Enter the PROPHET. PROPHET. I am bringer of Truth out of the hidden,
I am finder of ways where footing is sure,
I am sword and shield against things forbidden.
I am brightness to guide, healing to cure;
Mine are the words that endure.
I, now, about to declare as the Spirit orders,
Cry, let women avoid, let children hide,
Let none but spearmen be here, the city’s warders.
I speak, out of the Truth, words that abide.
Men only may hear what might of men must decide. JEZEBEL (veils and goes). Enter JORAM, then JEHU, then AHAB, preceded by SPEARMEN. AHAB. Now that the revelation is vouchsafed,
Stand, all, before this Prophet, who has seen
Light in the darkness that has blinded us. PROPHET. Hearken, O King, to revelation’s self.
The spirit says, “Go up against the Syrians;
At Ramoth-Gilead you shall conquer them.”
See here these horns of iron that I wear.
The spirit says, “With these horns shalt thou push
The Syrians, until they be consumed.” JEHU. Good messages, good omens, good foretellings. AHAB. May they prove good. JORAM. The spirit filled the prophets with a glory
Marvellous to watch and hear: they spoke as one. MICAIAH. Not quite as one, Prince Joram and my King.
One was not filled with spirit. AHAB. Who is this? MICAIAH. I am Micaiah, lord, who have been counted
A seer, too, at times. AHAB. Oh, it is you!
Honest Micaiah, who must speak the truth.
I hate this man; he prophesies not good
But evil of me. JEHU. These fellows are too ready with their evil. PHARMAS (to MICAIAH). See now, the prophets foretell victory,
With one mouth; say the same; cry victory. MICAIAH. As the Lord lives I’ll speak what the Lord says. AHAB. Micaiah, shall we go to Ramoth-Gilead
To battle, or forbear? MICAIAH. Go, lord, and prosper,
The Lord shall make it yours. AHAB. How many times
Shall I adjure you that you speak the truth,
Speak nothing but the truth. JORAM. I’d have a way to make him speak the truth.
Two troopers with a pair of stirrup leathers
To teach his obstinate jaw some reverence. AHAB. Peace, Joram: let him speak. MICAIAH. Sir, I will speak.
In dreams, last night, in the dark night, ere cocks crowed,
I saw a downland empty to the sky. JORAM. That is the way these fellows use to talk;
They’d talk another way, had I my will. MICAIAH. And suddenly I saw all Israel
Scattered upon that downland frantically,
Like sheep without a shepherd. The Lord said:
“These have no master now; let them go home."AHAB. And how do you interpret this your dream? 
MICAIAH. That if you go this warfare, you, the master Of Israel, will die. 
AHAB. How die? 
MICAIAH. I do not know. 

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