 | Leonidas |  |
71
BOOK III.
The argument.
Tigranes and Phraortes repair to Xerxes, whom they find seated on a throne surrounded by his satraps in a magnificent pavilion; while the Magi stand before him, and sing an hymn containing the religion of Zoroastres. Xerxes, notwithstanding the arguments of his brothers Hyperanthes and Abrocomes, gives no credit to the ambassadors, who report, that the Grecians are determin'd to maintain the pass against him; but commands Demaratus an exil'd king of Sparta to attend him, and ascends his chariot to take a view of the Grecians himself. He passes through the midst of his army, consisting of many nations differing in arms, customs, and manners. He advances to the entrance of the straits, and surpris'd at the behaviour of the Spartans demands the reason of it from Demaratus; which occasions a conversation between them on the mercenary forces of Persia, and the militia of Greece. Demaratus weeping at the sight of his countrymen, is comforted by Hyperanthes. Xerxes still incredulous commands Tigranes and Phraortes to bring the Grecians bound before him the next day, and retires to his pavilion.
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Now had Tigranes, and Phraortes gain'd
The splendid tent of Xerxes. Him they found
Begirt with princes, and illustrious chiefs,
The potentates of Asia. Near his side
His valiant brothers stood, Abrocomes,
And Hyperanthes, then Pharnuchus brave,
Pandates, Intaphernes, mighty lords,
And numbers more in purple splendour clad,
With homage all attending round the throne,
Whose gorgeous seat erected high upbore
Their regal master. He above their heads
Look'd down imperious. So the stately tow'r
Of Belus, mingling its majestick front
With heav'n's bright azure, from on high survey'd
The huge extent of Babylon, with all
Its sumptuous domes and palaces beneath.
That day the monarch deem'd to enter Greece,
And hide her fields with war; but first ordains,
That grateful hymns should celebrate the name
Of Oromasdes: so the Persians call'd
The world's great author. By the king's decree
The Magi stood before th' unfolded tent.
Fire blaz'd beside them. Tow'rds the sacred flame
They turn'd, and sent their tuneful praise to heav'n.
The splendid tent of Xerxes. Him they found
Begirt with princes, and illustrious chiefs,
The potentates of Asia. Near his side
His valiant brothers stood, Abrocomes,
And Hyperanthes, then Pharnuchus brave,
Pandates, Intaphernes, mighty lords,
And numbers more in purple splendour clad,
With homage all attending round the throne,
Whose gorgeous seat erected high upbore
Their regal master. He above their heads
Look'd down imperious. So the stately tow'r
Of Belus, mingling its majestick front
With heav'n's bright azure, from on high survey'd
The huge extent of Babylon, with all
Its sumptuous domes and palaces beneath.
73
And hide her fields with war; but first ordains,
That grateful hymns should celebrate the name
Of Oromasdes: so the Persians call'd
The world's great author. By the king's decree
The Magi stood before th' unfolded tent.
Fire blaz'd beside them. Tow'rds the sacred flame
They turn'd, and sent their tuneful praise to heav'n.
From Zoroastres was the song deriv'd,
Who on the hills of Persia from his cave
With flow'rs incircled, and with murm'ring founts,
That chear'd the solemn mansion, had reveal'd,
How Oromasdes, radiant source of good,
Original, immortal fram'd the globe
With all its varied beauty: how with stars
By him the heav'ns were spangled: how the sun,
Refulgent Mithra, purest spring of light,
And genial warmth, whence fruitful Nature smiles,
Burst from the east at his creating voice;
When streight beyond the golden verge of day
Night shew'd the horrours of her distant reign,
Whence black, and hateful Arimanius sprung,
The author foul of evil: he with shades
From his dire mansion veil'd the earth and skies,
Or to destruction chang'd the solar beam,
When parching fields deny the foodful grain,
And from their channels fly th' exhaling streams,
Whence pestilence, and famine: how the pow'r
Of Oromasdes in the human breast
Benevolence, and equity infus'd,
Truth, temperance, and wisdom sprung from heav'n;
When Arimanius blacken'd all the soul
With falshood, and injustice, with desires
Insatiable, with violence, and rage,
Malignity, and folly. If the hand
Of Oromasdes on precarious life
Shed wealth, and pleasure, soon th' infernal God
With wild excess, or av'rice blasts the joy.
Thou, Oromasdes, victory dost give.
By thee with fame the regal head is crown'd.
Great Xerxes owns thy succour. When with storms
The hate of direful Arimanius swell'd
The Hellespont, thou o'er the angry surge
The destin'd master of the world didst lead,
This day his promis'd glories to enjoy,
When Greece affrighted to his arm shall bend;
Ev'n as at last shall Arimanius fall
Before thy might, and evil be no more.
Who on the hills of Persia from his cave
With flow'rs incircled, and with murm'ring founts,
That chear'd the solemn mansion, had reveal'd,
How Oromasdes, radiant source of good,
Original, immortal fram'd the globe
With all its varied beauty: how with stars
By him the heav'ns were spangled: how the sun,
74
And genial warmth, whence fruitful Nature smiles,
Burst from the east at his creating voice;
When streight beyond the golden verge of day
Night shew'd the horrours of her distant reign,
Whence black, and hateful Arimanius sprung,
The author foul of evil: he with shades
From his dire mansion veil'd the earth and skies,
Or to destruction chang'd the solar beam,
When parching fields deny the foodful grain,
And from their channels fly th' exhaling streams,
Whence pestilence, and famine: how the pow'r
Of Oromasdes in the human breast
Benevolence, and equity infus'd,
Truth, temperance, and wisdom sprung from heav'n;
When Arimanius blacken'd all the soul
With falshood, and injustice, with desires
75
Malignity, and folly. If the hand
Of Oromasdes on precarious life
Shed wealth, and pleasure, soon th' infernal God
With wild excess, or av'rice blasts the joy.
Thou, Oromasdes, victory dost give.
By thee with fame the regal head is crown'd.
Great Xerxes owns thy succour. When with storms
The hate of direful Arimanius swell'd
The Hellespont, thou o'er the angry surge
The destin'd master of the world didst lead,
This day his promis'd glories to enjoy,
When Greece affrighted to his arm shall bend;
Ev'n as at last shall Arimanius fall
Before thy might, and evil be no more.
The Magi ceas'd their harmony; when now
Before the king with adoration bow'd
Tigranes and Phraortes. Prone they lay,
And o'er their foreheads spread their abject hands,
As from a present deity too bright
For mortal vision to conceal their eyes.
At length in humble phrase Tigranes thus.
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Tigranes and Phraortes. Prone they lay,
And o'er their foreheads spread their abject hands,
As from a present deity too bright
For mortal vision to conceal their eyes.
At length in humble phrase Tigranes thus.
O Xerxes, live for ever! Gracious lord!
Who dost permit thy servants to approach
Thy awful sight, and prostrate thus to own
Thy majesty and greatness. May the pow'r
Of Oromasdes stretch thy scepter'd arm
O'er all the nations from the Indian shores,
Ev'n to the waters of the western main,
From northern Tanais to the source of Nile!
And still from thee may Arimanius turn
Against thy foes his malice to mankind!
By him, ev'n now with frenzy smote, the Greeks
Reject thy proffer'd clemency. The morn
Shall see them bleed the victims of thy wrath.
