Of benediction sung; the gracious sound Our evening heard; content our pillow smooth'd. Ev'n Oxus, so Cleora's slave was nam'd, Of Sacian birth, with grim delight and zeal Anticipates our will. My nuptials known Brings down my father, whose resentment warm Th' affinity with Demonax reproves, A helpless vagabond, a hopeless wretch; For now thy sword at Salamis prevail'd. This storm Cleora calm'd; the gen'rous fair Before my father laid her dazzling gems; She gave, he took them all; return'd content; Left us too happy in exhaustless stores Of love for envious fate to leave unspoil'd. "Meantime no rumour pierc'd our tranquil bow'r, That Demonax in Oreus was replac'd; That he two golden talents, to the hand Which should restore Cleora, had proclaim'd, To me was all unknown. Two moons complete Have spent their periods since one evening late Nicomachus my presence swift requir'd, A dying mother to embrace. By morn I gain'd Carystus; by the close of day A tender parent on my breast expir'd. An agitation unexpected shook My father's bosom as I took farewell. On my return---I can no more— -Yes, yes, Dwell on each hideous circumstance, my tongue; With horrour tear my heartstrings till they burst: Poor Hyacinthus hath no cure but death.
"The Sun was broad at noon; my recent loss Lamenting, yet assuaging by the joy To see Cleora soon, ne'er left before, (A tedious interval to me) I reach'd My home, th' abode of Glaucé. Clos'd, the door Forbids my passage; to repeated calls No voice replies; two villagers pass by, Who at my clamours help to force my way. pass one chamber; strangled on the floor, Two damsel-ministers of Juno lie. I hurry on; a second, where my wife Was in my absence to partake the couch Of Glauce, shows that righteous woman dead. The dear impression where Cleora's limbs Sleep had embrac'd, I saw, the only trace Of her, the last, these eyes shall e'er behold. Her name my accents strong in frenzy sound: Cleora makes no answer. Next I fly From place to place; on Sacian Oxus call: He is not there. A lethargy benumbs My languid members. In a neighb'ring hut, Lodg'd by the careful peasants, I awake, Insensible to knowledge of my state. The direful tidings from Carystus rouse My friends; Nicanor to my father's home Transports me. Ling'ring, torpid I consum'd Sev'n moons successive; when too vig'rous youth Recall'd my strength and memory to curse Health, sense, and thought. My rashness would have sought
Cleora ev'n in Oreus, there have fac'd The homicide her sire; forbid, withheld, Nicanor I deputed. When I march'd To bid thee welcome, on the way I met That friend return'd-Persist, my falt'ring tongue, Rehearse his tidings; pitying Heav'n may close Thy narrative in death-The Sacian slave Produc'd Cleora to her savage sire; So fame reports, all Oreus so believes. But this is trivial to the tragic scene
Which all beheld. Her hand the tyrant doom'd To Mindarus, a Persian lord, the chief Of his auxiliar guard; but she refus'd, And own'd our union, which her pregnant fruit Of love too well confirm'd. The monster, blind With mad'ning fury, instantly decreed That deadliest poison through those beauteous lips Should choke the springs of life. My weeping friend Saw her pale relics on the fun'ral pyre.
I am not mad-ev'n that relief the gods Deny me. All my story I have told, Been accurate on horrour to provoke The stroke of death, yet live.”—“Thou must,” ex- The chief, humanely artful, "thou must live; Without thy help I never can avenge
On Demonax thy wrongs."-"Ha!" cries the youth, "Art thou resolv'd to lift thy potent arm Against the murd'rer?"-"Yes," th' Athenian said, "I will do more, thy virtue will uphold, Whose perseverance through such floods of woe Could wade to bid me welcome. Gen rous youth, Trust to the man whom myriads ne'er withstood, Who towns from ruin can to greatness raise, Can humble Fortune, force her fickle hand To render up the victim she hath mark'd For shame and sorrow, force her to entwine With her own finger a triumphant wreath To deck his brow. Themistocles, who drives Despair and desolation from the streets Of fall'n Eretria, and from eastern bonds Afflicted Greece at Salamis preserv'd; He will thy genius to his native pow'rs Restore; will make thee master of revenge For thy own wrongs; to glorious action guide Thy manly steps, redressing, as they tread, The wrongs of others." Not the gracious voice Of Juno, speaking comfort from her shrine, Not from his tripod Jove's prophetic seed, Imparting counsel through his Pythian maid; Not Jove himself, from Dodonæan groves, By oracles of promise, could have sooth'd This young, but most distinguish'd of mankind Among the wretched, as the well-wrought strain Of thy heart-searching policy, expert Themistocles, like some well-practis'd son Of learn'd Machaon, o'er a patient's wound Compassionate, but cool, who ne'er permits His own sensation to control his art.
