The rage of dire Semiramis they bore
Beyond the Indus; there defeated, left
His blood-stain'd current turbid with their dead.
Yet of the chiefs, contemplating this scene,
Not one is shaken. Undismay'd they stand;
Th' immeasurable camp with fearless eyes
They traverse: while in meditation near
The treach'rous Malian waits, collecting all
His pomp of words to paint the hostile pow'r 't
Nor yet with falsehood arms his fraudful tongue
To feign a tale of terrour. Truth herself
Beyond the reach of fiction to enhance,
Now aids his treason, and with cold dismay
Might pierce the boldest heart, unless secur'd
By dauntless Virtue, which disdains to live,
From Liberty divore'd. Requested soon,
He breaks his artful silence. "Greeks and friends,
Can I behold my native Malian fields,
Presenting hostile millions to your sight,
And not in grief suppress the horrid tale,
Which you exact from these ill-omen'd lips?
On Thracia's sca-beat verge I watch'd the foes;
Where, joining Europe to the Asian strand,
A mighty bridge restrain'd th' outrageous waves,
And stemm'd th' impetuous current: while in arms
The universal progeny of men

Seem'd trampling o'er the subjugated flood
By thousands, by ten thousands. Persians, Medes,
Assyrians, Saces, Indians, swarthy files
From Ethiopia, Egypt's tawny sons,
Arabians, Bactrians, Parthians, all the strength
Of Asia, and of Libya. Neptune groan'd
Beneath their number, and indignant heav'd
His neck against th' incumbent weight. In vain
The violence of Eurus and the North,
With rage combin'd, against th' unyielding pile
Dash'd half the Hellespont. The eastern world
Sev'n days and nights uninterrupted pass
To cover Thracia's regions. They accept
A Persian lord. They range their hardy race
Beneath his standards. Macedonia's youth,
The brave Thessalian horse, with ev'ry Greek
Who dwells beyond Thermopylæ, attend,
Assist a foreign tyrant. Sire of gods,
Who in a moinent by thy will supreme
Canst quell the mighty in their proudest hopes,
Canst raise the weak to safety, oh! impart
Thy instant succour! Interpose thy arin! [found
With lightning blast their standards! Oh! con-
With triple-bolted thunder Asia's tents,
Whence rushing millions by the morn will pour
An inundation to o'erwhelm the Greeks.
Resistance else were vain against a host,
Which overspreads Thessalia. Far beyond
That Malian champaign, stretching wide below,
Beyond the utmost measure of the sight
From this aspiring cliff, the hostile camp
Contains yet mightier numbers; who have drain'd
The beds of copious rivers with their thirst,
Who with their arrows hide the midday Sun."
"Then we shall give them battle in the shade,"
Dieneces reply'd. Not calmly thus
Diomedon. On Persia's camp he bent

His low'ring brow, which frowns had furrow'd o'er,
Then fierce exclaim'd. "Bellona, turn and view
With joyful eyes that field, the fatal stage,
By regal madness for thy rage prepar'd
To exercise its horrours. Whet thy teeth,
Voracious Death.
All Asia is thy prey.
Contagion, famine, and the Grecian sword

For thy insatiate hunger will provide
Variety of carnage." He concludes;
While on the host immense his cloudy brow
Is fix'd disdainful, and their strength defies.

Meantime an eastern herald down the pass
Was seen, slow-moving tow'rds the Phocian wall.
From Asia's monarch delegated, came
Tigranes and Phraortes. From the hill
Leonidas conducts th' impatient chiefs.
By them environ'd, in his tent he sits;
Where thus Tigranes their attention calls.

"Ambassadors from Persia's king we stand
Before you, Grecians. To display the pow'r
Of our great master were a needless task.
The name of Xerxes, Asia's mighty lord,
Invincible, exalted on a throre
Surpassing human lustre, must have reach'
To ev'ry clime, and ev'ry heart impress'd
With awe, and low submission. Yet I swear
By yon refulgent orb, which flames above,
The glorious symbol of eternal pow'r,
This military throng, this show of war,
Well nigh persuade me, you have never heard
That name, at whose commanding sound the banks
Of Indus tremble, and the Caspian wave,
Th' Egyptian flood, the Hellespontic surge
Obedient roll. O impotent and rash!
Whom yet the large beneficence of Heav'n,
And heav'nly Xerxes, merciful and kind,
Deign to preserve. Resign your arms. Disperse
All to your cities. There let humblest hands
With earth and water greet your destin'd lord."
As through th' extensive grove, whose leafy
boughs,

Entwining, crown some eminence with shade,
The tempests rush sonorous, and between
The crashing branches roar; by fierce disdain,
By indignation thus the Grecians rous'd,
In loudest clamour close the Persian's speech :
But ev'ry tongue was hush'd, when Sparta's king
This brief reply deliver'd from his seat.