Who dost permit thy servants to approach
Thy awful sight, and prostrate thus to own
Thy majesty and greatness. May the pow'r
Of Oromasdes stretch thy scepter'd arm
O'er all the nations from the Indian shores,
Ev'n to the waters of the western main,
From northern Tanais to the source of Nile!
And still from thee may Arimanius turn
Against thy foes his malice to mankind!
77
Reject thy proffer'd clemency. The morn
Shall see them bleed the victims of thy wrath.
Here, to his brothers turning, Xerxes spake.
Say, Hyperanthes? Does thy soul believe
These tydings? Sure these slaves have never dar'd
To face the Grecians, but delude our ear
With base impostures, which their fears suggest.
Say, Hyperanthes? Does thy soul believe
These tydings? Sure these slaves have never dar'd
To face the Grecians, but delude our ear
With base impostures, which their fears suggest.
To him this answer Hyperanthes form'd.
O from his servants may the king avert
His indignation! Greece was fam'd of old
For martial virtue, and intrepid sons:
I have essay'd their valour, and with me
Abrocomes can witness. When our sire
The great Darius to th' Athenian shore
With Artaphernes, and with Datis sent
Our tender youth; at Marathon we found,
How vain the hopes, that numbers should dismay
A foe resolv'd on victory, or death.
Yet not as one contemptible, or base
Let me appear before thee: though the Greeks
With such unconquer'd spirits be indu'd,
Soon as the king shall summon me to war,
He shall behold me in the dang'rous van
Exalt my spear, and pierce the hostile ranks,
Or sink before them. Xerxes then return'd;
O from his servants may the king avert
His indignation! Greece was fam'd of old
For martial virtue, and intrepid sons:
I have essay'd their valour, and with me
Abrocomes can witness. When our sire
The great Darius to th' Athenian shore
78
Our tender youth; at Marathon we found,
How vain the hopes, that numbers should dismay
A foe resolv'd on victory, or death.
Yet not as one contemptible, or base
Let me appear before thee: though the Greeks
With such unconquer'd spirits be indu'd,
Soon as the king shall summon me to war,
He shall behold me in the dang'rous van
Exalt my spear, and pierce the hostile ranks,
Or sink before them. Xerxes then return'd;
Why over Asia, and the Libyan soil,
With all their nations does my potent arm
Extend its scepter? Wherefore do I sweep
Across the globe with millions in my train?
Why shade the Ocean with unnumber'd sails?
Whence all this pow'r, unless th' eternal will
Had doom'd to give one master to the world,
And that the earth's extremity alone
Should bound my empire? He for this reduc'd
Revolted Ægypt, and inlarg'd my sway
With sandy Libya, and the sultry clime
Of Æthiopia. He for this subdu'd
The Hellespontic rage, and taught the sea
Obedience to my pow'r. Then cease to think,
That heav'n deserting now the cause of kings
Those despicable Grecians will inspire
With courage more than human, and expunge
The common fears of nature from their breasts.
He ceas'd, when thus Abrocomes began.
With all their nations does my potent arm
Extend its scepter? Wherefore do I sweep
Across the globe with millions in my train?
Why shade the Ocean with unnumber'd sails?
79
Had doom'd to give one master to the world,
And that the earth's extremity alone
Should bound my empire? He for this reduc'd
Revolted Ægypt, and inlarg'd my sway
With sandy Libya, and the sultry clime
Of Æthiopia. He for this subdu'd
The Hellespontic rage, and taught the sea
Obedience to my pow'r. Then cease to think,
That heav'n deserting now the cause of kings
Those despicable Grecians will inspire
With courage more than human, and expunge
The common fears of nature from their breasts.
He ceas'd, when thus Abrocomes began.
The king commands us to reveal our hearts:
Then may the sun to lightning change his beams
And blast my head with ruin; may the king
Look on his servant with a loathing eye,
If what I here affirm be false, or vain,
That yonder Grecians will oppose our course.
Then may the sun to lightning change his beams
80
Look on his servant with a loathing eye,
If what I here affirm be false, or vain,
That yonder Grecians will oppose our course.
The king arose. No more: prepare my Car;
The Spartan exile Demaratus call:
We will our selves advance and view the foe.
The Spartan exile Demaratus call:
We will our selves advance and view the foe.
The monarch will'd; and suddenly he hears
His trampling horses. High on silver wheels
The iv'ry car with azure sapphirs shone,
Cærulean beryls, and the jasper green,
The emerald, the ruby's glowing blush,
The flaming topaz with its golden beam,
The pearl, th' impurpled amathyst, and all
The various gems, which India's mines afford
To deck the pomp of kings. In burnish'd gold
A sculptur'd eagle from behind displays
Its stately neck, and o'er the monarch's head
Extends its dazzling wings. Eight gen'rous steeds,
Which on the fam'd Nysæan plain were nurs'd
In wintry Media, drew the radiant car.
Not those of old to Hercules refus'd
By false Laomedon, nor they, which bore
The son of Thetis through the scatter'd rear
Of Troy's devoted race, might these surpass
In strength, or beauty. With obedient pride
They heard their lord: exulting in the air
They toss'd their foreheads, while the silver manes
Smote on their glitt'ring necks. The king ascends:
Beside his footstool Demaratus sat.
The charioteer now shakes the golden reins,
Bold Patiramphes. At the signal bound
Th' attentive steeds; the chariot flew; behind
Ten thousand horse in thunder swept the field.
The eastern bands (so Xerxes had ordain'd)
Between the sea-beat margin, and the camp
All wait imbattled, all prepar'd to pass
Thermopylæ. To these with rapid wheels
Th' imperial car proceeds. Th' approaching king
Soon through the wide battalions is proclaim'd.
He now draws nigh. Th' innumerable host
Roll back by nations, and admit their lord
With all his satraps. From his crystal dome
Rais'd on the bottom of the watry world
Thus when the potent ruler of the floods
With each cærulean deity ascends,
Thron'd on his pearly chariot; all the deep
Divides its bosom to th' emerging God.
So Xerxes rode between the Asian world
On either side receding; when, as down
Th' immeasurable ranks his sight was lost,
A momentary gloom o'ercast his mind,
While this reflection fill'd his eyes with tears:
That soon, as Time an hundred years had told,
Not one of all those thousands should survive.
Whence to obscure thy pride arose that cloud?
Was it, that once humanity could touch
A tyrant's breast? or rather did thy soul
Repine, O Xerxes, at the bitter thought,
That all thy pow'r was mortal? But the veil
Of sadness soon forsook his brightning eyes,
As with adoring homage millions bow'd,
And to his heart relentless pride recall'd.
Elate the mingled prospect he surveys
Of glitt'ring files unnumber'd, chariots scyth'd
On thund'ring axles roll'd with haughty steeds
In sumptuous trappings clad (Barbaric pomp)
Which tore with spurning hoofs the sandy beach;
While ev'ry banner to the sun expands
Its gorgeous folds, that beam'd with gold, with shields,
Tiaras, helms environ'd, and with spears
In number equal to the bladed grass,
Whose living green in vernal beauty cloaths
Thessalia's vale. What pow'rs of sounding verse
Can to the mind present th' amazing scene?