"But," said th' Athenian, “soldiers must refresh, As well as fast, nor keep incessant watch,"
They quit the temple. In the dwelling nigh, Deep-musing, Hyacinthus lightly tastes The light repast. On matted tufts they stretch Their weary'd limbs. Themistocles had arm'd With elevated thoughts his pupil's mind, Which foils at intervals despair. His eyes The transient palm of sleep would often seal, But oft in dreams his dear espous'd he sees, A livid spectre; an empoison'd cup She holds, and weeps-then vanishes. Revenge, In bloody sandals and a dusky pall, Succeeds. Her stature growing, as he gaz'd, Reveals a glory, beaming round her head; A sword she brandishes, the awful sword Which Nemesis unsheaths on crimes. He sees Connubial Juno's image from the base Descend, and, pointing with its marble hand, Before him glide. A sudden shout of war, The yell of death, Carystian banners wav'd, An apparition of himself in arms,
Stir ev'ry sense. The dreadful tumult ends; The headless trunk of Demonax in gore He views in transport. Instantly his couch Shoots forth in laurels, vaulting o'er his head; The walls are hung with trophies. Juno comes, No longer marble, but the queen of Heav'n, Clad in resplendency divine. She leads Cleora, now to perfect bloom restor❜d, Who, beck'ning, opens to th' enraptur'd eye Of Hyacinthus, doating on the charm, Her breast of snow; whence pure ambrosial milk Allures an infant from an amber cloud,
Who stoops, and round her neck maternal clings. He to embrace them striving, wak'd, and lost Th' endearing picture of illusive air, But wak'd compos'd. His mantle he assum'd, To Juno's statue trod, and thus unlock'd His pious breast: "O goddess! though thy smile, Which I acknowledge for the hours of bliss I once possess'd, a brief, exhausted term, Could not protect me from malignant Fate, Lo! prostrate fall'n before thee, I complain No more. My soul shall struggle with despair; Nor shall the Furies drag me to the grave. Thou punishment dost threaten to the crime, Which hath defac'd my happiness on Earth; Themistocles, my patron, is thy boon, Who will fulfil thy menace. I believe, There is a place hereafter to admit Such purity as hers, whose blissful hand Thou didst bestow-I lost-I know my days With all their evils of duration short;
I am not conscious of a black misdeed, Which should exclude me from the seat of rest, And therefore wait in pious hope, that soon Shall Hyacinthus find his wife and child, With them to dwell for ever." He concludes, Regains the chamber, and Aurora shines.
WHEN Hyacinthus first his couch forsook, Themistocles in care had follow'd close, But secretly had noted well the pray'r To Juno sent, and part approving, part Condemning, heard. Accoutr'd now in mail, The young Carystian, to his list'ning friend, Relates the wonders of his recent dream.
Th' Athenian, while most cordial in the care Of Hyacinthus, whom his woes endear'd, Still weigh'd his use. This answer he devis'd To ease the grief he pitied, and preserve The worth essential to his own designs.
