The Athenaid

The satraps now and leaders, at the call Of Artemisia, were collected round Their monarch. Seated on his throne, he spake:

Ye princes, satraps, heed our fix'd decree. Our native Asia wants her king; by morn To Susa we return, but leave behind In Greece Mardonius, and a chosen host Of thirty myriads. With command supreme, With our imperial equipage and state, Him we invest; to him submission pay As to our presence. Artemisia, bear Our sov'reign pleasure to the naval chiefs, That all abandon, e'er the dawn return, Phaleron's port, and hoist their sails to guard The Hellespont. But thou, entrusted queen, Thy own tried squadron to Spercheos bring; Whence thou must waft to Ephesus a charge Of high import, the children of thy king.

He ceas'd. A stranger, cas'd in steel, approach'd, In look ferocious, limbs and shape robust, Of stature huge; the satraps look'd amaz'd, As were th' immortals, when, th' Olympian steep Ascending, grim Briareus first produc'd His mountain-bulk, and spread his hundred hands, Auxiliary to Jove. The warrior stood, Unbending, far as nature would permit, His rugged brow; when, crouching to the king, O Xerxes, live for ever, he began: I am Euboean Demonax, the prince Of Oreus late, who earth and water sent, Acknowledging thy empire; from my throne By curs'd Themistocles expell'd, I join'd Thy shelt'ring fleet; at Salamis I fought. An aid of troops and treasure can replace Me thy true vassal, who will soon reduce The granary of Athens to thy sway, Euboea, fertile, populous, and rich.

The monarch thus: Mardonius, thou hast heard; Begin to use thy plenitude of pow'r; Reject or favour at thy will this pray'r.

Mardonius then: My sov'reign liege, the truth Flows from his lips; twelve thousand of thy host, With Mindarus commanding, and of gold A hundred talents, would be well bestow'd On this important Greek. The king assents; He rises; all disperse. Mardonius now Accosts the queen, descending to the port:

Alas! how uncontrollable the will Of Xerxes! must thou leave me? Since the day Of Salamis, my best belov'd of friends, Masistius, whether by the waves devour'd, Or slain, or captive, to my search is lost. Foe to inaction, though compos'd and wise, Of courage prone to perilous attempts, He would embark; permitted by the king, Against my warm remonstrance would partake The naval conflict. Drooping, while I doubt His preservation, must I further lose Thy fellowship, auspicious, generous queen! Yet stop, a moment listen. On the march To Athens first, reposing in a cave, I had a dream, perhaps a vision saw, To me presaging glory—but success Was wrap'd in clouded mystery. My heart Teems with ill-boding thoughts, yet shall not faint; At least impart thy wishes ere thou sail'st, Thy last instructions! Fortunate thy voice, Benign to me; repeat one parting strain! If I successful to thy presence bring The palms of conquest, say, accomplish'd queen, Thou wilt accept them with a gracious hand; If unsuccessful I the forfeit pay Of this frail being, as becomes the brave, Say, thou wilt praise Mardonius. Sage and grave She answers: First, despair not to regain The good Masistius; at the worst endure, That common lot, the death of dearest friends, With patience; long thy courage I have prais'd, Now moderate the flame against a foe Not less discreet, than disciplin'd and bold; Nor let the gloom of superstition awe Thy noble ardour. On the sharpest sword, The strongest arm, on prudence, martial skill, Not dreams and visions, looks the goddess Fame. If Artemisia's wishes can avail, Be sure to prosper, prosp'ring here to soar Above the flight of Cyrus.—She departs. Behind her, like the sinking globe of day, She leaves a trail of radiance on his soul; But, to protect him from returning shade, Her light should ne'er forsake him, never set.