Not thee, whom Rumour's fabling voice delights,
Poetic Fancy, to my aid I call;
But thou, historic Truth, support my song,
Which shall the various multitude display,
Their arms, their manners, and their native seats.
His trampling horses. High on silver wheels
The iv'ry car with azure sapphirs shone,
Cærulean beryls, and the jasper green,
The emerald, the ruby's glowing blush,
The flaming topaz with its golden beam,
The pearl, th' impurpled amathyst, and all
The various gems, which India's mines afford
To deck the pomp of kings. In burnish'd gold
81
Its stately neck, and o'er the monarch's head
Extends its dazzling wings. Eight gen'rous steeds,
Which on the fam'd Nysæan plain were nurs'd
In wintry Media, drew the radiant car.
Not those of old to Hercules refus'd
By false Laomedon, nor they, which bore
The son of Thetis through the scatter'd rear
Of Troy's devoted race, might these surpass
In strength, or beauty. With obedient pride
They heard their lord: exulting in the air
They toss'd their foreheads, while the silver manes
Smote on their glitt'ring necks. The king ascends:
Beside his footstool Demaratus sat.
The charioteer now shakes the golden reins,
Bold Patiramphes. At the signal bound
Th' attentive steeds; the chariot flew; behind
82
The eastern bands (so Xerxes had ordain'd)
Between the sea-beat margin, and the camp
All wait imbattled, all prepar'd to pass
Thermopylæ. To these with rapid wheels
Th' imperial car proceeds. Th' approaching king
Soon through the wide battalions is proclaim'd.
He now draws nigh. Th' innumerable host
Roll back by nations, and admit their lord
With all his satraps. From his crystal dome
Rais'd on the bottom of the watry world
Thus when the potent ruler of the floods
With each cærulean deity ascends,
Thron'd on his pearly chariot; all the deep
Divides its bosom to th' emerging God.
So Xerxes rode between the Asian world
On either side receding; when, as down
83
A momentary gloom o'ercast his mind,
While this reflection fill'd his eyes with tears:
That soon, as Time an hundred years had told,
Not one of all those thousands should survive.
Whence to obscure thy pride arose that cloud?
Was it, that once humanity could touch
A tyrant's breast? or rather did thy soul
Repine, O Xerxes, at the bitter thought,
That all thy pow'r was mortal? But the veil
Of sadness soon forsook his brightning eyes,
As with adoring homage millions bow'd,
And to his heart relentless pride recall'd.
Elate the mingled prospect he surveys
Of glitt'ring files unnumber'd, chariots scyth'd
On thund'ring axles roll'd with haughty steeds
In sumptuous trappings clad (Barbaric pomp)
84
While ev'ry banner to the sun expands
Its gorgeous folds, that beam'd with gold, with shields,
Tiaras, helms environ'd, and with spears
In number equal to the bladed grass,
Whose living green in vernal beauty cloaths
Thessalia's vale. What pow'rs of sounding verse
Can to the mind present th' amazing scene?
Not thee, whom Rumour's fabling voice delights,
Poetic Fancy, to my aid I call;
But thou, historic Truth, support my song,
Which shall the various multitude display,
Their arms, their manners, and their native seats.
The Persians first in scaly corselets shone
With colours varying on the gorgeous sleeves,
A gen'rous nation. From their infant age
Their tongues were practic'd in the love of truth,
Their limbs inur'd to ev'ry manly toil,
To brace the bow, to rule th' impetuous steed,
And dart the javelin; worthy to enjoy
The liberty, their injur'd fathers lost,
Whose arms for Cyrus overturn'd the strength
Of Babylon and Sardis, and advanc'd
The victors head above his country's laws.
Such were the Persians; but untaught to form
The ranks of battle, with unequal force
Against the phalanx of the Greeks they stood,
And to the massy shield, and weighty spear
A target light, and slender lance oppos'd.
On ev'ry head tiaras rose, like tow'rs,
Impenetrable. All with burnish'd gold
Blaz'd their gay sandals, and the floating reins
Of each proud courser. Daggers from their thighs,
A well-stor'd quiver from their shoulders hung,
And strongest bows of mighty size they bore.
Next, with resembling arms the Medes are seen,
The Cissians, and Hyrcanians. Media once
From her bleak mountains aw'd the subject East.
Her kings in cold Ecbatana were thron'd.
The Cissians march'd from Susa's regal walls,
From sultry fields o'erspread with branching palms,
And white with lillies, water'd by the tides
Of fam'd Choaspes, whose transparent waves
The golden goblet wafts to Persia's kings.
No other stream the royal lip bedews.
Hyrcania's race forsook their fruitful clime
Dark with the verdure of expanding oaks,
To Ceres dear and Bacchus. There the corn
Bent by its golden burthen sheds unreap'd
Its plenteous seed impregnating the soil
With future harvests; while the bees reside
Among th' intwining branches of the groves,
Where with their labours they enrich the leaves,
Which flow with sweetness. Next, Assyria's sons
Their brazen helms display, th'unskilful work
Of rude Barbarians. Thick-wove flax defends
Their chest and loins. A buckler guards their arm.
Girt with a falchion each a mace sustains
O'erlaid with iron. On Euphrates' banks
In Babylon's stupendous walls they dwell,
And o'er the plains, where once with mightier tow'rs
Old Ninus rear'd its head, th' imperial seat
Of eldest tyrants. These Chaldæa joins,
The land of shepherds. On the pastures wide
There Belus first discern'd the various course
Of heav'n's bright planets, and the clust'ring stars
With names distinguish'd, whence himself was deem'd
The chief of Gods. His heav'n-ascending fane
In Babylon the proud Assyrians rais'd.
Drawn from the fertile soil, which Ochus laves,
The Bactrians stood, like Persia's bands attir'd,
Though less their javelins, and their bows of cane;
The Paricanians next all rough with hides
Of shaggy goats, with bows and daggers arm'd.
Alike in horrid garb the Caspian train
From barren mountains, and the dreary coast,
Which bounds the stormy lake, that bears their name,
With cany bows, and scymetars were led.
The Indians then a threefold band appear'd.
Part guide the horse, and part the rapid car;
The rest on foot within the bending cane
For slaughter held their iron-pointed reeds.
These o'er the Indus from the distant floods
Of Ganges pass'd, and left a region lov'd
By lavish Nature. There the plenteous year
Twice crown'd with harvests smiles. The honey'd shrub,
The cinnamon, and spikenard bless their fields.
Array'd in native wealth the warriours shone.
Their ears were grac'd with pendants, and their hands
Incircled wore a bracelet starr'd with gems.
These were the nations, who to Xerxes sent
Their mingled aids of infantry and horse.
With colours varying on the gorgeous sleeves,
A gen'rous nation. From their infant age
85
Their limbs inur'd to ev'ry manly toil,
To brace the bow, to rule th' impetuous steed,
And dart the javelin; worthy to enjoy
The liberty, their injur'd fathers lost,
Whose arms for Cyrus overturn'd the strength
Of Babylon and Sardis, and advanc'd
The victors head above his country's laws.
Such were the Persians; but untaught to form
The ranks of battle, with unequal force
Against the phalanx of the Greeks they stood,
And to the massy shield, and weighty spear
A target light, and slender lance oppos'd.
