Where we such
clusters
had
As made us nobly wild, not mad;
And yet each verse of thine
Outdid the meat, outdid the frolic wine!
As made us nobly wild, not mad;
And yet each verse of thine
Outdid the meat, outdid the frolic wine!
Warner - World's Best Literature - v13 - Her to Hux
Men of the for-
mer class excel those of the latter but in two respects; these last
excel the former in many. The wealthy man is better able to
content his desires, and to bear up against a sudden buffet of
calamity. The other has less ability to withstand these evils
(from which however his good luck keeps him clear), but he
enjoys all these following blessings: he is whole of limb, a stran-
ger to disease, free from misfortune, happy in his children, and
comely to look upon. If in addition to all this he ends his life
well, he is of a truth the man of whom thou art in search, the
man who may rightly be termed happy. Call him, however,
until he die, not happy but fortunate. Scarcely indeed can any
man unite all these advantages: as there is no country which con-
tains within it all that it needs, but each while it possesses some
things lacks others, and the best country is that which contains
the most, so no single human being is complete in every respect
-something is always lacking. He who unites the greatest num-
ber of advantages, and retaining them to the day of his death,
then dies peaceably,- that man alone, sire, is in my judgment
entitled to bear the name of 'happy. ' But in every matter it
behoves us to mark well the end; for oftentimes God gives men
a gleam of happiness, and then plunges them into ruin. ”
Such was the speech which Solon addressed to Croesus, a
speech which brought him neither largess nor honor. The King
saw him depart with much indifference, since he thought that
a man must be an arrant fool who made no account of present
good, but bade men always wait and mark the end.
## p. 7295 (#85) ############################################
HERODOTUS
7295
A TYRANT'S FORTUNE
THE
HE exceeding good fortune of Polycrates did not escape the
notice of Amasis, who was much disturbed thereat. When
therefore his success continued increasing, Amasis wrote
him the following letter, and sent it to Samos:-"Amasis to
Polycrates thus sayeth: It is a pleasure to hear of a friend and
ally prospering, but thy exceeding prosperity does not cause me
joy, forasmuch as I know that the gods are envious. My wish
for myself, and for those whom I love, is to be now successful
and now to meet with a check, thus passing through life amid
alternate good and ill, rather than with perpetual good fortune.
For never yet did I hear tell of any one succeeding in all his
undertakings who did not meet with calamity at last, and come
to utter ruin. Now therefore give ear to my words, and meet
thy good luck in this way: bethink thee which of all thy treas-
ures thou valuest most and canst least bear to part with; take
it, whatsoever it be, and throw it away, so that it may be sure
never to come any more into the sight of man. Then, if thy
good fortune be not thenceforth checkered with ill, save thyself
from harm by again doing as I have counseled. "
When Polycrates read this letter, and perceived that the advice
of Amasis was good, he considered carefully with himself which
of the treasures that he had in store it would grieve him most to
lose. After much thought he made up his mind that it was a
signet ring which he was wont to wear, an emerald set in gold,
the workmanship of Theodore son of Telecles, a Samian. So he
determined to throw this away; and manning a penteconter, he
went on board, and bade the sailors put out into the open sea.
When he was now a long way from the island he took the ring
from his finger, and in the sight of all those who were on board,
flung it into the deep. This done, he returned home, and gave
vent to his sorrow.
Now it happened five or six days afterwards that a fisher-
man caught a fish so large and beautiful that he thought it well
deserved to be made a present of to the King. So he took it
with him to the gate of the palace, and said that he wanted to
see Polycrates. Then Polycrates allowed him to come in, and
the fisherman gave him the fish with these words following: "Sir
King, when I took this prize I thought I would not carry it to
market, though I am a poor man who live by my trade.
## p. 7296 (#86) ############################################
7296
HERODOTUS
to myself, It is worthy of Polycrates and his greatness; and so
I brought it here to give it to you. " The speech pleased the
King, who thus spoke in reply: "Thou didst right well, friend,
and I am doubly indebted, both for the gift and for the speech.
Come now and sup with me. "
So the fisherman went home, esteeming it a high honor that
he had been asked to sup with the King. Meanwhile the serv-
ants, on cutting open the fish, found the signet of their master
in its belly. No sooner did they see it than they seized upon it,
and hastening to Polycrates with great joy, restored it to him,
and told him in what way it had been found. The King, who
saw something Providential in the matter, forthwith wrote a
letter to Amasis, telling him all that had happened, what he
had himself done, and what had been the upshot; and dispatched
the letter to Egypt.
