Inlove will cherish. Attic ears, be shut To this deceiver; his condition calls On him to plead for tyranny; himself Wields a despotic sceptre, petty lord Of feeble Macedon, and Persia's slave.' "Severe and awful Aristides rose; His manners still urbanity adorn'd :
Ambassador of Sparta,' he began, 'Us thou hast charg'd as authors of the war, Yet dost extol our vigour in redress
Of injur'd states. Th' Ionians were enslav'd, Our own descendants; Sardis we assail'd To set them free; nor less our present zeal For all of Grecian blood, by common ties Of language, manners, customs, rites, and laws, To us ally'd. Can Sparta doubt our faith? What disingenuous, unbeseeming thought In her, late witness of our lib'ral proof Of constancy! when ev'ry clime on Earth Was equal to Athenians, where to choose Their habitation, true to Greece they stay'd In sight of Athens burning to attempt
The dang'rous fight, which Spartans would have shunn'd.
Now from the ruins of paternal tombs, Of altars fall'n, and violated fanes
Loud vengeance calls, a voice our courage hears, Enlarg❜d to pious fury. Spartan, know, If yet unknowing, of the Attic race Not one to treat with Xerxes will survive ;
Our wives and offspring shall encumber none; All we require of Sparta is to march; That, ere th' expected foe invades our bounds, The Greeks united on Baotian plains May give him battle-Alexander, view
That glorious pow'r, which rolls above our heads; He first his wonted orbit shall forsake, Ere we our virtue. Never more appear Before the presence of Cecropian tribes With embassies like this; nor, blind by zeal, Howe'er sincere to Athens, urge again What is beneath her majesty to hear. I should be griev'd her anger should disgrace A prince, distinguish'd as her host and friend; Meantime I pity thy dependent state.' "Loud acclamations hurried from the sight Of that assembly thy dejected spouse, In his own thoughts dishonour'd. Is mine! If Xerxes triumph, I become A slave in purple; should the Greeks prevail, Should that Eubœan conqueror, the son Of Neocles be sent th' Athenian scourge......" "Hear, and take comfort," interpos'd the queen. "To thee I come for counsel," sigh'd her lord; "I will repose me on thy breast, will hear Thy voice, hereafter ever will obey; Thy love, thy charms can soothe my present cares, She proceeds: Thy wisdom ward the future." "That Greece will triumph, rest assur'd; no force Of these untaught barbarians can resist Her policy and arms. Awhile, dear lord, We must submit to wear the galling mask Necessity imposes. New events
Are daily scatter'd by the restless palm Of Fortune; some will prove propitious. To all men gracious, Aristides, serv'd By us in season, will befriend our state."
This said, her star-like beauty gilds his gloom, While round them Heav'n his midnight curtain drops. By rising dawn th' Etaan rocks and caves
Ring with ten thousand trumps and clarions loud, With all his host the son of Gobryas leaves So rushes from his den His empty'd camp. The strong and thick-furr'd animal, who boasts Calisto's lineage; bound in drowsy sloth Bleak winter he exhausts; when tepid spring His limbs releases from benumbing cold, He reinstates his vigour, and asserts Among Sarmatian woods his wonted sway.