On ev'ry head tiaras rose, like tow'rs,
Impenetrable. All with burnish'd gold
Blaz'd their gay sandals, and the floating reins
Of each proud courser. Daggers from their thighs,
86
And strongest bows of mighty size they bore.
Next, with resembling arms the Medes are seen,
The Cissians, and Hyrcanians. Media once
From her bleak mountains aw'd the subject East.
Her kings in cold Ecbatana were thron'd.
The Cissians march'd from Susa's regal walls,
From sultry fields o'erspread with branching palms,
And white with lillies, water'd by the tides
Of fam'd Choaspes, whose transparent waves
The golden goblet wafts to Persia's kings.
No other stream the royal lip bedews.
Hyrcania's race forsook their fruitful clime
Dark with the verdure of expanding oaks,
To Ceres dear and Bacchus. There the corn
Bent by its golden burthen sheds unreap'd
Its plenteous seed impregnating the soil
87
Among th' intwining branches of the groves,
Where with their labours they enrich the leaves,
Which flow with sweetness. Next, Assyria's sons
Their brazen helms display, th'unskilful work
Of rude Barbarians. Thick-wove flax defends
Their chest and loins. A buckler guards their arm.
Girt with a falchion each a mace sustains
O'erlaid with iron. On Euphrates' banks
In Babylon's stupendous walls they dwell,
And o'er the plains, where once with mightier tow'rs
Old Ninus rear'd its head, th' imperial seat
Of eldest tyrants. These Chaldæa joins,
The land of shepherds. On the pastures wide
There Belus first discern'd the various course
Of heav'n's bright planets, and the clust'ring stars
With names distinguish'd, whence himself was deem'd
88
In Babylon the proud Assyrians rais'd.
Drawn from the fertile soil, which Ochus laves,
The Bactrians stood, like Persia's bands attir'd,
Though less their javelins, and their bows of cane;
The Paricanians next all rough with hides
Of shaggy goats, with bows and daggers arm'd.
Alike in horrid garb the Caspian train
From barren mountains, and the dreary coast,
Which bounds the stormy lake, that bears their name,
With cany bows, and scymetars were led.
The Indians then a threefold band appear'd.
Part guide the horse, and part the rapid car;
The rest on foot within the bending cane
For slaughter held their iron-pointed reeds.
These o'er the Indus from the distant floods
Of Ganges pass'd, and left a region lov'd
89
Twice crown'd with harvests smiles. The honey'd shrub,
The cinnamon, and spikenard bless their fields.
Array'd in native wealth the warriours shone.
Their ears were grac'd with pendants, and their hands
Incircled wore a bracelet starr'd with gems.
These were the nations, who to Xerxes sent
Their mingled aids of infantry and horse.
Now, Muse, recount what numbers yet untold
On foot obscur'd the surface of the shore;
Or who in chariots, or on camels beat
The loosen'd sand. The Parthians first advance,
Then weak in numbers o'er the Malian strand
Far from their lonely vales, and woody hills,
Not yet renown'd for warlike steeds, they trod.
With them the Sogdians, Dadices arrang'd,
Gandarians, and Chorasmians, all attir'd,
Like Bactria's sons. To these the Saces join,
From cold Imaü drawn, from Oxus' waves,
And Cyra built on Iäxartes' brink,
The bound of Persia's Empire. Wild, untam'd,
And prone to rage, their desarts they forsook.
A bow, a falchion, and a pond'rous ax
The savage legions arm'd. A pointed cask
O'er each grim visage rear'd its iron cone.
In arms, like Persians, the Saranges stood.
High as the knee their buskins stretch'd, and clung
Around their ham. With glowing colours dy'd
Gay shone their varied garments. Next are seen
The Pactyan, Mycian, and the Utian train
In skins of goats, all horrid. Bows they wield
Of springy reed, with poinards at their sides.
With spotted hides of leopards all array'd,
Or with the spoil from tawny lions torn,
In graceful range the Æthiopians stand
Of equal stature, and a beauteous frame;
Though scorching Phœbus had imbrown'd their face,
And curl'd their crisped locks. In ancient song
Renown'd for justice, riches they disdain'd,
As foes to virtue. From their seat remote
On Nilus' verge above th' Ægyptian bound,
Forc'd by their kings' malignity and pride
These friends of hospitality and peace,
Themselves uninjur'd, wag'd reluctant war
Against a land, whose climate, and whose name
To them were strange. With hardest stone they point
The rapid arrow. Bows of hideous length,
Form'd with th'elastic branches of the palm,
They bore, and lances arm'd with horns of goats,
And maces strong with iron. Now, O Muse,
Recite the nations, who in helmets fram'd
Of various parts, and close-connected joints,
With darts, and poniards, shields, and lances weak,
A feeble train, attend their tyrant's will,
All victims destin'd to imbrue with gore
The Grecian spears; the Paphlagonians first
From where Carambis with projected brows
O'erlooks the dusky Euxine wrapt in mists,
And where through flow'rs, that paint its various banks,
Parthenius flows; the Mariandynians next,
The Matienian, and the Ligyan bands,
With them the Syrian multitudes, who dwell
Near Daphne's grove, who cultivate the glebe
Wide-water'd by Orontes, who along
Th' extended ridge of Libanus are nurs'd
Among the cedars, or with foodful dates
Pluckt from the palms, whose fruitage grac'd the plains
Around Damascus: all, who bear the name
Of Cappadocians, swell the Syrian host,
With those who gather from the fragrant shrub
The aromatic balsam, and extract
Its milky juice along the lovely side
Of winding Jordan, till immers'd it sleep
Beneath the pitchy surface, which obscures
Th' Asphaltic lake. The Phrygians then advance.
To them their ancient colony is join'd,
Th' Armenian bands. These see the bursting springs
Of strong Euphrates cleave the yielding earth,
And wide in lakes expanding hide the plain.
Thence with collected waters fierce and deep
Its passage rending through diminish'd rocks
To Babylon it foams. Not so the wave
Of soft Araxes to the Caspian glides.
But stealing imperceptibly it laves
The fruitful herbage of Armenia's meads.
Next, strange to view, in similar attire,
Though far unlike in manners to the Greeks,
Appear the Lydians. Wantonness and sport
Were all their care. Beside Caÿster's stream,
Or smooth Mæander winding silent by,
Or near Pactolus' wave among the vines
Of Tmolus rising, or the wealthy tide
Of golden-sanded Hermus they allure
The sight enchanted with the graceful dance,
Or with melodious sweetness charm the air,
And melt to softest languishment the soul.
What to the battle's danger could incite
These tender sons of luxury? The lash
Of their stern monarch urg'd their shiv'ring limbs
Through all the tempests, which enrag'd the main,
And shook beneath their trembling steps the pile,
That join'd the Asian and the western worlds.
To these Mæonia hot with sulph'rous mines
Unites her troops. No tree adorns their fields
Unbless'd with verdure, and with ashes strewn.
Black are the rocks, and ev'ry hill deform'd
With conflagration. Helmets press'd their brows.
