Chapter II: Part 2

I will not plead for your forgiveness, then. Dismiss me from your council and your court And let me be; the hated foreign woman Who tried and failed. I will be nothing here. After these years of hatred it will be Peace to be nothing. When my son returns, (The captain, Ahaziah) send him hence. I sent for him to help me govern here. Since I am nothing now, he must not stay. But now that I am nothing, I say this: That you must be upon your guard, King Ahab, More; you must play the King, and being King, Strike down this prophet and his friend, Lord Jehu, For they are linked together against peace.

AHAB.

What proofs have you?

JEZEBEL.

A woman has no proofs, Only an instinct fortified by love Stronger than any proof.

AHAB.

And I have knowledge. Jehu has been my captain of the horse, My comrade in the field, my counsellor, My soldier, who has shed his blood for me In five campaigns, in many years of war. This prophet is indeed the enemy Of much that I have planned, but as for Jehu, I know him, and I know that you have wronged him And speak from bitterness.

JEZEBEL.

Ahab, beware. By all our lives together, you beware Of Jehu and this man.

AHAB.

Had I been ware of you, Queen Jezebel, Many years sooner, I had had no need To be aware of any of my subjects. I cannot longer countenance your dealings. They neither suit my people nor the time. Therefore I do dismiss you from your royalty, From Queenship and command and counselling, From all authority in Shemer here. This shall be straightway published as my will.

PROPHET.

The messenger that spoke through me has gone, And I am cold and broken as with blows, But yet I hear--can you not hear--do you?

AHAB.

What should we hear, old ruffian from the desert?

PROPHET.

The wings descending and the footsteps coming. The vultures and the dogs coming for blood. Listen. The vultures settle in the court, And there are footsteps coming up the stair, The footsteps of the dogs that come for blood; For blood is coming upon this house, and I Have told you that it comes; I am its herald.

_Enter_ JEHU _from in front, carrying armour. He comes on, stands
motionless, then flings down a helmet; then, after a pause, a
corselet; then, after a pause, a sword._ ZAKKUR _stands behind him_.

AHAB.

What does your coming with these weapons mean? Whose weapons are they? What has happened, Jehu? Is it some challenge? Speak.

JEZEBEL.

I know that sword.
It’s Ahaziah’s sword. My son is dead?
(JEHU _nods_.)

AHAB.

What? Ahaziah dead? How did he die?

JEHU.

While he was riding here, he made a halt, To rest his horses, at the inn at Springs; And leaning on the lattice, looking out, He fell out of the upper balcony, And died soon after, broken by the fall. Here is the witness, who will tell you how.

AHAB.

Speak, then, and tell the tale. How could he fall?

ZAKKUR.

By treachery, by Syrian treachery.

Lord, when our Queen commanded the Prince to return here, she sent her orders by a Syrian of the Court.

JEZEBEL.

I did, by Malik.

ZAKKUR.

Malik was in the pay of the King of Syria.

JEZEBEL.

That is false. That lie has been exposed many times over.

ZAKKUR.

Madam, alas, it is now proven, by Malik’s confession.

AHAB.

Who are you who speak?

ZAKKUR.

A lieutenant in our late Prince’s troop, my lord.

AHAB.

Go on, then, about Malik.

ZAKKUR.

Before delivering his orders to our late Prince, he showed them to the Syrian officers in the garrison at Ramoth. They saw a chance of intercepting our Prince upon his way. They bribed Malik to lead the Prince, so as to halt at the inn at Springs. They did not wish to set upon him, because they expected the troop to be with the Prince. They sawed through the beams of the balcony of the inn so that when he set foot upon it, the floor should give way. The Prince did not bring his troop with him, but set out with myself, his galloper, and Malik. He halted at the inn, at Malik’s persuasion, much against his will, for he wished to be here. Then all happened as his murderers the Syrians had devised. He went upon the balcony, it fell, and he died from it.

After he had died, my lord, Malik urged us to come away, which I and my colleague would not, without examination. When we found that the beams had been sawn, remembering Malik’s Syrian birth and his suspicious wishes, first to halt there, then to come away, we taxed him with the crime and he confessed, and was secured.

The galloper waits at the inn for an escort for the body and the prisoner. It was decided that I should ride here at once with the news.

JEZEBEL.

Before he died, did he say anything?

ZAKKUR.

Yes, Madam; he muttered about the gods, and about you.

JEZEBEL.

What did he say?

ZAKKUR.

That we were to tell you that this was the gods’ reward for peace with Syria.

JEZEBEL.

Since he is dead, wisdom and peace are dead!
[_She goes out._

AHAB.

God, thou hast faced me with my sin this day. My son, who was to follow me as King, Killed by a Syrian plot, by treachery. Killed, coming home to help me in my sorrows.

PROPHET.

Killed by your treachery, that made the peace With Syria, against God’s ordinance.

JEHU.

Nothing that has been done by Syria Against this land can rank beside this deed; The loss of such a Prince by such a crime Will rouse this country, lord. You will keep peace By your great policy, but through your people A mighty cry for vengeance will arise.

AHAB.

And not unheeded, Jehu. Listen, all. This was his sword. He was to be the King After my death, fulfilling all my dreams. See, you, and you, and you, I take the sword And draw it out and swear upon its hilt To take a vengeance on the murderers Who brought him to his death.

JEHU.

Well sworn, O King;

PROPHET.

Surely the Spirit of God is working in you!

AHAB.

Wait yet, O Prophet; though my heart is sick At having trusted in my enemies, And been ill-paid, I will ask help from God; Counsel and help in any act of justice. Go, gather me the prophets, let them seek Illumination, then bring word to me Whether the spirit do approve a war. I will go seek for guidance, though my heart Seeks less for guidance now than for release.