The bands entire of Persians and of Medes, The rest, selected from unnumber'd climes, Compose the army. Forty myriads sweep Thy pass, renown'd Thermopyla, to rush On Grecian cities scatter'd in their view. So by the deep Borystenes in floods
Of frothy rage, by mightier Danube's wave, Nor less by countless congregated streams, The Euxine swoln, through Hellespontine straits Impels his rapid current; thence extends Among th' Ægean isles a turbid maze. Three days the multitude requir'd to pass The rough defile. Masistius in the van His sumptuous arms, and all-surpassing form, Discovers. Tiridates leads the rear Clos'd by the troops of Macedon, whose king Sat on a car beside his radiant queen. Amid the centre, on a milk-white steed, Mardonius rode in armour, plated gold Thick set with gems. Before him march'd a guard Of giant size, from each barbarian tribe, For huge dimension, and terrific mien, Preferr'd. Their captain, from his stature nam'd Briareus, born on Rhodope, display'd That hundred-handed Titan on his shield. He swung around an iron-studded mace, In length ten cubits; to his shoulders broad The hairy spoils of hunted bears supply'd A shaggy mantle; his uncover'd head Was bald, except where nigh the brawny neck Short bushy locks their crisped terrours knit. So his own mountain through surrounding woods Lifts to the clouds a summit bare and smooth In frost, which glistens by no season thaw'd. Not such is gentle Mindarus behind In argent mail. Unceasing, on his shield Intent, Cleora newly painted there
A living beauty, but another's prize, He views, while hopeless passion wastes the hus Of his fair cheek, and elegance of form, Not less th' unrivall'd Amarantha's eyes Had pierc'd the son of Gobryas. Instant sparks On her appearance from Nicæa first Had kindled warm desire, which absence cool'd, While she in distant Macedon abode. When winter melted at the breath of spring, Her sight again amid th' assembling host Reviv'd the fervour of an eastern breast By nature prone, by wanton licence us'd, To am'rous pleasures. Public duty still Employ'd his hours; still smother'd was the flame Nor on his wishes had occasion smil'd. Ev'n in the absence of Emathia's prince At Athens, friendship's unremitted care Still in Sandaucè's chamber held the queen Sequester'd, inaccessibly immur'd,
Beside Masistius rode a youthful page Of eastern lineage. He in teud'rest years Stol'n by perfidious traffickers in slaves, By Medon purchas'd, to Melissa giv'n, By her was nam'd Statiṛus, and retain'd
Among her holy servitors. This youth On her benign protector she bestow'd. Masistius priz'd her token of esteem Beyond himself, and daily bounty show'r'd On young Statirus. Near the Locrian vale Advancing now the satrap thus began:
"O! early train'd by sage Melissa's hand, Gift of her friendship, and in merit dear, Nine months are fled, Statirus, since I bow'd In docile reverence, not unlike thy own, To her instruction. All her words divine In precept or narration, from this breast No time can blot. I now perceive a lake, Which holds an island she hath oft describ'd, Where tombs are mould'ring under cypress shades; There she bath told me, great Oileus rests. O father of Melissa, should my pow'r To savage licence of invasion leave
Thy dust expos'd, my progress were but small In virtue's track; Masistius would disgrace Thy daughter's guidance-Fly, Statirus, post These my attendant vassals to protect That sacred turf; let each battalion pass Ere ye rejoin me." Uttering this, he hears The trumpet's evening signal te encamp. The Sun is low; not ent'ring yet the vale, Mardonius halts, and summons to his tent Thessalia's chieftain, faithless Greek, approv'd The Persian's friend, with him th' unwilling prince Of Macedon, to whom the gen'ral thus: "To march by dawn your squadrons both prepare: Thou, Larissæan Thorax, in these tracts My trusted guide, with swift excursion reach The isthmus; watch the Spartan motions there. Thou, Alexander, sweep the furthest bounds Of Locris, Doris, Phocis; all their youth In arms collect; ere thirty days elapse, I shall expect them on the plains of Thebes." He said: the king and Thorax both retire. The morning shines; they execute their charge; The host proceeds. Once happy was the vale, Where Medon's father, and his faithful swain, Now to illustrious Haliartus chang'd, Abode in peace. No longer is retain'd The verdant smoothness, ridg'd by grating wheels Of Libyan cars, uptorn by pond'rous hoofs Of trooping steeds and camels. Not this day Is festive, such as Sparta's king enjoy'd, When lib'ral hospitality receiv'd His guardian standard on the Oilean turf. No jocund swain now modulates his pipe To notes of welcome; not a maiden decks Her hair in flow'rs; mute Philomel, whose throat Once tun'd her warble to Laconian flutes, Amid barbarian dissonance repines.
