Act III: Scene III. — Judas Maccabaeus; Nicanor
NICANOR.Hail, Judas Maccabaeus!
JUDAS.Hail!--Who art thouThat comest here in this mysterious guiseInto our camp unheralded?
NICANOR.A heraldSent from Nicanor.
JUDAS.Heralds come not thus.Armed with thy shirt of mail from head to heel,Thou glidest like a serpent silentlyInto my presence. Wherefore dost thou turnThy face from me? A herald speaks his errandWith forehead unabashed. Thou art a spy sent by Nicanor.
NICANOR.No disguise avails!Behold my face; I am Nicanor's self.
JUDAS.Thou art indeed Nicanor. I salute thee.What brings thee hither to this hostile campThus unattended?
NICANOR.Confidence in thee.Thou hast the nobler virtues of thy race,Without the failings that attend those virtues.Thou canst be strong, and yet not tyrannous,Canst righteous be and not intolerant.Let there be peace between us.
JUDAS.What is peace?Is it to bow in silence to our victors?Is it to see our cities sacked and pillaged,Our people slain, or sold as slaves, or fleeingAt night-time by the blaze of burning towns;Jerusalem laid waste; the Holy TemplePolluted with strange gods? Are these things peace?
NICANOR.These are the dire necessities that waitOn war, whose loud and bloody engineryI seek to stay. Let there be peace betweenAntiochus and thee.
JUDAS.Antiochus?What is Antiochus, that he should prateOf peace to me, who am a fugitive?To-day he shall be lifted up; to-morrowShall not be found, because he is returnedUnto his dust; his thought has come to nothing.There is no peace between us, nor can be,Until this banner floats upon the wallsOf our Jerusalem.
NICANOR.Between that cityAnd thee there lies a waving wall of tents,Held by a host of forty thousand foot,And horsemen seven thousand. What hast thouTo bring against all these?
JUDAS.The power of God,Whose breath shall scatter your white tents abroad,As flakes of snow.
NICANOR.Your Mighty One in heavenWill not do battle on the Seventh Day;It is his day of rest.
JUDAS.Silence, blasphemer.Go to thy tents.
NICANOR.Shall it be war or peace?
JUDAS.War, war, and only war. Go to thy tentsThat shall be scattered, as by you were scatteredThe torn and trampled pages of the Law,Blown through the windy streets.
NICANOR.Farewell, brave foe!
JUDAS.Ho, there, my captains! Have safe-conduct givenUnto Nicanor's herald through the camp,And come yourselves to me.--Farewell, Nicanor!
Words in this poem
- wherefore adv.
- For which reason; so; -- used relatively. [Where + for.]
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- tyrannous a.
- Tyrannical; arbitrary; unjustly severe; despotic. Sir P.
- intolerant a.
- Not enduring; not able to endure. [L. intolerans, -antis: cf. F. intolérant. See In- not, and Tolerant.]
- dire a.
- Ill-boding; portentous; as, dire omens. [L. dirus; of uncertain origin.]
- enginery n.
- The act or art of managing engines, or artillery.
- 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,]
- blasphemer n.
- One who blasphemes.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Act III: Scene III. — Judas Maccabaeus; Nicanor 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 III: Scene III. — Judas Maccabaeus; Nicanor, in Judas Maccabaeus (1872), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1365, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/longfellow-judas-maccabaeus/act-iii-scene-iii-judas-maccabaeus-nicanor.html, id L19129.
Form and metre
Act III: Scene III. — Judas Maccabaeus; Nicanor is 83 lines in 18 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.