JEHU.

Lord, all true hearts commiserate your grief.

AHAB.

Thank you, good Jehu. [_Exit_ AHAB.

ZAKKUR.

Well, he took the story.

JEHU.

Yes, as I knew he would. The score’s one each. He has won Naboth, I have Ahaziah.

PROPHET.

Was not the story true?

JEHU.

The Prince is dead, So much is true; and in an hour from now We can be marching hence with Ahab’s self, If all your prophets will but prophesy. I want him killed in war, outside the city. Go, bid the prophets prophesy for war. [_Exit_ PROPHET, _with_ ZAKKUR.

JEHU.

So, Ahaziah, you were rude to me. Princes should not be rude to rising men, For men may rise. You will be rude no more. I have been rude to you, my Ahaziah. I kicked the lips that once were rude to me. My foot is on your heart’s blood, Ahaziah.

CURTAIN.

FIFTH CHORUS

MOON-BLOSSOM.

Full of years and wealth and evil, Menelaus died in Sparta,
And Queen Helen at his bedside stood and looked upon him dead,
He who once had bought her beauty, to be bride to him, by barter,
He whom she had loathed and fled from, now lay silenced on the bed.

ROSE-FLOWER.

Bitter thoughts were in her as she looked upon his meanness,
Thoughts of Paris in his beauty when their love was at its height.
Paris in his morning, and the King in his uncleanness,
And this dead mean thing, her master, and the winner of the fight.

TOGETHER.

All was silent in the palace of the King, Save the soft-foot watchers whispering; All was dark, save in the porch The wind-blown fire of a torch, And the sentries still as in a stound, With their spear-heads drooped upon the ground.

ROSE-FLOWER.

Then she thought: “These two men had me, and a myriad men have sickened
To a fever of a love for me who saw me passing by:
When they saw me, all their eyes grew bright, and all their pulses
quickened,
And to win me or to keep me they went up to Troy to die.

MOON-BLOSSOM.

“Now the earthly moon, my beauty, and the rose, my youth, have dwindled. I am old, my hair is grey, and none remembers What a fire in men’s hearts Queen Helen kindled Ere the fire in Queen Helen turned to embers.”

TOGETHER.

All was silent in the palace of the King, Save the wind-blown torch-flame guttering, And a moth that came Beating with his wings about the flame, And the sentries drawing breath, With their spear-heads drooped saluting death.

MOON-BLOSSOM.

Then she said: “The gods conspired to give gifts of beauty to me, And the beauty gave the gift of death to all who came to woo me; Now of all the men who loved me, none remain, And of both the men who had me neither knew me Surely all my past was evil, for its fruit is bitter pain.

ROSE-FLOWER.

“I will go to some lone island where I am not made a story,
Where my beauty made no widow, nor no orphan wanting bread;
Where no human sorrow suffers the disaster of my glory,
And my eyes may lose the vision of the hauntings of the dead.”

MOON-BLOSSOM.

“Day and night the dead men haunt me, whom the madness of my caring
Brought from home and wives and children to be bones upon the plain;
All the panther-like for beauty, all the lion-like for daring,
And they lie among the bindweed now, uncovered by the rain.”

TOGETHER.

All was silent in the palace of the King, Save the soft-foot watchers whispering; All was dark, save in the porch The wind-blown fire of a torch, And the sentries still as in a stound With their spear-heads drooped upon the ground.

Then she rose, and cloaked her face, and hurried swiftly from the city,
And to sea, away from Hellas, but she dared not show her face,
For the women and the orphans would have killed her without pity:
She had sown her crop of death too far, she found no resting-place.

But in inns where people gathered in the evenings after labour,
Where the shepherd’s pipe or viol stirred the blind man to his verse,
Till the hearers swayed and trembled and the rough man touched his
neighbour,
They would talk of Troy with sadness, but of Helen with a curse.

SIXTH CHORUS

MOON-BLOSSOM.

After long years, when Helen was riding by night
In storm, in the Ida forest, alone, not knowing the road,
She saw a light in the blackness; she turned to the light,
She came to the fort on the crag, the panther-women’s abode.

ROSE-FLOWER.

Hearing her horse’s stamp, they brought her into the yard,
Those women fierce from the killing of lion or boar or man;
They came with their torches round her, they stared at her hard,
They knew her for Helen the Queen from whom their sorrows began.

For years they had longed for her coming, to have her to kill,
Her beauty a throat for their knives, her body a prey--
Helen, who ruined their lovers, the root of their ill--
She said: “I am Helen. Avenge yourselves on me. You may.”

MOON-BLOSSOM.

Still they stared at her there in the torchlight; then one of them
said:
“God used you to bring things to be; evil things to our city,
Evil things to yourself, for your face declares you have paid;
You have come to the truth like ourselves; we take not vengeance,
but pity.”
Then they welcomed her into their hold, and when morning broke clear,
They rode with her down to the ruins of what had been Troy;
There they left her alone in the wreck of the thing overdear
That the gods cannot grant to mankind, but unite to destroy.

FOURTH ACT

JEZEBEL.

I shall not look upon my son again! How many million mothers must have felt As I, with a dead child. How many lives Have been made lightless thus. For no child ever dies without the breaking Of someone’s heart. And yet the world goes on. I shall go on, perhaps for many years, And in my heart’s most secret corridor Will be a shrine, where I shall watch my son, Lonely as Helen in her tower at Troy When Paris had been killed. Would I had been beside him when he fell, And fallen with him to the pit of death! Better die so, not mangled in the war, A young man, beautiful in youth, as thou wert; Not troubled yet by life; not yet a King; Thou hast been only young and now art dead.