Two darts they brandish'd. Round their woolly vest
A sword was girt, and hairy hides compos'd
Their bucklers round and light. The Mysians left
Olympus wood-envelop'd, and the soil
Wash'd by Caïcus, and the baneful tide
Of Lycus, nurse of serpents. Targets, helms,
And wooden javelins harden'd in the flames
They bore. By these, imbattled next are seen
An ancient nation, who in early times,
By Trojan arms assail'd, their native land
Esteem'd less dear than freedom, and exchang'd
Their seat on Strymon, where in Thrace it pours
Its freezing current, for the distant shores
Of fishy Sangar. These Bithynians nam'd
Their habitations to the sacred feet
Of Dindymus extend. Yet there they groan'd
Beneath oppression, and their freedom mourn'd
On Sangar now, as once on Strymon lost.
The ruddy skins of foxes form'd their cask;
Their shields were fashion'd like the horned moon;
A dart, and slender poniard arm'd their hands;
A vest embrac'd their bodies, while abroad
Ting'd with unnumber'd hues a mantle flow'd.
But other Thracians, who their former name
Retain'd in Asia, stood with shining helms.
The horns of bulls in imitating brass
Adorn'd the lofty crest. Phœnician cloth
Their legs infolds, with brightest purple stain'd;
And through the forest wont to chase the boar,
A hunter's spear they grasp. What nations still
On either side of Xerxes, while he pass'd,
Present their huge array, and swell his soul
With more than mortal pride? The num'rous train
Of Moschians and Macronians now succeed,
And Mosynœcians, who, with berries fed,
In wooden tow'rs along the Pontic shore
Repose their painted limbs; the mirthful race
Of Tibarenians next, whose wanton minds
Delight in sport, and laughter: all in casks
Of wood, with shields, and lances small, whose points
Beyond proportion lengthen. Then approach,
In garments o'er their spacious bosom clasp'd,
And part with javelins, part with Lycian bows,
A people destin'd in eternal verse,
Ev'n thine, sublime Mæonides, to live.
These are the Milyans, Solymi their name
In thy celestial strains, Pisidia's hills
Their dwelling. Once a formidable train,
They fac'd the great Bellerophon in war,
Now doom'd a more tremendous foe to meet,
Themselves unnerv'd with bondage, and to leave
Their putrid bodies for the dogs of Greece.
Next are the Marian legions furnish'd all
With shields of skins, with darts, and helmets wove
Of strongest texture. Aria's host protend
The Bactrian lance, and brace the Persian bow,
Drawn from a region horrid all with thorn,
One hideous waste of sands, which mock the toil
Of patient culture; save one favour'd spot,
Which, like an isle, emerges from the wild,
In verdure clad, and interspers'd with vines,
Whose gen'rous clusters yield a juice, that scorns
The injuries of Time. Yet Nature's hand
Had sown their rocks with coral, and enrich'd
Their desert hills with veins of sapphirs blue,
And those, whose azure sparks of gold adorn.
These from the turbant flame. On ev'ry neck
The coral blushes through the num'rous throng.
The Allarodians, and Sasperian bands
Were arm'd with poniards, like the Cholchian host;
Their heads were guarded with a helm of wood.
Short were their spears, of hides undress'd their shields.
The Cholchians march'd from Phasis, and the shores,
Where once Medea fair enchantress stood,
And wondring view'd the first advent'rous bark,
That stem'd the Pontic foam. From Argo's side
The demigods descended, and repair'd
To her fell sire's inhospitable walls.
His blooming graces Jason there display'd.
With ev'ry art of eloquence divine
He claim'd the golden fleece. The virgin heard,
She gaz'd with fatal ravishment, and lov'd.
Then to the hero she resigns her heart;
Her magic tames the brazen-footed bulls;
She lulls the sleepless dragon, and to Greece
With faithless Jason wasts the radiant prize.
The Cholchians then pursu'd their steps with war,
And now with antient enmity inflam'd,
Or else compell'd by Xerxes to recal
The long-forgotten wrong, they menace Greece
With desolation. Next in Persian guise
A croud advanc'd, who left the various isles
In Persia's gulph, and round Arabia known.
Some in their native topaz were adorn'd,
From Ophiodes, and Topazos sprung;
And some with shells of tortoises, which brood
Around Casitis' verge. To them were join'd
Those, who reside, where Erythras intomb'd
Lies all beset with palms, a pow'rful king,
Who nam'd of old the Erythræan main.
The Lybians next are plac'd. In chariots scyth'd
They sat terrific, cloath'd in skins, with darts
Of wood well-temper'd in the hardning flames.
Not Libya's deserts from tyrannic sway
Could hide her sons; much less could freedom dwell
Amid the plenty of Arabia's fields:
Where spicy cassia, and the fragrant reed,
And myrrh, and hallow'd frankincense perfume
The zephir's wing. A bow of largest size
Th' Arabians wield, and o'er their lucid vest
Loose floats a mantle on their shoulder clasp'd.
Of these two myriads on the lofty back
Of camels rode, that match'd the swiftest horse.
On foot obscur'd the surface of the shore;
Or who in chariots, or on camels beat
The loosen'd sand. The Parthians first advance,
Then weak in numbers o'er the Malian strand
Far from their lonely vales, and woody hills,
Not yet renown'd for warlike steeds, they trod.
With them the Sogdians, Dadices arrang'd,
90
Like Bactria's sons. To these the Saces join,
From cold Imaü drawn, from Oxus' waves,
And Cyra built on Iäxartes' brink,
The bound of Persia's Empire. Wild, untam'd,
And prone to rage, their desarts they forsook.
A bow, a falchion, and a pond'rous ax
The savage legions arm'd. A pointed cask
O'er each grim visage rear'd its iron cone.
In arms, like Persians, the Saranges stood.
High as the knee their buskins stretch'd, and clung
Around their ham. With glowing colours dy'd
Gay shone their varied garments. Next are seen
The Pactyan, Mycian, and the Utian train
In skins of goats, all horrid. Bows they wield
Of springy reed, with poinards at their sides.
With spotted hides of leopards all array'd,
91
In graceful range the Æthiopians stand
Of equal stature, and a beauteous frame;
Though scorching Phœbus had imbrown'd their face,
And curl'd their crisped locks. In ancient song
Renown'd for justice, riches they disdain'd,
As foes to virtue. From their seat remote
On Nilus' verge above th' Ægyptian bound,
Forc'd by their kings' malignity and pride
These friends of hospitality and peace,
Themselves uninjur'd, wag'd reluctant war
Against a land, whose climate, and whose name
To them were strange. With hardest stone they point
The rapid arrow. Bows of hideous length,
Form'd with th'elastic branches of the palm,
They bore, and lances arm'd with horns of goats,
And maces strong with iron. Now, O Muse,
92
Of various parts, and close-connected joints,
With darts, and poniards, shields, and lances weak,
A feeble train, attend their tyrant's will,
All victims destin'd to imbrue with gore
The Grecian spears; the Paphlagonians first
From where Carambis with projected brows
O'erlooks the dusky Euxine wrapt in mists,
And where through flow'rs, that paint its various banks,
Parthenius flows; the Mariandynians next,
The Matienian, and the Ligyan bands,
With them the Syrian multitudes, who dwell
Near Daphne's grove, who cultivate the glebe
Wide-water'd by Orontes, who along
Th' extended ridge of Libanus are nurs'd
Among the cedars, or with foodful dates
Pluckt from the palms, whose fruitage grac'd the plains
93
Of Cappadocians, swell the Syrian host,
With those who gather from the fragrant shrub
The aromatic balsam, and extract
Its milky juice along the lovely side
Of winding Jordan, till immers'd it sleep
Beneath the pitchy surface, which obscures
Th' Asphaltic lake. The Phrygians then advance.
