_Down with them, Lord, to lick the dust! Thy vengeance be begun: Serve them as they have served the just, And let thy will be done._ FIRST PRIEST. _Recitative._ All, all is lost. The Syrian army fails; Cyrus, the conqueror of the world, prevails! The ruin smokes, the torrent pours along,— How low the proud, how feeble are the strong! Save us, O Lord! to thee, though late, we pray, And give repentance but an hour's delay. FIRST AND SECOND PRIESTS. _Air._ O happy, who in happy hour To God their praise bestow, And own his all-consuming power, Before they feel the blow. SECOND PROPHET. _Recitative._ Now, now's our time! Ye wretches bold and blind, Brave but to God, and cowards to mankind, Ye seek in vain the Lord, unsought before: Your wealth, your pride, your kingdom are no more! _Air._ O Lucifer, thou son of morn, Alike of Heaven and man the foe,— Heaven, men, and all, Now press thy fall, And sink thee lowest of the low. FIRST PROPHET. O Babylon, how art thou fallen! Thy fall more dreadful from delay! Thy streets forlorn To wilds shall turn, Where toads shall pant and vultures prey. SECOND PROPHET. _Recitative._ Such be her fate! But hark! how from afar The clarion's note proclaims the finish'd war! Our great restorer, Cyrus, is at hand, And this way leads his formidable band. Give, give your songs of Zion to the wind, And hail the benefactor of mankind: He comes, pursuant to divine decree, To chain the strong, and set the captive free. CHORUS OF YOUTHS. _Rise to transports past expressing, Sweeter by remember'd woes; Cyrus comes, our wrongs redressing, Comes to give the world repose._ CHORUS OF VIRGINS. _Cyrus comes, the world redressing, Love and pleasure in his train; Comes to heighten every blessing, Comes to soften every pain._ SEMI-CHORUS. _Hail to him, with mercy reigning, Skill'd in every peaceful art; Who, from bonds our limbs unchaining, Only binds the willing heart._ LAST CHORUS. _But chief to Thee, our God, defender, friend, Let praise be given to all eternity; O Thou, without beginning, without end, Let us, and all, begin and end in Thee._ RETALIATION. A POEM.