THE ATHENAID.
Of Parian quarries, stands a form divine, In act to draw an arrow from the case Loose hanging o'er his shoulder; and in look Serene, but stern: his worshippers to guard, As if the Pythian serpent were in sight, He meditates the combat. Here disarm'd, His limbs from all th' impurities of Mars Th' Athenian purges. Menial care supplies
A garment silver-white: an olive branch His suppliant hand sustains. He seeks the fane; He mounts the steps magnificent: the gates On sounding hinges turn their brazen valves. Across an area vast, with solemn shade Of massy columns border'd, slow he moves His manly frame. Procumbent at the mouth Of that abyss oracular, whose fume
Breathes wild sensation through the Pythian maid, With hands outstretch'd, he offers up this prayer: "O vanquisher of Python! Seed of Jove, Whose eleutherian might the tyrant dreads! Bright pow'r of day, dispenser of that fire Which kindles genius in the human breast! God of that light diffusing through the soul The rays of truth and knowledge! Friend to man, His monitor prophetic! O admit
Athenians, anxious for their country's weal, In this her day of peril to consult Thy wisdom, thy protection to implore!" Her tripod high the prophetess ascends : Enthusiastic motion strains her form, In flashes rolls her eyeballs, and bespreads Her agitated front with floating hair. Her weight a laurel, planted nigh, upholds, Which she embraces; her convulsive grasp Shakes to the root the groaning trunk, the boughs, The clatt'ring foliage. Forth she bursts in foam. "Fly, wretched men, to Earth's extremest bound! I see, I see th' Acropolis in flames, Your temples crumble, and your turrets nod: I see the blood run sable through your streets." All unabash'd, the hero firm replies: "Yet further speak. Though citadel and fanes Be doom'd to ashes, must the nation fall? If so, instruct thy suppliants how their fall May prove most glorious in the sight of gods And men."-The Pythian answers with a look Of pity, soft'ning her tempestuous rage:
"Ah! still my tongue like adamant is hard. Minerva's tow'rs must perish: Jove severe So wills; yet granting, at his daughter's suit, Her people refuge under walls of wood. But shun the myriads of terrific horse, Which on your fields an eastern Mars will range." She ceas'd; th' Athenian notes her answer down: To one, the most entrusted of his train, "Back to Athens fly," He gives the tablet. He said; "the son of Neocles alone, By his unbounded faculties, can pierce The hidden sense of these mysterious strains; All which of Xerxes thou hast heard, report: I must depart to Elis."-" Must thou go?" Dejected Timon then: "what safety here For me remains? Barbarians will return; My countrymen, dishearten'd as before, Resort to caverns. Though the god hath sav'd His shrine, the rest of Phocis lies a prey, Boeotia, Locris, Doris, to the foe.
Yet what have I, O Eschylus! to dread? I have no other child for savage force To violate: in Amarantha lost,
My joy, my hope are vanish'd; and the hand, Which lays me breathless, will befriend me best." Th' Athenian here: "Unmanly is despair, A noxious weed, whose growth, my Delphian host, Let courage wither. Phoebus hath denounc'd The waste of Athens. Hopeful I forebode, That prouder walls and battlements will lift Their heads for ages; and that eye of Greece With inextinguishable ray surpass