Now in rude march th' innumerable host Approach the fountain, whose translucent rills In murmur lull the passenger's repose On beds of moss, in that refreshing cell, To rural peace constructed by the friend Of man, Oïleus. Thither to evade The noontide heat the son of Gobryas turns. Briareus, captain of his giant guard, Accosts him ent'ring: "Image of the king, A list'ning ear to me thy servant lend; Thou goest to Thebes; far diff'rent is the track To Delphi. Shall that receptacle proud Of Grecian treasure, heap'd from earliest times, Yet rest unspoil'd? An earthquake, not the arms Of feeble Delphians, foil'd the first attempt;
Not twice Parnassus will disjoint his frame. Let me the precious enterprise resume, Who neither dread the mountain, nor the god." Though not assenting, yet without reproof Mardonius looks, postponing his reply. Hence soon the rumour of a new attempt Against the Pythian oracle, the seat Of Amarantha's birth, alarms her soul. Masistius, born to virtue, and refin'd By frequent converse with Melissa pure, The queen consults. Her instant he conveys Before his friend, to deprecate an act
Of sacrilege so fatal once. The cell She enters. Like Anchises, when his flock On Ida's mount was folded, at the sight Of Venus, breaking on his midnight hut In all the radiance of celestial charms, Mardonius stands, and fixes on the queen An eye transported. At a sign his friend Withdrew, but waited nigh. To her the chief: "What fortune brings the fairest of her sex To her adoring servant?" She replies:
"False sure the rumour which pervades thy camp. A second time to violate the shrine
Of Phoebus once provok'd, and sorely felt, Thou canst not mean." The eager Persian then: "Admit th' intent; thy interceding voice Protects Apollo."-" Not on my request Avoid an impious action," firm she spake; "Weigh thy own danger in offending Heav'n, By piety and mercy win its grace."
"No, all the merit shall be thine," he cried; "The favour due from Heav'n be all thy own. I ask no more than Amarantha's smile For my reward; as Phoebus is thy god, Thou art my goddess. Let me worship thus-" He stopp'd, and seiz'd her hand with am'rous lips To stain those lilied beauties, which surpass'd Junonian whiteness. Virtue from her eyes Flash'd, and with crimson indignation dy'd Her cheeks: "Retire; forget not who I am," Stern she rebuk'd him. He, accustom'd long To yielding beauty in the wanton East, That torrid clime of love, a stranger he To elegance of coyness in the sex, Much more to chaste repulse, when ev'ry bar But honour warm occasion hath remov❜d, These words austerely utter'd: "Am I chang'd? No more Mardonius? Is my dazzling sun Of pow'r and splendour suddenly obscur'd? In state degraded, for a peasant's garb Have I exchang'd my purple? Is my prime, My form, in all th' impurities of age By some malignant talisman disguis'd, At once grown loathsome? Who, and what I am, Thou prodigy of coldness and disdain, Remind me."-"Who, and what thou art," she said, I will remind thee, to confound thee more. No characters of magic have the pow'r To change a noble and ingenuous mind; Thou hast thyself degraded; thou hast rent The wreaths, which circle thy commanding brow, And all their splendour wantonly defac'd. Thy rank and pow'r exalted dost thou hold From partial Heav'n to violate the laws Of men and gods? True pattern to the world Of Persian virtues! Now to all thy pomp, Thy steeds, thy chariots, and emblazing gems, The gorgeous pageants of tyrannic state, I leave thee, son of luxury and vice."
She said, and darted like a meteor swift Away, whose aspect red presages woe To superstition's herd. The Persian's pride Is wounded; tapers to the cell he calls; By them a tablet, unobserv'd before,
Attracts his gloomy eye. The words were these: "The Spartan king a visitant was here, Who, by a tyrant's multitude o'erpow'r'd, Died for his country. Be accurst the man, The man impure, who violates these walls, Which, by Oïleus hospitably rais'd, Receiv'd the great Leonidas a guest. Oïlean Medon this inscription trac'd."
