With me and mine."-" What horrour!" cries the But brief shall be its date. The poniard still,

Her words; when thus the measure of his wrath
From his full bosom rapidly o'erflow'd.

"O impious breach of hospitable ties!
O violation base of rights and laws,
Exacting swift revenge from Heav'n and man,
From me the first! Unparallel'd in form,
O like the sister of thy Delphian god
Immaculate! did sacrilegious hands
This pure abode of chastity assail
With profanation? Less a friend to Greece,
Than foe to false Mardonius, now I go."

He said, and order'd forth his swiftest steed.
By moonlight, twinkling on a shaded track,
He urg'd his secret way beyond the springs
Asopian; whence an outlet short and close
Through mount Citharon to th' adjacent line
Of Aristides led. Meantime the sound
Of steps advancing Amarantha heard:
She heard, and saw Mardonius. He his pace
Stopp'd short, inclining with obeisance low
His stately frame. Through terrour and amaze
To earth she rigid grew, of pow'r to fly
Depriv'd. He distant spake: "Imperial dame,
That he offended once, Mardonius makes
A penitent confession. O! that fault
To no innate discourtesy impute,
But Eastern manners, not as Grecian pure;
The ignorance which err'd, by thee is chang'd
To veneration. From my presence here,
Which ne'er before intruded on this seat
Of thy retirement, do not too severe
A new offence interpret; rest assur'd,
A solemn cause impels." He silent waits,
Nor moves; till, gliding silently away,
Like Dian fair and chaste, but less severe,
The queen withdrew, and tow'rds a gallant chief,
Perhaps by her devices near his fall,
Thus far relented; for the private wrong
The frank atonement rais'd a gen'rous sigh;
Against the public enemy of Greece,
Unquenchable she burn'd. Now left alone,
Before the cenotaph he kneel'd and spake:

"To morrow, Ō! to morrow let my helm
Blaze in thy beams auspicious, spirit bright,
Whose name adorns this honorary tomb!
The weight of Asia's mighty weal, the weight
Of fifty myriads on thy friend augments
From hour to hour. Yet purg'd of gloomy thoughts,
Clear of ambition, save to win the palm
Of victory for Xerxes, I approach
Thy suppliant. Thou an intercessor pure
For me, deceiv'd by Grecian seers and gods,
Before the throne of Horomazes stand,
That he may bless my standards, if alone
To guard so many worshippers, and spread
By their success his celebrated name
Through each Hesperian clime. Now grant a sign,
Masistius, ere thy faithful friend depart,
Fix'd, as he is, to vanquish, or to fall."

He ceas'd. Quick rapture dims his cheated eyes.
He sees in thought a canopy of light,
Descending o'er the tomb. In joy he speeds
To preparation for the destin'd march.

BOOK XXIX.

AMONG the Greeks their first nocturnal watch
Was near its period. From Laconia's wing
Return'd, th' Athenian leader thus bespake
VOL. XVII.

Sicinus: " Worthy of my trust, give ear.
Within six hours the army will decamp
To choose a friendlier station; so the chiefs
In gen❜ral council, as Gargaphia chok'd
Withholds her wonted succour, have resolv'd.
At Juno's fane, yet undespoil'd, though near
Platea's ruins, ev'ry band is charg'd
To reassemble."......Suddenly appears
A centinel, who speaks: "A stranger, near
The trenches waits thee; us in peaceful words
Saluting, he importunate requires

Thy instant presence." Aristides hastes;
To whom the stranger: "Bulwark of this camp,
Hear, credit, weigh, the tidings which I bear.
Mardonius, press'd by fear of threat'ning want,
At night's fourth watch the fatal stream will pass,
Inflexibly determin'd, though forbid

By each diviner, to assail your host
I against surprise
With all his numbers.
Am come to warn you; thee alone I trust,
My name revealing. I, O man divine!
I, who thus hazard both my realm, and life,
Am Alexander, Macedonian friend

Of Athens. Kindly on a future day
Remember me." He said, and spurr'd his steed
Back through the op'ning of Citharon's hill.
By Aristides instantly detach'd,
Sicinus calls each leader to attend
Pausanias. Attica's great captain joins
The council full. His tidings he relates,
Concluding thus with exhortation sage:

"We, destitute of water, had resolv'd
To change our station. Now without a pause
We must anticipate th' appointed hour
For this retreat, nor ling'ring tempt the force
Of squadrons swift to intercept our march.
Let Mardonius bring
All move your standards.
A host discourag'd by their augur's voice;
Who are forbid to pass the fatal stream,
But are compell'd by famine and despair
To inauspicious battle. We to Heav'n
Obedient, Heav'n's assistance shall obtain.
A situation, safeguard to our flanks
Against superior and surrounding horse,
In sight of burnt Platæa, of her fanes
Defac'd, and violated gods, I know;
There will assure you conquest." All assent.

