DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.12665#0088
THE THEATRE.
the young, the high-born, the beautiful, and brave
who once rejoiced in your riches and power, and
lived as if there was no grave ? Where are ye
now 1 Even the very tombs, whose open doors
are stretching away in long ranges before the eyes
of the wondering traveller, cannot reveal the mys-
tery of your doom : your dry bones are gone -t
the robber has invaded your graves, and your very
ashes have been swept away to make room for the
wandering Arab of the desert.
But we need not stop at the days when a gay
population were crowding to this theatre. In the
earliest periods of recorded time, long before this
theatre was built, and long before the tragic muse
was known> a great city stood here. When
Esau, having sold his birthright for a mess of pot-
tage, came to his portion among the mountains of
Seir; and Edom; growing in power and strength,
became presumptuous and haughty, until, in her
pride, when Israel prayed a passage through her
country, Edom said unto Israel, " Thou .shalt not
pass by me, lest 1 come out against thee with the
sword."
Amid all the terrible denunciations against the
land of Idumea, "her cities and the inhabitants
thereof," this proud city among the rocks, doubt-
less for its extraordinary sins, was always marked
as a subject of extraordinary vengeance. " I have
sworn by myself, saith the Lord, that Bozrah (the
strong or fortified city) shall become a desolation,
a reproach, and a waste, and a curse, and all the
the young, the high-born, the beautiful, and brave
who once rejoiced in your riches and power, and
lived as if there was no grave ? Where are ye
now 1 Even the very tombs, whose open doors
are stretching away in long ranges before the eyes
of the wondering traveller, cannot reveal the mys-
tery of your doom : your dry bones are gone -t
the robber has invaded your graves, and your very
ashes have been swept away to make room for the
wandering Arab of the desert.
But we need not stop at the days when a gay
population were crowding to this theatre. In the
earliest periods of recorded time, long before this
theatre was built, and long before the tragic muse
was known> a great city stood here. When
Esau, having sold his birthright for a mess of pot-
tage, came to his portion among the mountains of
Seir; and Edom; growing in power and strength,
became presumptuous and haughty, until, in her
pride, when Israel prayed a passage through her
country, Edom said unto Israel, " Thou .shalt not
pass by me, lest 1 come out against thee with the
sword."
Amid all the terrible denunciations against the
land of Idumea, "her cities and the inhabitants
thereof," this proud city among the rocks, doubt-
less for its extraordinary sins, was always marked
as a subject of extraordinary vengeance. " I have
sworn by myself, saith the Lord, that Bozrah (the
strong or fortified city) shall become a desolation,
a reproach, and a waste, and a curse, and all the