I
Held out my arms in order to embrace it;
But only found confusion horrible
Of mangled bones and flesh dragged in the mud,
And tatters soaked in gore, of hideous limbs,
That dogs, devouring, fought for with each other.

{ABNER.}

Great God!

{ATHALIAH.}

In this disorder came before mine eyes
A tender boy, in radiant robes arrayed,
As one beholds the Hebrew priests attired.
My sunken spirits rallied at the vision;
But when recovering from my deadly trouble,
His sweetness, noble air, and modesty
I was admiring, all at once I felt
A homicidal steel, plunged by the traitor
Deep through my breast.--Of objects so diverse
The strange assemblage, seems to you perhaps
A work of chance; and I myself, at times,
Shamed of my fears, have thought it but the effect
Of sombre melancholy; but my soul,
Possessed by this remembrance, in my sleep,
Has twice beheld that spectre terrible:
Twice my sad eyes have had upon them traced
The picture of that boy always prepared
To spring on me. At length, quite wearied out,
With horrors that pursued me, unto Baal
I went to ask protection for my life,
And at his altars look for some repose:
What cannot terror do in mortal mind?
An instinct forced me to the Jewish temple,
And I conceived the thought to appease their God:
Some offerings, I believed, would calm His rage,
And make that God, whate'er He be, more gentle.
Pontiff of Baal excuse my feebleness!
I entered; but the sacrifices ceased,
The people fled; the high-priest furiously
Rushed towards me; whilst he spake, O terrible
surprise!
I saw that selfsame child, my menacer,
Such as my frightful dream had fashioned him.
I saw him; even his air, his linen garb,
His gait, his eyes, his lineaments entire:
It was himself. He walked beside the high-priest:
But soon they caused him to avoid my sight.
This is the trouble that arrests me here,
And touching which I long to question both.
Mathan, what does this prodigy forebode?

{MATHAN.}

This dream, and this resemblance seem to me
Quite terrible.

{ATHALIAH.}

But, Abner, have you seen that fatal boy?
What is he? Of what blood, and of what tribe?

{ABNER.}

Two children at the altar lend their servic