR. 151 
 
 May I ne'er cost thee bitterer tears than these- 
 
 IMLAH. 
 
 My father's God, thou show'dst thyself of old, 
 By smiting water from the stony rock, 
 And raining manna on the desert sands ! 
 Here is thy best — most gracious miracle ! 
 Making the childless heart to laugh with gladness ; 
 The eyes that had forgot to weep o'erflow 
 With tears delicious ! Thou hast rais'd the dead, 
 And to the widow given her shrouded child ! 
 But what was that pale boy to her that stands 
 So beautiful before us ? What was death 
 To her dark trial? And she's here — and life 
 Bounds in her bosom- -the young doves that erst, 
 Ere yet the cold airs soil'd their snowy plumes. 
 Were offer'd in thy Temple not so pure ! 
 
 NAOMI. 
 
 How cam'st thou hither? 
 
 BENINA. 
 
 Ask of him that led me —
 
 152 BELSHAZZAR. 
 
 Of him — that all but I seem to have forgotten. 
 
 AD0NIJAH. 
 
 Love, I shall take a sweet revenge hereafter, 
 
 Resuming to myself the boon that now 
 
 They have no time to thank me for. — What "s he, 
 
 That rushes where proud War disdains to spoil? 
 
 That tread was wont to move in marble halls, 
 
 To sounds of music. Round his limbs, that shake 
 
 And quiver, as with pain, he wraps his robes, 
 
 Like one men wont to gaze on. Even despair 
 
 On such a brow looks noble ! — Hark ! he speaks 
 
 The above, Belshazzar. 
 
 BELSHAZZAR. 
 
 'Tis come at last ! the barbed arrow drinks 
 My life-blood. Mid the base abode of slaves 
 I seem to stand : not here — my fathers set 
 Like suns in glory ! I '11 not perish here, 
 And stifle like some vile, forgotten lamp !
 
 BELSHAZZAR. 153 
 
 Oh, dreadful God ! is 't not enough ? — My state 
 
 I equaird with the Heavens — and wilt thou trample me 
 
 Beneath these What are ye that crowd around me ? 
 
 I have a dim remembrance of your forms 
 And voices. Are ye not the slaves that stood 
 
 This morn before me ? and 
 
 1MLAH. 
 
 Thou spurn'dst us from thee. 
 
 BELSHAZZAR. 
 
 And ye ll revenge you on the clay-cold corpse. 
 
 IMLAH. 
 
 Fear not : our God, and this world's cruel usage, 
 Hath taught us early what kings learn too late. 
 
 BELSHAZZAR. 
 
 Ye know me, then — ye know the King of Babylon— 
 
 The King of dust and ashes ? for what else 
 
 Is now the beauteous city — earth's delight ? 
 
 And what the King himself but — dust and ashes? 
 
 BENINA. 
 
 He faints — support him, dearest Adonijah !
 
 154 BELSHAZZAR. 
 
 BELSHAZZAR. 
 
 Mine eyes arc heavy, and a swoon, a sleep 
 
 Swims o'er my head : — go, summon me the lutes, 
 
 That us'd to soothe me to my balmiest slumbers ; 
 
 And bid the snowy-handed maidens fan 
 
 The dull, hot air around me. 'Tis not well — 
 
 This bed — 'tis hard and damp. I gave command 
 
 I would not lie but on the softest plumes 
 
 That the birds bear. Slaves ! hear ye not ? — 'tis cold — 
 
 'Tis piercing cold ! 
 
 BENINA. 
 
 Alas ! he 's little used 
 To feel the night winds on his naked brow : 
 He's breathing still — spread o'er him that bright mantle ; 
 A strange, sad use for robes of sovereignty. 
 
 The above, Nitocris. 
 NITOCRIS. 
 
 Why should I pass street after street, through flames
 
 BELSHAZZAR. 155 
 
 That make the hardy conqueror shrink ; and stride 
 
 Cer heaps of dying, that look up and Avonder 
 
 To see a living and unwounded being ? 
 
 Oh ! mercifully cruel, they do slay 
 
 The child and mother with one blow ! the bride 
 
 And bridegroom ! I alone am spar'd, to die 
 
 Remote from all — from him with whom I Ve cherish'd 
 
 A desperate hope to mingle my cold ashes ! 
 
 'Tis all the daughter of great Nabonassar 
 
 Hath now to ask ! — I '11 sit me down and listen, 
 
 And through that turbulent din of clattering steel, 
 
 And cries of murder'd men, and smouldering houses, 
 
 And th 1 answering trumpets of the Mede and Persian, 
 
 Summoning their bands to some new work of slaughter, 
 
 Anon one universal cry of triumph 
 
 Will burst ; and all the city, either host, 
 
 In mute and breathless admiration, lie 
 
 To hear the oYrpowering clamour that announces 
 
 Belshazzar slain! — and then I'll rise and rush 
 
 To that dread place — they'll let me weep or die
 
 156 BELSHAZZAR. 
 
 Upon his corpse ! — Old man, thou 'st found thy child. 
 
 IMLAH. 
 
 I have — I have — and thine. Oh ! rise not thus, 
 In thy majestic joy, as though to mount 
 Earth's throne again. Behold the King ! 
 
 N1TOCRIS. 
 
 My son ! 
 
 On the cold earth — not there, but on my bosom — 
 Alas ! that 's colder still. My beauteous boy, 
 Look up and see ■ 
 
 BELSHAZZAR. 
 
 I can see nought — all 1 s darkness! 
 
 NITOCRIS. 
 
 Too true : he 'll die, and will not know me ! Son ! 
 Thy mother speaks — thy only kindred flesh, 
 That lov'd thee ere thou wert ; and, when thou 'rt gone, 
 Will love thee still the more ! 
 