With all life’s faults, I want you back in life, Not dead, my son, beyond my touch and speech, But here, moving and speaking, being mine. My help and stay and wisdom and assuagement As in the past. You, who gave no farewell, Speak to me from the grave, O lovely son. (_There is a sighing._) Was that an answer from the dead, or birds Flying away before the winter comes? My son, if you are there, speak to my spirit. (_There is a sighing._) What message do you bring, that you are here? What do you come to tell me?

THE VOICE.

Death.

JEZEBEL.

What?

THE VOICE.

Death.

JEZEBEL.

Whose death? Mine? Or your father’s? Or the kingdom’s? My son’s soul was within this room and speaking. O speak again, say something, give me proof That you are linked still by dear love to me. Hark! Hush! No. There was no voice speaking; nor will be.

AHAZIAH _appears_.

My boy! My son!

AHAZIAH.

Mother!

JEZEBEL.

My child! My dear!

AHAZIAH.

Listen. I cannot say it all. The flowers Speak truth. You all are coming.

JEZEBEL.

Then, beloved,
We shall soon meet again, and part no more.

AHAZIAH.

Mother, I struggle back to tell you this: It is most hard to come, most hard to speak. You must with all your power strive to cut These nets.

JEZEBEL.

What are these nets?

AHAZIAH.

The nets of death,
That are all round you like a hunter’s toils.

JEZEBEL.

Do you mean civil war? Or war with Syria?

AHAZIAH.

That is not what I mean; but someone near you. Someone about you has most deadly hands, A hangman’s hands; and you must break his hands.

JEZEBEL.

Who is it, that is deadly? Is it Joram?

AHAZIAH.

I cannot speak his name, but, mother, hark: He murdered me; I never saw his face; He killed me at the inn.

JEZEBEL.

Jehu, you mean?

AHAZIAH.

The man forever looking at the throat, Whose fingers twitch; a red-eyed man it is, I cannot speak the name.

JEZEBEL.

Oh, it is Jehu!
And Jehu murdered you?

AHAZIAH.

There’s danger, mother;
Avoid the nets. I cannot make you see them.

JEZEBEL.

Jehu is spreading nets of treachery?

AHAZIAH.

The flowers speak truth; the flowers and the rod, The riding rod. [_He goes._

JEZEBEL.

Oh, speak! O my dear son, How can I help, I being Queen no longer, But banished and condemned? What can I do? And what is this of riding rods and flowers? (_There is a sighing._)

My son is gone into the night of Death, And Jehu murdered him in ways unknown. Would I could prove the crime!

_Enter_ MICAIAH.

MICAIAH.

Madam, a rider from the inn at Springs Has brought these flowers, gathered by the Prince Your son, now dead.

JEZEBEL.

The flowers that speak truth;
Was there no other relic but the flowers?

MICAIAH.

Yes, Madam, this: a staff or riding rod, Left on the flowers, so the rider said.

JEZEBEL.

A riding rod! And do you know the rod?

MICAIAH.

Madam, I do. It is Lord Jehu’s staff.

JEZEBEL.

What brought it to the inn at Springs, Micaiah?

MICAIAH.

I do not know. The rider found it there.

JEZEBEL.

Where is the rider who delivered these?

MICAIAH.

Gone, Madam; he preferred not to be known.

JEZEBEL.

I see you have suspicions; let me know them.

MICAIAH.

Madam, this staff was in Lord Jehu’s hand This morning, when I saw him here at court.

JEZEBEL.

That, or one like it? Could you swear to that?

MICAIAH.

He held this staff. He stopped me in the square About a warrant, and I noticed it. This little scratch is unmistakable.

JEZEBEL.

And what can you conclude from this, Micaiah?

MICAIAH.

That the Lord Jehu hurried to the Springs, After I saw him, and then hurried back.

JEZEBEL.

What duty could have taken him to Springs?

MICAIAH.

Madam, he had no duty there. I asked.

JEZEBEL.

Might not a messenger have gone from him Bearing his staff?

MICAIAH.

Madam, he went himself. The warden at the west gate saw him start In that direction, and return from thence Three hours later. He was back by noon.

JEZEBEL.

So that he would have been at Springs, perhaps, Before Prince Ahaziah halted there?

MICAIAH.

Perhaps.

JEZEBEL.

Yet not perhaps; he would have been there.
He must have been there at the very time.

MICAIAH.

Madam, I dare not utter thoughts like these.

JEZEBEL.

Yet Jehu could not know that he was coming Home from the frontier, or would pass by Springs.

MICAIAH.

So please you, Madam, but the fact was known Publicly in the city everywhere. The knowledge was abroad, I know not how. You are beset by watchers, and by traitors.

JEZEBEL.

And murderers and friends of murderers. Jehu waylaid my son and murdered him. By these poor relics sacred with his blood I will denounce him to the King myself, Or lay him dead before me with my hands. (_She gathers the relics._)

MICAIAH.

Lie there, sad relic of a glorious youth.

ZIKRI (_entering_).

Make ready for the utterance of the Prophet!

KALLAI (_entering_).

Bow down before the Prophet, bringer of truth!

_Enter the_ PROPHET.

PROPHET.

I am bringer of Truth out of the hidden, I am finder of ways where footing is sure, I am sword and shield against things forbidden. I am brightness to guide, healing to cure; Mine are the words that endure. I, now, about to declare as the Spirit orders, Cry, let women avoid, let children hide, Let none but spearmen be here, the city’s warders. I speak, out of the Truth, words that abide. Men only may hear what might of men must decide. [JEZEBEL _veils and goes_.

_Enter_ JORAM, _then_ JEHU, _then_ AHAB, _preceded by_ SPEARMEN.

AHAB.

Now that the revelation is vouchsafed, Stand, all, before this Prophet, who has seen Light in the darkness that has blinded us.

