FUGITIVES.
Both men and women die; old men and young:
Old Eleazer died: and Mahala
With all her Seven Sons.

JUDAS.
Antiochus,
At every step thou takest there is left
A bloody footprint in the street, by which
The avenging wrath of God will track thee out!
It is enough.  Go to the sutler's tents;
Those of you who are men, put on such armor
As ye may find; those of you who are women,
Buckle that armor on; and for a watchword
Whisper, or cry aloud, "The Help of God."

SCENE III. -- JUDAS MACCABAEUS; NICANOR.

NICANOR.
Hail, Judas Maccabaeus!

JUDAS.
Hail!--Who art thou
That comest here in this mysterious guise
Into our camp unheralded?

NICANOR.
A herald
Sent from Nicanor.

JUDAS.
Heralds come not thus.
Armed with thy shirt of mail from head to heel,
Thou glidest like a serpent silently
Into my presence.  Wherefore dost thou turn
Thy face from me?  A herald speaks his errand
With forehead unabashed.  Thou art a spy sent by Nicanor.

NICANOR.
No disguise avails!
Behold my face; I am Nicanor's self.

JUDAS.
Thou art indeed Nicanor.  I salute thee.
What brings thee hither to this hostile camp
Thus unattended?

NICANOR.
Confidence in thee.
Thou hast the nobler virtues of thy race,
Without the failings that attend those virtues.
Thou canst be strong, and yet not tyrannous,
Canst righteous be and not intolerant.
Let there be peace between us.

JUDAS.
What is peace?
Is it to bow in silence to our victors?
Is it to see our cities sacked and pillaged,
Our people slain, or sold as slaves, or fleeing
At night-time by the blaze of burning towns;
Jerusalem laid waste; the Holy Temple
Polluted with strange gods?  Are these things peace?

NICANOR.
These are the dire necessities that wait
On war, whose loud and bloody enginery
I seek to stay.  Let there be peace between
Antiochus and thee.

JUDAS.
Antiochus?
What is Antiochus, that he should prate
Of peace to me, who am a fugitive?
To-day he shall be lifted up; to-morrow
Shall not be found, because he is returned
Unto his dust; his thought has come to nothing.
There is no peace between us, nor can be,
Until this banner floats upon the walls
Of our Jerusalem.

NICANOR.
Between that city
And thee there lies a waving wall of tents,
Held by a host of forty thousand foot,
And horsemen seven thousand.  What hast thou
To bring against all these?

JUDAS.
The power of God,
Whose breath shall scatter your white tents abroad,
As flakes of snow.

NICANOR.
Your Mighty One in heaven
Will not do battle on the Seventh Day;
It is his day of rest.

JUDAS.
Silence, blasphemer.
Go to thy tents.

NICANOR.
Shall it be war or peace?

JUDAS.
War, war, and only war.  Go to thy tents
That shall be scattered, as by you were scattered
The torn and trampled pages of the Law,
Blown through the windy streets.

NICANOR.
Farewell, brave foe!

JUDAS.
Ho, there, my captains!  Have safe-conduct given
Unto Nicanor's herald through the camp,
And come yourselves to me.--Farewell, Nicanor!

SCENE IV. -- JUDAS MACCABAEUS; CAPTAINS AND SOLDIERS.

JUDAS.
The hour is come.  Gather the host together
For battle.  Lo, with trumpets and with songs
The army of Nicanor comes against us.
Go forth to meet them, praying in your hearts,
And fighting with your hands.

CAPTAINS.
Look forth and see!
The morning sun is shining on their shields
Of gold and brass; the mountains glisten with them,
And shine like lamps.  And we who are so few
And poorly armed, and ready to faint with fasting,
How shall we fight against this multitude?

JUDAS.
The victory of a battle standeth not
In multitudes, but in the strength that cometh
From heaven above.  The Lord forbid that I
Should do this thing, and flee away from them.
Nay, if our hour be come, then let us die;
Let us not stain our honor.

CAPTAINS.
'T is the Sabbath.
Wilt thou fight on the Sabbath, Maccabaeus?

JUDAS.
Ay; when I fight the battles of the Lord,
I fight them on his day, as on all others.
Have ye forgotten certain fugitives
That fled once to these hills, and hid themselves
In caves?  How their pursuers camped against them
Upon the Seventh Day, and challenged them?
And how they answered not, nor cast a stone,
Nor stopped the places where they lay concealed,
But meekly perished with their wives and children,
Even to the number of a thousand souls?
We who are fighting for our laws and lives
Will not so perish.

CAPTAINS.
Lead us to the battle!

JUDAS.
And let our watchword be, "The Help of God!"
Last night I dreamed a dream; and in my vision
Beheld Onias, our High-Priest of old,
Who holding up his hands prayed for the Jews.
This done, in the like manner there appeared
An old man, and exceeding glorious,
With hoary hair, and of a wonderful
And excellent majesty.  And Onias said:
"This is a lover of the Jews, who prayeth
Much for the people and the Holy City,--
God's prophet Jeremias."  And the prophet
Held forth his right hand and gave unto me
A sword of gold; and giving it he said:
"Take thou this holy sword, a gift from God,
And with it thou shalt wound thine adversaries."

CAPTAINS.
The Lord is with us!

JUDAS.
Hark! I hear the trumpets
Sound from Beth-horon; from the battle-field
Of Joshua, where he smote the Amorites,
Smote the Five Kings of Eglon and of Jarmuth,
Of Hebron, Lachish, and Jerusalem,
As we to-day will smite Nicanor's hosts
And leave a memory of great deeds behind us.

CAPTAINS and SOLDIERS.
The Help of God!

JUDAS.
Be Elohim Yehovah!
Lord, thou didst send thine Angel in the time
Of Esekias, King of Israel,
And in the armies of Sennacherib
Didst slay a hundred fourscore and five thousand.
Wherefore, O Lord of heaven, now also send
Before us a good angel for a fear,
And through the might of thy right arm let those
Be stricken with terror that have come this day
Against thy holy people to blaspheme!

ACT IV.

The outer Courts of the Temple at Jerusalem.

SCENE I. -- JUDAS MACCABAEUS; CAPTAINS; JEWS.