Its former lustre. Quit this dang'rous place, With us embarking: borrow help from Time, Safe counsellor to Wisdom. You, the race Of holy Delphi, should the foe return, Again dispersing to your caves, rely On your protecting god. Not vers'd alone In holy rites, in arms and council tried, A chief like Timon fame forbids to hide His dignity in caverns."-Timon here: "Thou shalt conduct me, thou, my friendly star! Meantime selected messengers I send, The needful barks at Cirrha to prepare." Now from the temple under Timon's roof Admitted, vig'rous with refection due Of rest and food, to Cirrha they proceed With Artamanes. Ready are the barks, The gale propitious, calm the wat'ry plain: When, like the feather'd sojourners, who leave Their late abode on winter's bleak approach, To wing their flight for climates more benign, These with extended canvass quit the port, And, doubling round Achaia, cut the main To sacred Pisa. On their way the harp Of Eschylus, preluding to the strain Which on his banks Alpheus was to hear, Relieves the sailor toiling at his oar, Enchants the wind retentive of the sounds Which harmonize his breath. If round the keel Of sweet Arion dolphins ever play'd,
Or blithsome Nereids to the pleasing mood Of Orpheus danc'd, while Argo plough'd the deep; They now had felt controlment as in bonds, Not on their pliant, azure-glossy fins Disporting light, but rigid with amaze At this majestic Muse. Yet sounding verse, In solemn cadence to the deep-ton'd lyre, Which could the boisterous mariner subdue, The ear of Timon, languid by despair, Rejects, attentive to his grief alone, Which sighs within. Society is pain, Ev'n with his friend. A solitary couch He seeks; recumbent, not reposing, there Consumes the hours in pertinacious woe, Which sheds no tear. If wearied Nature sinks, His sleep is troubled; visions of the night Appal his spirit; starting, he forsakes A thorny pillow; rushes on the deck With lamentations to the midnight Moon. Alarm'd, th' Athenian chief approaching seiz'd Ou Timon's hand; with earnest looks inquir'd Why thus complaining he disturbs the calm, From his own pillow chasing due repose?
"Ah! I have seen my daughter," he replies, "Have seen her twice!"-" Where seen her?" all distress'd
Th' Athenian questions." On a rock she stood, A naked rock," the parent wild exclaims; "Unloos'd her zone, dishevell'd was her hair; The ravisher was nigh. On sight of me, Who no assistance from the shore could reach, 'O father, father! I am sham'd, deflower'd,
But here will end my sorrows and disgrace ;' She said, and plung'd precipitate. I saw Her body swallow'd by the greedy surge, Unwept, depriv'd of sepulture, to float."
"Illusion all !" the bard consoling spake ; The phantom offspring of distemper'd sleep." "A second time," the frantic sire pursues, "Did Amarantha meet my aching sight; Then, like an eastern concubine attir'd, Her head was blazon'd with barbaric gems; With golden gloss her wanton garment wav'd: With her despoiler hand in hand she walk'd, Disclaim'd her father, and her father's gods. Oh then I wish'd her on the waves again, To parch in winds, or sate some vulture's beak!" The youthful captive Artamanes, rous'd, Stands nigh in gen'rous tears. To him the bard: "Ingenuous Persian, check thy tears, and lend Thy hand benign: committed to his couch Him watch and succour."-Hourly was perform'd The pious office; noblest Delphians round Assist in tears; while now the moonlight twice Danc'd on the billows. On the second morn They land in Elis. Fame had gone before, Promulgating the valour which aveng'd The Delphian god, prophetic light to man, Ev'n more than Jove in Ammon's Libyan shrine Or Dodonæan groves. A shining car Waits on the shore; a herald there salutes The warrior bard. "Divine Athenian, hail! Hail, righteous captain of a righteous band! These olive crowns to thee and them I bear; So have the sage Hellanodics ordain'd, Who to their just tribunal through my voice Invite thy presence." Eschylus receives The victor's chaplet, and ascends the car. Along Alpheus to th' Olympian lists He passes through spectators all array'd In garlands too, and num'rous like the flow'rs Embellishing the river's fragrant sides, Or like the pebbles in his murm'ring bed.