"What thou hast told, Carystian, fires my breast; It was a signal, by Saturnia held
To animate thy rage, and prompt thy arm To action. She requires not, goddess wise, Humiliation, scorns the sluggish mind, Whose thoughts are creeping to Elysian rest. They hush no throbs of anguish, while it rends The mangled heartstrings, no not more than stanch A bleeding wound, or quench a fever's flame. We earn Elysium, and our evils here Surmount, alike by action. Manly toil Repels despair. Endurance of a storm, Which rocks the vessel; marches long and swift; A river pass'd, while enemies in front By whirls of javelins chase the rapid ford;
A rampart scal'd; the forcing of a camp, Are cures of sorrow. In her vision clear So did Heav'n's empress intimate this morn. Me too she visited in sleep; her voice My waking thoughts confirm'd; Cleora lives; Else why the goddess thus: Arise, O son Of Neocles, of this afflicted youth Be thou sure guide to rescue his espous'd; The profanation of my rites chastise?""
The fiction wraps in credulous delight The young Carystian's confidence, who feels Circaan magic from his patron's eye, His tongue, and gesture. He, quick-sighted, turns To swift advantage his delusion thus:
Come, let me try thy vigour; I am bound To neighb'ring Styra; fly before thy friend; Among that gen'rous people, who, their all, Two gallies sent to Salamis, proclaim Themistocles approaches." Like a dart, Lanch'd from the sinews of a Parthian's arm, Without reply th' inspir'd Carystian flew, Cas'd as he was in steel. Meantime the chief Salutes his Attic and Laconian bands; His captivating presence both enjoy, Which else no eye most piercing might discern, Not ev'n the hundred never-sleeping lights, Which on the margin of her parent flood Incessant watch'd the progeny transform'd Of Inachus, the Argive watry god;
Where undistinguish'd in the grazing herd His daughter wept, nor he that daughter knew A speechless suppliant. Recommenc'd, the march Exhausts the day. Beneath a holy roof, Which rose to Ceres, they their shelter'd limbs To rest and food resign. There gently swell'd Th' encircling ground, whence fair the morning On little Styra, who, no queen superb [smil'd Of wide dominion, like a rural nymph In decency of garb, and native locks, Her humble circuit not unlovely shows. She from Athenian boundaries of old Her first inhabitants deriv'd, and pours Her sons now forth Themistocles to greet, Their eldest parent's hero. Lampon bold Accosts him: "Me the weak, but willing hand Of Styra late enabled to enrol
My name with thine, unconquerable son Of Neocles. Though feeble is her sword,
Her sinews boast of Attic vigour still. Oh! that her means were equal to her love, A lib'ral welcome thou and these should find, But yon Geræstian oligarchy, foe To equity and freedom, from our meads Have newly swept our plenty." Ardent here, Themistocles: "By Heav'n, my Styrian host, Not thrice shall day illuminate your skies, Ere double measure shall these petty lords Repay to Styra. I am come to crush Their usurpation, in Geræstus fix Her ancient laws, and rouse her martial race Against the Persian, and the Persian's friends, Array thy force. To morrow's early Sun Shall see us march, and ere his second noon The bird of Athens shall her talons lift Against the walls of these presumptuous thieves,” "They have no walls," Eudemus takes the word, A righteous, brave Geræstian, exil'd late, By hospitable Styra late receiv'd.