"O Persian, when to Xerxes thou return'st, Say, thou hast told the wonders of his pow'r. Then say, thou saw'st a slender band of Greece, Which dares his boasted millions to the field."

He adds no more. Th' ambassadors retire.
Them o'er the limits of the Grecian lines
Diomedon and Thespia's youth conduct.
In slow solemnity they all proceed,
And sullen silence; but their looks denote
Far more than speech could utter. Wrath contracts
The forehead of Diomedon. His teeth
Gnash with impatience of delay'd revenge.
Disdain, which sprung from conscious merit, flush'ð
The cheek of Dithyrambus. On the face
Of either Persian arrogance, incens'd
By disappointment, lour'd. The utmost strait
They now attain'd, which open'd on the tents
Of Asia, there discov'ring wide to view
Her deep, immense arrangement. Then the heart
Of vain Tigranes, swelling at the sight,
Thus overflows in loud and haughty phrase.
"O Arimanius, origin of ill,

Have we demanded of thy ruthless pow'r
Thus with the curse of madness to afflict
These wretched men? But since thy dreadful ire
To irresistible perdition dooms

The Grecian race, we vainly should oppose.
Be thy dire will accomplish'd. Let them fall,
Their native soil be fatten'd with their blood."

Enrag'd, the stern Dioinedon replies. "Thou base dependant on a lawless king, Thou purple slave, thou boaster, dost thou know, That I beheld the Marathonian field?" Where, like the Libyan sands before the wind, Your host was scatter'd by Athenian spears; Where thou perhaps by ignominious flight Didst from this arm protect thy shiv'ring limbs. O let me find thee in to morrow's fight! Along this rocky pavement shalt thou lie To dogs a banquet." With uplifted palms Tygranes then. "Omnipotent support Of scepter'd Xerxes, Horomazes, hear! To thee his first victorious fruits of war Thy worshipper devotes, the gory spoils, Which from this Grecian by the rising dawn In sight of either host my strength shall rend.” At length Phraortes, interposing, spake. "I too would find among the Grecian chiefs One, who in battle dares abide my lance."

The gallant youth of Thespia swift reply'd. "Thou look'st on me, O Persian. Worthier far Thou might have singled from the ranks of Greece, Not one more willing to essay thy force. Yes, I will prove before the eye of Mars, How far the prowess of her meanest chief Beyond thy vaunts deserves the palm of fame."

This said, the Persians to their king repair,
Back to their camp the Grecians. There they find
Each soldier, poising his extended spear,
His weighty buckler bracing on his arm
In warlike preparation. Through the files
Each leader, moving vigilant, by praise,
By exhortation aids their native warmth.
Alone the Theban Anaxander pin'd,
Who thus apart his Malian friend bespake.
"What has thy lofty eloquence avail'd,
Alas! in vain attempting to confound
The Spartan valour? With redoubled fires,
See, how their bosoms glow. They wish to die;
They wait impatient for th' unequal fight.
Too soon th' insuperable foes will spread
Promiscuous havoc round, and Thebans share
The doom of Spartans. Through the guarded pass
Who will adventure Asia's camp to reach
In our behalf? That Xerxes may be warn'd
To spare his friends amid the gen❜ral wreck;
When his high-swoln resentment, like a flood
Increas'd by stormy show'rs, shall cover Greece
With desolation." Epialtes here.

