Leonidas. Book VI

In sable pomp with all her starry train The night assum'd her throne. Recall'd from war Her long-protracted labours Greece forgets, Dissolv'd in silent slumber; all but those, Who watch'd th' uncertain perils of the dark, An hundred warriours: Agis was their chief. High on the wall intent the hero sat, As o'er the surface of the tranquil main Along its undulating breast the wind The various din of Asia's host convey'd In one deep murmur swelling in his ear: When by the sound of footsteps down the pass Alarm'd he calls aloud. What feet are those, Which beat the echoing pavement of the rock? With speed reply, nor tempt your instant fate.

HE said, and thus return'd a voice unknown. Not with the feet of enemies we come, But crave admittance with a friendly tongue.

THE Spartan answers. Through the midnight shade What purpose draws your wandring steps abroad?

TO whom the stranger. We are friends to Greece, And to the presence of the Spartan king Admission we implore. The cautious chief Of Lacedaemon hesitates again. When thus with accents musically sweet A tender voice his wondring ear allur'd.

O GEN'ROUS Grecian, listen to the pray'r Of one distress'd! whom grief alone hath led In this dark hour to these victorious tents, A wretched woman innocent of fraud.

THE Greek descending through th'unfolded gates Upheld a flaming brand. One first appear'd In servile garb attir'd; but near his side A woman graceful and majestic stood; Not with an aspect rivalling the power Of fatal Hellen, or the wanton charms Of Love's soft queen; but such as far excell'd, Whate'er the lilly blending with the rose Paints on the cheek of beauty soon to fade; Such as express'd a mind, which wisdom rul'd, And sweetness temper'd, virtue's purest light Illumining the countenance divine, Yet could not sooth remorseless fate, nor teach Malignant Fortune to revere the good, Which oft with anguish rends the spotless heart, And oft associates wisdom with despair. In courteous phrase began the chief humane.

EXALTED fair, who thus adorn'st the night, Forbear to blame the vigilance of war, And to the laws of rigid Mars impute, That I thus long unwilling have delay'd Before the great Leonidas to place This your apparent dignity and worth.

HE spake, and gently to the lofty tent Of Sparta's king the lovely stranger guides. At Agis' summons with a mantle broad His mighty limbs Leonidas infolds, And quits his couch. In wonder he surveys Th' illustrious virgin, whom his presence aw'd: Her eye submissive to the ground inclin'd With veneration of the godlike man. But soon his voice her anxious dread dispell'd, Benevolent and hospitable thus.

THY form alone, thus amiable and great, Thy mind delineates, and from all commands Supreme regard. Relate, thou noble dame, By what relentless destiny compell'd, Thy tender feet the paths of darkness tread. Rehearse th' afflictions, whence thy virtue mourns.

ON her wan cheek a sudden blush arose, Like day's first dawn upon the twilight pale, And wrapt in grief these words a passage broke.

IF to be most unhappy, and to know, That hope is irrecoverably fled; If to be great and wretched may deserve Commiseration from the good; behold, Thou glorious leader of unconquer'd bands, Behold descended from Darius' loins Th' afflicted Ariana, and my pray'r Accept with pity, nor my tears disdain! First, that I lov'd the best of human race, By nature's hand with ev'ry virtue form'd, Heroic, wise, adorn'd with ev'ry art; Of shame unconscious does my heart reveal. This day in Grecian arms conspicuous clad He fought, he fell. A passion long conceal'd For me alas! within my brother's arms His dying breath resigning, he disclos'd.

—OH I will stay my sorrows! will forbid My eyes to stream before thee, and my heart, Thus full of anguish, will from sighs restrain! For why should thy humanity be griev'd With my distress, and learn from me to mourn The lot of nature doom'd to care and pain! Hear then, O king, and grant my sole request, To seek his body in the heaps of slain.

THUS to the Spartan su'd the regal maid Resembling Ceres in majestic woe, When, supplicant at Jove's resplendent throne, From dreary Pluto, and th'infernal gloom Her lov'd and lost Proserpina she sought. Fix'd on the weeping queen with stedfast eyes, Laconia's chief these tender thoughts recall'd.

SUCH are thy sorrows, O for ever dear! Who now at Lacedaemon dost deplore My everlasting absence! then inclin'd His head, and sigh'd; nor yet forgot to charge His friend, the gentle Agis, through the straits The Persian princess to attend and aid. With careful steps they seek her lover's corse. The Greeks remember'd, where by Fate repress'd His arm first ceas'd to mow their legions down, And from beneath a mass of Persian slain Soon drew the hero by his armour known. To Agis' high pavilion they resort. Now, Ariana, what transcending pangs Thy soul involv'd? What horrour clasp'd thy heart? But love grew mightiest, and her beauteous limbs On the cold breast of Teribazus threw The grief-distracted maid. The clotted gore Deform'd her snowy bosom. O'er his wounds Loose flow'd her hair, and bubbling from her eyes Impetuous sorrow lav'd the purple clay. When forth in groans her lamentations broke.