At once the diffrent Grecians, who compose
The centre, lift their ensigns. O'er the plain
First swiftly tow'rds Platæan Juno's dome
Speeds Adimantus. In array more slow
The rest advance. Cleander guards the rear;
Brave youth, whom chance malicious will bereave
Of half the laurels to his temples due.

Th' Athenians arm delib'rate; in whose train
Illustrious Medon ranks a faithful troop,
His hundred Locrians. Haliartus there,
There Timon's few but gen'rous Delphians stand,
By Aristides all enjoin'd to watch
Laconia's host. That sternly-tutor'd race,
To passion cold, he knew in action slow,
In consultation torpid. Anxious long
He waits, and fears the eyelids of the morn,
Too soon unclosing, may too much reveal.
Sicinus, hast'ning to Laconia's camp,
Finds all confus'd, subordination lost
In altercation, wondrous in that breed
Of discipline and manners, nor less strange,
Than if the laws of Nature in the sky

Dissolv'd, should turn the Moon and planets loose

N

From their accustom'd orbits, to obey
The Sun no longer. When his first command
Pausanias issu'd for the march, nor thought
Of disobedience to disturb his pride;
One leader, Amompharetus, whose band
Of Pitanè rever'd him, as the first
Among the brave, refusal stern oppos'd,
Protesting firm, he never would retreat
Before barbarians. Aemnestus swift,
Callicrates and others, long approv'd
In arms, entreat the Spartan to submit,
Nor disconcert the salutary plan
Of gen'ral council. Sullen he replies:

"Not of that council, I will ne'er disgrace
The Spartan name. But all the Greeks withdrawn
Expect our junction at Saturnia's dome,
Callicrates and Aemnestus plead.

Would'st thou expose thy countrymen to face
Unaided yonder multitude of Medes,
Untry'd by us in combat?"-" Yes," rejoins
The pertinacious man, ere yield to flight."

His troop applauded. Now contention harsh
Resounded high, exhausting precious hours,
The Spartan march retarding; when arriv'd
Sicinus, witness to the wild debate.

At length Pausanias knit his haughty brow
At Amompharetus, and spake: "Weak man,
Thou art insane. The chastisement thy due,
Our time allows not. Instant march, or stay
Behind and perish." In his two-fold grasp
The restive Spartan lifting from the ground
A pond'rous stone, before the gen'ral's feet
Plac'd it, and thus: "Against dishonest flight
From strangers vile, I rest my suffrage there,
Nor will forsake it." To Sicinus turn'd
Pausanias: "Tell the Athenians what thou see'st.
I by Citharon's side to Juno's fane

Am hast'ning; charge their phalanx to proceed."
Sicinus back to Aristides flies.

His ready phalanx from the lines he draws,
Wing'd with his horse and bowmen; yet his course
Suspends at Sparta's camp. There sullen, fix'd
Like some old oak's deep-rooted, knotted trunk,
Which hath endur'd the tempest-breathing months
Of thrice a hundred winters, ret remains
Unshaken, there amidst his silent troop
Sat Amompharetus. To him the sage:
"Unwise, though brave, transgressing all the laws
Of discipline, though Spartan born and train'd;
Arise, o'ertake thy gen'ral and rejoin.
Thy country's mercy by some rare exploit
Win to forgive thy capital default,

Excess of courage." Where Pausanias, arm'd
With pow'r uulimited in war, where all
The Spartan captains in persuasion fail'd,
Requir'd not less than Jove himself, or Jove
In Aristides to prevail. Uprose
The warrior, late inflexible; yet slow,
In strictest regularity of march,
Led his well-order'd files. Correcting thus
The erring Spartan, Aristides swept
Across the plain to fill the gen'ral host.