Th' approach of Eschylus is known. Between Two rows of victors in their olive crowns He o'er the sanded area greets the thrones, Where, grac'd with sceptres magisterial, sat Th' Elean judges. Standing on the car, To them, uprising from their seats, he spake: "If to have fought for Delphi and her god Deserve this chaplet, what superior praise To him is due, who voluntary died
For Lacedæmon? But he claims no more Than emulation from the sons of Greece, Like him to save their countries and their laws. He hath his honours in the bless'd abodes; From him I come deputed; hear in me Leonidas. A vision, as of gods, To me, late slumb'ring on Ilissus, rose; In semblance rose Leonidas, begirt With all the virtuous partners in his fate. Before me Earth divided; through the cleft A gushing radiance dimm'd the eye of noon. In structure all of diamond, self-pois'd, Amid redundant light, a chariot hung Triumphal. Twelve transparent horses breath'd Beams from their nostrils, dancing beams of day Shook from their manes. In lineaments of man, Chang'd to immortal, with a shape enlarg'd, A stature lengthen'd, there the mighty soul Of Sparta's king apparent shone. His wounds Shot forth a starlike splendour.. Round in cars
Triumphal tob arrang'd, the stately forms Of those whom virtue led to share his doom, And consecrate Thermopyla to fame. To me these words the glorious shape address'd: ""Go to the sage Hellanodics, the just Elean judges of Olympian palms: In that wide concourse celebrate my death. Let my example gen'ral Greece inspire To face her danger; let the Spartan shield Protect th' Athenians, else I died in vain'.”
Attention mute tb' Hellanodics command: The thick'ning crowd is hush'd. The bard proceeds, While inspiration swells his copious breast, Flames in his eye, and thunders from his voice.
Parnassian Phoebus he invok'd, the pow'r Of prophecy and song. "His aid is due In celebration of the man who heard The oracle of Delphi, and obey'd. A king deriv'd from Hercules must die For Lacedæmon. Who obedient heard? Leonidas: he left his household gods,
His wife belov'd, his offspring; at the gate Of Greece, Thermopylæ, he fought, he fell: With him what heroes? Alpheus, Maron bled, There Agis, there Dienieces, the seer Megistias, bold Diomedon, the youth Of Dithyrambus, Thespia's hoary chief, Demophilus; for you they all expir'd: Rise, Greeks, revenge their fall! in that revenge Your laws, your manners, and religion save. You who aspire to these Olympic wreaths, The brightest guerdon to a Grecian brow, Yet will you linger, till barbaric arms Annihilate th' Olympiad? Not to die Leonidas invites; no, Greeks, to live! Surmounting foes enervate by the dread His death impress'd, to fill your cup of life With virtuous glory, to enjoy your hopes In peace, in years and merit then mature Be his companions in eternal bliss."
Such was the substance; but in swelling phrase At large, full tide of poesy and zeal, Flow'd his high-ton'd, enthusiastic song.
Ta' inspiring measures close. "To arms, to arms!" Innumerable mouths concurrent sound; "To arms, to arms!" reply the pillar'd isles Of Jove's Olympian temple: down his banks To distant Neptune glad Alpheus wafts The glorious clamour. Through th' assembly vast Meantime an elevated form is seen, With gracious gesture, animating look, Approaching: now before th' Elean thrones Of solemn judgment he majestic stands, Known for the man by Themis plac'd in rank Above his fellow mortals; archon once Of Athens, now an exile: him the chief Among the grave Hellanodics address'd:
"Hail, Aristides! On th' Olympian games Thy presence throws new dignity: what crown Can they provide to equal thy desert? While others court the prize of strength and skill, Activity and valoor; in the lists
Of virtue only Aristides strives.
With him on Earth competitor is none; Him Jove, sole perfect judge of gods and men,
Can recompense alone. He scornful views Ambitious heroes, who assume the names Of thunder-bearers, vanquishers of towns, And ravagers of kingdoms: vain attempt In feeble man to imitate in pow'r Th' inimitable gods! Ou thee he casts An eye delighted; thee, by ev'ry tongue Proclaim'd the just; thee, emulating Heav'n, Where mortals may, in goodness. Yet our voice Shall, what we can, decree dispraise to those Whose envy wrong'd that sacred head of thine." "Forbear that censure," Aristides spake : "Though liberty may err through jealous care, That jealous care far oft'ner saves a state Than injures private worth. That I forgave My condemnation, be my witness, Jove! Whom I, departing from my native soil, Implor'd that Athens ne'er might feel the loss Of Aristides. To confirm that pray'r I have employ'd my exile; not in quest Of splendid refuge in the courts of kings, But through each city with unwearied steps Have pass'd, exhorting, stimulating Greece To bold defence. I gladly am forestall'd Here by a noble countryman, whose arm At Marathon was fam'd, whose Attic lays Immortalize the brave. I now invoke,
Not with less fervour, though in humbler phrase, The patriots there triumphant e'en in death, The manes of Leonidas, of all
Whose gen'rous blood new-spilt in freedom's cause, Thermopyla beholds, to spread abroad Their glorious spirit, and exalt your minds Above the sense of danger. Now the weal Of gen'ral Greece a gen'ral effort claims." March to the plain, ye Doric warriors! mount Your decks; th' Athenians with united arms Support, no longer in that isthmian fence Your trust reposing. Were the wall of brass, Were adamant the rampart, if the pow'r Of Athens, once extinguish'd, leave your coasts Defenceless, soon to Pelops' isle the foe, Like death, a thousand avenues will find."