When Amasis had read the letter of Polycrates, he perceived
that it does not belong to man to save his fellow-man from
the fate which is in store for him; likewise he felt certain that
Polycrates would end ill, as he prospered in everything, even
finding what he had thrown away. So he sent a herald to Samos,
and dissolved the contract of friendship. This he did, that when
the great and heavy misfortune came, he might escape the grief
which he would have felt if the sufferer had been his bond-friend.
CURIOUS SCYTHIAN CUSTOMS
WHAT
concerns war, their customs are the following: The
Scythian soldier drinks the blood of the first man he over-
throws in battle. Whatever number he slays, he cuts off all
their heads and carries them to the king; since he is thus en-
titled to a share of the booty, whereto he forfeits all claim if he
does not produce a head. In order to strip the skull of its cov-
ering, he makes a cut round the head above the ears, and laying
hold of the scalp, shakes the skull out; then with the rib of an
ox he scrapes the scalp clean of flesh, and softening it by rubbing
between the hands, uses it thenceforth as a napkin. The Scyth
is proud of these scalps, and hangs them from his bridle rein; the
greater the number of such napkins that a man can show, the
more highly is he esteemed among them. Many make themselves
cloaks, like the capotes of our peasants, by sewing a quantity of
## p. 7297 (#87) ############################################
HERODOTUS
7297
these scalps together. Others flay the right arms of their dead
enemies, and make of the skin, which is stripped off with the
nails hanging to it, a covering for their quivers. Now the skin
of a man is thick and glossy, and would in whiteness surpass
almost all other hides. Some even flay the entire body of their
enemy, and stretching it upon a frame, carry it about with them
wherever they ride. Such are the Scythian customs with respect
to scalps and skins.
The skulls of their enemies,-not indeed of all, but of those
whom they most detest,-they treat as follows: Having sawn
off the portion below the eyebrows, and cleaned out the inside,
they cover the outside with leather. When a man is poor, this is
all that he does; but if he is rich, he also lines the inside with
gold: in either case the skull is used as a drinking-cup. They
do the same with the skulls of their own kith and kin, if they
have been at feud with them, and have vanquished them in the
presence of the king. When strangers whom they deem of any
account come to visit them, these skulls are handed round, and
the host tells how that these were his relations who made war
upon him, and how that he got the better of them: all this being.
looked upon as proof of bravery.
Once a year the governor of each district, at a set place in
his own province, mingles a bowl of wine, of which all Scythians
have a right to drink by whom foes have been slain; while they
who have slain no enemy are not allowed to taste of the bowl,
but sit aloof in disgrace. No greater shame than this can hap-
pen to them.
Such as have slain a very large number of foes
have two cups instead of one, and drink from both.
The tombs of their kings are in the land of the Gerrhi, who
dwell at the point where the Borysthenes is first navigable. Here
when the king dies they dig a grave, which is square in shape
and of great size. When it is ready they take the king's corpse,
and embalm it with a preparation of chopped cypress, frankin-
cense, parsley seed, and anise seed; after which they inclose the
body in wax, and placing it on a wagon, carry it about through
all the different tribes. On this procession each tribe, when it
receives the corpse, imitates the example which is first set by
the Royal Scythians: every man chops off a piece of his ear,
crops his hair close, makes a cut all around his arm, lacerates
his forehead and his nose, and thrusts an arrow through his
left hand. Then they who have the care of the corpse carry it
XIII-457
## p. 7298 (#88) ############################################
7298
HERODOTUS
with them to another of the tribes which are under the Scythian
rule, followed by those whom they first visited. On completing
the circuit of all the tribes under their sway, they find them-
selves in the country of the Gerrhi, who are the most remote of
all, and so they come to the tombs of the kings. There the body
of the dead king is laid in the grave prepared for it, stretched
upon a mattress; spears are fixed in the ground on either side of
the corpse, and beams stretched across above it to form a roof,
which is covered with a thatching of osier twigs. In the open
space around the body of the king they bury one of his concu-
bines, first killing her by strangling, and also his cup-bearer, his
cook, his groom, his lackey, his messenger, some of his horses,
firstlings of all his other possessions, and some golden cups-
for they use neither silver nor brass. After this they set to work
and raise a vast mound above the grave, all of them vying with
each other and seeking to make it as tall as possible.
When a year is gone by, further ceremonies take place. Fifty
of the best of the late king's attendants are taken, all native
Scythians,- for as bought slaves are unknown in the country, the
Scythian kings choose any of their subjects that they like, to wait
on them,-fifty of these are taken and strangled, with fifty of
the most beautiful horses. When they are dead, their bodies are
stuffed with chaff. This done, a number of posts are driven into
the ground, in sets of two pairs each, and on every pair half the
felly of a wheel is placed archwise; then strong stakes are run
lengthways through the bodies of the horses from tail to neck,
and they are mounted up upon the fellies, so that the felly in
front supports the shoulders of the horse, while that behind sus-
tains the belly and quarters, the legs dangling in mid-air; each
horse is furnished with a bit and bridle, which latter is stretched
out in front of the horse, and fastened to a peg. The fifty
strangled youths are then mounted severally on the fifty horses.