"A forest thick surrounds them, which affords One scanty passage; but the axe and bill,
Apply'd with vigour, soon will open ways. Sev'n hundred natives can Geræstus arm, Who will not fight to rivet on their necks A galling yoke more fast. The whole defence, Our oligarchal tyrants have to boast,
Are poor barbarians, scarce three hundred strong, Sav'd from the wrecks. of those advent'rous ships, Which round Euboea's rude Capharean cape Had been detach'd thy navy to surround In Artemisium's conflict." Now apart Themistocles to Hyacinthus spake, While in his care he lodg'd a casket seal'd, Which held the talent promis'd to his sire: "This for thy father; tell him, I require The stipulated bands' immediate march; I wish to see them under thy command. Thou know'st Diana's celebrated fane At Amarynthus; if thou canst, young friend, Be there before me." Pleas'd, the youth departs. As in excursion from their waxen homes A hive's industrious populace obey
The tinkling sound, which summons all to swarm; So, when the trumpet's well-known voice proclaims To arms, the Styrians, round the banner'd staff, Which Lampon rais'd, are gather'd. There enjoin'd To reassemble at a stated hour,
Their clinking armour in their homes they cleanse; They whet their spears and falchions to chastise Geræstian rapine. Ere the morning breaks, Four hundred join Themistocles. He bends To Amarynthus, seat of Dian pure, His rapid course. Her edifice sublime, Which overtops her consecrated bow'r, The second noon discovers. Just arriv'd, Carystian helmets round the temple shine, By Hyacinthus and Nicanor led,
Joint captains. Staid Nicanor was the friend Return'd from Oreus, who the tidings brought Of poor Cleora's fate. Th' Athenian hails The young commander: "Gladly do I find Thy speed surpassing mine; but swift explain, Who is the priestess in this pure abode?"
"Then Hyacinthus: "She, Eudora nam'd, For sanctity of manners, rank, and birth, Through this well-peopled island is renown'd; Authority her hand-maid. Her rich fane With sumptuous off'rings shines; the wealthiest Her intercession at the thrones of Heav'n [towns Obsequious court, and dread her brow severe. Of elevated stature, awful port, She from Briareus, worshipp'd in our walls, Proud origin derives. She twangs the bow, The javelin lances through the tusky boar, Chas'd o'er the temple's wide domain of wood; Tall nymphs attend her, while the eyes abash'd Of her own vassals shun her stately step. Ah! couldst thou win her favour!". -"Haste," replies
The ready chief, "to great Eudora say, Themistocles of Athens humbly sues To kiss the border of her hallow'd stole."
He calls; the martial harness from his limbs Attentive slaves unclasp; ablution pure From limpid streams effaces ev'ry stain Of his laborious march; a chlamys flows Loose from his shoulders. Casting from his brow The plumed casque, uncover'd he ascends The massy steps of that stupendous fane. In admiration of the glories there, Through cedar valves, on argent hinges pois'd,
He passes, where his own distinguish'd form No ornament excels. In gold the shapes Of wreaths and garlands, crescents, stars, and suns, Hung round the columns; on the pavement broad, Engraven tripods, vases, statues, busts
Of burnish'd brass and silver were dispos'd, In graceful order. Pictures, where the lips Seem speaking, limbs to act, and looks express The various passions, which in varying hues Exalt the human aspect, or degrade, Enrich the walls. Orion writhes his bulk, Transfix'd by arrows from th' insulted queen Of chastity. Devour'd by rav'nous hounds, His own, Actæon's metamorphos'd head Reclines in blood his newly-branching horns. Unbid by Eneus to th' Etolian feast, There on her vengeful Calydonian boar Looks Phoebe down, while red her crescent darts A flame of anger through disparting clouds. Compell'd to lave her violated limbs, Disrob'd Calisto on the fountain's brink There weeps in vain her virgin vow profan'd. Here deeds of mercy smile. Appeas'd, the queen Folds in the mantle of a silver mist
Pale Iphigenia, from the holy knife At Aulis wafts, and substitutes the doe A full-atoning victim. Here she quits Her Tauric dome, unhospitably stain'd
With blood of strangers. O'er th' entrusted keel Of sad Orestes, who her image bears,
To chase the Furies from his haunted couch, A guardian bland she hovers. Through its length Magnificent the midmost isle conveys
The terminating sight, where deep and wide A luminous recess, half-circling, shows Pilasters chisell'd, and a sumptuous freeze. An elevated pavement, yet below
The sight, whose level skims a surface broad Of marble green, sustains the goddess form In Parian whiteness, emblem of her state, In height five cubits. Purity severe O'ershades her beauty. Elegantly group'd Without confusion, Dryads, Oreads round, With nymphs of lakes and fountains fill the space Lo not unlike the deity she serves, Eudora stands before her, and accosts Th' advancing hero thus: "I trust, thy soul Some great, some righteous enterprise conceives, Else nothing less might justify the din
Of arms around me, and these banners proud Fix'd in my presence on religious ground Inviolably sacred. I would know, Themistocles, thy purpose." He one knee Obsequious bends; his lips approach the hem Of her pontific robe, nor she forbids.