O TORN for ever from my weeping eyes! Thou, who despairing to obtain her heart, Who then most lov'd thee, didst untimely yield Thy life to Fate's inevitable dart For her, who now in agony unfolds Her tender bosom, and repeats her vows To thy deaf ear, who fondly to her own Now clasps thy breast insensible and cold. Alas! do those unmoving, ghastly orbs Perceive my gushing anguish! Does that heart, Which Death's inanimating hand hath chill'd, Share in my suff'rings, and return my sighs! —Oh! bitter unsurmountable distress! Lo! on thy breast is Ariana bow'd, Hangs o'er thy face, unites her cheek to thine Not now to listen with enchanted ears To thy persuasive eloquence, no more Charm'd with the wisdom of thy copious mind!

SHE could no more. Invincible despair Suppress'd her utt'rance. As a marble form Fix'd on the solemn sepulcher, unmov'd O'er some dead hero, whom his country lov'd, Bends down the head with imitated woe: So paus'd the princess o'er the breathless clay, Intranc'd in sorrow. On the dreary wound, Where Dithyrambus' sword was deepest plung'd, Mute for a space and motionless she gaz'd. Then with a look unchang'd, nor trembling hand Drew forth a poniard, which her garment veil'd, And sheathing in her heart th' abhorred steel, On her slain lover, silent sinks in death. In vain the Spartan interven'd. With tears He view'd the prostrate lovers, and exclaim'd.

OH! most unhappy, heavy on your heads Hath sorrow fall'n, which o'er your pale remains Commands this pity from a stranger's eye! Illustrious ruins, may the grave impart That peace, which life denied! And now receive This pious office from a hand unknown.

SO saying, from his shoulders he unclasp'd His ample robe, and strew'd the waving folds O'er the pale dead. Then turning, he bespake The slave, who stood beside him. Thou, who ledst Thy queen ill-destin'd to the fatal tents Of Lacedaemon, now returning bear Her bleeding reliques to the Persian lord; Thou, and these captives, whom I free from bonds.

ART thou a Spartan (interrupts the slave) And dost thou counsel me to seek again A clime unbless'd, where freedom never dwells? No. Bear me to Leonidas. Alone Shall he decide, if wretched, as I seem, I may not claim protection from this camp.

WHOE'ER thou art (amaz'd the chief replies) Thou may'st indeed a better lot demand, Than I, a stranger to thy hidden worth, Unconscious offer'd. Thy ignoble garb Conceal'd a virtue, which I now revere. And since thy suff'ring soul hath long indur'd The gloom of bondage, and the hated face Of tyrants view'd, now change the horrid scene; Here freedom reigns, and justice: come and seek With me their great protector. Ending here, Swift he conducts him to Laconia's king, When Agis thus Leonidas address'd.

LO! far superiour to the name, which marks His habit with dishonour, one, who sues For thy protection! Here the slave subjoin'd. I stand thy suppliant now. Thou soon shalt learn, If I deserve thy favour. I intreat To see th' assembled leaders of your host, For I am fraught with tydings, which import The weal of all the Grecians. Agis streight Appointed by Leonidas convenes The various leaders. To the tent they throng, Amidst them plac'd, the stranger thus began.

O ALPHEUS! Maron! hither turn your sight, And know your brothers. From their seats they start. From either burst, with tears of transport mix'd, The name of Polydorus. On his breast Each fondly strives to rush, but he withstands; While down his cheek a stream of anguish pours From his dejected eyes in torture bent On that vile garb, which sham'd his free-born limbs. At length these accents intermix'd with groans Broke from his heart, while all stood wond'ring round.

YOU first shall know, if this unhappy slave Yet merits your embraces. Now approach'd Leonidas. Before him all recede, Ev'n Alpheus' self; and yields his brother's hand, Which in his own the gen'rous hero press'd: Then with majestic goodness thus bespake Th' afflicted youth, and mitigates his pains.

FORBEAR to mourn, thou unexampled youth. Thy friends, thy country, all on thee shall gaze With veneration, whose unshaken mind The chains of Asia never could debase. Lo! ev'ry breast is open to thy worth, Each tongue prepares to hail thee with applause, Who hast thy country honour'd ev'n in bonds.

HE ceas'd, when Alpheus with an eager hand Divests his brother of his base attire, And his own mantle o'er the shoulders threw Of Polydorus. Agis too advanc'd, With friendly arms infolds him, and began.