To effect this, a second stake is passed through their bodies along
the course of the spine to the neck; the lower end of which pro-
jects from the body, and is fixed into a socket, made in the stake
that runs lengthwise down the horse. The fifty riders are thus
ranged in a circle round the tomb, and so left.
Such then is the mode in which the kings are buried. As for
the people, when any one dies his nearest of kin lay him upon
a wagon and take him round to all his friends in succession
each receives them in turn and entertains them with a banquet,
## p. 7299 (#89) ############################################
HERODOTUS
7299
whereat the dead man is served with a portion of all that is
set before the others; this is done for forty days, at the end
of which time the burial takes place. After the burial, those
engaged in it have to purify themselves, which they do in the
following way: First they well soap and wash their heads; then,
in order to cleanse their bodies, they act as follows: they make a
booth by fixing in the ground three sticks inclined towards one
another, and stretching around them woolen felts, which they
arrange so as to fit as close as possible; inside the booth a dish is
placed upon the ground, into which they put a number of red-
hot stones, and then add some hemp seed.
Hemp grows in Scythia; it is very like flax, only that it is a
much coarser and taller plant: some grows wild about the coun-
try, some is produced by cultivation. The Thracians make gar-
ments of it which closely resemble linen; so much so, indeed,
that if a person has never seen hemp he is sure to think they
are linen, and if he has, unless he is very experienced in such
matters, he will not know of which material they are.
The Scythians, as I said, take some of this hemp seed, and
creeping under the felt coverings, throw it upon the red-hot
stones; immediately it smokes, and gives out such a vapor as no
Grecian vapor bath can exceed: the Scyths, delighted, shout for
joy, and this vapor serves them instead of a water bath — for
they never by any chance wash their bodies with water. Their
women make a mixture of cypress, cedar, and frankincense wood,
which they pound into a paste upon a rough piece of stone, adding
a little water to it. With this substance, which is of a thick
consistency, they plaster their faces all over, and indeed their
whole bodies. A sweet odor is thereby imparted to them, and
when they take off the plaster on the day following, their skin
is clean and glossy.
KING RHAMPSINITUS AND THE ROBBER
AN EGYPTIAN TALE
Κ
ING RHAMPSINITUS was possessed, they said, of great riches in
silver; indeed, to such an amount that none of the princes
his successors surpassed or even equaled his wealth. For
the better custody of this money he proposed to build a vast
chamber of hewn stone, one side of which was to form a part of
## p. 7300 (#90) ############################################
7300
HERODOTUS
the outer wall of his palace. The builder, therefore, having de-
signs upon the treasures, contrived as he was making the build-
ing to insert in this wall a stone which could easily be removed
from its place by two men, or even by one. So the chamber was
finished, and the king's money stored away in it. Time passed,
and the builder fell sick; when, finding his end approaching,
he called for his two sons and related to them the contrivance
he had made in the king's treasure chamber, telling them it
was for their sakes he had done it, that so they might always
live in affluence. Then he gave them clear directions concern-
ing the mode of removing the stone, and communicated the meas-
urements, bidding them carefully keep the secret, whereby they
would be comptrollers of the royal exchequer so long as they
lived. Then the father died, and the sons were not slow in set-
ting to work: they went by night to the palace, found the stone
in the wall of the building, and having removed it with ease,
plundered the treasury of a round sum.
When the king next paid a visit to the apartment, he was
astonished to see that the money was sunk in some of the ves-
sels wherein it was stored away. Whom to accuse, however, he
knew not, as the seals were all perfect and the fastenings of the
room secure. Still, each time that he repeated his visits he found
that more money was gone. The thieves in truth never stopped,
but plundered the treasury ever more and more. At last the
king determined to have some traps made, and set near the ves-
sels which contained his wealth. This was done, and when the
thieves came as usual to the treasure chamber, and one of them
entering through the aperture made straight for the jars, sud-
denly he found himself caught in one of the traps. Perceiving
that he was lost, he instantly called his brother, and telling him
what had happened, entreated him to enter as quickly as possible
and cut off his head, that when his body should be discovered it
might not be recognized, which would have the effect of bringing
ruin upon both. The other thief thought the advice good, and
was persuaded to follow it; then, fitting the stone in its place,
he went home, taking with him his brother's head.
