Act I: Scene III. — Antiochus; Jason
ANTIOCHUS.My task is easier than I dreamed. These peopleMeet me half-way. Jason, didst thou take noteHow these Samaritans of Sichem saidThey were not Jews? that they were Medes and Persians,They were Sidonians, anything but Jews?'T is of good augury. The rest will followTill the whole land is Hellenized.
JASON.My Lord,These are Samaritans. The tribe of JudahIs of a different temper, and the taskWill be more difficult.
ANTIOCHUS.Dost thou gainsay me?
JASON.I know the stubborn nature of the Jew.Yesterday, Eleazer, an old man,Being fourscore years and ten, chose rather deathBy torture than to eat the flesh of swine.
ANTIOCHUS.The life is in the blood, and the whole nationShall bleed to death, or it shall change its faith!
JASON.Hundreds have fled already to the mountainsOf Ephraim, where Judas MaccabaeusHath raised the standard of revolt against thee.
ANTIOCHUS.I will burn down their city, and will make itWaste as a wilderness. Its thoroughfaresShall be but furrows in a field of ashes.It shall be sown with salt as Sodom is!This hundred and fifty-third OlympiadShall have a broad and blood-red sea upon it,Stamped with the awful letters of my name,Antiochus the God, Epiphanes!--Where are those Seven Sons?
JASON.My Lord, they waitThy royal pleasure.
ANTIOCHUS.They shall wait no longer!
Words in this poem
- didst
- , the 2d pers. sing. imp. of Do.
- fourscore a.
- Four times twenty; eighty. [Four + core, n.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- ephraim n.
- A hunter's name for the grizzly bear. [The proper name.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Act I: Scene III. — Antiochus; Jason is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Complete Poetical Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Project Gutenberg ebook #1365; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Act I: Scene III. — Antiochus; Jason, in Judas Maccabaeus (1872), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1365, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/longfellow-judas-maccabaeus/act-i-scene-iii-antiochus-jason.html, id L19124.
Form and metre
Act I: Scene III. — Antiochus; Jason is 42 lines in 9 stanzas.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 4 A-A-A jasonA · jew · manA · death · swineA
- 7 -A-BB-A--- antiochus · itA · thoroughfares · ashesB · isB · olympiad · itA · name · epiphanes · sons
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| ANTIOCHUS. | 4 | ˘/˘˘ |
| My task is easier than I dreamed. These people | 11 | ···/˘····/˘ |
| Meet me half-way. Jason, didst thou take note | 10 | ····/˘···· |
| How these Samaritans of Sichem said | 10 | ··˘/˘˘···· |
| They were not Jews? that they were Medes and Persians, | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| They were Sidonians, anything but Jews? | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| 'T is of good augury. The rest will follow | 12 | ····/˘˘···/˘ |
| Till the whole land is Hellenized. | 9 | ·····/˘·˘ |
| JASON. | 2 | /˘ |
| My Lord, | 2 | ·· |
| These are Samaritans. The tribe of Judah | 11 | ··˘/˘˘···/˘ |
| Is of a different temper, and the task | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Will be more difficult. | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| ANTIOCHUS. | 4 | ˘/˘˘ |
| Dost thou gainsay me? | 5 | ··/·· |
| JASON. | 2 | /˘ |
| I know the stubborn nature of the Jew. | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Yesterday, Eleazer, an old man, | 9 | /˘·/˘˘··· |
| Being fourscore years and ten, chose rather death | 10 | //˘····/˘· |
| By torture than to eat the flesh of swine. | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| ANTIOCHUS. | 4 | ˘/˘˘ |
| The life is in the blood, and the whole nation | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| Shall bleed to death, or it shall change its faith! | 10 | ·········· |
| JASON. | 2 | /˘ |
| Hundreds have fled already to the mountains | 11 | /˘··˘/˘··/˘ |
| Of Ephraim, where Judas Maccabaeus | 9 | ·/˘·/˘··· |
| Hath raised the standard of revolt against thee. | 11 | ···/˘·˘/··· |
| ANTIOCHUS. | 4 | ˘/˘˘ |
| I will burn down their city, and will make it | 11 | ·····/˘···· |
| Waste as a wilderness. Its thoroughfares | 10 | ···/˘˘·/˘· |
| Shall be but furrows in a field of ashes. | 11 | ···/˘····/˘ |
| It shall be sown with salt as Sodom is! | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| This hundred and fifty-third Olympiad | 11 | ·/˘·/˘·˘/˘· |
| Shall have a broad and blood-red sea upon it, | 11 | ··········· |
| Stamped with the awful letters of my name, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Antiochus the God, Epiphanes!-- | 9 | ˘/˘˘····· |
| Where are those Seven Sons? | 6 | ···/˘· |
| JASON. | 2 | /˘ |
| My Lord, they wait | 4 | ···· |
| Thy royal pleasure. | 5 | ·/˘/˘ |
| ANTIOCHUS. | 4 | ˘/˘˘ |
| They shall wait no longer! | 6 | ····/˘ |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.