Some of them are half drunk. Their voices sound shrill in contrast with
the chanting of the wanderers]
THE CAPTAIN
The dogs are mutinous. They murmur against their fate. Beat them with
rods if they refuse to go.
A CHALDEAN
Look, Captain, they have not waited for an order. There is no sign of
mutiny.
THE CAPTAIN
If they complain, strike them on the mouth.
THE CHALDEAN
Captain, they are not complaining.
ANOTHER CHALDEAN
Watch them marching. They stride along like conquerors. Their eyes flash
with joy.
THE CHALDEANS
What people are these?--Have they not been vanquished?--Can anyone have
spread among them false tidings of liberation?--What are they
chanting?--A strange people.--No one can understand them, whether in
their dejection or in their exultation.--Their very gentleness is a
danger, for it has a strength of its own.--This resembles rather the
triumphal entry of a king, than the exodus of an enslaved people.--Saw
the world ever such a nation?
FOURTH CHORUS OF WANDERERS
[Here JEREMIAH inconspicuously joins his tribe]
Through ages we wander, we march through the nations,
The tale of our sufferings ever renewed;
Aeon after aeon eternally vanquished,
Thralls at the hearths where in passing we rest.
But the cities wither, and the nations
Shoot into darkness like wandering stars.
The oppressors who scourged us with many whips
Have become a hissing and a byword among the generations.
Whereas we march onward, march onward, march onward,
Drawing strength from within, eternity from earth,
And God from pains and tribulations.
THE CHALDEAN CAPTAIN
Verily madness has seized them. We are the victors, they the defeated
and the disgraced. Why, then, do they not complain?
A CHALDEAN
An invisible force must sustain them.
ANOTHER CHALDEAN
True, they believe in the invisible. That is the mystery of their faith.
THE CAPTAIN
How is it possible to see the invisible, or to believe in what cannot be
seen? They must have secret arts, like those of our astrologers and
soothsayers. It would be well to learn their mysteries.
THE CHALDEAN
These mysteries cannot be taught; the secret lies in faith. What
sustains them, they say, is their faith in the invisible God.
FIFTH CHORUS OF WANDERERS
We wander adown the road of suffering,
Through our trials we are purified,
Everlastingly vanquished, and everlastingly overthrown,
For ever enslaved, for ever enfranchised,
Unceasingly broken and unceasingly renewed,
The mock and the sport of all nations on earth.
We wander through the eternities,
A remnant, a remnant,
And yet numberless.
We march onward to God,
To God who is the beginning and the end,
To God who is our home.
THE CHALDEAN
See how they are walking to meet the sun. His light shines on their
foreheads, and they themselves shine with the strength of the sun.
Mighty must their God be.
THE CAPTAIN
Their God? Have we not broken down his altars? Have we not conquered
him?
THE CHALDEAN
Who can conquer the invisible? Men we can slay, but the God who lives in
them we cannot slay. A nation can be controlled by force; its spirit,
never.
[For the third time the trumpet sounds. The sun has risen, shining on
the exodus of the chosen people, beginning their march athwart the ages]
[ Transcriber's Note:
The following is a list of corrections made to the original.
The first line is the original line, the second the corrected one.
No we, nor we.--Down with Ashur.--Let us break the yoke.--Let us be on
Nor we, nor we.--Down with Ashur.--Let us break the yoke.--Let us be on
against Ashur,--Say, shall the victory be ours?
against Ashur.--Say, shall the victory be ours?
We would fain ask you whether our daughters shall keep their virginity
We would fain ask you whether our daughters shall keep their virginity.
[Suddenly breaking forth into speech] A miracle has happened people of
[Suddenly breaking forth into speech] A miracle has happened, people of
Jeremiah, who leads the people astray? Jeremiah who cried through the
Jeremiah, who leads the people astray? Jeremiah, who cried through the
Jerusalem endureth for ever
Jerusalem endureth for ever.
[ZEKEDIAH turns away, and slowly resumes the round, plunged in thought.
[ZEDEKIAH turns away, and slowly resumes the round, plunged in thought.
[A female relative, coming from without, cautionsly draws aside the
[A female relative, coming from without, cautiously draws aside the
[To Nahum] Coward and traitor!
[To NAHUM] Coward and traitor!
It would be an everlasting disgrace could the heathen on the face
It would be an everlasting disgrace could the heathen look on the face
of Jehovah."
of Jehovah.
]