When day dawned, the king came into the room, and mar-
veled greatly to see the body of the thief in the trap without
head, while the building was still whole, and neither entrance
nor exit was to be seen anywhere. In this perplexity he com-
manded the body of the dead man to be hung up outside the
## p. 7301 (#91) ############################################
HERODOTUS
7301
palace wall, and set a guard to watch it, with orders that if any
persons were seen weeping or lamenting near the place, they
should be seized and brought before him. When the mother
heard of this exposure of the corpse of her son, she took it sorely
to heart, and spoke to her surviving child, bidding him to devise
some plan or other to get back the body, and threatening that if
he did not exert himself, she would go herself to the king and
denounce him as the robber.
The son said all he could to persuade her to let the matter
rest, but in vain; she still continued to trouble him, until at last
he yielded to her importunity, and contrived as follows: Filling
some skins with wine, he loaded them on donkeys, which he
drove before him till he came to the place where the guards
were watching the dead body, when pulling two or three of the
skins towards him, he untied some of the necks which dangled
by the asses' sides. The wine poured freely out, whereupon he
began to beat his head and shout with all his might, seeming
not to know which of the donkeys he should turn to first. When
the guards saw the wine running, delighted to profit by the occas-
ion, they rushed one and all into the road, each with some ves-
sel or other, and caught the liquor as it was spilling. The driver
pretended anger, and loaded them with abuse; whereon they did
their best to pacify him, until at last he appeared to soften and
recover his good humor, drove his asses aside of the road, and
set to work to rearrange their burthens; meanwhile, as he talked
and chatted with the guards, one of them began to rally him
and make him laugh, whereupon he gave them one of the skins
as a gift. They now made up their minds to sit down and have
a drinking bout where they were, so they begged him to remain
and drink with them. Then the man let himself be persuaded,
and stayed. As the drinking went on, they grew very friendly
together, so presently he gave them another skin, upon which
they drank so copiously that they were all overcome with the
liquor, and growing drowsy lay down, and fell asleep on the spot.
The thief waited till it was the dead of the night, and then took
down the body of his brother; after which, in mockery, he shaved
off the right side of all the soldiers' beards, and so left them.
Laying his brother's body upon the asses, he carried it home
to his mother, having thus accomplished the thing that she had
required of him.
## p. 7302 (#92) ############################################
7302
HERODOTUS
HEROISM OF ATHENS DURING THE PERSIAN INVASION
AND
ND here I feel constrained to deliver an opinion which most
men I know will mislike, but which, as it seems to me to
be true, I am determined not to withhold. Had the Athe-
nians from fear of the approaching danger quitted their country,
or had they without quitting it submitted to the power of Xerxes,
there would certainly have been no attempt to resist the Per-
sians by sea; in which case the course of events by land would
have been the following: Though the Peloponnesians might
have carried ever so many breastworks across the Isthmus, yet
their allies would have fallen off from the Lacedæmonians, not
by voluntary desertion but because town after town must have
been taken by the fleet of the barbarians; and so the Lacedæmo-
nians would at last have stood alone, and standing alone, would
have displayed prodigies of valor and died nobly. Either they
would have done thus, or else, before it came to that extremity,
seeing one Greek State after another embrace the cause of the
Medes, they would have come to terms with King Xerxes, and
thus either way Greece would have been brought under Persia.
For I cannot understand of what possible use the walls across
the Isthmus could have been, if the King had had the mastery
of the sea. If then a man should now say that the Athenians
were the saviors of Greece, he would not exceed the truth. For
they truly held the scales, and whichever side they espoused must
have carried the day. They too it was, who, when they had de-
termined to maintain the freedom of Greece, roused up that por-
tion of the Greek nation which had not gone over to the Medes;
and so, next to the gods, they repulsed the invader. Even the
terrible oracles which reached them from Delphi, and struck fear
into their hearts, failed to persuade them to fly from Greece.
They had the courage to remain faithful to their land and await
the coming of the foe.
When the Athenians, anxious to consult the oracle, sent their
messengers to Delphi, hardly had the envoys completed the cus-
tomary rites about the sacred precinct and taken their seats.
inside the sanctuary of the god, when the Pythoness, Aristonica
by name, thus prophesied:
"Wretches, why sit ye here? Fly, fly to the ends of creation,
Quitting your homes, and the crags which your city crowns
with her circlet.
## p. 7303 (#93) ############################################
HERODOTUS
7303
Neither the head nor the body is firm in its place, nor at bot-
tom
Firm the feet, nor the hands, nor resteth the middle uninjured.
All — all ruined and lost, since fire, and impetuous Ares
Speeding along in a Syrian chariot, haste to destroy her.
Not alone shalt thou suffer: full many the towers he will level,
Many the shrines of the gods he will give to a fiery destruction.
