University of Virginia Library

SCENE THE SECOND.

Leonidas, People, Ephori, Senators: each one placed according to his rank.
Le.
Praise to the gods! I see collected here
The real citizens; and not confused
With the audacious, turbid, abject people,
Who, with their numbers, strive to implicate
You in their error, spite of your consent.
A spectacle unprecedented, now
Attracts the eyes of universal Sparta;
The most important that can ever be
By a free man beheld. A king of yours
Charged by your ephori, and before you
Accused. His accusation you will hear,
His pleading, and the final judgment given,
In which yourselves, I hope, will bear a part.
I, though a king, with joy announce it to you.
Ah! I had not such fate on that dire day,
Fatal to me, to Sparta not propitious,
In which, an exile, from my throne degraded,
Forlorn I wander'd, doubtful of my life.
By guilty violence was I oppress'd,
Unheard and unaccused; yet more dismay,
Than from my unjust banishment, my heart
Endured from the subversion of the laws,
And from the imminent calamities,
Which threatened Sparta when I left her walls.
At last yourselves convinced of your misfortunes,
Once more reseated me upon the throne,
And, at the same time, Sparta's outraged laws:
Agesilaus, and Cleombrotus,
And the bribed ephori, their partizans,
Inimical to Sparta, ye proscribed.
Agis remains: there are who think him guiltless;
And perhaps he is so. But meanwhile I wish'd
His person to secure, nor, doing this,
Do I propose in his imprisonment
A further purpose than to clear his fame.
If he were once convicted of offence,
Ye should first hear me for my son-in-law
Pardon implore: his inexperienced youth
Must, in your judgment, as it does in mine,
Make him appear not undeserving pity.
Ephori, senators, and citizens,
Your sacred legislative majesty
Never aspired to exercise a right
Nobler than this discretionary power.
To-day you ascertain your monarch's faults,
And pardon them: for I indeed to-day
Submit to your inspection all my deeds.
It seems to me that this is no light proof
Of my pure heart and equitable rule;
And to afford to you that proof I pant.
Let Agis by Leonidas be taught
To tremble at the laws.—But see, already
Agis presents himself at your tribunal:
Behold I sit in silence: I await,
Myself a citizen, from fellow citizens
The termination of this lofty process.
With all my powers I swear to countenance
Whate'er it be, your free, unanimous,
Your sacred, and immutable decision.