.....
-Mr Chairman, ladies and gentlemen: Great was my admiration in
listening to the remarks addressed to the youth of
Ireland a moment since by my learned friend.
It seemed to me that I had been transported into a
country far away from this country, into an age remote
from this age, that I stood in ancient Egypt and that I was
listening to the speech
of some highpriest of that land addressed to the youthful
Moses.
His listeners
held their cigarettes poised to hear, their smoke ascending in frail stalks that flowered
with his speech.
And let our crooked smokes.
Noble words coming.
Look out.
Could
you try your hand at it yourself ?
-And it seemed to
me that I heard the voice of that Egyptian
highpriest raised in a tone of like haughtiness and like pride.
I heard his words and their
meaning was revealed to
me.
FROM THE FATHERS
It was revealed to me that those things are good
which yet are corrupted which neither if they were
supremely good nor unless they were good could be corrupted.
Ah, curse
you! That's saint
Augustine.
-Why will jews not
accept our culture, our religion and our
language? You are a tribe of nomad herdsmen; we are a
mighty people.
You have no cities nor no wealth: our cities
are hives of humanity and our galleys, trireme and quadrireme, laden with all manner merchandise
furrow the waters of
the known globe. You have but emerged from primitive
conditions: we have a literature, a priesthood, an agelong history and a polity.
Nile. child, man,
effigy. By the Nilebank
the babemaries kneel, cradle of bulrushes: a man supple in combat: stonehorned, stonebearded,
heart of stone.
-You pray to a
local and obscure idol: our temples, majestic and
mysterious, are the abodes of Isis and Osiris, of Horus and
Ammon Ra.
Yours serfdom, awe and humbleness: ours thunder and the seal. Israel is weak and few are her
children: Egypt is an host and terrible are her arms.
Vagrants and daylabourers
are you called: the world trembles at our name.
A dumb belch of
honger cleft his speech. He lifted his voice above
it boldly.
-But, ladies and
gentlemen, had the youthful Moses listened to
and accepted that view of life, had he bowed his head and
bowed his will and bowed his spirit before that arrogant
admonition he would never have brought the chosen people
out of their house of bondage nor followed the pillar
of the cloud by day. He would never have spoken with the Eternal amid lightnings on Sinai's
mountaintop nor ever have come doom with the light of
inspiration. shining in
his countenance and hearing in his arms the tables of the
law, graven in the languuge of the outlaw. |