To them their ancient colony is join'd,
Th' Armenian bands. These see the bursting springs
Of strong Euphrates cleave the yielding earth,
And wide in lakes expanding hide the plain.
Thence with collected waters fierce and deep
Its passage rending through diminish'd rocks
To Babylon it foams. Not so the wave
Of soft Araxes to the Caspian glides.
But stealing imperceptibly it laves
94
Next, strange to view, in similar attire,
Though far unlike in manners to the Greeks,
Appear the Lydians. Wantonness and sport
Were all their care. Beside Caÿster's stream,
Or smooth Mæander winding silent by,
Or near Pactolus' wave among the vines
Of Tmolus rising, or the wealthy tide
Of golden-sanded Hermus they allure
The sight enchanted with the graceful dance,
Or with melodious sweetness charm the air,
And melt to softest languishment the soul.
What to the battle's danger could incite
These tender sons of luxury? The lash
Of their stern monarch urg'd their shiv'ring limbs
Through all the tempests, which enrag'd the main,
And shook beneath their trembling steps the pile,
95
To these Mæonia hot with sulph'rous mines
Unites her troops. No tree adorns their fields
Unbless'd with verdure, and with ashes strewn.
Black are the rocks, and ev'ry hill deform'd
With conflagration. Helmets press'd their brows.
Two darts they brandish'd. Round their woolly vest
A sword was girt, and hairy hides compos'd
Their bucklers round and light. The Mysians left
Olympus wood-envelop'd, and the soil
Wash'd by Caïcus, and the baneful tide
Of Lycus, nurse of serpents. Targets, helms,
And wooden javelins harden'd in the flames
They bore. By these, imbattled next are seen
An ancient nation, who in early times,
By Trojan arms assail'd, their native land
Esteem'd less dear than freedom, and exchang'd
96
Its freezing current, for the distant shores
Of fishy Sangar. These Bithynians nam'd
Their habitations to the sacred feet
Of Dindymus extend. Yet there they groan'd
Beneath oppression, and their freedom mourn'd
On Sangar now, as once on Strymon lost.
The ruddy skins of foxes form'd their cask;
Their shields were fashion'd like the horned moon;
A dart, and slender poniard arm'd their hands;
A vest embrac'd their bodies, while abroad
Ting'd with unnumber'd hues a mantle flow'd.
But other Thracians, who their former name
Retain'd in Asia, stood with shining helms.
The horns of bulls in imitating brass
Adorn'd the lofty crest. Phœnician cloth
Their legs infolds, with brightest purple stain'd;
97
A hunter's spear they grasp. What nations still
On either side of Xerxes, while he pass'd,
Present their huge array, and swell his soul
With more than mortal pride? The num'rous train
Of Moschians and Macronians now succeed,
And Mosynœcians, who, with berries fed,
In wooden tow'rs along the Pontic shore
Repose their painted limbs; the mirthful race
Of Tibarenians next, whose wanton minds
Delight in sport, and laughter: all in casks
Of wood, with shields, and lances small, whose points
Beyond proportion lengthen. Then approach,
In garments o'er their spacious bosom clasp'd,
And part with javelins, part with Lycian bows,
A people destin'd in eternal verse,
Ev'n thine, sublime Mæonides, to live.
98
In thy celestial strains, Pisidia's hills
Their dwelling. Once a formidable train,
They fac'd the great Bellerophon in war,
Now doom'd a more tremendous foe to meet,
Themselves unnerv'd with bondage, and to leave
Their putrid bodies for the dogs of Greece.
Next are the Marian legions furnish'd all
With shields of skins, with darts, and helmets wove
Of strongest texture. Aria's host protend
The Bactrian lance, and brace the Persian bow,
Drawn from a region horrid all with thorn,
One hideous waste of sands, which mock the toil
Of patient culture; save one favour'd spot,
Which, like an isle, emerges from the wild,
In verdure clad, and interspers'd with vines,
Whose gen'rous clusters yield a juice, that scorns
99
Had sown their rocks with coral, and enrich'd
Their desert hills with veins of sapphirs blue,
And those, whose azure sparks of gold adorn.
These from the turbant flame. On ev'ry neck
The coral blushes through the num'rous throng.
The Allarodians, and Sasperian bands
Were arm'd with poniards, like the Cholchian host;
Their heads were guarded with a helm of wood.
Short were their spears, of hides undress'd their shields.
The Cholchians march'd from Phasis, and the shores,
Where once Medea fair enchantress stood,
And wondring view'd the first advent'rous bark,
That stem'd the Pontic foam. From Argo's side
The demigods descended, and repair'd
To her fell sire's inhospitable walls.
His blooming graces Jason there display'd.
100
He claim'd the golden fleece. The virgin heard,
She gaz'd with fatal ravishment, and lov'd.
Then to the hero she resigns her heart;
Her magic tames the brazen-footed bulls;
She lulls the sleepless dragon, and to Greece
With faithless Jason wasts the radiant prize.
The Cholchians then pursu'd their steps with war,
And now with antient enmity inflam'd,
Or else compell'd by Xerxes to recal
The long-forgotten wrong, they menace Greece
With desolation. Next in Persian guise
A croud advanc'd, who left the various isles
In Persia's gulph, and round Arabia known.
Some in their native topaz were adorn'd,
From Ophiodes, and Topazos sprung;
And some with shells of tortoises, which brood
101
Those, who reside, where Erythras intomb'd
Lies all beset with palms, a pow'rful king,
Who nam'd of old the Erythræan main.
The Lybians next are plac'd. In chariots scyth'd
They sat terrific, cloath'd in skins, with darts
Of wood well-temper'd in the hardning flames.
Not Libya's deserts from tyrannic sway
Could hide her sons; much less could freedom dwell
Amid the plenty of Arabia's fields:
Where spicy cassia, and the fragrant reed,
And myrrh, and hallow'd frankincense perfume
The zephir's wing. A bow of largest size
Th' Arabians wield, and o'er their lucid vest
Loose floats a mantle on their shoulder clasp'd.
Of these two myriads on the lofty back
Of camels rode, that match'd the swiftest horse.
102
Such were the numbers, which from Asia led
Bow'd down with low prostration to the wheels
Of Xerxes' chariot. Yet what legions more
Expand their mighty range? What banners still
The Malian sands o'ershadow? Forward rolls
The regal car through nations, which in arms,
And order'd ranks unlike the eastern throng
Upheld the spear and buckler. Yet untaught
To bend the servile knee erect they stood;
Unless that mourning o'er the shameful weight
Of their new bondage some their brows depress'd,
And stain'd their arms with sorrow. Europe's race
Were these, whom Xerxes by resistless force
Had gather'd to his standards. Murm'ring here
The sons of Thrace, and Macedonia stood,
Here on his steed the brave Thessalian frown'd.
There pin'd reluctant multitudes, who bore
The name of Greeks, and peopled all the coast
Between Byzantium, and the Malian bay.