O'er gen'rous cares not thus Argestes broods; Within his tent he meditates conceal'd; By struggling pride tormented, thus he strives To sooth her pangs: I see my pow'r eclips'd; Mardonius governs. Pow'r, thou fleeting gleam, Thee I possess no longer; why regret, When Amarantha's beauty can exchange Thy thorns for lilies? To my own domain I will transport her; Sipylus hath flow'rs To drop perfumes in Amarantha's walk; Pactolus, Hermus, my subjected streams, Shall furnish gold; her gems shall India send To deck that form, and I in pleasure's folds Forget ambition, stranger to the peace Which honour yields. Libidinous in thought, The statesman thus would cheat his baffled pride; Accurs'd of men! who borrow'd from one vice His med'cine for another (both deform His ravag'd bosom in alternate strife) Flagitious parent! rivalling in love His eldest born! prepost'rous passion, big With horror! while the youngest, lov'd by all, By Xerxes favour'd, to Mardonius dear, He held in detestation for his worth, Nor knew the comfort of a virtuous child.

With diff'rent thoughts that sleepless youth employ'd The night, serenely happy in the charge Humanity impos'd. Before the dawn His band is arm'd, Sandauce in her car, Among innumerable fair the chief In state and woe. Tears trickle at the sight Of great Autarctus in his fun'ral pomp Down ev'ry cheek; a solemn sadness reigns; So oft Aurora, sable-suited, leads A train of clouds, dissolving as they pass In silent show'rs. Through Attica's waste fields, Through half Boeotia, ere his ev'ning clos'd, The second sun conducts them to the gates Of antient Thebes. They enter; they ascend The citadel; they find commanding there, New from the ruins of unpeopled towns, Fierce Mithridates. With a kind embrace, To him the gentle Artamanes thus:

Hail! brother: twice a captive since we last At Delphi parted, I would gladly know Thy fortune. Tell me, where that beauteous maid, Whom thou didst carry from the Delphian walls?

The grim Barbarian spoiler, quick reply'd: Curs'd be her name, her beauty, which could melt A heart like mine! Accurs'd my father's lust, Which seiz'd my captive! Guarded by a troop Of jealous eunuchs, and attendants arm'd, Her in this citadel he still detains. If I refign her, may Plataea's tow'rs, May Thespia's hostile walls by me o'erthrown, A second time to brave me rise from dust.

Oh! unbecoming strife, the brother cry'd, Which startles nature! Thanks to Heav'n, the king Hath now decided Amarantha's fate; Her to his royal sister he hath giv'n, A promis'd boon. Sandauce, by the foe Restor'd to freedom, will requite that grace, By rend'ring up this damsel to her sire, Himself a pris'ner in Nicaea's fort, Then both release from bondage. Further know, In Thebes to morrow Xerxes will appear On his retreat to Susa. I conduct This train of eastern dames. By rising dawn To her protection will the princess take The Delphian maiden, then proceed. These words Sting Mithridates; an atrocious deed He meditates, but artful thus conceals:

Not to my father, to the king I yield. This said, they parted. Mithridates held The town; his brother's squadrons lay encamp'd Without the walls. The citadel contain'd A fane of Juno, there Sandauce rests. To Oedipus devoted was a dome, Which Artamanes enter'd, while his heart Ran cold and shudder'd at a brother fell, And treach'rous sire, competitors in love; Abominable strife! His eyes he cast O'er all the structure, lighted by the gleams Of tapers blue attending; he surveys, Insculptur'd round, the horrors which befel The house of Laius; there th' ill-fated son His father slays; incestuous there ascends His mother's chamber; daughters he begets, His sisters, sons his brothers; blameless he, A man of virtues by despair oppress'd, Rends forth his eyeballs, on the pavement dash'd. There sev'n dire captains, leagu'd by horrid oaths Which startled Heav'n, are figur'd; down to Hell Amphiarāus on his martial car, Through earth's dividing entrails, there descends; Here Capaneus, blaspheming Jove, expires Amid vindictive lightnings; mangled there, Eteocles and Polynices fall, Each other's victim to fraternal hate. Full of these hideous images the youth Reclines disturb'd, unvisited by sleep, Till awful midnight; broken slumber, adds To his disquiet. In a thrilling dream The eyeless ghost of Oedipus ascends; The vacant sockets, where the orbs of sight Once beam'd, are bleeding fresh; a Stygian pall Infolds the wither'd, pale, sepulchral form; The arms are stretch'd abroad: Forever Thebes Must thou to horror be the guilty stage! It said, and vanish'd. By the phantom wak'd, Or by a sudden clash of mingling swords, With skrieks and tumult, Artamanes rose, Unsheath'd his sabre, grip'd his target fast, And issued swift. Before his startled eyes A beauteous woman, of majestic form, In garb disorder'd, and with ringlets fall'n, Sustains aloft a poinard newly drawn From Mithridates' heart, who, sinking, breathes His last beneath her feet. So Phoebe pierc'd Orion; so the groaning earth receiv'd His giant bulk, which insolently dar'd Attempt that child immaculate of Jove With violence of love. Now spake the fair:

If to defend her chastity and fame Becomes a woman, self approv'd at least I stand, great Timon's daughter, from a line Heroic sprung, in holy Delphi born; If to have slain a ruffian be a crime Among the Persians, give me instant death, Such as becomes my dignity and sex.

Her words, her looks, impress'd on ev'ry heart Amaze, and tam'd the savages combin'd With Mithridates in his impious act. So when, majestic on the choral scene, Her tragic pomp Melpomene displays, In awe profound she hushes rudest minds, While terror humbles tyrants. Gather'd round Were numbers now; a thousand torches blaz'd; Sandauce last, environ'd by her guard, Approach'd alarm'd. A wounded eunuch stepp'd Before the princess; I will cloath in truth My voice, he said. Argestes to my care Entrusted Amarantha; from that lord, Solicitations, threat'nings, gifts she spurn'd, While I admir'd: Sure virtue hath a ray To strike the meanest eye. To-night his son Assail'd our dwelling; with my fellow slaves, All butcher'd, I defended long my charge, By Mithridates from the mansion forc'd; Her chastity the noble maid hath sav'd, Her poniard stretch'd the ravisher in blood.

To Artamanes, weeping o'er the corse, Sandauce then: To thy consoling words I oft have listen'd, listen thou to mine; Forgive the maid; illustrious is her deed For every maid to imitate. With me, Come Amarantha; thou art mine; not long Shalt so continue; at Nicaea's fort I will restore thee to a joyful sire, And both to freedom. Morning breaks; the cars, The troops attend; the royal dame renews Her progress; seated at her footstool weeps, In speechless gratitude, the Delphian fair.

By public duty Artamanes rous'd, Not long remains. This last farewell he sighs:

Oh! early fall'n! Oh! cut from proudest hopes! Thee, Horomazes, may a brother's tears For him propitiate! he hath none to shed. These silent ruins to our father shew, Thou faithful eunuch. May he feel like me!

His steed he mounts, and rapidly o'ertakes The squadrons, op'ning on Cadmean plains.

Now Amarantha lifts her grateful head, Intent to speak; but, heavy on the front Of her protectress, heavier in her breast Sat grief, each sense devouring, and her frame Enfeebling; which, too delicately wrought, Endures not ev'n remembrance of distress So new, so strange in her exalted state, To youth untry'd by evils. She forgets Her late benignant act, till chance directs Her eye to Amarantha; when her heart, Sooth'd by the conscience of a gen'rous deed, Her faded cheeks relumines with a smile.

Then spake the prudent virgin: Persian queen, (Sure such thou art) what marvellous event Gave thee a knowledge of my sire, his place Of residence, and my disastrous fate? Sense of thy goodness, from my breast would chace The memory of troubles, if alas! I did not see thy countenance o'ercast. If thou repent thee, of thy favour deem Me undeserving, send me to abide The punishment ordain'd by Persian laws; But if thy sorrows are thy own, unmix'd With my misfortunes, let assiduous zeal, Let tenderest service of my grateful hand Strive to relieve the burdens which oppress My benefactress. In the captive's hand Sandauce drops her own; in sighs replies:

