THE MOTHER. 
My noble Sirion!

ANTIOCHUS. 
Therefore I beseech thee,
Who art his mother, thou wouldst speak with him,
And wouldst persuade him.  I am sick of blood.

THE MOTHER. 
Yea, I will speak with him and will persuade him. 
O Sirion, my son! have pity on me,
On me that bare thee, and that gave thee suck,
And fed and nourished thee, and brought thee up
With the dear trouble of a mother’s care
Unto this age.  Look on the heavens above thee,
And on the earth and all that is therein;
Consider that God made them out of things
That were not; and that likewise in this manner
Mankind was made.  Then fear not this tormentor
But, being worthy of thy brethren, take
Thy death as they did, that I may receive thee
Again in mercy with them.

ANTIOCHUS. 
I am mocked,
Yea, I am laughed to scorn.

SIRION. 
Whom wait ye for? 
Never will I obey the King’s commandment,
But the commandment of the ancient Law,
That was by Moses given unto our fathers. 
And thou, O godless man, that of all others
Art the most wicked, be not lifted up,
Nor puffed up with uncertain hopes, uplifting
Thy hand against the servants of the Lord,
For thou hast not escaped the righteous judgment
Of the Almighty God, who seeth all things!

ANTIOCHUS. 
He is no God of mine; I fear him not.

SIRION. 
My brothers, who have suffered a brief pain,
Are dead; but thou, Antiochus, shalt suffer
The punishment of pride.  I offer up
My body and my life, beseeching God
That he would speedily be merciful
Unto our nation, and that thou by plagues
Mysterious and by torments mayest confess
That he alone is God.

ANTIOCHUS. 
Ye both shall perish
By torments worse than any that your God,
Here or hereafter, hath in store for me.

THE MOTHER. 
My Sirion, I am proud of thee!

ANTIOCHUS. 
Be silent! 
Go to thy bed of torture in yon chamber,
Where lie so many sleepers, heartless mother! 
Thy footsteps will not wake them, nor thy voice,
Nor wilt thou hear, amid thy troubled dreams,
Thy children crying for thee in the night!

THE MOTHER. 
O Death, that stretchest thy white hands to me,
I fear them not, but press them to my lips,
That are as white as thine; for I am Death,
Nay, am the Mother of Death, seeing these sons
All lying lifeless.—­Kiss me, Sirion.

ACT III.

The Battle-field of Beth-horon.

SCENE I. —­ JUDAS MACCABAEUS in armor before his tent.