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Its fearful test. And then she would tell us
Of a promise, handed down from sire to son,
That God, the God our fathers loved and worshiped,
Would break our chains, and bring to us a great
Deliverance; that we should dwell in peace
Beneath our vines and palms, our flocks and herds
Increase, and joyful children crowd our streets ;
And then she would lift her eyes unto the far
Off' hills and tell us of the patriarchs .
Of our line, who sleep in distant graves Within
That promised land ; and now I feel the hour
Draws near which brings deliverance to our race.
PRINCESS
These are but the dreams of thy young fancy ;
I cannot comprehend thy choice. I have heard
Of men who have waded through slaughter
To a throne; of proud ambitions, struggles
Fierce and wild for some imagined good ; of men
Who have even cut in twain the crimson threads
That lay between them and a throne ; but I
Never heard of men resigning ease for toil,
The splendor of a palace for the squalor
Of a hut, and casting down a diadem
To wear a servile badge.
Sadly she gazed
Upon the fair young face lit with its lofty
Faith and high resolves—the dark prophetic eyes
Which seemed to look beyond the present pain
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