Another hangs beneath it in this strain: "Laconian Aëmnestus rested here,
From Asia's camp return'd. His falchion's point To deities and mortals thus proclaims
His arm to vengeance on Mardonius pledg'd, The king of Sparta's manes to appease."
Brave was the son of Gobryas, like the god Of war in battle; yet a dream, an act
Of froward chance, would oft depress his mind. He recollects with pain the challenge bold From that severe Laconian in the tent Of Xerxes; this to Amarantha's scorn Succeeding, throws new darkness o'er his gloom. Masistius ent'ring hasty thus began:
"What hast thou done, Mardonius? When I led This princess back, indignant she complain'd Of wrong from thee. Thy countenance is griev'd." Coufus'd, Mardonius pointed to the scrolls; Masistius read; he took the word again:
"Now in the name of Horomazes, chief, Art thou discourag'd by a Grecian vaunt, Or by that empty oracle which claim'd Atonement for Leonidas? Despise Mysterious words and omens like a man. But if thou bear'st the courscience of a deed Unworthy, just thy sorrow; like a man Feel due contrition, and the fault repair."
"I have meant wrong, not acted," said the chief. "Greece once produc'd a Helen, who forsook A throne and husband; what these later dames Call honour, which without an eunuch guard Protects their charms, in Asia is unknown. now admire Resentful, gall'd at first,
This lofty woman, who, like Helen bright, Rejected me a lover, who surpass The son of Priam. Thou art gentler far Than I, discreet Masistius; soothe by morn With lenient words, and costly gifts, her ire. Call Mindarus, together let us feast; He too is gentle, I am rough and hot, Whom thou canst guide, Masistius, thou alone,
Soon Mindarus appears in aspect sad; Soon is the royal equipage produc'd, Which Xerxes gave Mardonius to sustain "Ye rustic pow'rs! His delegated state. Ye Dryads, Oreads of th' Oïlean seat! Ye Naiads white of lucid brooks and founts! Had you existence other than in tales Of fancy, how had your astonish'd eyes At piles of gold enrich'd by orient gems Been dimm'd with lustre? Genius of the cell Simplicity had fram'd to rural peace! How hadst thou started at a Persian board?" Fair female minstrels charm the sight and ear; Effeminating measures on their lutes Dissolve the soul in languor, which admits No thought but love. Their voices chance directs
To sing of Daphnè by Apollo chas'd, Of him inflam'd at beauties in her flight Disclos'd, him reaching with a vain embrace Those virgin beauties, into laurel chang'd On flowry-bank'd Orontes, Syrian stream. Mardonius sighs at disappointed love; Tears down the cheeks of Mindarus descend, Recalling dear Cleora, not as dead Recall'd, but living in another's arms.
Not so the firmness of Masistius yields; The soft, lascivious theme his thoughts reject, By pure affections govern'd. Yet the charm Of harmony prevailing serves to raise Compos'd remembrance of Melissa's lyre, Which oft in stillness of a moonlight hour, Amid her nymphs in symphony high-ton'd, To moderation, equity, and faith,
To deeds heroic and humane she struck With force divine, reproving lawless will, Intemp'rate passions, turpitude of mind, And savage manners in her ethic lay. The banquet ends, and all depart to rest.
By morn return'd Masistius: "Hear," he said, "Th' event unpleasing from thy passion sprung. Mardonius, thy temerity hath chas'd
From Persia's camp the Macedonian queen; I found her tent abandon'd; but her course Conjecture cannot trace. What other style Than of barbarians can the Greeks afford To us of Asia? Lo! a youthful king, Our best ally, and my distinguish'd friend, Exerts a distant effort in our cause, Meantime the honour of his queen, by all Ador'd, inviolate till now, our chief Insults, by station her protector sole, When I am absent. Not thyself alone Thou hast disgrac'd, but me her guardian pledg'd By sacred oaths to Macedonia's lord."