He ceas'd: a second acclamation rends The sky; again th' Olympian temple groans In replication, and Alphean banks Reverberate the sound. The Attic bard Meantime, o'erspent with labour of the mind And voice loud straining, to the tranquil porch Of Jove is lightly borne; nor knows the hands, Benevolent and pious, which sustain His languid burden; till these friendly words In tones remember'd dissipate his trance.
"Doth Eschylus forget me? O recall Melissa's brother, and Oileus' son, Whose Locrian hinds at one auspicious hour Assisted thy bold mariners to hurl Th' Etæan ruins on barbarian heads. See Melibæus off'ring to thy lip
The stream's refreshing moisture."-Soon restor'd, Th' Athenian thus: "Illustrious Medon, hail! How fares Melissa, how thy native land?"
"She rests, I hope, on ŒEta still secure," Returns the Locrian. "When Laconia's king Was slain, and I, commanded to retreat, Charg'd with a solemn notice to her state, That he expir'd obedient to the laws; My life, devoted to avenge his blood, I sav'd. O'erpow'ring Xerxes soon reduc'd The Locrians, Dorians, ev'ry northern Greek.
In time my father's treasure I remov'd, Which with a hundred followers I bore To Lacedæmon. There indiff'rence cold I found to all except of Pelops' isle; Attention sole to build an isthmian wall: Pausanias, guardian to the minor king, Son of divine Leonidas, disdains Our just complaint: the Ephori confine To this contracted region all their care, Save Aëmnestus. Gen'rous oft he mourn'd; In vain his torpid colleagues he reprov'd. Disgusted there, I join'd these solemn games, Where in contention of the warlike spear I prov'd a victor. Olive-bound, my head On future fields its freedom shall maintain; Else, with my late preserver's fate in view, Shall dying roll this chaplet in the dust."
"Repair with me to Athens," cries the bard. Sage is that counsel," Aristides near Subjoins: "time presses: Eschylus, embark: Egina's hospitable round supplies
My place of rest."- Now swift th' Athenian band, With Medon's, seek their Delphian barks again; While Aristides holds an inland course, Still to his country meditating good,
Of his own wrongs forgetful. As he roam'd From state to state, his eloquence instill'd The love of freedom, horrour at her loss, Unchanging hatred to monarchal sway, With concord, valour, fortitude, and zeal For Greece in danger. From his wonted seat In Heav'n, so Phoebus, patient and resign'd, An exile wander'd on the Earth below; Beneficent and helpful, there diffus'd His light of science; with salubrious skill Imparted health, and taught the varied use Of lenient roots and plants. The Delphian keels Meantime are loosen'd from Elean sands, With sails outstretch'd for Athens. On his couch Still Timon lies despairing; near him watch The chiefs humane: in kind officious care The Persian captive from his forehead wipes The dews of anguish. With a sudden start Him now the Delphian, erring, thus bespoke:
"Oh Alexander! thou hast lost, my son, Thy dear betroth'd, the land of Phocis lost Her noblest virgin! Reach my arms-I see The ravisher before me: though he frowns, Begirt with savage multitudes, my sword Shall reach his barb'rous heart." Here Medon turns To Æschylus: "The sight of Delphi's chief, So nobly excellent, so honour'd, lov'd, By all resorting to consult his god, A sight once grateful, pierces now my soul With agony. How oft hath music sooth'd Distemper'd bosoms! Let thy tuneful chords, Medicinally sweet, apply their aid.”