He then replied: "I should not have besought Thy condescension, priestess, had my soul Less than a righteous enterprise conceiv'd, Deserving sanction from thy holy, pure, All-influencing wisdom; to thy feet
I bring my standard, and my sword devote. Spontaneous to thy service. While I cast My wond'ring eyes on this enrich'd abode, On thee, its chief embellishment, and know That impious neighbours in Geræstus rule, Foul pillagers and miscreants, horrour thrille Thy soldier's bosom; from a town oppress'd, Them to extirpate his vindictive arm Themistocles exalts." Eudora look'd Applauding: "Go, and prosper," she rejoin'd
"Of this attentive piety, O chief,
Whom glory crowns, thou never shalt repent!" Dismiss'd, he rested; under twilight grey Renew'd his course. Meridian Phoebus view'd Compact battalions from their shields and helms Shoot flames of terrour on Geræstian woods. A guard was station'd, where the narrow path Gave entrance; thither Hyacinthus led A chosen troop, and fieroe in accent spake:
"Train'd to an oar, vile remnants of a wreck, Drop, ye barbarian vagabonds, those arms From your ignoble, mercenary hands; Th' invincible Themistocles requires
Elect Eudemus archon; of the wealth, Those wretches gather'd, part to public use, To suff'rers part distribute. I demand But this requital; you have felt the woes Of tyranny; obtaining from my hand Redress, that band enable to preserve The liberty of others; Greece demands From you that succour, which this happy day She hath by me imparted." He withdraws From acclamations and assenting hearts To give Eudemus counsel. Night is spent. He swiftly back to Amarynthus flies; Each tyrant follows; from his dungeon drawn,
Immediate passage." Dubious paus'd their chief, The Sun, spectator of his chains and shame,
A low Pamphylian rower. In contempt From his inverted spear a pond'rous blow The youth discharg'd, removing all suspense. Prone fell the ruffian, like the victim beast, Stunn'd by a brawny sacrificer's blow, Before an altar's fire. His troop disperse. The Styrians active, by the prudent son Of Neocles instructed, beat the wood, Wielding the bill and axe in wary dread Of ambush. No resistance checks the march; The speeding legion penetrates the shades; Thence, rushing dreadful on Geræstus, spreads A blaze of steel, So fiery sparks, conceal'd Long in some ancient mansion's girding beam, There gath'ring force unseen, a passage break For conflagration to devour a town.
Eudemus joins Themistocles, and thus: "Behold, our miscreant oligarchy rest On supplication, now their sole defence; The injur'd people follow; hear the cry Of imprecation. Sev'n flagitious men, By rapine, lust, and homicide deform'd, Those olive boughs profaning by their touch, Come to pollute thy presence." They approach, To whom th' Athenian, stern in visage, spake : "Ye little tyrants, who in crimes aspire To emulate the greatest, do ye come To render up your persons? else expect That populace to seize you, and a pile Of stones to crush your execrable heads."
He turns away. The fife and trumpet sound; The sev'n surrender mute; Eudemus glad Secures them, giv'n to Styra's band in charge. Reviv'd Gerastus to her public place, Which heretofore the people wont to fill In free assembly, as her guardian god Receives the Attic hero. All the way He passes, curses on the tyrants heap'd He list'ning hears, from children for their sires, From wives for husbands, mothers for their sons, The various victims of unlawful pow'r. Dishonour'd damsels, early robb'd of fame, An orphan train, of heritage despoil'd, Indignant husbands, of their wives depriv'd, Their joint upbraidings sound. "By all the gods," Th' Athenian bitterly sarcastic spake,
Black spirits, your fertility in vice Deserves my wonder; in this narrow spot You are distinguish'd in the sight of Heav'n By multifarious crimes above the king, Who hath all Asia for his ample range. Be not offended, my Geræstian friends; Ere I restore your franchise, I will try If chains and dungeons can allay these flames Of unexampled wickedness. Thou hear'st, Eudemus. Now, Geræstians, you are free.
