Part 3

When the mob comes to sack the palace, there is always some prince to open the door.

JORAM.

If I ever am the King, the Syrians will see.

JEZEBEL.

May it be long before you become King.

JORAM.

Your killing Naboth may make it very long. But I am not here to talk with you, but with the King.

JEZEBEL.

As I told you, this is the King, here on the ground.

_Enter_ AHAB.

JORAM.

Save you, O King, I bring a message from the Council.

AHAB.

What is it?

JORAM.

Something that would be better said by Ahaziah than myself.

AHAB.

Let me hear it.

JORAM.

If I did not bring it as a message, it would be my duty as your officer to bring it as a report.

JEZEBEL.

The Council sends word by your son that you, the King, should banish the Queen.

JORAM.

Madam, do not add to the pain of my mission. The Council is composed of manly and godly men, the best of our country, whose wills are worth the weighing. They bid me say, sir, this, that they deplore that such a King should have for counsellor one who brings peace with Syria, and the death of an upright man whom they esteemed.

AHAB.

By this counsellor they mean your mother, the Queen?

JORAM.

Sir, you are ever wise and they ever respectful. They feel that a foreign influence is not for your people’s good, nor for justice in your people’s causes.

JEZEBEL.

My son, speak openly, for the people’s good.

AHAB.

What do they demand?

JORAM.

They bid me say, sir, that they cannot doubt that you would care only for your people’s good, were it made apparent.

JEZEBEL.

Make it apparent.

JORAM.

Sire, I would that the prince, my brother, might have had this task.

JEZEBEL.

I, too, wish that, my son. Is not banishment enough, then? Do they ask for my death?

JORAM.

Sir, those are their feelings.

AHAB.

They hate my Queen and wish her gone?

JORAM.

Sir, truth cannot be hidden from you.

AHAB.

And if I ignore their feelings, or crush their mutterings?

JORAM.

Sir, they think you too great a man, for either way.

AHAB.

But if they err, and I do?

JORAM.

You would not.

AHAB.

If I did, what then?

JORAM.

Your Majesty has too good a memory.

AHAB.

What do you mean by that, boy?

JORAM.

Sir, your father only came to the crown because a former King ignored men’s feelings. King Nadab ignored his subjects’ feelings. What happened to him? King Elah did. What happened to him? King Zimri did. What happened to him? Men now living saw all these Kings; and what came to them? The crown is granted on certain terms, according with the Life of this Race. My father, I beseech you, think what this Race asks.

AHAB.

I never cease to think it. Leave us. [_Exit_ JORAM.

You heard what he said?

JEZEBEL.

Yes.

AHAB.

They want me to put you aside.

JEZEBEL.

Yes, Ahab.

AHAB.

What urged you to prosecute Naboth at such a time?

JEZEBEL.

Someone had to act.

AHAB.

You acted fatally.

JEZEBEL.

I was myself, Ahab; a princess of Sidon; your Queen.

AHAB.

This is not Sidon, but Shemer.

JEZEBEL.

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.