_Moses_.—It means we are beset, And shall be dead ere night, if fierce Arbaces Can move the king to wrath; and he who sent us Permit our death. _Aaron_.—My life may well be yielded; But must thou die, my brother, Heaven directed To be as God unto me? Hapless Israel, Mourn without comfort if thy prophet fall! _Moses_.—Fear not for thy life or my own, God with us; Stand we before the king—for soon begins The work a thousand years shall not conclude. I feel assured our prayer will not be granted; And I behold the ills which angry heaven Will yet inflict on this devoted land: The tenfold plagues, the last dread retribution, The billowy grave prepar'd for Egypt's pride, I see as things which pass before my eyes. Our desert wanderings, perils and privations, Miraculous deliverance from them all— The solemn code in God's own thunder spoken, The weary struggle, and triumphant close Of Israel's sufferings, in that Land of Promise Which I shall see, but not survive to enter— Would I could see no more! Thou only God, worthy of Israel's worship, Who by the humblest instruments canst work Thy purposes of goodness, hear thy servant! Thou knowest that I am weak—be thou my strength; Thou knowest that I am dull and slow of speech— Do thou inspire such language as may sink Into a heart self-steel'd against thy will! Fill thought, and soul, and sense with thy idea, That I, so lately taken from the desert, May stand confess'd, tho' in a monarch's presence, The chosen servant of the King of Kings; And oh, if in the book of thy decrees There be a space by which this prince and people, Whom, spite of our deep wrongs, I cannot hate, May find thy mercy and escape this doom, Then let thy servant's prayer be even for Egypt, Which, though of late oppressive, once hath been Thy Israel's refuge in her utmost need. PHARAOH AND HIS TRAIN ENTER. _Pharaoh_, (_being seated_.)—Stand forward, Moses, and ye Hebrew leaders— Say, wherefore do ye trouble me again For that which I have sworn by all our Gods Never to grant while I am king of Egypt? _Arbaces to Moses, observing that he made no obeisance_. And ere thou speakest to thy lord and master, Unmanner'd peasant, proud rebellious slave, Crouch to his throne, and gladly do that homage Which all the brave and highborn in the land, Honor'd and happy think themselves to render. _Moses_.—The base prostration of an abject slave Can do no honor to a sovereign prince; As Pharoah's bondman I would not stand here, But keep aloof, and quietly fold my chains On arms which could not burst their links asunder; And as the ambassador of Israel's God, Call'd by his voice, sustain'd by boundless power, And prompted by his spirit, ne'er will I Bend to a sovereign who dishonors mine. _Pharaoh_.—Wave we this question now; I stand not here On points of ceremony—say thy errand.