Bow'd down with low prostration to the wheels
Of Xerxes' chariot. Yet what legions more
Expand their mighty range? What banners still
The Malian sands o'ershadow? Forward rolls
The regal car through nations, which in arms,
And order'd ranks unlike the eastern throng
Upheld the spear and buckler. Yet untaught
To bend the servile knee erect they stood;
Unless that mourning o'er the shameful weight
Of their new bondage some their brows depress'd,
And stain'd their arms with sorrow. Europe's race
Were these, whom Xerxes by resistless force
Had gather'd to his standards. Murm'ring here
The sons of Thrace, and Macedonia stood,
Here on his steed the brave Thessalian frown'd.
103
The name of Greeks, and peopled all the coast
Between Byzantium, and the Malian bay.
Through all the numbers, which ador'd his pride,
Or fear'd his pow'r, the monarch now was pass'd;
Nor yet among those myriads could be found
One, who with Xerxes' self in tow'ring size,
Or beauteous features might compare. O wretch!
Possess'd of all, but virtue; doom'd to shew,
How mean without her is unbounded pow'r,
The charm of beauty, and the blaze of state,
How insecure of happiness, how vain.
Thou, who couldst mourn the common lot, which heav'n
From none withholds; which oft to thousands proves
Their only refuge from a tyrant's rage;
And which by pining sickness, age, or pain
Becomes at last a soothing hope to all;
Thou, who couldst weep, that Nature's gentle hand
Should lay her wearied offspring in the tomb,
Yet couldst remorseless from their peaceful seats
Lead half the nations in a clime unknown
To fall the victims of thy ruthless pride;
What didst thou merit from the injur'd world?
What suff'rings to compensate for the tears
Of Asia's mothers, for unpeopled realms,
And all this waste of nature? On his host
The king exulting bends his haughty sight,
When thus to Demaratus he began.
Or fear'd his pow'r, the monarch now was pass'd;
Nor yet among those myriads could be found
One, who with Xerxes' self in tow'ring size,
Or beauteous features might compare. O wretch!
Possess'd of all, but virtue; doom'd to shew,
How mean without her is unbounded pow'r,
The charm of beauty, and the blaze of state,
How insecure of happiness, how vain.
Thou, who couldst mourn the common lot, which heav'n
From none withholds; which oft to thousands proves
Their only refuge from a tyrant's rage;
And which by pining sickness, age, or pain
104
Thou, who couldst weep, that Nature's gentle hand
Should lay her wearied offspring in the tomb,
Yet couldst remorseless from their peaceful seats
Lead half the nations in a clime unknown
To fall the victims of thy ruthless pride;
What didst thou merit from the injur'd world?
What suff'rings to compensate for the tears
Of Asia's mothers, for unpeopled realms,
And all this waste of nature? On his host
The king exulting bends his haughty sight,
When thus to Demaratus he began.
Now Demaratus to thy soul recal
My father great Darius, who receiv'd
Thy wandring steps expell'd their native home.
Ill would it then become thee to beguile
Thy benefactors, and the truth disguise,
Look back on all those thousands, and declare,
If yonder Grecians will oppose their march.
My father great Darius, who receiv'd
Thy wandring steps expell'd their native home.
Ill would it then become thee to beguile
105
Look back on all those thousands, and declare,
If yonder Grecians will oppose their march.
The exile answer'd. Deem not mighty lord,
I will deceive thy goodness by a tale
Forg'd for their glory, whose deluded minds
Perversely hearken'd to the sland'rer's tongue;
Who forc'd me with unmerited disgrace
To tread the paths of banishment and woe.
Nor be the king offended, while I speak
The words of truth. The Spartans never fly.
I will deceive thy goodness by a tale
Forg'd for their glory, whose deluded minds
Perversely hearken'd to the sland'rer's tongue;
Who forc'd me with unmerited disgrace
To tread the paths of banishment and woe.
Nor be the king offended, while I speak
The words of truth. The Spartans never fly.
Here with contemptuous smiles the king return'd.
Wilt thou, who once wert Lacedæmon's chief,
Encounter twenty Persians? Yet those Greeks
With greater disproportion must confront
Our host to-morrow. Demaratus thus.
Wilt thou, who once wert Lacedæmon's chief,
Encounter twenty Persians? Yet those Greeks
With greater disproportion must confront
Our host to-morrow. Demaratus thus.
106
By single combat were the tryal vain,
And vainer still by my unworthy sword,
To prove the merit of united force,
Which oft by military skill surmounts
The strength of numbers. Nor in fields of war
The Greeks excel by discipline alone,
But from their manners. Grant thy ear, O king,
The diff'rence learn of Grecian bands, and thine.
The flow'r, the bulwark of thy pow'rful host
Are mercenaries. These are canton'd round
Thy provinces. No fertile field demands
Their painful hand to turn the fallow glebe.
Them to the noon-day toil no harvest calls.
The stubborn oak along the mountains brow
Sinks not beneath their stroke. With careful eyes
They mark not how the flocks, or heifers feed.
To them of wealth, and all possessions void
The name of country with an empty sound
Flies o'er the ear, nor warms their joyless hearts,
Who share no country. Needy, yet with scorn
Rejecting labour, wretched by their wants,
Yet profligate through indolence, with limbs
Soft and enervate, and with minds corrupt;
From misery, debauchery, and sloth
Are these to battle drawn against a foe
Inur'd to hardship, and the child of toil,
Wont through the freezing show'r, and wintry storm
O'er his own glebe the tardy ox to goad;
Or in the sun's impetuous heat to glow
Beneath the burthen of the yellow sheaves:
Whence on himself, on her, whose faithful arms
Infold him joyful, and a num'rous race,
Which glads his dwelling, plenty he bestows
With independence; and when call'd to war
For these his dearest comfort, and his care,
And for the harvest promis'd to his toil,
He lifts the shield, nor shuns unequal force.
Such are the pow'rs of ev'ry state in Greece:
One only breeds a race more warlike still,
Ev'n those, who now defend that rocky pass,
The sons of Lacedæmon. They untaught
To break the glebe, or bind the golden sheaves,
To far severer labours are inur'd
Alone for war, their sole delight, and care.
From infancy to manhood, are they form'd
To want, and danger, to th' unwholesome ground,
To winter watches, and inclement skies,
To plunge through torrents, brave the tusky boar,
To arms, and wounds; an exercise of pain
So fierce and constant, that to them a camp
With all its hardships is the seat of rest,
And war itself remission from their toils.
And vainer still by my unworthy sword,
To prove the merit of united force,
Which oft by military skill surmounts
The strength of numbers. Nor in fields of war
The Greeks excel by discipline alone,
But from their manners. Grant thy ear, O king,
The diff'rence learn of Grecian bands, and thine.
The flow'r, the bulwark of thy pow'rful host
Are mercenaries. These are canton'd round
Thy provinces. No fertile field demands
Their painful hand to turn the fallow glebe.
Them to the noon-day toil no harvest calls.
The stubborn oak along the mountains brow
Sinks not beneath their stroke. With careful eyes
They mark not how the flocks, or heifers feed.
107
The name of country with an empty sound
Flies o'er the ear, nor warms their joyless hearts,
Who share no country. Needy, yet with scorn
Rejecting labour, wretched by their wants,
Yet profligate through indolence, with limbs
Soft and enervate, and with minds corrupt;
From misery, debauchery, and sloth
Are these to battle drawn against a foe
Inur'd to hardship, and the child of toil,
Wont through the freezing show'r, and wintry storm
O'er his own glebe the tardy ox to goad;
Or in the sun's impetuous heat to glow
Beneath the burthen of the yellow sheaves:
Whence on himself, on her, whose faithful arms
Infold him joyful, and a num'rous race,
108
With independence; and when call'd to war
For these his dearest comfort, and his care,
And for the harvest promis'd to his toil,
He lifts the shield, nor shuns unequal force.
