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Cromwell [to the people.] …dam! Let him speak, my friends.
The Lord would fain put David to the test,
Let Shimei call him anathema.—
[To Carr.
Go on.
Carr. Go on. Thou hypocrite! That is thy scheme.
Thy hellish plans with fair appearances
To cloak, and o'er thine evil brow to throw
A veil as from the skies! To mock the while
Thou torturest! to varnish tyranny!
And vomit satire on a bleeding heart!
But to destroy thy sceptre and thy mask
At once, the Lord concealed me in his scrip.
He said: "Take thou thy lute, and go thou forth
About the city, and from Cromwell's temple
Expel a servile people; grind to dust
The altar, cast the idol in the flames,
And say to them: 'The Egyptian is a man,
Not God!'"—Behold thee, Cromwell, on thy throne
Of glory! Tremble; for the fearsome night
Succeeds the radiant day. Remember thou
Nimrod the hunter. The victorious Lord
His iron bow did break like a child's toy.
Remember Ishbosheth. That foolish king,
And vain, compelled the people to make way
When he passed by; an hundred warriors
Of Issachar, mounted and fully armed,
Rode constantly before his chariot.
But God—'tis that whereat the soul takes fright—
Doth ever cause good fortune to give birth
To evil fortune, flame to change to ashes.
Ishbosheth fell, like unto tainted fruit,
Or like a sound swept onward by the wind,
Leaving no echo. Think on Shalmaneser.