Now, in thy native liberty secure, Smile on thy past afflictions, and relate, What chance restor'd thy virtue to the Greeks.

THEN Polydorus to the list'ning chiefs. I was a Spartan. When my tender prime On manhood border'd, from my native shore Snatch'd by Phoenician pirates, I was sold, To Ariana, sister to the king And Hyperanthes. Fortune there was kind My bonds committing to that gentle hand. Yet was I still a captive, and estrang'd From Lacedaemon. Demaratus oft With friendly sorrows would my lot deplore, Nor less his own ill-fated virtue mourn'd Lost to his country in a servile court, The center of corruption; where in smiles Is envy painted, treachery, and hate, And rankling malice; where alone sincere The dissolute seeks no disguise: where he Who all possesses, that a king can give, Is far less happy than the meanest son Of liberty, and groveling, as the slave, Who serves his cruel pride. Yet here the sun Ten times his annual period hath renew'd, Since Polydorus hath in bondage groan'd. My bloom now past, or else by pining care Untimely wither'd, I at last return, And to my native land the tydings bear Of instant desolation. Here in grief He paus'd, when thus Leonidas. Proceed. Though from thy lips inevitable fate To all be threaten'd, thou art heard by none, Whose dauntless souls can entertain a thought, But how to fall the noblest. Thus the chief. The rest in speechless expectation wait. Such was the solemn silence, which o'erspread The shrine of Ammon, or Dodona's shades, When anxious mortals from the mouth of Jove Their doom explor'd. Nor Polydorus long Suspends the Grecians, but resumes his tale.

AS I this night accompanied the steps Of Ariana, e'er we reach'd the straits Before our view then op'ning, one appear'd With hasty feet now traversing the way, Now fix'd intensely tow'rds the Grecian wall; Then on a sudden starting would renew His restless pace. As nearer we approach'd, He by the moon, which glimmer'd o'er our heads, Descried us, when advancing he demands Where bent our midnight course. I knew the voice Of Demaratus. To my breast I clasp'd The venerable exile, and replied. Our purpose ask not. Sparta's camp we seek, And oh! farewel for ever! He rejoin'd. Thrice happy Polydorus! Thou again Shalt visit Sparta to these eyes denied. Upon your paths may heav'n's protection smile. Soon as you mix with yon triumphant tents, Say to the Spartans, whose unconquer'd arms Defend those rocks, you saw their exil'd king; Say, though their blind credulity depriv'd The wretched Demaratus of his home, From ev'ry joy secluded, which awaits The parent and the husband, from his wife, His offspring torn, his friends, and native gates, Him from his virtue could they ne'er divide: Say, that ev'n here, where all are kings, or slaves, Amid the riot of flagitious courts Not quite extinct the Spartan spirit glows Within his breast, though grief hath dim'd its fires. Remembring this to Lacedaemon's chief Report, that newly to the Persian host Return'd a Malian, Epialtes nam'd, Who as a spy had sought the Grecian tents. He to the tyrant magnified his art, Which with delusive eloquence had wrought The Greeks to such despair, that Asia's king Had been e'er now their sov'reign master own'd, Had not the spirit of their single chief, By fear unconquer'd, and on death resolv'd, Restor'd their valour: therefore would the king Trust to his guidance a selected band, They soon should pierce th' unguarded bounds of Greece, Led through a secret passage o'er the hills, Where no Leonidas should bar their way. Meantime by him the treach'rous Thebans sent Assurance of their aid. Th' assenting king At once decreed two myriads to advance With Hyperanthes, with Abrocomes, And bold Hydarnes. Ev'ry chief besides, Whom youth, or valour, or ambition warms, Rous'd by the traitor's eloquence, attends From all the nations, fir'd with eager zeal The first to enter Greece. In silence now The youth remains. Tremendous from his seat Uprose Plataea's chief. His eyes were flames, And thus on trembling Anaxander burst The furious accents from his livid lips.

YET e'er we fall, O traitor, shall this arm To hell's avenging furies sink thy head.

ALL now is tumult, ev'ry bosom swells With rage untam'd, and vengeance. Half unsheath'd Diomedon's impetuous falchion blaz'd. But, as the Cholchian sorceress renown'd In fables old, or Circe, when they fram'd A potent spell from Erebus to wake The dead in dark and fleeting forms to glide Before the moon's dim twilight, with their charms Smooth'd all the sea, and silenc'd each rude blast; Till not a billow heav'd against the shore, Nor ev'n the wanton-winged zephir breath'd The lightest whisper through the magic air: So, when thy voice, Leonidas, is heard, Fell Discord listens; Rage with sacred awe Subsides in silence; while Confusion slept.