Even now they stand with dark sweat horribly dripping,
Trembling and quaking for fear, and lo! from the high roofs
trickleth
Black blood, sign prophetic of hard distresses impending.
Get ye away from the temple, and brood on the ills that await
ye! »
When the Athenian messengers heard this reply they were
filled with the deepest affliction; whereupon Timon the son of
Androbulus, one of the men of most mark among the Delphians,
seeing how utterly cast down they were at the gloomy prophecy,
advised them to take an olive-branch, and entering the sanctuary
again, consult the oracle as suppliants. The Athenians followed
this advice, and going in once more, said, "O King, we pray
thee reverence these boughs of supplication which we bear in
our hands, and deliver to us something more comforting concern-
ing our country. Else we will not leave thy sanctuary, but will
stay here till we die. " Upon this the priestess gave them a
second answer, which was the following:-
――――――
"Pallas has not been able to soften the lord of Olympus,
Though she has often prayed him, and urged him with excel-
lent counsel.
Yet once more I address thee, in words than adamant firmer.
When the foe shall have taken whatever the limit of Cecrops
Holds within it, and all which divine Citharon shelters,
Then far-seeing Jove grants this to the prayers of Athene:
Safe shall the wooden wall continue for thee and thy children.
Wait not the tramp of the horse, nor the footmen mightily
moving
Over the land, but turn your back to the foe, and retire ye.
Yet shall a day arrive when ye shall meet him in battle.
Holy Salamis, thou shalt destroy the offspring of women,
When men scatter the seed, or when they gather the harvest. "
This answer seemed, as indeed it was, gentler than the for-
mer one; so the envoys wrote it down and went back with it to
## p. 7304 (#94) ############################################
HERODOTUS
7304
Athens. When, however, upon their arrival they produced it
before the people, and inquiry began to be made into its true
meaning, many and various were the interpretations which men.
put on it; two, more especially, seemed to be directly opposed
to one another. Certain of the old men were of opinion that the
god meant to tell them the citadel would escape, for this was
anciently defended by a palisade; and they supposed that barrier
to be the "wooden wall" of the oracle. Others maintained that
the fleet was what the god pointed at; and their advice was that
nothing should be thought of except the ships, which had best be
at once got ready. Still, such as said the "wooden wall" meant
the fleet were perplexed by the last two lines of the oracle:-
"Holy Salamis, thou shalt destroy the offspring of women,
When men scatter the seed, or when they gather the harvest. "
These words caused great disturbance among those who took
the wooden wall to be the ships; since the interpreters under-
stood them to mean that if they made preparations for a sea
fight, they would suffer a defeat of Salamis.
Now, there was at Athens a man who had lately made his
way into the first rank of citizens; his true name was Themis-
tocles, but he was known more generally as the son of Neocles.
This man came forward and said that the interpreters had not
explained the oracle altogether aright: "For if," he argued, "the
clause in question had really referred to the Athenians, it would
not have been expressed so mildly; the phrase used would have
been 'luckless Salamis' rather than 'holy Salamis,' had those
to whom the island belonged been about to perish in its neigh-
borhood. Rightly taken, the response of the god threatened the
enemy much more than the Athenians. " He therefore counseled
his countrymen to make ready to fight on board their ships, since.
they were the wooden wall in which the god told them to trust.
When Themistocles had thus cleared the matter, the Athenians.
embraced his view, preferring it to that of the interpreters. The
advice of these last had been against engaging in a sea fight:
"All the Athenians could do," they said, "was, without lifting a
hand in their defense, to quit Attica and make a settlement in
some other country. "
Themistocles had before this given a counsel which prevailed
very seasonably. The Athenians, having a large sum of money
in their treasury, the produce of the mines at Laureium, were
## p. 7305 (#95) ############################################
HERODOTUS
7305
about to share it among the full-grown citizens, who would have
received ten drachmas apiece, when Themistocles persuaded them
to forbear the distribution and build with the money two hun-
dred ships, to help them in their war against the Æginetans. It
was the breaking out of the Eginetan war which was at this
time the saving of Greece, for hereby were the Athenians forced
to become a maritime power. The new ships were not used for
the purpose for which they had been built, but became a help to
Greece in her hour of need. And the Athenians had not only
these vessels ready before the war, but they likewise set to
work to build more; while they determined, in a council which
was held after the debate upon the oracle, that according to the
advice of the god they would embark their whole force aboard
their ships, and with such Greeks as chose to join them, give
battle to the barbarian invader. Such, then, were the oracles
which had been received by the Athenians.