Not yet the twilight, harbinger of morn,
Had overcome the stars. The Persian scouts,
Who rang'd abroad, observing that no sound
Was heard, no watch-word through the Grecian
lines,

Adventur'd nigh, and found an empty space.
Swift they appris'd Mardonius, who had form'd
His whole array. Encircled by his chiefs,

Greek and barbarian, first he gave command,
That ev'ry hand provide a blazing torch
To magnify his terrours, and with light
Facilitate pursuit; then gladsome thus
Address'd his friends of Thessaly and Thebes:
"Now Larissæan Thorax, and the rest
Of Aleuadian race; now Theban lords,
Judge of the Spartans justly. Vaunted high
For unexampled prowess, them you saw
First change their place, imposing on the sons
Of Athens twice the formidable task
To face my chosen Persians; next they gave
To my defiance no reply, and last
Are fled before me. Can your augurs show
A better omen than a foe dismay'd?
But, kind allies, to you my friendly care
Shall now be prov'd. These thunderbolts of war,
As you esteem them, will Mardonius choose
For his opponents. Level your attack
Entire against th' Athenians. None I dread;
Yet by the Sun less terrible to me

Is that Pausanius, head of Sparta's race,
Than Aristides. Him Masistius lov'd;
If you o'erthrow, preserve him; in the name
Of
your own gods I charge you. Mithra, shine
On me no longer, if in grateful warmth
Confessing ev'ry benefit receiv'd,

I do not clasp that guardian of my friend!
Now, Persians, mount your bold Nisæan steeds,
Alert your targets grasp, your lances poise;
The word is Cyrus. Royal spirit! look
On me, deriv'd from thy illustrious blood,
Yet not in me illustrious, if this day
My hand or courage faint. Look down on these,
Sons of thy matchless veterans. The fire,
Which at thy breath o'erspread the vanquish'd East,
Light in their offspring; that the loud report
Of their achievements on Asopian banks,
Far as the floods of Ganges may proclaim
The western world a vassal to thy throne."

He said, and spurr'd his courser. Through the ford
He dashes, follow'd by th' impetuous speed
Of tall equestrian bands in armour scal'd
With gold, on trappings of embroider'd gloss
Superbly seated. Persians next and Medes
Advance, an infantry select, whose mail,
Bright-gilt or silver'd o'er, augments the light
Of sparkling brands, innumerably wav'd
By nations, plunging through the turbid flood
In tumult rude, emblazing, as they pass,
The skies, the waters, and with direst howl
Distracting both. Like savage wolves they rush,
As with ferocious fangs to rend the Greeks,
To gnaw their flesh, and satiate in their blood
The greedy thirst of massacre. In chief
Here Mindarus commands, by Midias join'd
And Tiridates, powerless all to curb,
Much more to marshal such barbarian throngs,
Which, like a tumbling tide on level strands
When new the Moon impels it, soon o'erwhelm'd
Th' Asopian mead; or like the mightier surge,
When ireful Neptune strikes the ocean's bed
Profound. Upheav'd, the bottom lifts and rolls
A ridge of liquid mountains o'er th' abodes
Of some offending nation; while the Heav'ns
With coruscation red his brother Jove
Inflames, and rocks with thunder's roar the poles.

Th' auxiliar Greeks compact and silent march
In strength five myriads. In arrangement just
The foot by Leontiades, the wings

Of horse by Thorax and Emathia's king
Were led. Now, long before th' unwieldy mass
Of his disorder'd multitude advanc'd,
Mardonius, rushing through the vacant lines
Of Lacedæmon, tow'rds Citharon bent
His swift career. Faint rays began to streak
The third clear morning of that fruitful month,
The last in summer's train. Immortal day!
Which all the Muses consecrate to fame.

O thou! exalted o'er the laurell'd train,
High as the sweet Calliopè is thron'd
Above her sisters on the tuneful mount,
O father, hear! Great Homer, let one ray
From thy celestial light an humble son
Of thine illuminate; lest Freedom mourn
Her chosen race dishonour'd in these strains.
Thou too, my eldest brother, who enjoy'st
The Paradise thy genius hath portray'd,
Propitious smile. Lend vigour to a Muse,
Who in her love of freedom equals thine,
But to sustain her labours from thy store
Must borrow language, sentiment, and verse.
Citharon's ridge, from where Asopus rose,
Stretch'd to Platea, with a southern fence
Confining one broad level, which the floods
From their Hesperian head in eastward flow
Meandring parted. O'er the mountain's foot
His course Pausanias destin'd, where the soil
Abrupt and stony might the dread career
Of Persia's cavalry impede. His ranks,
Accompany'd by Tegea's faithful breed,
Had measur'd now ten furlongs of their march
Half o'er the plain to reach the friendly ground;
Then halted near an Eleusinian dome
Of Ceres; thence they mov'd, but timely first
Were join'd by Amompharetus. At length
The chosen track was gain'd. Pausanias cast
His eyes below first northward, and survey'd
Between the river and his empty camp
A blaze involving all the plain. The yell
Of mouths barbarian, of unnumber'd feet
Th' impetuous tread, which crush'd the groaning
turf,