"Whence, Anaxander, this unjust despair?
Is there a path on (Eta's hills unknown
To Epialtes? Over trackless rocks,
Through mazy woods my secret steps can pass.
Farewell. I go. Thy merit shall be told
To Persia's king. Thou only watch the hour;
When wanted most, thy ready succour lend."
Meantime a wary, comprehensive care
To ev'ry part Leonidas extends;

As in the human frame through ev'ry vein,
And artery minute, the ruling heart
Its vital powers disperses. In his tent
The prudent chief of Locris he consults;
He summons Melibus by the voice
Of Agis. In humility not mean,
By no unseemly ignorance depress'd,

Th' ingenuous swain, by all th' illustrious house
Of Ajax honour'd, bows before the king,

Who gracious spake. "The confidence bestow'd,
The praise by sage Oileus might suffice

To verify thy worth. Myself have watch'd,
Have found thee skilful, active, and discreet.
Thou know'st the region round. With Agis go,
The upper straits, the Phocian camp explore.”
"O condescension," Melibæus then,
"More ornamental to the great, than gems,
A purple robe, or diadem! The king
Accepts my service. Pleasing is my task,
Spare not thy servant. Exercise my zeal.
Oileus will rejoice, and, smiling, say,

An humble hand may smooth a hero's path."
He leads the way, while Agis, following, spake.
"O swain, distinguish'd by a lib'ral mind,
Who were thy parents? Where thy place of birth?
What chance depriv'd thee of a father's house?
Oileus sure thy liberty would grant,

Or Sparta's king solicit for that grace;
When in a station equal to thy worth

Thou mayst be rank'd." The prudent hind began,
"In diff'rent stations diffrent virtues dwell,
All reaping diffrent benefits. The great
In dignity and honours meet reward
For acts of bounty, and heroic toils.
A servant's merit is obedience, truth,
Fidelity; his recompense content.
Be not offended at my words, O chief.
They, who are free, with envy may behold
This bondman of Oileus. To his trust,
His love exalted, I by Nature's pow'r
From his pure model could not fail to mould
What thou entitlest lib'ral. Whence I came,
Or who my parents, is to me unknown.
In childhood seiz'd by robbers, I was sold.
They took their price. They hush'd th' atrocious

deed.

Dear to Oileus and his race I throve;
And whether noble, or ignoble born,

I am contented, studious of their love
Alone. Ye sons of Sparta, I admire
Your acts, your spirit, but confine my own
To their condition, happy in my lord,
Himself of men most happy." Agis bland
Rejoins. "Q born with talents to become
A lot more noble, which, by thee refus'd,
Thou dost the more deserve! Laconia's king
Discerns thy merit through its modest veil.
Consummate prudence in thy words I hear,
Long may contentment, justly priz'd, be thine.
But should the state demand thee, I foresee
Thou wouldst like others in the field excel,
Wouldst share in glory." Blithe return'd the
swain.

"Not ev'ry service is confin'd to arms.
Thou shalt behold me in my present state
Not useless. If the charge, Oïleus gave,
I can accomplish, meriting his praise,
And thy esteem, my glory will be full."
Both pleas'd in converse thus pursue their
Where (Eta lifts her summits huge to Heav'n
In rocks abrupt, pyramidal, or tower'd
Like castles. Sudden from a tufted crag,
Where goats are browsing, Melibus hears
A call of welcome. There his course he stays.

way,

Where black and hateful Arimanius frown'd,
The author foul of evil: how with shades
From his dire mansion he deform'd the works
Of Horomazes, turn'd to noxious heat

The solar beam that foodful Earth might parch,
That streams, exhaling, might forsake their beds,
Whence pestilence and famine: how the pow'r
Of Horomazes in the human breast
Benevolence and equity infus'd,

[Heav'n:

Truth, temperance, and wisdom sprung from
When Arimanius blacken'd all the soul

With falsehood and injustice, with desires
Insatiable, with violence and rage,
Malignity and folly. If the hand

Of Horomazes on precarious life

Sheds wealth and pleasure; swift th' infernal god
With wild excess, or av'rice blasts the joy.
"Thou Horomazes, victory dost give.

By thee with fame the regal head is crown'd.
Great Xerxes owns thy succour. When in storms
The hate of direful Arimanius swell'd

The Hellespont; thou o'er its chafing breast
The destin'd master of the world didst lead,
This day his promis'd glories to enjoy:
When Greece affrighted to his arms shall bend;
Ev'n as at last shall Arimanius fall
Before thy might, and evil be no more."
The Magi ceas'd their harmony. Behold,
From her tall ship between a double row
Of naval warriors, while a golden ray
Shoots from her standard, Artemisia lands.
In ber enrich'd accoutrements of war,

The full-wrought buckler, and high-crested helm,
In Caria first devis'd, across the beach
Her tow'ring form advances. So the pine,
From Taurus hewn mature in spiry pride,
Now by the sailor in its canvass wings
Voluminous, and dazzling pendants dress'd,
On Artemisia's own imperial deck
Is seen to rise, and overtop the grove