"LOPPING THE TALL EARS »
TH
HIS prince [Periander] at the beginning of his reign was of a
milder temper than his father; but after he corresponded
by means of messengers with Thrasybulus, tyrant of Miletus,
he became even more sanguinary. On one occasion he sent a
herald to ask Thrasybulus what mode of government it was
safest to set up in order to rule with honor. Thrasybulus led the
messenger without the city, and took him into a field of corn,
through which he began to walk, while he asked him again and
again concerning his coming from Corinth, ever as he went
breaking off and throwing away all such ears of corn as over-
topped the rest. In this way he went through the whole field,
and destroyed all the best and richest part of the crop; then,
without a word, he sent the messenger back. On the return of
the man to Corinth, Periander was eager to know what Thrasy-
bulus had counseled, but the messenger reported that he had
said nothing; and he wondered that Periander had sent him to
so strange a man, who seemed to have lost his senses, since he
did nothing but destroy his own property. And upon this he
told how Thrasybulus had behaved at the interview. Periander,
perceiving what the action meant, and knowing that Thrasybu-
lus advised the destruction of all the leading citizens, treated his
## p. 7306 (#96) ############################################
7306
HERODOTUS
subjects from this time forward with the very greatest cruelty.
Where Cypselus had spared any, and had neither put them to
death nor banished them, Periander completed what his father
had left unfinished.
CLOSE OF THE HISTORY
A WISE ANSWER OF CYRUS THE GREAT IS RECALLED IN THE HOur of
PERSIAN HUMILIATION
IT
WAS the grandfather of this Artayctes, one Artembares by
name, who suggested to the Persians a proposal which they
readily embraced, and thus urged upon Cyrus:-" Since Jove,"
they said, "has overthrown Astyages and given the rule to the
Persians, and to thee chiefly, O Cyrus,-come now, let us quit
this land wherein we dwell; for it is a scant land and a rugged,
and let us choose ourselves some other better country. Many
such lie around us, some nearer, some further off: if we take
one of these, men will admire us far more than they do now.
Who that had the power would not so act? And when shall
we have a fairer time than now, when we are lords of so many
nations, and rule all Asia? »
Then Cyrus, who did not greatly esteem the counsel, told
them they might do so if they liked; but he warned them not
to expect in that case to continue rulers, but to prepare for being
ruled by others. "Soft countries gave birth to soft men. There
was no region which produced very delightful fruits and at the
same time men of a warlike spirit. " So the Persians departed
with altered minds, confessing that Cyrus was wiser than they;
and chose rather to dwell in a churlish land and exercise lord-
ship, than to cultivate plains and be the slaves of others.
## p. 7306 (#97) ############################################
## p. 7306 (#98) ############################################
ROBERT HERRICK
## p. 7306 (#99) ############################################
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## p. 7306 (#100) ###########################################
ROBERT HE
## p. 7307 (#101) ###########################################
7307
ROBERT HERRICK
(1591-1674)
HE "exquisite » Robert Herrick was born in Cheapside, London,
in August 1591; the son of Nicholas Herrick, a goldsmith,
who died in 1592. Little knowledge of Robert's life exists
except through his poems. He went to Cambridge in 1614, and took
his degree in 1620. From this date until 1629, when, having become
a clergyman, he was given by Charles I. the living of Dean Prior,
Devonshire, there is no record of his life. During this interval, or
earlier, while he was apprenticed to his uncle, a goldsmith, he became
familiar with London city life, and made the acquaintance of Ben
Jonson, whom in his verse he constantly lauds. One ode seems to
show Herrick as belonging to the circle of wits who met to drink
sack and spiced wine at the Mermaid or the Triple Tun. It is ad-
dressed to Ben Jonson, and begins:-
"Ah, Ben!
Say, how or when
Shall we, thy guests,
Meet at those lyric feasts
Made at the Sun,
The Dog, the Triple Tun?
Where we such clusters had
As made us nobly wild, not mad;
And yet each verse of thine
Outdid the meat, outdid the frolic wine! »
Herrick wrote most of his verses at Dean Prior, where he lived
as an old bachelor in his rustic vicarage, hung with the honeysuckle
that he loved so well. His companions were Prudence Baldwin, his
housekeeper; Tracy, a pet spaniel; Phil, a tame sparrow; a cat, a pet
lamb, a goose, a few chickens, and a pig, which he taught to delight
in the dregs of his ale jug. He commends Prudence in various
verses for her loyalty, and when she dies, writes this epitaph:-
"In this little urn is laid
Prudence Baldwin (once my maid),
From whose happy spark here let
Spring the purple violet. »
-
## p. 7308 (#102) ###########################################
7308
ROBERT HERRICK
Herrick does not like Devonshire; he laughs at the country folk
in scraps of verse; and once he throws his sermon at his inattentive
hearers, whom he calls-
"A people currish, churlish as the seas,
And rude, almost as rude as savages. "
He constantly sighs for London; he hates Cromwell, and though
valuing his home, he will not subscribe to Puritanism, and is turned
out of Dean Prior by the government. Returning to London in 1648,
he drops his ecclesiastical habit and title and publishes 'Hesperides. '
Perhaps his friends aid him; perhaps he lives in Bohemia, out at
elbows but not unhappy. Whatever his estate, the good-natured
Charles II. restored him in 1660 to Dean Prior, where he died in his
eighty-fourth year, October 15th, 1674.