PROPHET.

Hearken, O King, to revelation’s self. The spirit says, “Go up against the Syrians; At Ramoth-Gilead you shall conquer them.” See here these horns of iron that I wear. The spirit says, “With these horns shalt thou push The Syrians, until they be consumed.”

JEHU.

Good messages, good omens, good foretellings.

AHAB.

May they prove good.

JORAM.

The spirit filled the prophets with a glory Marvellous to watch and hear: they spoke as one.

MICAIAH.

Not quite as one, Prince Joram and my King. One was not filled with spirit.

AHAB.

Who is this?

MICAIAH.

I am Micaiah, lord, who have been counted A seer, too, at times.

AHAB.

Oh, it is you! Honest Micaiah, who must speak the truth. I hate this man; he prophesies not good But evil of me.

JEHU.

These fellows are too ready with their evil.

PHARMAS (_to_ MICAIAH).

See now, the prophets foretell victory, With one mouth; say the same; cry victory.

MICAIAH.

As the Lord lives I’ll speak what the Lord says.

AHAB.

Micaiah, shall we go to Ramoth-Gilead To battle, or forbear?

MICAIAH.

Go, lord, and prosper,
The Lord shall make it yours.

AHAB.

How many times Shall I adjure you that you speak the truth, Speak nothing but the truth.

JORAM.

I’d have a way to make him speak the truth. Two troopers with a pair of stirrup leathers To teach his obstinate jaw some reverence.

AHAB.

Peace, Joram: let him speak.

MICAIAH.

Sir, I will speak. In dreams, last night, in the dark night, ere cocks crowed, I saw a downland empty to the sky.

JORAM.

That is the way these fellows use to talk; They’d talk another way, had I my will.

MICAIAH.

And suddenly I saw all Israel Scattered upon that downland frantically, Like sheep without a shepherd. The Lord said: “These have no master now; let them go home.”

AHAB.

And how do you interpret this your dream?

MICAIAH.

That if you go this warfare, you, the master Of Israel, will die.

AHAB.

How die?

MICAIAH.

I do not know.

JEHU.

You mean, in battle?

MICAIAH.

By violence.

JORAM.

That means in battle, surely.

MICAIAH.

Not necessarily.

JEHU.

How else, then, man?

MICAIAH.

I do not know. Perhaps by treachery.

JEHU.

We will protect the King from treachery.

JORAM (_to_ MICAIAH).

Except such treachery as men like you Think in their hearts and utter in big words, Trying to wreck the State.

AHAB.

Did I not say
That he would utter evil about me?

JORAM.

These fellows need a bit within their jaws.

MICAIAH.

My Prince, no bit can stop the telling truth.

PROPHET.

What do you know of truth, idolater?

MICAIAH.

Nothing. I know that certain things are true.

JEHU.

Fine talk, to keep the army lingering.

AHAB.

Have you some other vision to reveal?

MICAIAH.

A sort of vision.

PROPHET.

Ay, a sort of vision. There is one way of vision, only one, Vouchsafed to men, you false one, with false gods.

AHAB.

What is this vision? Will it lighten me?

MICAIAH.

It is of you and of the prophet tribe.

PROPHET.

Some blasphemy. Take heed to what he says.

MICAIAH.

In the dark night I saw this other thing: I saw the Lord in heaven on his throne, With all the host of heaven standing by him. He said, “Who shall persuade King Ahab to go up And die at Ramoth-Gilead?” They discussed it. At last a spirit said, “I will persuade him.” The Lord said, “How?” The spirit said, “I will go forth and be A lying spirit in his prophets’ mouths.” And the Lord said, “Thou shalt. Go forth and do so.” Behold the Lord hath put a lying spirit Into thy prophets’ mouths, and spoken evil Not good to you.

PROPHET.

You think God’s truth has passed from me to you. When did it pass, and how?

MICAIAH.

You will know that When you shall go into an inner chamber To hide yourself.

AHAB.

Carry this fellow to the Governor, And have him into prison in the dark, And let his bread and drink be bitterness Until I come in peace.

MICAIAH.

If you return at all In peace, the spirit has not spoken by me. Hearken, O people, every one of you.

AHAB.

Have him away.

MICAIAH.

Which story is the likelier to be true, Mine, which when told brings prison, or this fellow’s Which earns the King’s reward? The truth is dangerous.

JORAM.

You’ll find this dangerous. Away with him!
(_He is dragged out._)

JEHU.

That shows how close your enemies can come. Even to your very court.

JORAM.

He should be silenced.

AHAB.

He is a gallant fellow, without judgment. But he presumes too much, he and his dreams.

PROPHET.

(_Crying aloud._) O King, a vision is vouchsafed to me! I see! I see! Hearken to what I see. I see a red bull trampling down God’s foes; He neezes fire and all his fell is fire; His shoulder is a mountain rough with forest; His eye the wrath of God; he stamps the cities. Go up against the Syrians, like this bull.

JORAM.

There is the voice of God.

JEHU.

Ay, truly, Prince.

AHAB.

Since God declares that we should make this war, Which we, as men, have shrunk from hitherto, Although provoked by countless insolence, Now hearken to the utterance of the crown.

_Enter_ JEZEBEL.

JEZEBEL.

Ay, hearken to the utterance of the crown. You are all come to hear a war declared. Now I, the crown, declare it unto you. I declare war upon our enemies. They are all present, standing in this place, Waiting the execution of our sword. (_To_ PROPHET.) This man, the madman from the desert, first, Who rages like a desert-storm, that kills With sand, burning hot sand, pitiless sand. (_To_ JORAM.) This next, the hater of his house, our son, Who, for a wound that pains him would be glad That thousand others should be sick with wounds. (_To_ JEHU.) Then, next, this other man, not mad not sick, Not even suspected; honoured, trusted, loved. This man, the rider to the inn at Springs, For secret evil. Hark! This man, King Ahab, Murdered our son and plots to murder you. Seize him, King Ahab, ere it be too late.