WITHHOLD this rashness (interpos'd the king) Before we punish, let us find the guilt. Not yet hath Persia overturn'd our tents, Not yet her Barb'rous shouts our ears alarm. We still have time for vengeance, and to know, If yet our swords destruction may repel, Or how to die most glorious. Then arose Dieneces, and thus the Greeks bespake.

E'ER yet they pass our borders, Xerxes' host Must learn to conquer, and the Greeks to fly. The spears of Phocis guard the secret pass. Let instant messengers be thither sent To know the Persians progress. Alpheus here.

LEONIDAS, behold, my willing feet Shall to the Phocians bear thy great commands, Or climb the hills to mark th' approaching foe.

THOU active son of valour (thus returns The chief of Lacedaemon) in my thoughts For ever present, when the public cause Demands the swift, the vigilant, and bold! Go and surmount the rocks aërial height. And while, around, Dieneces conducts An hundred Spartans to the Phocians aid, Thou from the hills observe the Persians march.

BEFORE the purple-winged morn the night Retiring warn'd their conference to cease. They all disperse. When hastning on his course, And ready now to climb the lofty crags, O Polydorus, Alpheus thus exclaims, Long lost and late recover'd! we must part Once more, and now for ever. Thou return, And kiss the sacred soil, which gave thee birth, Which calls thee back to freedom? Dearest youth I should have tears to give thee—but farewel! My country chides me loit'ring in thy arms.

THIS said, he quits his brother, and ascends, While Polydorus answers. Alpheus no. I have the marks of bondage to erase, My blood must wash the shameful stain away.

WE have a father (Maron interpos'd) Thy unexpected presence will revive His heavy age, that childless else will mourn. Here Polydorus with a gloomy smile.

ILL should I comfort others. View these eyes; Faint is their light, and vanish'd is my bloom Before its hour of ripeness. In my breast Grief as a native will for ever dwell, Nor yield to time. Unceasing shall my soul Brood o'er the dire remembrance of my youth In servitude thus wasted. Life with me Hath lost its savour. Then in silent woe He hangs his head. His brother pleads in vain. He answers only with repeated groans. Now in his view Dieneces advanc'd With Sparta's band. On them his eyes are fix'd Immoveable, and thus his mind revolves.

I TOO, like these, in Lacedaemon sprung, Instructed once, like these, to poize the spear, And lift the pond'rous shield. Ill-destin'd wretch! Thy arm is now enervate, and would fail Beneath the buckler's weight. O cruel Heav'n! Who didst compel my free-born hand to change The warriour's arms for ignominious bonds; Wouldst thou compensate for my chains, my shame, My ten years sorrows, and the black despair, Which on my youth has prey'd; propitious once Grant, I may bear my buckler to the field, And known a Spartan seek the shades below.

HE ceas'd, and sudden turn'd his steps aside To find the tent of Agis; there the youth With grateful sorrow ministers his aid, While with a kind and hospitable hand The gentle Agis by her lover's corse On one sad bier the pallid beauties laid Of Ariana. He from shackles frees Two Persian captives, whom his gen'rous arm That day preserv'd from slaughter, then began.

TO you I give that freedom, which you sought To snatch from me. This recompense I ask, And this alone. Transport to Asia's camp These bleeding reliques; bid the Persian king Weep o'er this flow'r thus blasted in its pride; Then say, th' all-judging Gods have thus ordain'd: Thou, whose ambition o'er the groaning earth Leads desolation, o'er the nations spreads Calamity and tears, thou first shalt mourn, And through thy house destruction first shall range.

THUS charg'd, to Asia's host the captives bend. They soon attain the Phocian wall, where now Was Dithyrambus station'd. He perceives The mournful bier approach. To him the fate Of Ariana was already told. He meets the captives, when, with weeping eyes On Teribazus turn'd, he thus exclaims.

O! AS thy arms present thee, hadst thou been Indeed a Grecian! then thy gen'rous heart Its valour ne'er had wasted to support A king's injustice; then a gentler fate, Had bless'd thy life, or bleeding thou hadst known, How sweet is death for liberty. A Greek This friendly wish affords thee, though his head Had lost the honours gather'd from thy fall; When fortune favour'd, or propitious heav'n Smil'd on the better cause. Ill-fated pair! Whom with this stream of pity here I lave; But that my hostile hands imbru'd with gore Must be ungrateful to your loathing shades, From all the neighb'ring valleys would I cull Their fairest growth, and strew your hearse with flow'rs. Yet O accept these tears and pious pray'rs! May peace attend your ashes! may your shades Pass o'er the silent pool to happier seats, Where tyrants ne'er can enter to molest The blissful region; but are far remov'd To realms of horrour, where from righteous heav'n They bear those pains, they merit from mankind!

HE ceas'd in tears. The captives leave the wall, And slowly down Thermopylae proceed.