And
wherefore
gone?
Longfellow
Thou art stained
With every crime against which the Decalogue
Thunders with all its thunder.
JASON.
If not Justice,
Then Mercy, her handmaiden.
JUDAS.
When hast thou
At any time, to any man or woman,
Or even to any little child, shown mercy?
JASON.
I have but done what King Antiochus
Commanded me.
JUDAS.
True, thou hast been the weapon
With which he struck; but hast been such a weapon,
So flexible, so fitted to his hand,
It tempted him to strike. So thou hast urged him
To double wickedness, thine own and his.
Where is this King? Is he in Antioch
Among his women still, and from his windows
Throwing down gold by handfuls, for the rabble
To scramble for?
JASON.
Nay, he is gone from there,
Gone with an army into the far East.
JUDAS.
And wherefore gone?
JASON.
I know not. For the space
Of forty days almost were horsemen seen
Running in air, in cloth of gold, and armed
With lances, like a band of soldiery;
It was a sign of triumph.
JUDAS.
Or of death.
Wherefore art thou not with him?
JASON.
I was left
For service in the Temple.
JUDAS.
To pollute it,
And to corrupt the Jews; for there are men
Whose presence is corruption; to be with them
Degrades us and deforms the things we do.
JASON.
I never made a boast, as some men do,
Of my superior virtue, nor denied
The weakness of my nature, that hath made me
Subservient to the will of other men.
JUDAS.
Upon this day, the five and twentieth day
Of the month Caslan, was the Temple here
Profaned by strangers,--by Antiochus
And thee, his instrument. Upon this day
Shall it be cleansed.
With every crime against which the Decalogue
Thunders with all its thunder.
JASON.
If not Justice,
Then Mercy, her handmaiden.
JUDAS.
When hast thou
At any time, to any man or woman,
Or even to any little child, shown mercy?
JASON.
I have but done what King Antiochus
Commanded me.
JUDAS.
True, thou hast been the weapon
With which he struck; but hast been such a weapon,
So flexible, so fitted to his hand,
It tempted him to strike. So thou hast urged him
To double wickedness, thine own and his.
Where is this King? Is he in Antioch
Among his women still, and from his windows
Throwing down gold by handfuls, for the rabble
To scramble for?
JASON.
Nay, he is gone from there,
Gone with an army into the far East.
JUDAS.
And wherefore gone?
JASON.
I know not. For the space
Of forty days almost were horsemen seen
Running in air, in cloth of gold, and armed
With lances, like a band of soldiery;
It was a sign of triumph.
JUDAS.
Or of death.
Wherefore art thou not with him?
JASON.
I was left
For service in the Temple.
JUDAS.
To pollute it,
And to corrupt the Jews; for there are men
Whose presence is corruption; to be with them
Degrades us and deforms the things we do.
JASON.
I never made a boast, as some men do,
Of my superior virtue, nor denied
The weakness of my nature, that hath made me
Subservient to the will of other men.
JUDAS.
Upon this day, the five and twentieth day
Of the month Caslan, was the Temple here
Profaned by strangers,--by Antiochus
And thee, his instrument. Upon this day
Shall it be cleansed.