AHAB.

Murdered our son? But this is childishness.

JEZEBEL.

No, I bring proof; the rod, the rod he holds, Was found at Springs, to prove that he was there.

JEHU.

This rod, good Madam?

JEZEBEL.

Even that very rod.

AHAB.

Who found it at the Springs? Who brought it here?

JEZEBEL.

A rider, lord, who gave it to Micaiah.

JORAM.

What rider?

AHAB.

Yes, what rider, can you tell?

JEZEBEL.

One who would not be known, Micaiah said.

AHAB.

Micaiah! He?

JORAM.

The man imprisoned here.

JEHU.

My lord, I grieve less at this ill suspicion Than at the sad disaster which has caused it.

JEZEBEL.

You killed my son most foully at the inn; You were seen riding thither before noon, And left your rod there while you did the deed, Upon these flowers which my son had gathered; These desert flowers.

JEHU.

My Lord and King, I can most clearly prove That I was at my quarters all the morning. This rod I missed this morning from my quarters And found it here on entering but now. Prince Joram saw me find it as I entered.

JORAM.

That is most true; I did. Mother, you should not be here; come away.

JEZEBEL.

My lord, my King, my husband, listen to me. You know me, whether I am mad or no. I am not mad; but Ahaziah’s spirit Came to me here, stood where his murderer stands, Less than an hour ago, denouncing him, His murderer, and traitor to yourself. I, knowing this, see to the soul of things, And cry, if you be man, attack this traitor, Tear out his wicked plottings and destroy him.

AHAB.

Let the Queen’s women come. I hear your charges Brought with more passion than with evidence. These are our friends, our proven soldier, Jehu, Our son, and this, the prophet of the spirit, Not what you think. See, here your women come. Tend the Queen’s majesty to her apartments.

JEZEBEL.

You think me mad, my inmost wisdom, mad. For the last time, for Ahaziah’s sake, For your sake, for the kingdom, for the crown, And for the sake of God who gives the crown, Believe what I have said against this Jehu.

AHAB.

I grieve that anyone should bring such charges. That you should bring them is an anguish to me. Go with your women hence, and try to rest.

JEZEBEL.

Prince Joram, will you give me your support? Thank you, my son. Since no one will believe, I, here, the Queen, must act alone. I will. (_She snatches_ JORAM’S _knife and tries to kill_ JEHU.) Die, murderer of my son!

JORAM (_catching her_).

I thought you’d try it. But I was ready for you. Come now, mother, You must go, rest. Come help her there, you women. (JEZEBEL _is helped off_.) It is my brother’s death that makes her thus.

AHAB.

It shakes us all. You understand, Duke Jehu, The cause of this, without my saying more.

JEHU.

My lord, I understand. But yet suggest some trial or enquiry Into my dealings.

AHAB.

Do not think of it. For these unhappy things which bruise men’s hearts Tear women’s hearts across. Let us proceed. I declare war against the Syrians For breach of treaty. We will march at once.

JORAM.

Though wounded, I will march, for I’ll repay The Syrians what I owe. Come, prophet, spread The news throughout the city.

PROPHET.

I will declare God’s wrath against his enemies.
(JORAM _and_ PROPHET _go_.)

AHAB.

Stay, Jehu, yet. You heard Micaiah’s dream. That was an evil omen for our war.

JEHU.

I do not think so. Why, what was the dream? _That there should seem to be no King to-day._ Was not that it? The meaning is apparent: That you should wear disguise.

AHAB.

Ha! Well suggested.

JEHU.

It is a wise precaution at the least. Some traitor may be plotting to destroy you, Some Syrian assassin may be here. So take Micaiah’s hint and wear no purple.

AHAB.

A good interpretation. I accept it So. I will march disguised.

JEHU.

Much better so.

AHAB.

Micaiah did interpret for my death.

JEHU.

These thinkers are the enemies of war Because they are afraid. He wished to scare you, Let me unclasp the buckle of your cloak. Much wiser give no target to these archers; Wear the plain armour of a charioteer.

AHAB.

I will, Duke Jehu. Lie you there, my purple, Till I return to-night with victory. At sunset every night the Queen and I Go through the citron gardens to the kennels, To feed our Hittite wolf-hounds with raw flesh. To-night when we go feed them, we will go, As conquerors of Syria, through the city. [_Exit_ AHAB.

JEHU.

Right, my good Lord. Yes, you shall be disguised; But this bright bird within the quiver here Will pierce through your disguise before to-night, And you shall feed the wolf-hounds, never fear; So shall your Queen, with royal flesh and raw. (_He puts on the King’s purple_,) _Oh, out in the desert, my spear and my bow. Will win me whatever I need; The wine and the oil that another did grow And the horse that another did breed._

So away for the desert.... Ay, I have trotted in your bodyguard Too long, by God!

CURTAIN.

SEVENTH CHORUS

ROSE-FLOWER.

Queen Helen left those women of the wood,
She clambered from her horse and stood again
Even on the very hill where Troy had stood,
Where tamarisk shrubs and broom-sprigs and wild grain
Sprouted from bronze and rib-bones of men slain.

There was the palace where her love had been;
Stones blackened by the fire and misplac’d
By roots of vines that fed upon the paste
Of all the pride where she had lived a queen.

Troy was no more than weeds and fire-flaked stone,
But still the straits ran roaring to the south,
And still the never-quiet winds were blown
With scent of meadow-sweet from Simois’ mouth.