O! by thy aspect of superior mold To all I e'er beheld of regal race, Resembling me in fortune, lend an ear; My soul conceives a melancholy wish That thou shouldst hear my story, I to thine Alternate listen. Mournful converse soon Between these fairest in their native climes Began, continued; sev'n diurnal rounds The sun perform'd, till intercourse of grief, Communicated sighs, unite their minds In tender friendship. Diff'rent yet their lots; On Amarantha's cheek the bloom revives; A joyful sire, perhaps a dear betroth'd, Her fortune promis'd. In Sandauce's train A husband follow'd on his fun'ral bier; Her fleeting hue a sickly paleness taints, Which Artamanes with a sad'ning eye Observes, portent of malady. Now rose The eighth sad morn, revealing to their sight Nicaea's neighb'ring gate. Sandauce then To Artamanes: Take this virtuous maid; To her my promise, to her father thine Fulfill; conduct her. Amarantha dear, From thee I part, rejoicing in thy joy; Amid thy comforts in a sire's embrace, Or bliss more tender with a destin'd spouse, Forget not me. Autarchus near the tomb Of Ariana by these widow'd hands Deposited—She stops; the weaken'd pow'rs Of health relax, nor furnish sound to grief: Mute too is Delphi's maid. The Persian youth, To leave a moment in her sick'ning state The princess, feels a struggle, but resolves In rapid haste her mandate to obey.

Nicaea's gate he enters; Timon soon He finds: receive thy daughter, swift he spake; Receive thy freedom from the bounteous hand Of Xerxes' sister; but a short farewell My urgent cares allow; to set thee free At thy own time I hasten to enjoin The chief commander here. He said, and turn'd Precipitate away, unheard, unmark'd By Timon, who no other voice nor form Than Amarantha's heeds. In Carian steel Now Meliboeus from the gymnic school, Where he was daily exercis'd in arms, Approach'd; to him in transport Timon spake:

Behold my daughter!—Instant from the port Appears Aronces, who proclaims the news Of Artemisia landed. She had left Phaleron; station'd in the Malian bay, She waits the king's arrival, not remote Now with his army; all advance to meet The Carian queen; when sudden clouds of dust The sky envelop; loud the hollow sound Of trampling hoofs is heard. The portal pass'd By Artamanes fac'd the southern sun; An entrance eastward rudely is possess'd By Caspian horsemen, in the hairy skins Of goats all horrid; round their brawny loins From shaggy belts keen cimeters depend; Well-furnish'd quivers rattle on their backs. Now fifty grim-fac'd savages dismount To seize on Amarantha. Then his arm New-train'd to battle Meliboeus proves; With native strength, agility and fire, He springs, confronts the Caspians; from the first He lops the ruffian hand; by diff'rent wounds Five more lie prostrate. As a vessel new, Compact and strong, impetuous from the dock In her first launch divides the troubled waves, On either side recoiling, till the weight Of reuniting waters stops her course, And beats her lofty ribs; so valour drives The warrior on, till rallying numbers join'd, Arrest his progress; fearless yet he stands A while defensive. Timon from the dead Lifts two forsaken cimeters; both hands His indignation arms; he sends to hell Three miscreants gasping at his daughter's feet. With aiding Thefeus, so Pirithous heap'd With centaurs slain the Lapithaean hall, When in flagitious tumult they deform'd The nuptial banquet, and his fair espous'd With violation menac'd. But the eye Of Amarantha mark'd th' unequal fight; Her poniard drawn, the only succour left, She holds intrepid, resolute on death, No second thraldom; when th' auspicious sight Of Caria's queen revives her fainting hopes.

Stern Artemisia, rapid on the call Of vigilant Aronces, now approach'd In awful tone the Caspians: Sheath your blades, Ye fierce in look, not courage, or this arm (Her falchion here she waves) shall hide these streets With your vile carrion. Despicable herd Of rebels, led by what presumptuous fiend Dare you invade a fortress of your king, Ev'n in my presence, he perhaps in sight?

