Chapter 3

_Scene as before._ CHORUS OF ISRAELITES.

O PEACE of mind, angelic guest! Thou soft companion of the breast! Dispense thy balmy store. Wing all our thoughts to reach the skies, Till earth, receding from our eyes, 5 Shall vanish as we soar.

FIRST PRIEST.

RECITATIVE.

No more! Too long has justice been delay’d, The king’s commands must fully be obey’d; Compliance with his will your peace secures, Praise but our gods, and every good is yours. 10 But if, rebellious to his high command, You spurn the favours offer’d from his hand, Think, timely think, what terrors are behind; Reflect, nor tempt to rage the royal mind.

SECOND PRIEST.

AIR.

Fierce is the whirlwind howling 15 O’er Afric’s sandy plain, And fierce the tempest rolling Along the furrow’d main: But storms that fly, To rend the sky, 20 Every ill presaging, Less dreadful show To worlds below Than angry monarch’s raging.