MOON-BLOSSOM.

Yet no Greeks were moving on the beaches,
No galleys of the Greeks came oaring in,
Nor did lancer scouts or parties ride the whin,
Bringing in or checking convoys from the river’s upper reaches
Where the forest pines begin.

And the forges were all gone, and all the fires
Of the camps and burnings of the dead.
And the grinding of the bronze-shod chariot-tyres
Rang no more.
Both in city and on shore
There were no more shouted orders, clash of arms, or marchers’ tread.

ROSE-FLOWER.

All was manless now, uncared for; both the streams had left their
courses.
There was marsh where corn had grown of old, and there, where Paris
lay,
Was an apple-tree with fruit which fed the now wild Trojan horses,
That with bright teeth bit each other;
Earth made Greek and Trojan brother,
All the passion that had raged there now was dead and gone away.

MOON-BLOSSOM.

Then she cried, “I caused the quarrel that brought death along these
beaches,
I alone made Troy this ruin, I alone, from haste of youth,
From a women’s bent, that listens to a lie, if it beseeches;
Now I stand here old and friendless, having nothing but the truth.”

ROSE-FLOWER.

There she stopped, for there before her, in the ruins, stood a
stranger;
“This is changed indeed,” he told her, “since I stood here once
before:
Then it flamed all red to heaven and it rang with death and danger,
And I stood here with noble Agammemnon,
In the thunder of the ending of the war.”

MOON-BLOSSOM.

Something in the old man’s bearing made her start and catch her breath.
“You are Nireus, friend,” she answered. “You are he who brought me
here
When my life and love were dear:
Then I came to life and loving, now I come to grief and death.

“There is no small grass, in plain or water,
But grows from the body of one killed
By the deadly love of me, who am Helen, Leda’s daughter:
All the young and swift and lovely, all the quick of heart are
stilled;
I was cause of their going to the slaughter.

“Daylong and nightlong their shadows pursue me with evil,
Haunting my thought in the day, killing my rest in the night;
Now they have drawn me here; their multitudinous devil
Bids me die where I sinned.
I hear their cry in the wind,
I see their eyes in the light.”

ROSE-FLOWER.

Nireus answered, “Ah, not thus, not so, Queen Helen, surely,
Are those who died for love of you, to win you or to keep!
If they gave their lives, they gave them as a man gives frankly,
purely,
Without question, comment or complaint,
The strong heart equal with the faint,
All content to see your beauty and to tread hard ways to sleep.

“Now they know that your beauty made them splendid,
Splendid to the death; for I have seen,
Seen and talked, beloved Helen, with the souls of those who ended
In the ruins of this city that has been,
And they praise your name, they count you still their Queen.

“Now come with me, for the ship waits to receive you,
The wind is fair for Syme; let us start.
Here, where long ago I lost you, I retrieve you;
Let us leave this town of broken heart
For the peace of Syme Harbour and the mirth of Syme mart,
And the calm of knowing sorrow at an end,
And the quiet of the memory of a friend.”

TOGETHER.

Then they sailed for Syme Island, and the gods were with their going,
For their beauty came upon them both, with youth and strength and
peace;
Now they rule and live forever in a spring forever blowing,
High in Syme where the sun is bright and skylarks never cease.

FIFTH ACT

ROSE-FLOWER.

There is no rider, coming from the army, In sight yet, Madam. Shall we play again? (_No answer._)

MOON-BLOSSOM.

Come to the window. There. What white was that?

ROSE-FLOWER.

The wind lifting the dust.

MOON-BLOSSOM.

No. Yes, it was.
Dust from a windflaw blowing down the glen.
There is no rider, Madam. Shall we sing?
(_No answer._)

ROSE-FLOWER.

She is too stunned with sorrow to give orders. Shall we not sing to soothe her?

MOON-BLOSSOM.

Sing, then, you.

ROSE-FLOWER.

Speak to her first.

MOON-BLOSSOM.

Madam----

ROSE-FLOWER.

She will not answer;
So speak some quiet thing.

MOON-BLOSSOM.

Men are like wind-vanes that forever swing; Men are like winds forever wavering; Men are like water; men are like the tide: Women, the rock they ebb from, do abide.

ROSE-FLOWER.

She will not speak. See, it is sunset now. And now the drums begin upon the housetops, And all the plain spreads out, burningly clear.

JEZEBEL.

What is that noise of evil that I hear?

ROSE-FLOWER.

The prophet speaking in the market-place.

MOON-BLOSSOM.

All afternoon his voice has shouted evil.

JEZEBEL.

It is as red as blood within this room. They have gone out to war; is it not so? I have been thinking till it all seems plain. We are amusements only In mightier life than ours. God knows, we are not amusement to ourselves. I am no Queen. I have no son; no husband; No task, no place, and yet I covet news. Look, by the rocks, beyond the spur; you see?

ROSE-FLOWER.

A rider.

MOON-BLOSSOM.

In a white cloak, with a lance.

ROSE-FLOWER.

One of King Ahab’s lancers, if in white.

MOON-BLOSSOM.

Surely a rider from the army, Madam.

ROSE-FLOWER.

Bringing good news, because he would not gallop Save with the news of triumph.

JEZEBEL.

What he brings Will not be what we look for, because life Is unexpected, whether good or ill. And at the door by which a horror enters Another comes, a muffled one, a silent. (_There is a knocking._) Enter, without there!

PHARMAS _enters_.

Yes? What is it, Pharmas?

PHARMAS.

The Presence will forgive my interruption. There is a woman in the outer court Asks that you grant her audience for a moment.

JEZEBEL.

Why should I grant her audience? Who is she?

PHARMAS.

She comes from Lower Egypt, as she says.

JEZEBEL.

