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Is this, can this be Athens,-she that once
In glory towered over all compeers!
Where are her heroes, orators, and sages

?

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Are like yon abject slave who crushes grain
Within that fragment of the Phidian skill,
Whose forms of beauty stand unrivalled still.
His fathers, called Harmodius their sire.

HECTOR.

By Phaon slighted, Sappho weeps ;
Her burning tears fall all in vain;
So from Leucate's rock she leaps,

And ends, by dying, all her pain.
Why, why should I thus languish,
When Sappho's daring plunge quells every anguish ?

MERCURY.

You sing a melancholy song.

HECTOR.

What cause

Have I, whose life is one of toil, to sing

Of mirth?

MINERVA.

Yet wherefore choose a theme of love?

HECTOR.

It clings to my remembrance, and recalls

The days of childhood to my mind, the days

When I was happy.

MINERVA.

'Tis an ancient legend.

HECTOR.

It must be; 'twas carroll'd when I was a boy,

And none can tell who sang it first.

And who was Sappho ?

MERCURY.

HECTOR.

Sappho ? I suppose

She lived when we were free as grass-hoppers.

MINERVA.

Pray what is that in which you beat your rice?

HECTOR.

I know not, and I care not what it is :

I found it here ; it serves my purpose well.

MINERVA.

It once adorned yon temple.

HECTOR.

May be so.

MINERVA.

Art thou a Greek?

HECTOR.

Aye; born in Athens.

MINERVA.

And a slave, degraded and degrading.

Oh Jove, what changes Fate has made in Man !

MERCURY.

That lovely girl who offers fruit for sale;
Her laurelled ancestors adorned the tale
Of bards and heroes: one was Miltiades,
The conqueror at Marathon.

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Goddess, she comes imploring your assistance.

Suppose you question her.

9

MINERVA.

Fair maiden; say,

When last was the procession of the Peplus?

What d'ye mean, lady?

HELEN.

MINERVA.

The sacred garment

Woven by maidens for the goddess :

HELEN.

The boddice?

MINERVA. (To Mercury.)

Alas, the poor degraded wretch!

HELEN.

These figs,

Beautiful lady, are good and cheap :-buy some !

(DERVISHES without, shouting and singing.)

MINERVA.

What noise approaches hither?

MERCURY.

A procession,

To worship one in song, of whom you never heard.

The temple of Boreas and the Zephyrs,

Re-echoes now the praises of great Mahomet.

Here come his votive Dervishes, to do

His holy rites.

(Enter DERVISHES, singing and dancing grotesquely.)

CHORUS.

When thou did'st frown, the moon was banish'd;

At thy rebuke, her splendour vanish'd:

Kaaba! Mahomet, hail!

By thee bestridden, Alborak† was driven

To soar swift as light, with thee to heaven;
Kaaba! great Prophet, hail!

(The Dervishes enter the Temple of the Winds.)

* KAABA :-The holy stone of Mecca; by which the followers of Mahomet swear.

† ALBORAK:-The beast on which the Prophet flew in one night from Mecca to Jerusalem: and some say from thence to heaven.

MINERVA.

What nonsense hath assailed mine ear?

MERCURY.

"Tis called devotion: sacred unto him

They idolize.

(Turkish March heard approaching.)

HELEN.

Good strangers, have a care;

Here come our stern oppressors' Janizaries!

We must be gone.

[Exeunt HELEN and HECTOR.

Enter, with drawn swords, a troop of Janizaries, marching to music; the Chief detains one of the men.

CHIEF. (Pointing to a Sarcophagus.)

Here is the very thing we want: this trough
Of stone will make a famous manger for

Our Pacha's horse. Go, bring a steed or two,

And drag it hence.

MINERVA.

[Exeunt JANIZARIES.

A pure sarcophagus dishonoured thus!

Let us depart from this accursed place :

Lead me to where they worship and revere us.

Away to Rome!

MERCURY.

Ah, goddess! not to Rome;

For there our sacred fanes are fallen and debased;
And we are quite forgotten, even as here.

MINERVA.

What then,

Is there no spot where knowledge still is rife,
And Wisdom's throne is reared?

MERCURY.

Yes, far away,

An isle unknown to thee, now cherishes
The Muses and their arts: there, temples rise,
And we are worshipp'd still in other forms
And names: 'tis there, the relics of our fanes

Are honored and adored by Freedom's sons:

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