ACT I. The Citadel of Antiochus at Jerusalem - SCENE III - ANTIOCHUS; JASON

ACT I. The Citadel of Antiochus at Jerusalem: SCENE III - ANTIOCHUS; JASON

ANTIOCHUS.
My task is easier than I dreamed. These people
Meet me half-way. Jason, didst thou take note
How these Samaritans of Sichem said
They were not Jews? that they were Medes and Persians,
They were Sidonians, anything but Jews?
'T is of good augury. The rest will follow
Till the whole land is Hellenized.

JASON.
My Lord,
These are Samaritans. The tribe of Judah
Is of a different temper, and the task
Will be more difficult.

ANTIOCHUS.
Dost thou gainsay me?

JASON.
I know the stubborn nature of the Jew.
Yesterday, Eleazer, an old man,
Being fourscore years and ten, chose rather death
By torture than to eat the flesh of swine.

ANTIOCHUS.
The life is in the blood, and the whole nation
Shall bleed to death, or it shall change its faith!

JASON.
Hundreds have fled already to the mountains
Of Ephraim, where Judas Maccabaeus
Hath raised the standard of revolt against thee.

ANTIOCHUS.
I will burn down their city, and will make it
Waste as a wilderness. Its thoroughfares
Shall be but furrows in a field of ashes.
It shall be sown with salt as Sodom is!
This hundred and fifty-third Olympiad
Shall have a broad and blood-red sea upon it,
Stamped with the awful letters of my name,
Antiochus the God, Epiphanes!--
Where are those Seven Sons?

JASON.
My Lord, they wait
Thy royal pleasure.

ANTIOCHUS.
They shall wait no longer!

Content of ACT I. The Citadel of Antiochus at Jerusalem SCENE III - ANTIOCHUS; JASON [Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's play/drama: Judas Maccabaeus]

Read next: ACT II. The Dungeons in the Citadel#SCENE I - THE MOTHER of the SEVEN SONS alone, listening

Read previous: ACT I. The Citadel of Antiochus at Jerusalem#SCENE II - ANTIOCHUS; JASON; THE SAMARITAN AMBASSADORS

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