CHORUS OF PROPHETS. Our God is all we boast below, And though no temple richly dress'd, We'll make his temple in our breast, ISRAELITISH WOMAN. That strain once more! it bids remembrance rise, How sweet those groves! that plain how wond'rous fair! Air. O MEMORY! thou fond deceiver, Still importunate and vain, To former joys recurring ever, And turning all the past to pain; Thou, like the world, the opprest oppressing, And he who wants each other blessing, In thee must ever find a foe. FIRST PROFHET.-RECITATIVE. Yet why repine? What though by bonds confined, Are not, this very morn, those feasts begun Air. The triumphs that on vice attend The good man suffers but to gain, No spicy fragrance while they grow; SECOND PROPHET.-RECITATIVE. But hush, my sons, our tyrant lords are near, Near, nearer still, it gathers on the gale: The growing sound their swift approach declaresDesist, my sons, nor mix the strain with theirs. Enter CHALDEAN PRIESTS attended. Air. FIRST PRIEST. Come on, my companions, the triumph display, The sun calls us out on this festival day, Like the sun, our great monarch all rapture supplies; The sun with his splendour illumines the skies; Air. CHALDEAN WOMAN. Haste, ye sprightly sons of pleasure, A CHALDEAN ATTENDANT. Or rather, love's delights despising, Wine shall bless the brave and free. FIRST PRIEST. Wine and beauty thus inviting, Each to different joys exciting, Whither shall my choice incline? SRCOND PRIEST. I'll waste no longer thought in choosing, I'll make them both together mine. RECITATIVE. But whence, when joy should brighten o'er the land, Air. Every moment as it flows SECOND PRIEST. Think not to-morrow can repay Can but pay its proper score. SECOND PROPHET. Chain'd as we are, the scorn of all mankind, Is this a time to bid us raise the strain, Or mix in rites that Heaven regards with pain? FIRST PRIEST. Rebellious slaves! if soft persuasion fail, FIRST PROPHET. Why, let them come, one good remains to cheer,— [Exeunt CHALDEANS. CHORUS OF CHALDEANS. Can chains or tortures bend the mind [Exeunt. |