- 3 A-A nicanorA · herald · nicanorA
- 4 AA----- judasA · thusA · heel · silently · turn · errand · nicanor
- 8 AA-----A judasA · peaceA · victors · pillaged · fleeing · towns · temple · peaceA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| NICANOR. | 3 | ··· |
| Hail, Judas Maccabaeus! | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| JUDAS. | 2 | /˘ |
| Hail!--Who art thou | 4 | ···· |
| That comest here in this mysterious guise | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| Into our camp unheralded? | 9 | ··/˘·˘/˘˘ |
| NICANOR. | 3 | ··· |
| A herald | 3 | ·/˘ |
| Sent from Nicanor. | 5 | ····· |
| JUDAS. | 2 | /˘ |
| Heralds come not thus. | 5 | /˘··· |
| Armed with thy shirt of mail from head to heel, | 10 | ·········· |
| Thou glidest like a serpent silently | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘˘ |
| Into my presence. Wherefore dost thou turn | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Thy face from me? A herald speaks his errand | 11 | ·····/˘··/˘ |
| With forehead unabashed. Thou art a spy sent by Nicanor. | 15 | ·/˘·˘/········· |
| NICANOR. | 3 | ··· |
| No disguise avails! | 5 | ·˘/˘/ |
| Behold my face; I am Nicanor's self. | 10 | ˘/········ |
| JUDAS. | 2 | /˘ |
| Thou art indeed Nicanor. I salute thee. | 11 | ··˘/····˘/· |
| What brings thee hither to this hostile camp | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Thus unattended? | 5 | ·˘˘/˘ |
| NICANOR. | 3 | ··· |
| Confidence in thee. | 5 | /˘˘·· |
| Thou hast the nobler virtues of thy race, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Without the failings that attend those virtues. | 11 | ···/˘·˘/·/˘ |
| Thou canst be strong, and yet not tyrannous, | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| Canst righteous be and not intolerant. | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘˘ |
| Let there be peace between us. | 7 | ······· |
| JUDAS. | 2 | /˘ |
| What is peace? | 3 | ··· |
| Is it to bow in silence to our victors? | 11 | ·····/˘·//˘ |
| Is it to see our cities sacked and pillaged, | 11 | ····//˘··/˘ |
| Our people slain, or sold as slaves, or fleeing | 11 | //˘······/˘ |
| At night-time by the blaze of burning towns; | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Jerusalem laid waste; the Holy Temple | 11 | ˘/˘˘···/˘/˘ |
| Polluted with strange gods? Are these things peace? | 10 | ˘/˘······· |
| NICANOR. | 3 | ··· |
| These are the dire necessities that wait | 10 | ····˘/˘˘·· |
| On war, whose loud and bloody enginery | 10 | ·····/˘/˘˘ |
| I seek to stay. Let there be peace between | 10 | ·········· |
| Antiochus and thee. | 6 | ˘/˘˘·· |
| JUDAS. | 2 | /˘ |
| Antiochus? | 4 | ˘/˘˘ |
| What is Antiochus, that he should prate | 10 | ··˘/˘˘···· |
| Of peace to me, who am a fugitive? | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| To-day he shall be lifted up; to-morrow | 11 | ·····/˘··/˘ |
| Shall not be found, because he is returned | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Unto his dust; his thought has come to nothing. | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| There is no peace between us, nor can be, | 10 | ·········· |
| Until this banner floats upon the walls | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Of our Jerusalem. | 7 | ·/˘˘/˘˘ |
| NICANOR. | 3 | ··· |
| Between that city | 5 | ···/˘ |
| And thee there lies a waving wall of tents, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Held by a host of forty thousand foot, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| And horsemen seven thousand. What hast thou | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘··· |
| To bring against all these? | 6 | ······ |
| JUDAS. | 2 | /˘ |
| The power of God, | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| Whose breath shall scatter your white tents abroad, | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| As flakes of snow. | 4 | ···· |
| NICANOR. | 3 | ··· |
| Your Mighty One in heaven | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| Will not do battle on the Seventh Day; | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| It is his day of rest. | 6 | ······ |
| JUDAS. | 2 | /˘ |
| Silence, blasphemer. | 5 | /˘˘/˘ |
| Go to thy tents. | 4 | ···· |
| NICANOR. | 3 | ··· |
| Shall it be war or peace? | 6 | ······ |
| JUDAS. | 2 | /˘ |
| War, war, and only war. Go to thy tents | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| That shall be scattered, as by you were scattered | 11 | ···/˘····/˘ |
| The torn and trampled pages of the Law, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Blown through the windy streets. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| NICANOR. | 3 | ··· |
| Farewell, brave foe! | 4 | ·/·· |
| JUDAS. | 2 | /˘ |
| Ho, there, my captains! Have safe-conduct given | 11 | ···/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Unto Nicanor's herald through the camp, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And come yourselves to me.--Farewell, Nicanor! | 11 | ··˘/···/··· |
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.