Rezon monologue (Act 1) — The House of Rimmon: A Drama in Four Acts

You know the host Of the Assyrian king has broken forth Again to conquer us. Envoys have come From Shalmaneser to demand surrender. Our king Benhadad wavers, for he knows His weakness. All the nobles, all the rich, Would purchase peace that they may grow more rich: Only the people and the soldiers, led By Naaman, would fight for liberty. Blind fools! To-day the envoys came to pay Their worship to our god, whom they adore In Nineveh as Asshur's brother-god. They talked with me in secret. Promises, Great promises! For every noble house That urges peace, a noble recompense: The king, submissive, kept in royal state And splendour: most of all, honour and wealth Shall crown the House of Rimmon, and his priest,-- Yea, and his priestess. For we two will rise Upon the city's fall. The common folk Shall suffer; Naaman shall sink with them In wreck; but I shall rise, and you shall rise Above me! You shall climb, through incense-smoke, And days of pomp, and nights of revelry, Glorious rites and ecstasies of love, Unto the topmost room in Rimmon's tower, The secret, lofty room, the couch of bliss, And the divine embraces of the god.