To him the bard: "My harmony his ear But late rejected. Melibæus, try
The softer sounds which Pan hath taught the swains.” "A modulation by Melissa taught
I will essay," th' obedient swain replies. He said, and lightly touch'd his warbling flute. Like fountains rilling, or mellifluous notes Of birds, a soft and lulling flow attun'd The ambient air. At first th' afflicted man Paus'd in attention, soon a trickling tear Bedew'd his beard; the remedy was chang'd To pain, and thus he recommenc'd his moan. Thou, Amarantha, too couldst wake the soul
Of music, melting in thy parent's ear, Refining joyful seasons, or the hours Of care beguiling. In a foreign clime Hang up thy harp, sad captive! Let thy hand Forget her skill, nor charm barbarian minds. But hark! I hear the ruffian. Slave!' he calls, Resume thy harp: some chosen hymn of Greece, Such as delighted Phoebus, chant to me, Me now thy god.', O Alexander, fly, Redeem thy love. Apollo, who couldst hurl Parnassian summits on a host of foes, Make me thy instrument of wrath! My nerves Convert to pierceless adamant; my lance Point with thy father's lightning! Me thy priest, Sprung from an old, heroic, sacred line, Thou shouldst avenge. But vengeance is too late; My daughter yields: a minstrel to her lord, To her deflow'rer, with obsequious art The Grecian chords she prostitutes, and smiles To see my suff'rings!' !"-During this distress, With canvass press'd, the squadron bounds along By Coryphasium, by Messene's gulf In Nestor's Pylian kingdom, by the peak Of Tænarus, projecting o'er a cave, Night's gloomy chamber, fabled to descend Low as Plutonian regions. Thrice the morn Serenely smil'd, ere Malea's top their sails O'ershades, Laconian promontory bleak, The residence of storms. Five distaut masts Are now descried; when Eschylus bespake The Locrian chief: "Not friendly are those decks; Our navy, since Thermopyla was forc'd, To Salamis retiring, leaves the foes At large to range the sea. Thy counsel give; To some Laconian harbour shall we steer, Or wait their coming?" Here Oïleus' son:
"Thou art my leader; thee propitious Mars On land and main with equal pow'rs endues : How can I counsel, stranger to the waves? At thy commandment to retreat, or fight, Behold me ready."-" Then by Mars," replies The warrior bard, "as no resistless force Bears down against us, yet insulting hoists A threat'ning signal, Delphians, rest the oar; Provide your arms; Athenians, Locrians, arm!" This said, his pinnace, lanch'd in haste, convey'd His orders round to form th' embattled line. Six were the vessels; lo! a stately bark In regal pendants leads th' opponent van. As when a vernal sun's precarious beam Is intercepted by a sudden cloud, Whose turgid folds are overcharg'd with hail; Some palace, broad, impenetrably roof'd, Defies the clatt'ring, ineffectual drift, Which harmless melts away-so flew a show'r Of missive arms, of arrows, javelins, darts, With pebbles whirling from the forceful sling, On Grecian helms and implicated shields; But innocently fell. Now side to side The chieftains grappled, and gigantic Death To either deck outstretch'd his purple feet. Malignant art no engine hath devis'd, To man destructive, like his own fell hand In serried fight. But Slaughter now began To pause in wonder, while the Asian chief, Whose blazon'd armour beam'd with gold, engag'd Cecropia's hardy vet'ran foot to foot,
With falchion falchion, shield encount'ring shield. So, in the season when lascivious heat
Burns in their veins, two branching-headed stags,
