Ahafid said he couldn't sing Ahasuerus' praise, And that his harp had lost the tone it had in other days.

But though the Jews are on the throne and Xerxes maudlin full, Ahafid once more tunes his lyre and bellows like a bull.

Look out, here comes the Jew, a cloud upon His brow, the weight of empires on his brain.

What matters does he now revolve? I fear The day of Adar troubles Mordecai.

We'll stand aside and hear the premier.

[_Exit Smerdis._]

[_Enter Mordecai meditatively, followed by Zeresh, who is unseen by him at first._]

_Mordecai_

The name of Haman perish from the earth!

The seed of Abraham be multiplied Until they are as numberless as sands Upon ocean's sh.o.r.e! This was my prayer, I learned it at my mother's knee. Was I Not justified?

_Zeresh_

[_Disguised as a Hebrew woman._]

The Holy Scripture saith, "Vengeance belongs to G.o.d."

_Mordecai_

But was I not His instrument? Jehovah wrought through me; His will, not mine was done.

_Zeresh_

And yet His will Was yours?

_Mordecai_

The wicked Haman would have slain Even the queen herself and every Jew That lives within the hundred provinces Of Xerxes' weak and vacillating rule.

_Zeresh_

Thy action was no more than self-defense?

_Mordecai_

Not self-defense of Mordecai alone, But of my blood, of Esther and the sons Of Jacob, exiled and defenseless else.

The G.o.d of Abraham may chasten, but He keeps his promises, nor will forsake.

Rameses sat upon his haughty throne And knew not Joseph, for my people were Oppressed with bitter bondage and their lives Made hard in mortar and in brick; but still They grew in numbers and increased and waxed Exceeding mighty, till the land was filled With them. And then the king was sore afraid And wroth because the Jews had never bent The knee at Egypt's shrines. He could enslave But not corrupt the children of the true And living G.o.d. And then he called The Hebrew midwives and commanded them To slay thereafter every son that might Be born to Jacob's sacred blood. G.o.d kept His covenant with Abraham and raised Up Moses, the deliverer, and when The plagues had failed to soften Pharaoh's heart, The Lord smote every firstborn in the land Of Egypt, save where hyssop mixed with blood Was sprinkled on the lintel of the door And on the two side posts, as Moses had Directed. Saviour of his people, son Of Amram and of Jochebed, obscure Levites, found in an ark of bulrushes Afloat among the flags near by the spot Where Pharaoh's daughter bathed, and yet, and yet--

_Zeresh_

Was Moses not selected by the Lord To lead the Israelites into the Land Of Promise?

_Mordecai_

[_As in soliloquy._]

And did he not talk with G.o.d Upon the Mount of Sinai, when smoke Enveloped all the peak, and even priests Were not allowed upon that holy ground?

Was I more lowly than was Amram's child?

_Zeresh_

Yet G.o.d exalted him until the throne Of Egypt was within his grasp.

_Mordecai_

Though I, Like Jesse's son, was once a shepherd's lad, To-day I rule ten million souls.

Now Moses was a vessel of the Lord When Death pa.s.sed over every Hebrew home, But slew the firstborn where no blood was found.

Was this revenge? Not Moses' hand, but G.o.d's Was red.

_Zeresh_

The servant must obey his Lord.

_Mordecai_

I did not plot the Persians' death. The plan Of G.o.d was in it all.

_Zeresh_

Else why were you Made premier at the moment when the Jews Faced death in every province of the king?

_Mordecai_

It was my hand that stopped the ma.s.sacre, But G.o.d avenged the awful wrong!

_Zeresh_

And Esther! How is it with her? You made Her queen. She was a humble Hebrew girl, Unknown and friendless, but for Mordecai.

_Mordecai_

She should be grateful for the crown I gave.

_Zeresh_

But Hatach says her cheeks are often wet With tears.

_Mordecai_

It may be that she weeps for him Who won her girlish heart before we came To Shushan or had ever seen the king.

_Zeresh_

And yet that can not be. The shepherd's crook Is not the golden sceptre of a king.