ANTIOCHUS. 
Ah! when I come
Again to Antioch!  When will that be? 
Alas! alas!

SCENE II —­ ANTIOCHUS; PHILIP; A MESSENGER

MESSENGER. 
May the King live forever!

ANTIOCHUS. 
Who art thou, and whence comest thou?

MESSENGER. 
My Lord,
I am a messenger from Antioch,
Sent here by Lysias.

ANTIOCHUS. 
A strange foreboding
Of something evil overshadows me. 
I am no reader of the Jewish Scriptures;
I know not Hebrew; but my High-Priest Jason,
As I remember, told me of a Prophet
Who saw a little cloud rise from the sea
Like a man’s hand and soon the heaven was black
With clouds and rain.  Here, Philip, read; I cannot;
I see that cloud.  It makes the letters dim
Before mine eyes.

PHILIP (reading). 
“To King Antiochus,
The God, Epiphanes.”

ANTIOCHUS. 
O mockery! 
Even Lysias laughs at me!—­Go on, go on.

PHILIP (reading). 
“We pray thee hasten thy return.  The realm
Is falling from thee.  Since thou hast gone from us
The victories of Judas Maccabaeus
Form all our annals.  First he overthrew
Thy forces at Beth-horon, and passed on,
And took Jerusalem, the Holy City. 
And then Emmaus fell; and then Bethsura;
Ephron and all the towns of Galaad,
And Maccabaeus marched to Carnion.”

ANTIOCHUS. 
Enough, enough!  Go call my chariot-men;
We will drive forward, forward, without ceasing,
Until we come to Antioch.  My captains,
My Lysias, Gorgias, Seron, and Nicanor,
Are babes in battle, and this dreadful Jew
Will rob me of my kingdom and my crown. 
My elephants shall trample him to dust;
I will wipe out his nation, and will make
Jerusalem a common burying-place,
And every home within its walls a tomb!

(Throws up his hands, and sinks into the arms of attendants, who lay him upon a bank.)

PHILIP. 
Antiochus!  Antiochus!  Alas,
The King is ill!  What is it, O my Lord?

ANTIOCHUS. 
Nothing.  A sudden and sharp spasm of pain,
As if the lightning struck me, or the knife
Of an assassin smote me to the heart. 
’T is passed, even as it came.  Let us set forward.

PHILIP. 
See that the chariots be in readiness
We will depart forthwith.

ANTIOCHUS. 
A moment more. 
I cannot stand.  I am become at once
Weak as an infant.  Ye will have to lead me. 
Jove, or Jehovah, or whatever name
Thou wouldst be named,—­it is alike to me,—­
If I knew how to pray, I would entreat
To live a little longer.

PHILIP. 
O my Lord,
Thou shalt not die; we will not let thee die!