What is her traffic with me?

PHARMAS.

Madam, this.
She brings cosmetics and Arabian gums.

JEZEBEL.

This is no time for such. I cannot see her.

PHARMAS.

May the great Presence pardon if I speak. I told her that you would not buy her gear At such a time, but she implored me still To beg you to admit her to your presence.

JEZEBEL.

Did she say why?

PHARMAS.

Yes, Madam; because once Many long years ago she lived in Sidon, Her father being sutler to the guard, Your royal father’s bodyguardsmen, Madam. She says she looked upon your presence there, When you were a Princess. She does desire To see that prophecy of future beauty Fulfilled in you the Queen, if you the Queen Would graciously permit her eyes to feast Upon the sight of you.

JEZEBEL.

So our pasts come To see what time had made of us. So be it. A word of Sidon would be beauty to me To-day. Let her come in.

PHARMAS.

I will, O Splendour!
[_Exit._

ROSE-FLOWER.

Queen, is it wise to let a stranger come?

JEZEBEL.

No.

MOON-BLOSSOM.

Then why see her?

ROSE-FLOWER.

Would it not be better
If, first, we questioned her?

MOON-BLOSSOM.

Or searched for weapons?

ROSE-FLOWER.

She well might carry daggers.

MOON-BLOSSOM.

Or bring poison.

JEZEBEL.

No; let her come. I am involved in nets So close, that both the wise thing and unwise Are cords to catch me.

ROSE-FLOWER.

She is here.

PHARMAS (_entering with_ HAMUTAL).

This way.
Stand here until the Presence speaks to you. [_Exit._

JEZEBEL.

They tell me that you lived in Sidon once.

HAMUTAL.

Yes, lady, yes. I passed my childhood there.

JEZEBEL.

So. In which street or quarter was your home?

HAMUTAL.

The twisted stinking quarter of the poor, One where you never trod, near the fish-market.

JEZEBEL.

I trod there often, and its filthiest lane, Silvered with cat-gnawn droppings of the nets, Was blessed to me. It is blest in memory.

HAMUTAL.

Perhaps to others it is not so blest. I know my father starved there; so did I. That’s past. The question now is, Is the man Gone from the door?

JEZEBEL.

The man who brought you here?
Look.

ROSE-FLOWER (_looking._)

He has gone.

JEZEBEL.

Why should he not be gone?

HAMUTAL.

They are all spies here, every man of them. And I have come here, Madam, to say this: You are in instant danger of your life.

JEZEBEL.

From whom?

HAMUTAL.

I cannot say. I will not say. I do not rightly know; but they are wicked-- Wicked and bold. Though others made them so. I have come here to help you to escape.

JEZEBEL.

I thank you for the thought, but first convince me That there is danger. I have lived here in danger twenty years. What horror comes to-day?

HAMUTAL.

Come to the window, Madam; but be hidden. Look here. You see the side gate of the palace? You see, behind the ruined wall, armed men? They watch that side gate lest you leave the palace. Now, on this side, see there, among those bushes, More men-at-arms, watching the royal gate. There at the water-gate are more armed men. And they are not your guards.

JEZEBEL.

I see they are not. Then, while they watch for me, their friends are watching My husband in the army? Is it so?

HAMUTAL.

No, do not ask me, Madam; I know nothing.

ROSE-FLOWER.

How could our Queen escape with the gate watched? This is some treason, Madam, to betray you Out of the palace, into savage hands.

JEZEBEL.

Let’s see her face. Ah! no, she is not that. Look, woman; many Queens have been betrayed Since men were ruled; betrayed to death and shame, Most foully, by their subjects, whom they trusted. There is no treachery on earth more devilish To brand men blacker or to rake the heart worse. You would not be the one to tempt me forth To death and shame among my enemies?

HAMUTAL.

Madam, I swear I would not.

MOON-BLOSSOM.

We could call
The palace guards.

ROSE-FLOWER.

Yes, call the palace guards and question her.

HAMUTAL.

Come to the doorway, Madam. You hear the sounds below? Your palace guards Are being feasted by your enemies; Women and drink have overcome your guards.

ROSE-FLOWER.

Then how can she escape?

HAMUTAL.

The little door-- The little, secret, unsuspected door Under the stair, leads to a passage-way Straight to the stables. I have brought the keys.

JEZEBEL.

You are my steward’s wife, then? No one else Could know about the door.

HAMUTAL.

Oh, hurry, hurry! What matter who I am? You are the Queen. You will find horses ready in the stables For you and for your women. From the stables You can escape, the postern is unlockt.

JEZEBEL.

And you?
What kind of life awaits you, after this?

HAMUTAL.

A better kind of life than you have made For poor folk.

JEZEBEL.

Ah! fine words; but ten years hence, Nay, two years, one year, hence, you will remember My queenship as a dream, a golden dream.

ROSE-FLOWER.

O Madam, take the keys; do not delay.

MOON-BLOSSOM.

The men outside are beating at the gate.

ROSE-FLOWER.

Look, Madam, they have scrambled from the bushes And beat upon the bars.

HAMUTAL.

O Heaven! Hark!

JEZEBEL.

What is it?

HAMUTAL.

Listen! Listen!
Come from the door.

ROSE-FLOWER.

What did you think you heard?

HAMUTAL.

Come nearer me.

JEZEBEL.

I am not terrified.
Draw a deep breath and tell us what it is.

HAMUTAL.

I think that someone is outside the door, Listening to what we say.

JEZEBEL.

Be still a moment.

HAMUTAL.

It is a man.

ROSE-FLOWER.

There is a noise of armour.

MOON-FLOWER.

Someone is breathing deeply just outside.

HAMUTAL.

What shall I do? What shall I do? O Heaven.