These words, evincing Nature's purest gifts, Deserving that society sublime
With Grecian Muses, where Melissa pour'd Her moral strain, in perturbation plunge The hearer; when importunate, abrupt Appears Briareus, and renews the suit "No," in wrath replied To pillage Delphi. The clouded son of Gobryas; "bring my steed; March all to Thebes." Then humble as a child, Who to parental castigation owns
His fault in tears, Masistius he address'd:
"How bless'd the mind by Horomazes fram'd Like thine, serene Masistius, to resist Unruly passions! never warm desires, Pride, or ambition, vex thy equal thoughts, Which from their level no dejection low'rs; Yet none surpasses thee in rank and pow'r Among the satraps. Uncorrupted man! O, in thyself superior to thy state, Me, who so often sink below my own, I foresee, Befriend in this dark moment.
I feel disaster in this harsh event." Masistius here: "Reflect, thou mighty chief, At either gate of life, the first and last, Yet more through all their intermediate space, Vicissitude and hazard lurk unseen, Supplanting wary steps. To mortal pow'r
Those dreadful ministers of jealous Heav'n, The elements, are hostile, and to low'r The great with changing fortune oft conspire. Her cruel sport, Mardonius, need we tempt With our own follies? In thy arduous post Thy hand sustains a balance, where the lives Of nations, where an empire's fate is pois'd From hour to hour against the common ills Of chance and nature, which so often foil The wisest; do not superadd the weight Of thy own passions to the adverse scale. I, who am ever to thy virtues just,
Will not be slow, though grieving at thy faults, To furnish present help, Farewell; I mount My swiftest courser to o'ertake the queen, Whose indignation I can best compose."
Mardonius then: "Adventure is a chase Thy virtue, no idolatress of fame,
Enjoys; thy prompters are the love of right, Care for a friend, or zeal for Persia's state, Which render hazardous attempts thy bliss, Sublime Masistius. Thou hast weight to awe Mardonius, who thy enterprising hand Laments, but never to control assumes, Yet feels and most regrets his own defects, Whene'er they cause thy absence." Here they end Discourse. Of cavalry a num'rous pow'r, Train'd by himself, Masistius heads, and leaves The army filing tow'rds Boeotian fields.
He bends his course to Delphi; he attains Permessus, round the Heliconian heights In argent mazes whisp'ring, as he flows, To passengers along the winding way,
Which skirts the mountain, and o'erlooks the stream. Back from the ford the satrap's courser starts Affrighted. Lo! to crimson, as of blood, In sudden change the late crystalline wave, Melodious solace of the sacred Nine, Rolls horrible to view.
With spears and bucklers, grating o'er the bed Of loosen'd stone, with limbs and trunks of men, The turbid current chafes. Masistius spurs Through all obstruction; in his forc'd career The clank of armour, crash of spears, and shouts Of battle strike his ear; the vocal rocks Augment the animating sound; he sees A flying soldier, by his target known A Macedonian guard, who stops, and thus: "Hail! satrap, hail! thou timely sent by Heav'n, Haste and protect the Macedonian queen. A host of robbers, by the lawless times Combin'd, have vanquish'd our inferior force; Part of our mangled number choke that flood, Part on the ground lie bleeding." At these words Masistius rushes with his pond'rous lance In rest; Emathia's beauteous queen in flight Before pursuing ruffians he perceives On her fleet courser. Thunderbolt of strength, He hurls to earth their leader, giant-siz'd, A profligate deserter from the guard Mardonian. Next a Phocian born, expell'd His native residence for crimes, he slew; The active staff is broken in the chest Of an Arcadian, branded by his state With infamy; the victor then unsheaths His sabre, op'ning through the savage rout A passage wide for death. His faithful train Surround them; irresistible he sweeps The traitors headlong to the flood below, Which foams like Simois, by Pelides swoln
With Trojan dead, and struggling to discharge Th' unwonted load in Neptune's briny waste.