Such are the pow'rs of ev'ry state in Greece:
One only breeds a race more warlike still,
Ev'n those, who now defend that rocky pass,
The sons of Lacedæmon. They untaught
To break the glebe, or bind the golden sheaves,
To far severer labours are inur'd
Alone for war, their sole delight, and care.
From infancy to manhood, are they form'd
To want, and danger, to th' unwholesome ground,
To winter watches, and inclement skies,
To plunge through torrents, brave the tusky boar,
To arms, and wounds; an exercise of pain
109
With all its hardships is the seat of rest,
And war itself remission from their toils.
Thy words are folly, scornful here replied
The Persian monarch. Does not freedom dwell
Among the Grecians? Therefore will they shun
Superiour foes, for whosoe'er is free
Will fly from danger; while the Persians know,
If from th' allotted station they retreat,
The scourge awaits them, and my heavy wrath.
The Persian monarch. Does not freedom dwell
Among the Grecians? Therefore will they shun
Superiour foes, for whosoe'er is free
Will fly from danger; while the Persians know,
If from th' allotted station they retreat,
The scourge awaits them, and my heavy wrath.
Conceive not, Xerxes, Sparta's chief return'd,
The Grecians want an object, where to fix
Their eyes with rev'rence, and obedient dread.
To them more aweful than the name of king
To Asia's trembling millions is the law,
Whose sacred voice injoins them to confront
Unnumber'd foes, to vanquish, or to die.
The Grecians want an object, where to fix
Their eyes with rev'rence, and obedient dread.
To them more aweful than the name of king
To Asia's trembling millions is the law,
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Unnumber'd foes, to vanquish, or to die.
In silence now the banish'd king remain'd.
While near the straits the chariot roll'd; it chanc'd,
The Spartans then were station'd out on guard.
These in gymnastic exercise employ'd,
Nor heed the monarch, nor his gaudy train;
But toss'd the spear, and whirl'd the rapid dart,
Or met with adverse shields in single war,
Or trooping swiftly rush'd on ev'ry side
With ranks unbroken, and with equal feet:
While others calm beneath their polish'd helms
Drew down their hair, which hung in sable curls,
And spread their necks with terrour. Xerxes here
The exile questions. What do these intend,
Who thus with careful hands adjust their hair?
While near the straits the chariot roll'd; it chanc'd,
The Spartans then were station'd out on guard.
These in gymnastic exercise employ'd,
Nor heed the monarch, nor his gaudy train;
But toss'd the spear, and whirl'd the rapid dart,
Or met with adverse shields in single war,
Or trooping swiftly rush'd on ev'ry side
With ranks unbroken, and with equal feet:
While others calm beneath their polish'd helms
Drew down their hair, which hung in sable curls,
And spread their necks with terrour. Xerxes here
The exile questions. What do these intend,
Who thus with careful hands adjust their hair?
111
To whom the Spartan. O imperial lord,
Such is their custom, to adorn their heads,
When with determin'd valour they present
Their dauntless breasts before the jaws of death.
Bring down thy myriads all in glitt'ring steel,
Arm, if thou canst, the gen'ral race of man;
All, who possess the regions unexplor'd
Beyond the Ganges, all, whose wand'ring steps
Behind the Caspian range the Scythian wild,
With those, who drink the secret fount of Nile,
Yet to the breasts of Sparta's sons shall fear
Be still a stranger. Thus with fervour spake
The exil'd king, when gushing from his eyes
Resistless grief o'erflow'd his cheek. Aside
His head he turn'd, and wept in copious streams.
The sad remembrance of his former state,
His dignity, his greatness, and the sight
Of those brave ranks, which thus unshaken stood,
And spread amazement through the world in arms,
Excite those sorrows. Oft with eager eyes
He views the godlike warriours, who beneath
His standard once victorious fought, who call'd
Him once their king and leader. Then again
His head he bows with anguish, and bedews
His breast with tears; in agony bemoans
His faded honours, his illustrious name
Forgotten now, his majesty defil'd
With exile and dependence. So obscur'd
By creeping ivy, and by sordid moss
Some lordly palace, or stupendous fane,
Magnificent in ruin stands; where time
Wide-wasting from the nodding roof hath mow'd
The column down, and cleft the pond'rous dome.
Such is their custom, to adorn their heads,
When with determin'd valour they present
Their dauntless breasts before the jaws of death.
Bring down thy myriads all in glitt'ring steel,
Arm, if thou canst, the gen'ral race of man;
All, who possess the regions unexplor'd
Beyond the Ganges, all, whose wand'ring steps
Behind the Caspian range the Scythian wild,
With those, who drink the secret fount of Nile,
Yet to the breasts of Sparta's sons shall fear
Be still a stranger. Thus with fervour spake
The exil'd king, when gushing from his eyes
Resistless grief o'erflow'd his cheek. Aside
His head he turn'd, and wept in copious streams.
The sad remembrance of his former state,
112
Of those brave ranks, which thus unshaken stood,
And spread amazement through the world in arms,
Excite those sorrows. Oft with eager eyes
He views the godlike warriours, who beneath
His standard once victorious fought, who call'd
Him once their king and leader. Then again
His head he bows with anguish, and bedews
His breast with tears; in agony bemoans
His faded honours, his illustrious name
Forgotten now, his majesty defil'd
With exile and dependence. So obscur'd
By creeping ivy, and by sordid moss
Some lordly palace, or stupendous fane,
Magnificent in ruin stands; where time
Wide-wasting from the nodding roof hath mow'd
The column down, and cleft the pond'rous dome.
113
Not unobserv'd by Hyperanthes mourn'd
Th' unhappy Spartan. Kindly to his own
Th' exile's hand he joins, and thus humane.
O Demaratus, this thy grief confirms,
How well the Greeks deserve thy gen'rous praise,
Who still repining dost their loss deplore,
Though cherish'd here with universal love.
But O let indignation in thy breast
Revive thy wrongs! then bless th' auspicious fate,
Which led thee far from calumny and fraud
To share the favour of the highest king.
Th' unhappy Spartan. Kindly to his own
Th' exile's hand he joins, and thus humane.
O Demaratus, this thy grief confirms,
How well the Greeks deserve thy gen'rous praise,
Who still repining dost their loss deplore,
Though cherish'd here with universal love.
But O let indignation in thy breast
Revive thy wrongs! then bless th' auspicious fate,
Which led thee far from calumny and fraud
To share the favour of the highest king.
As Demaratus with a grateful mind
Address'd himself to answer, Persia's king
Thus interrupted. Soon, as morning shines,
Do thou Tigranes and Phraortes head
The Medes and Saces. Bring those Grecians bound.
This said. The monarch to his tent return'd.
Address'd himself to answer, Persia's king
Thus interrupted. Soon, as morning shines,
114
The Medes and Saces. Bring those Grecians bound.
This said. The monarch to his tent return'd.
End of the Third Book.
| Leonidas | |