He dreads; in horrour, conscious of his guilt, He shrinks at day like Cerberus, when dragg'd By Hercules from Hell. Th' accepted chief, His captives ranging in Eudora's sight, Unfolds their dire variety of crimes, Left to her sentence; awful she decides:
"He, who oppresses, who enslaves mankind, Himself should feel enthralment, shame, and stripes. Let these to some fell traficker in slaves Be sold, transported in remotest climes To witness Greek severity on vice;
So by my voice should Xerxes be condemn'd; So shall the monster Demonax. The means I find, Themistocles, in thee." Elate To hear this great, authoritative dame, The chief replies: "Thy mandate is my law, Thy equity is mine." Her stately brow Unbending, she concisely questions thus:
"How shall Eudora's favour mark thy worth?" "Thy blessing grant," he answers, well appris'd, That asking little best attains to all.
"I may do more," she said; "thy ripen'd thoughts Impart hereafter; my extent of aid
Diana must determine. Now farewell."
He press'd no further, tow'rds Carystus turn'd His march, and reach'd her portals, while the Sun Wanted three hours to finish his career.
There was a temple to Briareus built, The son of Titan. In th' enormous shrine His image vast to thirty cubits rose
In darkest marble. Terrour, thick with curls O'erlaid the forehead, thick th' engraven beard The spacious chest o'ershadow'd; fifty shields, As many maces of refulgent brass
The hundred hands upheld. Broad steps around The pedestal ascended, that before
Th' outstretch'd Titanian feet religious fear Accumulated off'rings might dispose, So to propitiate the tremendous god.
In single state before this image stood Nicomachus, the archon, to receive His son triumphant with Cecropia's chief. They now had pass'd th' expanded gates, and slow Approach'd the shrine in military pomp Along th' extensive aisle. The walls and dome Replied to fifes and trumpets, to the clink Of manacles and fetters, piercing sound, Which told the wearer's guilt. Till now unmark'd, A figure, grim and ghastly, from the crowd Darts, and a poniard plunging in the breast Of old Nicomachus, himself ascends The pedestal, and lifting his red steel On high, between the god's gigantic feet Intrepid takes his station. Terrour dims Each gazing eye; th' illusive medium swells His size; in fancy'd magnitude be tow'rs
Another son of Titan. As he stands Intent to speak, Themistocles, alone Of all th' assembly master of himself,
Cool gives a sign, when thus th' assassin speaks, In phrase barbaric, and a soften'd look:
"I am that Oxus, whom suspicion marks A traitor to Cleora. Mistress dear, (At this a torrent gushes from his eyes) Thou knew'st me faithful. Listen, gracious lord, Thou tend'rest consort of the tend'rest wife, O Hyacinthus! listen to my tale, Thou too wilt own me faithful :-On the night, Thy first of absence from Cleora's bed, No more thy love to bless, assassins forc'd Kind Glaucè's dwelling; me they bound; my voice
They barr'd; the priestess and her blameless maids They strangled. Mounted on a rapid steed One bore Cleora; two, robust and fell, Were my unresting guards. Through trackless woods
Not far we journey'd; Demonax was near,
Just march'd to waste Eretria's neighb'ring land. Conducting me to loneliest shades, my guides Remain'd awhile conferring. One, I knew, Was Dacus, Dacus whom thy sire preferr'd In trust to all his menials. Words like these He utter'd: Thus Nicomachus enjoin'd; Transporting Oxus to obscurest wilds, Destroy, conceal him there. Access by night To Demonax obtain; by earnest suit From him exact a promise to declare, That Oxus brought his daughter, then set free Was sent rewarded to his Sacian home. Receive the gold proclaim'd; depart. Be sure No other name than Oxus pass your lips.' "This said, they gor'd me with repeated wounds; I sunk before them; they believ'd me dead. Deep in a pit, o'ergrown with brambles thick, They left me. Woodmen, haply passing, heard My piercing groans; in pity, to a hut They bore me; herbs medicinal, and time, Restor❜d my strength." His garment he unfolds, The crimson horrours of his num'rous scars To show. "Carystians, I my vital breath Among the Saces on the Caspian drew. A Genius dwells, a native in the lake, Who, in his function rising from the deep, Reveals foul murder. Purple are his wings, His hue is jet, a diamond his eye, His hair is inextinguishable flame. Whatever man, his visitation warns, Neglects to right the dead, he haunts, he drives To horrid frenzy. On a whirlwind borne, To me in momentary flight he came, In terrours clad uncommon; o'er my couch His clatt'ring pinions shook. His mandate high I have obey'd, the foulest murd'rer slain.