 BELSHAZZAR. 
 
 Have dying kings 
 Lovers or kindred ? Hence ! disturb me not.
 
 BELSHAZZAIt. 157 
 
 NITOCUIS. 
 
 Shall I disturb thee, crouching by thy side 
 To die with thee ? Oh ! how he used to turn 
 And nestle his young cheek in this full bosom, 
 That now he shrinks from ! No ! it is the last 
 Convulsive shudder of cold death. My son, 
 Wait — wait, and I will die with thee — not yet — 
 Alas ! yet this was what I pray'd for — this — 
 To kiss thy cold cheek, and inhale thy last — 
 Thy dying breath. 
 
 IMLAH. 
 
 Behold! behold, they rise; 
 Feebly they stand, by their united strength 
 Supported. Hath yon kindling of the darkness, 
 Von blaze, thai seems as if the earth and heaven 
 Were mingled in one ghastly funeral pile, 
 Arous'd them ? Lo, the flames, like a gorg'd serpent, 
 That slept in glittering but scarce-moving folds, 
 Now, having sprung a nobler prey, break out 
 In tenfold rage.
 
 158 IJELSHAZZAH. 
 
 ADONIJAH. 
 
 How like a lioness, 
 Robb'd of her kingly brood, she glares ! She wipes 
 From her wan brow die gray discolour'd locks, 
 Where used to gleam Assyria's diadem ; 
 And now and then her tenderest glance recurs 
 To him that closer to her bleeding heart 
 She clasps, as self-reproachful that aught earthly 
 Distracts her from her one maternal care. 
 
 IMLAII. 
 
 More pale, and more intent, he looks abroad 
 Into the ruin, as though he felt a pride 
 Even in the splendour of the desolation ! 
 
 BELSHAZZAK. 
 
 The hand — the unbodied hand — it moves — look there ! 
 Look where it points ! — my beautiful palace 
 
 NITOCRIS. 
 
 Look— 
 The Temple of great Bel 
 
 BELSIIAZZAR. 
 
 Our halls of joy!
 
 BELSHAZZAR. 15<) 
 
 NITOCR1S. 
 Earth's pride and wonder ! 
 
 IMLAH. 
 
 Ay, o'er both the fire 
 Mounts like a conqueror : here, o'er spacious courts, 
 And avenues of pillars, and long roofs, 
 From which red streams of molten gold pour down, 
 It spreads, till all, like those vast fabrics, seem 
 Built of the rich clouds round the setting sun — 
 All the wide heavens, one bright and shadowy palace ! 
 But terrible here — th 1 Almighty's wrathful hand 
 Every where manifest ! — There the Temple stands, 
 Tower above tower, one pyramid of flame ; 
 To which those kingly sepulchres by Nile 
 Were but as hillocks to vast Caucasus ! 
 Aloof, the wreck of Nimrod's impious tower 
 Alone is dark ; and something like a cloud, 
 But gloomier, hovers o'er it. All is mute : 
 Man's cries, and clashing steel, and braying trumpet— 
 The only sound the rushing noise of fire !
 
 160 BELSHAZZAR. 
 
 Now, liark ! the universal crash — at once 
 They fall — they sink 
 
 ADONIJAH. 
 
 And so do those that rul'd them ! 
 The Palace, and the Temple, and the race 
 Of Nabonassar, are at once extinct ! 
 Babylon and her kings are fallen for ever ! 
 
 IMLAII. 
 
 Without a cry, without a groan, behold them, 
 T1V Imperial mother and earth-ruling son 
 StretclVd out in death ! Nor she without a gleam 
 Of joy expiring with her cheek on his : 
 Nor he unconscious that with him the pride 
 And terror of the world is fallen — th 1 abode 
 And throne of universal empire — now 
 A plain of ashes round the tombless dead ! — 
 Oh, God of hosts ! Almighty, Everlasting ! 
 God of our Fathers, thou alone art great !
 
 
 
 NOTE S. 
 
 Note 1, page 17, line 1. 
 
 Of Nabonassars sway. 
 
 " Nebucliadnessar — Nabonassar — Ce nora est confondu par 
 
 les Orientaux avec celui de Nabocadnassar, quoique les Grecs 
 
 et les Latins les distinguent." — D' Herbelot, Dibl. Orientate. 
 
 Note 2, page 22, line 14. 
 
 Save with the immaculate blood of yearling lambs. 
 
 From Diodorus. 
 
 Note 3, page 22, line 1 7- 
 
 The God reposes, must the chosen Virgin. 
 
 See Herodotus, Clio. 
 
 Note 4, page 25, line 14. 
 Down to the red and pearly main. 
 The Erythrcan Sea, the Gulf of Persia, celebrated for the 
 pearls of Orinuz. 
 
 M
 
 162 NOTES. 
 
 Note 5, page 73, line 1 . 
 The golden statue stands of Nabonassar. 
 It does not appear certain what this statue was, which Ne- 
 buchadnezzar erected on the plain of Dura. I have taken the 
 poetic licence of supposing it to be his own. 
 
 Note 6, page 76, line 12. 
 Thou, Zedekiah, didst desert thy God. 
 Zedekiali, carried away at the last and final desolation of 
 Jerusalem. 
 
 Note 7, page 81, line 7. 
 
 We drink My Una's breathing balm. 
 
 The Assyrian Venus. — Herod. 
 
 Note 8, page 127, line 4. 
 And, through the deep and roaring Naharmalcha. 
 The royal canal which connected the waters of the Euphrates 
 with the artificial lake. 
 
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