Of crowded masts surrounding. In her heart
Deep scorn of courtly counsellors she bore,
Who fill with impious vanity their king;
As when he lash'd the Hellespont with rods,
Amid the billows cast a golden chain
To fetter Neptune. Yet her brow severe
Unbent its rigour often, as she glanc'd
On her young son, who, pacing near in arms
Of Carian guise, proportion'd to his years,
Look'd up, and waken'd by repeated smiles
Maternal fondness, melting in that eye,
Which scowl'd on purpled flatterers. Her seat
At the right hand of Xerxes she assumes,
Invited; while in adoration bow'd

Tigranes and Phraortes. Prone they lay,
Across their foreheads spread their servile palms,
As from a present deity, too bright
For mortal vision, to conceal their eyes.
At length in abject phrase Tigranes thus.
"O Xerxes, live for ever! Gracious lord,
Who dost permit thy servants to approach
Thy awful sight, and prostrate to confess
Thy majesty and radiance. May the pow'r
Of Horomazes stretch thy regal arm
O'er endless nations from the Indian shores
To whose wide floods, which beat Iberian strands,
From northern Tanais to the source of Nile!
Still from thy head may Arimanius bend
Against thy foes his malice! Yonder Greeks,
Already smit with frenzy by his wrath,

Reject thy proffer'd clemency. They choose To magnify thy glory by their fall."

The monarch, turning to his brothers, spake.
"Say, Hyperanthus, can thy soul believe
These tidings? Sure these slaves have never dar'd
To face the Grecians, but delude our ears
With base impostures, which their fear suggests."
He frown'd, and Hyperanthes calm reply'd.
"O from his servants may the king avert
His indignation! Greece was fam'd of old
For martial spirit, and a dauntless breed.
I once have try'd their valour. To my words
Abrocomes can witness. When thy sire
And ours, Darius, to Athenian shores
With Artaphenes brave and Datis sent
Our tender youth; at Marathon we found,
How weak the hope, that numbers could 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 persisting courage be endu'd,
Soon as the king shall summon to the field,
He shall behold me in the dang'rous van
Exalt my spear, and pierce the hostile ranks,
Or sink beneath them." Xerxes swift rejoin'd.
Why over Asia, and the Libyan soil,

With all their nations doth my potent arm
Extend its sceptre? Wherefore do I sweep
Across the Earth with millions in my train?
Why shade the ocean with unnumber'd sails?
Why all this pow'r, unless th' almighty's will
Decreed one master to the subject world;
Aud that the Earth's extremity alone
Should bound my empire? He for this reduc'd
The Nile's revolted sons, enlarg'd my sway
With sandy Libya, and the sultry clime
Of Ethiopia. He for this subdu'd
The Hellespontic foam, and taught the sea
Obedience to my nod. Then dream no more,'
That Heav'n, deserting my imperial cause,
With courage, more than human, will inspire
Yon despicable Grecians, and expunge

The common fears of nature from their breasts."
The monarch ceas'd. Abrocomes began.
"The king commands us to reveal our thoughts.
Incredulous he hears. But time and truth
Not Horomazes can arrest. Thy beams

To instant light'ning, Mithra, mayst thou change
For my destruction; may th' offended king
Frown on his servant, cast a loathing eye;
If the assertion of my lips be false:
Our further march those Grecians will oppose."
Amid th' encircling peers Argestes sai,
A potent prince. O'er Sipylus he reign'd,
Whose verdant summits overlook'd the waves
Of Hermus and Pactolus. Either stream,
Enrich'd by golden sands, a tribute pay'd
To this great satrap. Through the servile court
Yet none was found more practis'd in the arts
Of mean submission; none more skill'd to gain
The royal favour; none, who better knew
The phrase, the look, the gesture of a slave;
None more detesting Artemisia's worth,
By her none more despis'd. His master's eye
He caught, then spake. "Display thy dazzling state,
Thou deity of Asia. Greece will hide
Before thy presence her dejected face."