"Now, mistress dear, sole object of my zeal, Where'er thou art, if fleeting on some cloud A bright aerial spirit; if below Among the genii of the earth, or seas,
Dost trace the caves, where shine carbuncles pure, Or pluck the coral in cerulean grots, Thy faithful slave shall follow, still perform With his accustom'd vigilance thy will."
His dying limbs, nor groan'd. What thoughts were thine,
Nicomachus! To thee are open'd wide Death's portals; cold thy blood begins to flow. Au injur'd son beside thee strives to doubt That he, who gave him being, now descends To sure damnation for so black a crime; But thou remov'st all doubt. Thy sister's ghost Before thee seems to glide, and point thy way To Erebus; Briareus' hundred hands To brandish serpents, lashing from his fane A sordid, grovelling parricide to Hell. At length, amid confession of thy guilt, The Furies snatch thee from the light of Heav'n To that eternal gloom. The fainting limbs Of Hyacinthus forth Nicanor bears. Religious dread beholds the shrine impure With homicide; nor knows, what man, what god Must be consulted, or what rite perform'd To purge from deeds thus ominous the fane; Till recollection prompts a sudden hope, That wise, and great, and favour'd from above, Themistocles may succour-He is gone. In double consternation all disperse.
Night drops her curtain on the sleepless town.
BRIGHT morning sheds no gladness on the face Of pale Carystus, who, in visions fram'd By superstitious fear, all night had seen Briareus lift his hundred hands to crush His fane polluted, from the base to rend Each pillar'd mass, and hurl the fragments huge Against her tow'rs. Anon is terrour chang'd To wonder, which consoles her. Through her gates, Amid the lustre of meridian day,
In slow procession, solemnly advance A hundred youths in spotless tunics white, Sustaining argent wands. A vig'rous band Of sacerdotal servitors succeed,
Who draw by turns the silver graven shape Of Dian lofty on a wheeling stage Of artificial verdure. Virgins tall A guard surround her, each in flowing snow Of raiment, gather'd in a rosy knot Above one knee. They tread in sandals white, O'erlae'd by roseate bands; behind their necks Of lily's hue depend their quivers full; [bows, Hands, which can string their tough and pond'rous Eyes, darting beams severe, discover strength Unbroke by wedlock, hearts by love untam'd; Soft light the silver crescents on their heads Diffuse. Eudora follows in her car; Across her shoulders hangs a quiver large; Full-fac'd, a crystal moon illumes her hair. Penthesilea's Amazonian arm
Had scarce the nerves to bend Eudora's bow. Her port, her aspect, fascinate the sight; Before her, passing, tow'rs and temples seem To sink below her level; she becomes The single object eminent; her neck,
Her arms, the vestment shuts from view prophane; Low as her feet descends the sacred stole.
This said, he struck the poniard through his Eight purple-harness'd steeds of milky hue,
The blows repeating till he pierc'd the heart, Then on the crimson'd pedestal reclin'd
Her axle draw. Before her footstool sits The vanquisher of Xerxes; to the reins Of argent lustre his obsequious hand
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