The conqueror dismounts; before the queen His gracious form presenting, in the arms Of his sustaining friends he sudden sinks, Oppress'd by wounds unheeded, ev'n unfelt Amid the warmth of action. Then her veil She rends asunder, and, lamenting, beats Her grateful breast. The notes of sorrow, loud Through all the concourse, dissipate his trance. Serene these words he utters: "Honour's track Is perilous, though lovely; there to walk, Not fearing Death, nor coveting his stroke, Though to receive it ever well prepar'd, Has been my choice and study. But, fair queen, Be not discourag'd at my present state, Wounds are to me familiar, and their cures ; To Delphi lead me, or whatever place Thy wish prefers. Masistius comes thy guard, So will continue, and, ere long restor'd, Hath much for thy instruction to impart."
While these to Delphi, on his march to Thebes Advanc'd the son of Gobryas. Soon the steps Innumerous of men and coursers bruise On green Cephissian meads the growth of May. Copaa's lake, perfum'd with orange groves, Which rude unsated violence deforms, The multitudes envelop; thence along The sedgy borders of Ismenus reach Cadmean walls, when now the golden Sun Sev'n times had fill'd his orbit. Thebes admits The Persian gen'ral, in these words address'd By Leontiades: "Thrice welcome, lord, We, thy allies, our counsel to disclose Have waited long. Not hazarding a fight, Thou hast the means to ascertain success. Here seated tranquil, from exhaustless stores Distribute gold among the Grecian states; Corrupt the pow'rful, open faction's mouth, Divide, nor doubt to overcome that strength, Which, link'd in union, will surmount the force Of all mankind." The ardent Persian here:
"To court th' Athenians with a lavish hand Have I not stoop'd already? but, disdain'd, That haughty race to destiny I leave. Have I not bid defiance to their boast, Themistocles? Him, forfeiting his word, Pledg'd to confront me on Baotian plains, I haste to summon at his native gates. What are the Greeks, if Athens be reduc'd? Where are the vaunted Spartans? lock'd in fear Behind their isthmian wall, by Heav'n in fear Of Thorax ranging with a slender band Of his Thessalian horse. Thou rule in Thebes, Brave Mindarus, till I from Athens tam'd Return with fetters for the rest of Greece."
He seeks his couch, and, after short repose, By twilight bursts like thunder from a cloud, Which, on Olympus hov'ring black, contains The livid store of Jove s collected wrath Against offending mortals. O'er a land Deserted, silent, to the empty roofs
Of Athens was the march. Mardonius elimb'd Ægaleos, thence on Salamis descry'd That much enduring people, who again For liberty forsook their native homes On his approach. His gen'rous pride relents; He wishes such a nation were a friend; His wishes waken in his breast an awe At such a foe. Murichides was nigh,
A Hellespoutine Grecian of his train, Nor in his favour low; to him he spake: "Look on that haughty, but that gallant race; Perhaps at me, by myriads thus begirt, Their very children lift their little hands In menaces, and cursing lisp the names Of Xerxes and Mardonius. Mount a bark; Pass with a herald to that crowded isle; The senators accost; the people shun, In pride beyond nobility; repeat The words Emathian Alexander us'd: 'Ye men of Athens, repossess your homes; Enlarg'd dominion from the royal hand Ask and obtain; be govern'd by your laws; The son of Gobryas will rebuild your fanes; Accept the king's alliance, and be free
With added strength and splendour.' Further say, They little know what confidence is due
To him who sends thee. Asian Greeks, subdu'd By me, retain their democratic rights."
On Salamis the Hellespontine lands'; Before th' Athenian senate he displays The Persian proffer. All indignant hear But Lycides, who thus exhorting spake: "From Athens twice expell'd, deserted twice By Lacedæmon, who her toil employs Still on her isthmian fence, who lifts no shield To guard our wives and progeny, to save From desolation our defenceless fields, Or from our homes repel the hostile blaze, What can we better, injur'd and betray'd, Than listen to Mardonius? be referr'd
His terms of friendship to th' assembling tribes." The universal senate rose in scorn Of such submission. By the people known, His counsel rous'd enthusiastic rage, Nor Aristides can the tumult cool; They stone the timid senator to death.