He mark'd

The neigh of horses, and their echoing hoofs,
Th' insulting clash of shields and sabres, shook
The theatre of mountains; hollow-voic'd,
Their cavities rebellow'd, and enlarg'd
The hideous sound. His eyes the orient dawn
Attracted next. Saturnia's roof he view'd,
But distant still, around whose sacred walls
The first-departed Grecians stood in arms
Beneath wide-floating banners, wish'd more nigh.
There was the Genius of Platæa seen
By faney's ken, a hov'ring mourner seen,
O'er his renown'd, but desolated seat,
One mass of ruins mountainous.
Th' Athenians traversing the meads below
In full battalia. Resolute, sedate,
Without one shield in disarray, they mov'd
To join the gen'ral host. Beyond the stream
In prospect rose the battlements of Thebes;
Whose sons perfidious, but in battle firm,
With phalanges of other hostile Greeks
Spread on the bank, and menace to surmount
The shallow current for some dire attempt.
To Aemnestus, marching by his side,
Pausanias turns; the army he commands
To halt, while, mast'ring all unmanly fear,
His haughty phlegm serenely thus fulfils
A leader's function: "Spartan, we in vain

Precipitate our junction with allies

At Juno's distant fane; the hour is past;
The Pitanëan mutineer the cause.

Seest thou yon Persian squadrons? They precede
The whole barbarian multitude. The storm

Is gath'ring nigh; we sep'rate must abide
The heavy weight of this unequal shock,
Unless th' Athenians, still in sight, impart
A present aid." A herald swift he sends
To Aristides, with this weighty charge:
"All Greece is now in danger, and the blood
Athenian help
Of Hercules in me.

Is wanted here, their missile-weapon'd force."
Last he address'd Tisamenus; "Provide
The sacrifice for battle-Warriors, form."
Slain is the victim; but th' inspecting seer
Reveals no sign propitious. Now full nigh
The foremost Persian horse discharge around
Sparta's chief
Their javelins, darts, and arrows.
In calm respect of inauspicious Heav'n
Directs each soldier at his foot to rest
The passive shield, submissive to endure
Th' assault, and watch a signal from the gods.
A second time unfavourable prove
The victim's entrails. Unremitted show'rs
Of pointed arms distribute wounds and death.
Oh! discipline of Sparta! Patient stands
The wounded soldier, sees a comrade fall,
Yet waits permission from his chief to shield
His own, or brother's head. Among the rest
Callicrates is pierc'd; a mortal stroke

His throat receives. Him celebrate, O Muse!
Him in historic rolls deliver'd down
To admiration of remotest climes
Through latest ages. These expiring words
Beyond Olympian chaplets him exalt,
Beyond his palms in battle: "Not to die
For Greece, but dying, ere my sword is drawn,
Without one action worthy of my name,

I grieve." He said, and fainting on the breast
Of Aemnestus, breath'd in spouting blood
His last, departing thy attendant meet,
Leonidas, in regions of the bless'd.

A second victim bleeds; the gath'ring foes
To multitude are grown; the show'rs of death
Increase; then melted into flowing grief
Pausanian pride. He, tow'rds the fane remote
Of Juno lifting his afflicted eyes,

Thus suppliant spake: "O goddess! let my hopes
Be not defeated, whether to obtain
A victory so glorious, or expire
Without dishonour to Herculean blood."

Amidst the pray'r Tegëan Chileus, free
From stern control of Lacedæmon's laws,
No longer waits inactive; but his band
Leads forth, and firmly checks th' insulting foe.
The sacrifice is prosp'rous, and the word
For gen'ral onset by Pausanias giv❜n.
Then, as a lion, from his native range
Confin'd a captive long, if once his chain
He breaks, with mane erect and eyes of fire
Asserts his freedom, rushing in his strength
Resistless forth; so Sparta's phalanx turns
A face tremendous on recoiling swarms
Of squadron'd Persians, who to Ceres' fane
Are driv'n. But there Mardonius, like the god
Of thunders ranging o'er th' ethereal vault
Thick clouds on clouds impregnated with stormps,
His chosen troops embattles. Bows and darts
Rejecting, gallantly to combat close..