JEZEBEL.

Help her to veil. Treat her as one of you; Cover her features with the gossamer, Now let her hurry to the passage yonder. [_Exit_ HAMUTAL.

We will be ridded of uncertainty. Is anyone behind the door there? Enter. (_She goes back and flings open the door._ PASHUR _is there. He comes in._) Who are you, fellow? And what brings you here?

PASHUR.

A messenger, with news. And who are you?

ROSE-FLOWER.

She is your Queen, so speak with reverence.

PASHUR.

A Queen! God spare us: soldiers own no Queen. But you shall hear my story, Queen or no.

ROSE-FLOWER.

Is the King dead? Speak! Is King Ahab dead?

PASHUR.

Learn to respect a royal messenger. Ay, it has been a hot day’s work to-day.

JEZEBEL.

If you be from the King, tell us your story.

PASHUR.

Ay, I am from the King. That is God’s truth. And I have ridden out, and fought, and ridden Back to this city, and the whole world sways As from the falling shoulders of a horse.

ROSE-FLOWER.

So the King lives! Thank God!

PASHUR.

Yes, the King lives.
And give God praise, because of victory.

JEZEBEL.

I give God praise.

PASHUR.

Queen, it has been a day. Think for a moment what this day has been. We marched this morning with our banners waving, With the prophets raving, and the trumpets blowing, With the charioteers of the King of Judah, And the spears of the King, a thousand men. We came to Ramoth when they least expected, While they slept the noontide and thought it peace. There we paid back upon the Syrians A little of what we owed, by God.

JEZEBEL.

You mean, they did not know that there was war?

PASHUR.

They knew it well enough before we ended. You see these blackened ashes mixed with blood, That is what Ramoth and her people are. The King gave order you should see the work. You see, ashes and blood; by God, I love them. But that is not the message that I bring. I bring a message about good King Ahab, Who rode into the battle in his chariot Against the chariots of Syria. Keep yourselves quiet, Syrians, while I tell. There was a man, who shall be nameless, Who shall be blameless, or praised aloud, He with an arrow shot King Ahab Beneath the arm in the armour joint.

JEZEBEL.

He was behind the King, then, when he shot.

PASHUR.

He wished his work to be successful, lady.

JEZEBEL.

So the King died?

PASHUR.

The Queen knows everything. He did not die at once, but bled to death, Down in the shadow of the willow trees. His blood dripped from his chariot; the dogs licked it, Even as the Teshbon prophet did foretell.

ROSE-FLOWER.

Let us mourn for the King, for the cedar fallen, For the eagle fallen from heaven, for the burnt-out fire.

MOON-BLOSSOM.

For the light that shone and is dark, for the word spoken. For the strength unknit, for the crown brought to the mire.

JEZEBEL.

My King is dead! I knew that he was dead. Have you declared this news to any yet?

PASHUR.

Not yet.

JEZEBEL.

Then go; declare it to the priests, That they may now declare it to the people: The King is dead and now his son is King; King Joram is the King in Israel.

PASHUR.

You are too quick. Joram is not the King. Jehu, anointed by the Prophet’s oil, Has killed your Joram with an arrow shot Under his arm, and out right through his heart, Killing him in his chariot as he drove. And he has killed his ally, and has flung Your Joram’s body, bloody as it is, Down into Naboth’s vineyard, to the dogs. Now Bidkar, captain of the charioteers, Drives the good Jehu hither to be crowned. Jehu is King, and you, you scarlet whore, Abominable in the face of God, You manless, soulless, crownless foreigner, Shall taste the wrath of God and of God’s people. Now for your spicery there shall be stink, And where the delicate hair has known the comb There shall be baldness, and where silk has lain There shall be nakedness. And where the red lips mocked God delicately There shall be broken teeth biting on dust: It shall be done to you ere this day passes. [_Exit_ PASHUR.

JEZEBEL.

My King, my sons, are killed! So Jehu wins. Thus in an hour the world slips from the feet. What change beyond this world summons us home? What conclave of the spirits? Dead: all three. Bring me my jewels from the tiring-room. [_The_ MAIDS _go, then return with casket_.

You women, who were with me from the first, Jehu is coming here to murder me. He will be here in some few minutes now. Yet there may still be time for you to go.

ROSE-FLOWER.

And time for you, O Queen; you could fly too. Put on these veils. Oh, hurry! We will take The door the woman told of, and the horses, And be in safety on the coast by dawn.

JEZEBEL.

I am the daughter of a Queen, my friends. My life has been here and my death shall be Near to my dead. But one task more, my friends. Swift, from within, my cases of cosmetics, My crownets and the settings for my hair, The purple chlamys with the spangs of gold That long ago my father won at Rhodes, The robe that once the great Queen Helen had When she was beauty’s self, and gave her beauty To buy a little love in windy Troy. (_The_ MAIDS _bring the gear_.) That is the last task you shall do for me. (_Gives jewels._) And this the last least gift that I can give, With all my thanks for service you have done me, Year in, year out, for many bitter years. I think no Queen has ever been so served. Courage. Here is the key; draw your veils close.

ROSE-FLOWER.

O mistress, come with us!

MOON-BLOSSOM.

Beloved mistress!
What will they do to us, what will they do?

JEZEBEL.

Nothing. They will not find you. You will go Down through the secret door and so away. Master your tears. You, take her by the arm. You will be sailing up the coast to Sidon By sunrise; think.

MOON-BLOSSOM.

And where will you be, lady?

JEZEBEL.

As it is written for me. (_To_ ROSE-FLOWER.) Sister. Friend. When you reach Sidon, greet the King, my father, And give him this, and bid him consecrate A stone for me. Now go. The gods go with you. [_The_ MAIDENS _go_.