Chorus of Youths and Virgins. SCENE-The banks of the river Euphrates near Babylon. ACT THE FIRST. FIRST PROPHET.-RECITATIVE. YE captive tribes, that hourly work and weep FIRST PROPHET. Our God is all we boast below, To him we turn our eyes; SECOND PROPHET. And though no temple richly dress'd, We'll make his temple in our breast, nd offer up a tear. ISRAELITISH WOMAN. -RECITATIVE. That strain once more! it bids remembrance rise, How sweet those groves! that plain, how wondrous fair! Air. O Memory! thou fond deceiver, To former joys recurring ever, And turning all the past to pain ; Thou, like the world, the opprest oppressing, In thee must ever find a foe. FIRST PROPHET.-RECITATIVE. Yet why repine? What though by bonds confined, And as our fortune sinks, our spirits soar. Air. The triumphs that on vice attend The good man suffers but to gain, And every virtue springs from pain : No spicy fragrance while they grow; FIRST PROPHET.-RECITATIVE. But hush, my sons, our tyrant lords are near; Near, nearer still, it gathers on the gale : The growing sound their swift approach declares— Desist, my sons, nor mix the strain with theirs. Enter CHALDEAN PRIESTS, attended. Air. FIRST PRIEST. Come on, my companions, the triumph display, Let rapture the minutes employ; The sun calls us out on this festival day, SECOND PRIEST. Like the sun, our great monarch all rapture supplies; The sun with his splendour illumines the skies, Air. CHALDEAN WOMAN, Haste, ye sprightly sons of pleasure ; A CHALDEAN ATTENDANT. Or rather, love's delights despising, Wine shall bless the brave and free. FIRST PRIEST. Wine and beauty thus inviting, Each to different joys exciting, SECOND PRIEST. I'll waste no longer thought in choosing; FIRST PRIEST.-RECITATIVE. But whence, when joy should brighten o'er the land, |