Of all the herd competitors for sway, Long with entangled horns persist in strife, Nor yield, nor vanquish: stand in gaze the rest, Expecting which by conquest shall assume The mastery of all. Now Timon, rous'd With Melibus, and the captive youth, Starts from his pillow: they attain the poop, Which instant boarded from an eastern ship By hostile arms is held. Brave Medon quits His former station; Eschylus he leaves A firm defender there: his falchion keen Aloft he waves. As some tremendous shark, Who with voracious jaws resistless foams Along the main, and finny tribes devours, Or drives before him on the sun-bright waves, Where late secure they wanton'd.-Medon's might Prevailing thus, the steerage heaps with dead; Though not in time victorious to retain Unhappy Timon, Melibœus good, And Artamanes, not unwilling borne With them away to join his friends again. Two Delphian vessels their auxiliar beaks Present. More furious had the contest glow'd In ev'ry quarter; when o'er Malean cliffs The wind began to howl, the troubled sky To flash sulphureous, menacing a storm, Such as Saturnia on the Dardan fleet, Or Neptune's rage for Polyphemus blind Dash'd on Laërtes' much enduring son. The squadrons separate; to the shelt'ring lee Of Malea steer the Grecians; while their foes Expatiate o'er the roomy sea, to shun The local tumults of that stormy shore, And hold a distant course. O'er Timon's fate Th' Athenian now finds leisure to lament With Medon, Medon with responsive grief For Melibæus. By return of dawn The waters calnı'd invite the vig'rous oars To recommence their progress. Coasting down Laconia's sea-beat verge, they wear the day, Then resting moor in Cynosura's port. From Eschylus in sighs these accents broke:
"Here Esculapius by his pow'rful art, Which dar'd revive departed breath in man, Offending Pluto, thunder-pierc'd by Jove, Lodg'd his own clay in Cynosura's mould. O now to immortality preferr'd,
Kind god of med'cine! wouldst thou hear my suit, Thou shouldst restore Leonidas, to warm Unfeeling Sparta; then thy Delphian sire The menac'd doom of Athens would revoke, Nor I besprinkle with indignant tears Laconia's shore. O Locrian guest, I call'd Thy welcome feet to Athens: thou mayst view (For so the oracle to me denounc'd)
Her tow'rs in dust."-" Minerva's tow'rs to fall Hath Phoebus doom'd?" the Locrian chief ex-
"I, who have lost my country, yet can find A tear for Athens: I attest the gods, As in one vessel, Eschylus, we steer Together now, thy fortune I will share; And down her stream, howe'er the tempest roar, With thee embark'd, will never quit thy side."
The tragic bard unbends his mournful brow, Thus answ'ring: "Gen'rous Medon, I confess, Approaching nearer to my seat of birth, I dropp'd a tear of anguish; Nature wept At sad forebodings of destruction there. But know, a true Athenian ne'er desponds:
Abandon'd by allies, condemn'd by Heav'n To see their city burnt, that gallant race Will yet assert their liberty; will save Ev'n faithless Sparta, and thy home redeem." This said, they slept, till Morning gives her sign To weigh the anchors, and unfurl the sails. Aurora's third appearance tips with light, Of roseate tincture, spacious walls and tow'rs Of no ignoble city, rising clear
From shading mists to view. The poet then: "Lo! Medon, fair Træzene; rich her soil, Her people gen'rous, to Cecropia's state Inviolably faithful. See that isle Which fronts the port; redundant in delights Of art and nature, though of circuit small, Calauria shows her verdant round of wood. Here disembarking, with devotion pure We must invoke the trident-bearing god. This isle from Phoebus, Neptune in exchange For Delphi took. Thrice holy is the soil, Deserving rev'rence, by that pow'r belov❜d, Who shar'd a third of ancient Saturn's reign, His son a brother to Olympian Jove.
Here shall we greet some wonder of her sex, The sacerdotal maid. Træzene's laws One of her noblest daughters in her bud Establish here presiding, here confin'd To priestly functions, till the genial god. Of marriage hence redeem her, grown mature For care less rigid, and a tend'rer tie."
