That Abner has a noble heart; that he
Can render, when necessity demands,
His duty to his God, and what he owes
Unto his queen. Remain.

_Scene V._

{ATHALIAH, MATHAN, ABNER, SUITE OF ATHALIAH.}

{MATHAN.}

Great queen! is this a fitting place for you?
What trouble agitates you--fear congeals?
What do you come to seek amidst your foes?
Dare you approach this temple of profaneness?
Have you cast off that hatred so intense--

{ATHALIAH.}

List both of you attentively:
I wish not here to call to mind the past,
Nor render an account of blood that's flowed;
I do not take a hasty crowd for judge;
In what its violence has dared put forth,
To justify me, heaven itself has cared.
The great achievements of my rooted power
Have made my name respected to both seas:
By me Jerusalem's a calm profound;
Jordan no longer sees the vagrant Arabs',
Nor proud Philistines' constant ravages,
Lay waste her banks, as in your sovereigns' times;
The Syrian treats me as a sister queen;
At length the treacherous scourger of my house.

{ATHALIAH.}

Who was to drive his cruelty on me,
Jehu, the haughty Jehu, in Samaria
Is trembling; pressed by potent neighbours
On every side, whom I have found the means
To raise against that murderer; and I
Am left the royal mistress of those lands;
In peace the fruit of my sagacity
Enjoying. But, some days ago, there came
A sleepless trouble to arrest the course
Of my prosperity. A dream (why should a dream
Disquiet me?) feeds in my heart a pang
That wrings it; everywhere I try to shun it;
But everywhere it follows me. It was
During the horror of the night profound,
My mother, Jezebel, before me stood,
Apparelled gorgeously, as on the day
Of her decease; misfortunes had not crushed
Her dignity; and even she had still
That borrowed tint, with which it was her care
To bloom and ornament her countenance,
In order to repair the ravages
Of years irreparable. 'Tremble, daughter,
Thou worthy of myself,' to me she said;
'The cruel God of Judah over thee
Will certainly prevail: I pity thee,
My daughter, falling into His dread hands.'
These fearful words completed, towards my bed
Her shadow seemed to bend itself, and