They hear; they pause. Inclos'd by thick'ning guards, In multitude confiding, urg'd by lust, Which lends a courage new, Argestes fell, Inciting loud his ruffians to persist, Strikes her indignant eye. What wrath, what hopes Of just, of long-sought vengeance swell her breast! As when the mother of a lion brood, From wonted chace returning, sees a wolf, Or treach'rous tiger stealing towards her den, Who in her absence would securely prey On her defenceless whelps, her eyeballs roll In fire, she rushes on th' insidious foe With fangs resistless; he contends in vain, His chest she rends asunder, and his heart Devours unsated; so incens'd the queen, Begirt by Carians terrible in war, To each Barbarian terrible who saw Their high exploits on Salaminian waves, Rush'd on Argestes; Meliboeus brave March'd by her side a second, whom the god Of arms might rank among his foremost sons. The Caspians shrunk; by desperation bold, The satrap spurr'd his courser on the queen, And whirl'd a javelin shiv'ring on her shield; She on the forehead smote the restiff horse, Who, rearing, hurl'd his rider to the ground, Then points her dreadful weapon tow'rds the breast Of her detested foe, intent to pierce The trait'rous heart. This invocation first She solemn utters: Manes of the brave! Whom he devoted on the Malian fields Unpitied victims of his hate to me, To you, my subjects, this malignant head I immolate. Hence satrap, once the chief In pow'r and state, in vice and falsehood chief, Seek Rhadamanthus; tell him, while he frowns On his tribunal, Themis to my hand Her sword resign'd to cut thy treason short.

Her vengeance levels now the mortal blow, When dignity restrains her. Rise, she said, Thou criminal, unworthy by this arm To die; preserve him, Carians, to abide The ignominous lot, by justice doom'd To common villains. Meliboeus, change Thy name; I clasp thee Haliartus now, My brother, prov'd by gallant deeds; at least No evidence but virtue I require For nobler union than congenial birth, By friendship's sacred ties to call thee mine.

She scarce had finish'd, when a second troop Of horsemen through the southern portal spread New terror. In their front a splendid chief, Who wears a regal circle; round he casts A searching eye, impatient soon beholds Bright Amarantha, where she stands beset By Caspians, strangers to their leader's fate, Persisting still in pertinacious strife Against Aronces, and her manly sire; Then swift as sulph'rous ether, when its flame Divides a knotted oak or cleaves a tow'r, Flies on the ruffians: Do ye lift, he cries, Your hands profane against the destin'd queen Of Macedon? a carnage wide he spreads Beneath his trampling steed and pond'rous blade. Dismounting victor, he unclasps his helm, Her dear betroth'd to Amarantha shews In Alexander, Macedonia's king. Ne'er yet so comely, so endearing look'd A lover; rescu'd from Barbarian spoil She meets his arms, while Timon weeps in joy.

With Meliboeus, from a stage of blood, The Carian queen approach'd, while thus the king His servent soul was opening: Oh! my love, My Amarantha! my affianc'd love! I feel, but cannot paint, my sorrows past, My present joys. The day, the appointed day To solemnize our nuptial rites was nigh, I left my kingdom, flew to Delphi's walls; Thou wast not there. What horror, when I heard Thou wast a captive! by what barb'rous hand None could inform me; thence from march to march I track'd the Persians; tidings of thy fate No tongue could tell; through Attica I rang'd, Boeotia, Phocis, Doris; Locris still Was left to search. Disconsolate I join'd The royal camp last ev'ning; there I heard Of Mithridates by thy virtue slain; At Thebes, of curs'd Argestes, who had held Thee pris'ner there; of thy departure thence With kind Sandauce to Nicaea's fort; But further told, that base Argestes led The Caspian horse forerunners of the host, Alarm'd, my troop I gather'd, I pursu'd, Am come to save thee, nor one hour withhold The full protection of my nuptial hand.

Th' illustrious virgin answer'd in a figh: O Alexander, I am thine, thou mine By sacred vows; yet thou a foe to Greece!

Then Artemisia: Noble maid, I praise That zeal for Greece, thy country; but forbear At this momentous crisis to combine Thy preservation with a public care; Thou need'st protection both of rank and pow'r. Few can resist the lustre of thy form, Which, left unguarded thro' the lawless course Of war, might light, in others less deprav'd Than foul Argestes and his barb'rous son, New flames to burst in violence again.

She ceases; Timon ratifies her words. A mother's office now the queen performs In preparation for connubial rites; Nor old Aronces, nor th' acknowledg'd heir Of Lygdamis are slow. With human blood Impure, the streets are cleans'd, the slain remov'd; Flow'rs pluck'd for chaplets, nuptial torches burn, The altars smoke with odours, sternest hearts Grow mild, Bellona's furies sleep forgot, Her fifes and clarions soften to delight The ear of Hymen; joy concludes the day.