The heroes land, where opening to their sight An elevation of the ground, attir'd In flow'r-enamell'd turf, display'd the fane Of structure vast in marble: brass the gates Refulgence cast; a peristyle sustain'd The massy roof; huge columns on their heads The crisped foliage of Acanthus bore, And high o'erlook'd th' impenetrable shade Which screen'd the island round. Perennial springs Supplied melodious currents through the woods, In artificial beds of pearly conchs Along the sea-beat margin cull'd by nymphs, The temple's chaste attendants. Unrestrain'd Here flow'd the native waters; there confin'd By marble fountains, win th' enchanted eye To shady-skirted lawns, to op'ning glades, Or canopies of verdure: all the founts Were grac'd by guardian images of gods, The train of Neptune.-Lo! the gate is thrown Abroad; the priestess, lovely in her shape As virgin Thetis to the nuptial arms
Of Peleus led, more blooming than the flow'rs Beneath her decent step, descends the slope: A matron staid, behind her, solemn treads; Close to her side, in radiant arms, a youth, Who like a brother of the Graces moves. His head, uncas'd, discovers auburn locks Curl'd thick, not flowing: his sustaining hand She, rosy-finger'd, to her own admits. He seem'd Apollo, not with martial fires Such as on Titan's race he darted keen, But with th' enamour'd aspect which he wore When Clymene he won, or Daphne woo'd: She Cynthia, not a huntress, when the chase Of rugged boars hath flush'd her eager cheek, But gently stooping from an argent cloud, Illumining mount Latmus, while she view'd Her lov'd Endymion, by her magic pow'r Entranc'd to slumber.-Eschylus approach'd, To whom the youth: "Great bard and warrior, hail!
Whose valiant deeds on Artemisium's flood, In that first conflict with barbarian fleets, I strove to copy: there was all my praise. Me Trozen's leader, from my post remote, Thou see'st: forbear to wonder, and attend. Thy Athens now is desolate-relax That anxious brow-her constancy, her zeal For gen'ral freedom, elevate her name Beyond all triumphs. Her discerning chief, Themistocles, interpreting the words
Of Pythian Phoebus, prov'd that ships alone, The fleets of Athens, were the wooden walls Of refuge. All persuaded, sires and sons, With mothers, daughters, cheerfully forsook Their native roofs. Lo! Salamis o'erflows With your illustrious people; through her towns Egina swarms; to muititudes myself Have been conductor; in Trozenian homes, By cordial invitation, they reside. To each a daily stipend by a law They find allotted, schools with teachers fill'd, That not unletter'd from Træœzene's walls The sons of learned Athens may depart, When victory to come rebuilds her tow'rs. With thee behold me ready to embark For Salamis again, where anchor'd lies The whole confederated fleet. I leave My Ariphilia, this my dear betroth'd, To fight my country's battles; but return, I trust in Mars, more worthy of her love: To her and Neptune I but now consign'd The most ennobled of Athenian dames. Ha! see on yonder beach the form divine Of Aristides, newly wafted o'er
From Trozen: thither, not unbid, he came From his late virtuous progress, in our bounds Through willing minds sage counsel to diffuse, His own exterminated friends console."
Cleander finish'd. Soon th' arrival known Of Aristides from the temple call'd The Attic dames, from ev'ry purlieu near, Who with their children in assembly throng Around him. Silent tears confess his loss To them and Athens. His benignant mould By sympathy had melted into grief; If wisdom, ever present in his soul, Had not his long-tried constancy upheld To their behoof. Environ'd by the troop Of lovely mourners stood the godlike man, Like some tall cedar in a garden plac'd, Where glowing tufts of flow'rs and florid plants Once bloom'd around; now, sear'd by scorching blasts,
In faded colours pine. In look, in phrase Humane, he spake: "Be comforted, and hear My voice applaud Themistocles, my foe,
Whose counsels have preserv'd you. But what praise Is yours, O glories of the tender sex! Who brave the floods, without a murmur leave Your native, dear abodes for public good! Ye ornaments of Greece, the pride and boast Of happy fathers, husbands, brothers, sons!" As yet unseen, Euphemia from the rest Impatient stepp'd, his mother. At her sight, The best, the greatest of mankind inclines Before the auth'ress of his being, low As some celestial to the rev'rend form Of Cybele, progenitrix of gods.
Her aged arms extending, she began:
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