His portrait shows him in clerical garb with a Roman head, the
profile of the voluptuous Roman emperors, and a broad bull-throat,
which loved to quaff the blushing wine-cup or a tankard of froth-
ing beer. He is at times an amatory poet, and at times a looker-on
at country fairs and merrymakings, enjoying Twelfth Night revels,
Christmas wassailings, Whitsun ales, May games, wakes, and bridals,
morris dancers, mummers, and every manifestation of "nut-brown
mirth. "
The gay old vicar seems never so light of heart as when inditing
his tiny lyrics to those imaginary beauties whom he addresses as
Corinna, Silvia, Anthea, Electra, Diamene, Perilla, and Perinna. Julia
was a real love. Her lips are cherries, her teeth "quarelets of pearl,"
her cheeks roses, her tears "the dew of roses," her voice silver, while
her very shadow "breathes of pomander. " She is his "queen-priest";
when she is ill, the flowers wither in sympathy; and when he dies,
he is sure the "myrrh of her breath" will be sufficient to embalm
him. How splendid is her apparel! her azure petticoat sprinkled with
golden stars, under which her little feet play bo-peep; her jeweled
stomacher; her slashed sleeves; and her lawn neckerchief smelling of
musk and ambergris. How her silks shimmer, clinging to her as she
walks or blowing from her like a flame! How lovely are the "roses
on her bosom," her hair "filled with dew," the golden net that binds
her ringlets, her lacing-strings, her fillet, her ring, her ribbons, and
her bracelet!
Just as Herrick loves the coquetry of dress, he loves the goodies
his Prudence makes him: the custards, mince pies, almond paste,
frumenty, wassail, Twelfth Night cakes, possets of wine. He encour-
ages himself to hospitality:-
*From pomme d'ambre, a mixture of perfumes.
## p. 7309 (#103) ###########################################
ROBERT HERRICK
7309
"Yet can thy humble roof maintain a choir
Of singing Crickets by the fire;
And the brisk Mouse may feast herself with crumbs,
Till that the green-eyed Kitling comes. »
'The Hesperides has been frequently compared to the 'Carmina'
of Catullus; but Gosse in his sympathetic study of Herrick shows him
as more like Martial. He points out also how much Herrick owes to
Ben Jonson's Masques,' a debt which the pupil acknowledges in a-
PRAYER TO BEN JONSON
WHEN I a verse shall make,
Know I have prayed thee
For old religion's sake,
Saint Ben, to aid me.
Make the way smooth to me
When I, thy Herrick,
Honoring thee on my knee,
Offer my lyric!
Candles I'll give to thee,
And a new altar,
And thou, Saint Ben, shalt be
Writ in my Psalter.
With a few exceptions, the Noble Numbers' are written in the
same spirit. "Here," says Gosse, "our pagan priest is seen despoiled
of his vine wreath and his thyrsus, doing penance in a white sheet
and with a candle in his hand. That rubicund visage, with its sly
eye and prodigious jowl, looks ludicrously out of place in the peni-
tential surplice; but he is evidently sincere, though not very deep in
his repentance, and sings hymns of faultless orthodoxy with a loud
and lusty voice to the old pagan airs. " It must be remembered that
Herrick wrote some beautiful 'Epithalamia,' and that with him the
poetic literature of England's fairy lore, so choicely described in
Drayton's 'Nymphidia,' in Browne's 'Pastorals,' and in Ben Jonson's
'Oberon,' died, killed by the chill of Puritanism. In his own day his
verses were greatly admired, and many of them were set to music.
His first published poem was 'Oberon's Feast,' which appeared in a
'Description of the King and Queen of Fairies' (1635). Half forgot-
ten for two generations, Herrick was revived by Nichols in an article
in the Gentleman's Magazine in 1796, by a sketch in Dr. Drake's
'Literary Hours,' and by a few selected poems issued by Dr. Nott in
1810. Many modern editions exist; that of Alfred Pollard, published
in 1891, contains a fine critical preface by Swinburne.
## p. 7310 (#104) ###########################################
ROBERT HERRICK
7310
A THANKSGIVING
ORD, thou hast given me a cell
Wherein to dwell;
A little house, whose humble roof
Is weather-proof;
L
Under the spars of which I lie
Both soft and dry.