The women catch the spirit; fierce, as fair, Laodice collects th' infuriate sex. They hand in hand a dreadful circle form Around his mansion, and his wife and race Doom to perdition, that his coward blood
May ne'er survive in Greece. Enormous thought! Perhaps not less than such excess of zeal Excess of peril in that season claim'd
To save a land, which foster'd ev'ry Muse; That eloquence, philosophy, and arts, Might shine in Attic purity of light To latest ages: but a sudden fleet, In wide array extending on the shore, Suspends the deed. Before each wond'ring eye Timothea lands, Sicinus at her side;
When thus the matron to th' impatient throng: "His native friends Themistocles salutes; Euboean plenty in your present need He sends. Returning, I this crowded isle Will disencumber, and to safety bear Your wives and infants; open to their wants Eudora holds her Amarynthian seat; Elephenor, Tisander to the shrines Of Jove invite them, and to friendly roofs Euboea's towns. As oft Aurora sheds Serenity around her, when the gates Of light first open to her fragrant step; Hush'd at her feet lies Boreas, who had rent The dusky pall of night, and Jove restrains The thunder's roar, and torrents of the skies; Such was Timothea's presence, so the storm, By furies late excited, at her voice
Was tame. She learns the melancholy fate Of Lycides, to her protection takes His helpless orphans, and disastrous wife. Now of its plenteous stores while eager hands The num'rous fleet unlade, and Attic dames Prepare with good Timothea to embark; Just Aristides, first of men, conducts That first of matrons to his joyful tent, Where she began: "O, righteous like the gods, Now hear my whole commission, and believe Themistocles, my husband, feels thy worth. When at his summons on Euboea's coast
I landed first, "Thrice welcome,' he exclaim'd, 'From Athens hither to a safe abode. A second emigration I presage
To her afflicted race.' From port to port Around Euboea's populous extent
With him convey'd, I saw her wealthy towns To his control subordinate. Their pow'rs He now is gath'ring; some achievement new He meditates, which secresy conceals Like Fate's dark roll inscrutable to all. From thee an early notice he requests, Soon as the Greeks, united in one camp, The sole attention of Mardonius draw; Th' intelligence to bring I leave behind That faithful man, Sicinus."-" Virtuous dame, Wise is thy husband," Aristides spake ; "From him no other than achievements high, However my conjecture they surpass,
I still expect. Themistocles apprise, That I am bound for Sparta to upbraid Pausanias proud, and summon to the field That selfish breed so martial, yet so cold To public welfare. Let me next prefer To thy benignity a fervent suit."
He straight withdrew, and reappearing led Two little damsels humble in attire.
"Behold my daughters," he resum'd; "admit These to thy care; now motherless they want Protection; ev'n Euphemia they have lost; My venerable parent have the gods Releas'd but newly from the growing scene Of trouble. Athens must a parent prove To these hereafter, fated to receive No portion from a father, who delights In poverty. His arms are all the wealth Of Aristides." With a tender hand
She takes the children; "O! of men," she said, "Most rich, whose wealth is virtue, in the name Of household gods this office I accept.
O Aristides! these shall mix with mine; These shall contribute to cement the work, I long have wrought, the amity begun Betwixt Themistocles and thee." In tears Depart the infant maidens from a sire Of gentlest nature, and in manners bland Not less than just. Meanwhile to Athens steers Murichides, unharm'd. The rising dawn Sees with her precious charge Timothea sail. Lo! from the city clouds of smoke ascend Voluminous, with interlacing flames, Such as Vesuvius vomits from his gulf Sulphureous, when unquenchable the heat Within his concave melts the surging ore To floods of fire. Murichides had told His fruitless embassy; Mardonius, wild With ire, to instant conflagration doom'd Th' abode of such inexorable foes. They, on the margin opposite, beheld
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