Last Artemisia, rising stein, began.
"Why sits the lord of Asia in his tent,
Unprofitably wasting precious hours

In vain discussion, whether yonder Greeks,
Rang'd in defence of that important pass,
Will fight, or fly? A question by the sword
To be decided. Still to narrow straits
By land, by sea thy council hath confin'd
Each enterprise of war. In numbers weak
Twice have th' Athenians in Euboea's frith
Repuls'd thy navy-But whate'er thy will,
Be it enforc'd by vigour. Let the king
The diff'rence see, by trial in the field,
Between smooth sound and valour. Then dissolve
These impotent debates. Ascend thy car.
The future stage of war thyself explore,
Behind thee leave the vanity of hope,
That such a foe to splendour will submit,
Whom steel, not gold, must vanquish. Thou provide
Thy mail, Argestes. Not in silken robes,
Not as in council with an oily tongue,
But spear to spear, and clanging shield to shield,
Thou soon must grapple on a field of blood."

The king arose-"No more. Prepare my car.
The Spartan exile, Demaratus, call.
We will ourselves advance to view the foe."

The monarch will'd; and suddenly he heard His trampling horses. High on silver wheels The iv'ry car with azure sapphires shone, Cerulean beryls, and the jasper green, The emerald, the ruby's glowing blush, The flaming topaz with its golden beam, The pearl, th' empurpled amethyst, 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 display'd His stately neck, and o'er the royal head [steeds, Outstretch'd his dazzling wings. Eight gen'rous Which on the fam'd Nisæan 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, with these might vie In strength, or beauty. In obedient pride They hear their lord. Exulting, in the air They toss their foreheads. On their glist'ning chests The silver manes disport. The king ascends. Beside his footstool Demaratus sits. The charioteer now shakes th' effulgent reins, Strong Patiramphes. At the signal bound Th' attentive steeds; the chariot flies: behind, Ten thousand horse in thunder sweep the field. Down to the sea-beat margin, on a plain Of vast expansion, in battalia wait

The eastern bands. To these th' imperial wheels, By princes follow'd in a hundred cars, Proceed. The queen of Caria and her son With Hyperanthes rode. The king's approach Swift through the wide arrangement is proclaim'd. He now draws nigh. Th' innumerable host Roll back by nations, and admit their lord With all his satraps. As from crystal domes, Built underneath an arch of pendent seas, When that stern pow'r, whose trident rules the floods, With each cerulean deity ascends, Thron'd in 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 a hundred years had told,
Not one among those millions 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 eye,
As with adoring awe those millions bow'd,
And to his heart relentless pride recall'd.
Elate the mingled prospect he surveys
Of glittring files unnumber'd, chariots scyth'd,
On thund'ring axles roll'd, and haughty steeds,
In sumptuous trappings clad, barbaric pomp.
While gorgeous banners to the Sun expand
Their streaming volumes of relucent gold,
Preeminent amidst tiaras gemm'd,
Engraven helmets, shields emboss'd, and spears
In number equal to the bladed grass,
Whose living green in vernal beauty clothes
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,
A gen'rous nation, worthy to enjoy
The liberty their injur'd fathers lost,
Whose arms for Cyrus overturn'd the strength
Of Babylon and Sardis. Pow'r advanc'd
The victor's head above his country's laws.
Their tongues were practis'd in the words of truth,
Their limbs inur'd to ev'ry manly toil,
To brace the bow, to rule th' impetuous steed,
To dart the javelin; but, untaught to form
The ranks of war, with unconnected force,
With ineffectual fortitude they rush'd,
As on a fence of adamant, to pierce
Th' indissoluble phalanx. Lances short,
And osier-woven targets they oppos'd
To weighty Grecian spears, and massy shields.
On ev'ry head tiaras rose like tow`rs,
Impenetrable. With a golden gloss
Blaz'd their gay sandals, and the floating reins
Of each proud courser. Daggers on their thighs,
Well-furnish'd quivers on their shoulders hung,
And strongest bows of mighty size they bore.
Resembling these in 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 lilies, water'd by the floods
Of fam'd Choaspes. His transparent wave
The costly goblet wafts to Persia's kings.
All other streams the royal lip disdains.
Hyrcania's race forsook their fruitful clime,
Dark in the shadows of expanding oaks,
To Ceres dear and Bacchus.
There the corn,
Bent by its foodful burden, sheds, unreap'd,
Its plenteous seed, impregnating the soil
With future harvests; while in ev'ry wood
Their precious labours on the loaden boughs
The honey'd swarms pursue. Assyria's sons
Display their brazen casques, unskilful work
Of rude barbarians. Each sustains a mace,
O'erlaid with iron. Near Euphrates' banks