Where thou, my chamber for to ward,
Hast set a guard
Of harmless thoughts, to watch and keep
Me while I sleep.
Low is my porch, as is my fate,
Both void of state;
And yet the threshold of my door
Is worn by the poor,
Who hither come, and freely get
Good words or meat.
Like as my parlor, so my hall,
And kitchen small;
A little buttery, and therein
A little bin,
Which keeps my little loaf of bread
Unchipt, unflead.
Some brittle sticks of thorn or brier
Make me a fire,
Close by whose living coal I sit,
And glow like it.
Lord, I confess, too, when I dine,
The pulse is thine,
And all those other bits that be
There placed by thee:
The worts, the purslane, and the mess
Of water-cress,
Which of thy kindness thou hast sent;
And my content
Makes those, and my belovèd beet,
To be more sweet.
'Tis thou that crown'st my glittering hearth
With guiltless mirth;
And giv'st me wassail bowls to drink,
Spiced to the brink.
Lord, 'tis thy plenty-dropping hand
That sows my land;
## p. 7311 (#105) ###########################################
ROBERT HERRICK
7311
All this, and better, dost thou send
Me for this end:
That I should render for my part
A thankful heart,
Which, fired with incense, I resign
As wholly thine;
But the acceptance - that must be
O Lord, by thee.
TO KEEP A TRUE LENT
I
S THIS a fast-to keep
The larder lean,
And clean
From fat of veals and sheep?
Is it to quit the dish
Of flesh, yet still
To fill
The platter high with fish?
Is it to fast an hour,
Or ragged to go,
Or show
A downcast look and sour?
No! 'Tis a fast to dole
Thy sheaf of wheat,
And meat,
Unto the hungry soul.
It is to fast from strife,
From old debate
And hate;
To circumcise thy life.
To show a heart grief-rent;
To starve thy sin,
Not bin,-
And that's to keep thy Lent.
## p. 7312 (#106) ###########################################
7312
ROBERT HERRICK
TO FIND GOD
WEI
EIGH me the fire: or canst thou find
A way to measure out the wind;
Distinguish all those floods that are
Mixt in the watery theatre;
And taste thou them as saltless there
As in their channel first they were;
Tell me the people that do keep
Within the kingdoms of the deep;
Or fetch me back that cloud again,
Beshivered into seeds of rain;
Tell me the motes, dust, sands, and spears
Of corn, when Summer shakes his ears;
Show me thy world of stars, and whence
They noiseless spill their influence:
This if thou canst: then show me Him
That rides the glorious cherubim.
TO DAFFODILS
AIR Daffodils, we weep to see
You haste away so soon:
As yet the early-rising sun
Has not attained his noon.
Stay, stay,
Until the hasting day
Has run
FA
But to the evensong;
And having prayed together, we
Will go with you along.
We have short time to stay as you;
We have as short a spring;
As quick a growth to meet decay
As you, or anything.
We die,
As your hours do, and dry
Away,
Like to the summer's rain;
Or as the pearls of morning's dew,
Ne'er to be found again.
## p. 7313 (#107) ###########################################
ROBERT HERRICK
7313
TO DAISIES, NOT TO SHUT SO SOON
SHUT
HUT not so soon; the dull-eyed night
Has not as yet begun
To make a seisure on the light,
Or to seal up the sun.
XIII-458
No marigolds yet closed are;
No shadows great appear;
Nor doth the early shepherds'-star
Shine like a spangle here.
Stay ye but till my Julia close
Her life-begetting eye;
And let the whole world then dispose
Itself to live or die.
STAY
TAY while ye will, or go;
And leave no scent behind ye;
Yet trust me, I shall know
The place where I may find ye:
WHY
TO CARNATIONS
TO PRIMROSES FILLED WITH MORNING DEW
Y do ye weep, sweet babes? Can tears
Speak grief in you,
Who were but born
Just as the morn
Teemed her refreshing dew?
Alas! ye have not known that shower
That mars a flower;
Nor felt th' unkind
Breath of the blasting wind;
Nor are ye worn with years;
Or warped, as we,
Who think it strange to see
Within my Lucia's cheek
(Whose livery ye wear),
Play ye at hide-and-seek,—
I'm sure to find ye there.
## p. 7314 (#108) ###########################################
ROBERT HERRICK
7314
Such pretty flowers, like unto orphans young,
Speaking by tears before ye have a tongue.
Speak, whimpering younglings, and make known
The reason why
Ye droop and weep.
Is it for want of sleep,
Or childish lullaby?
Or that ye have not seen as yet
The violet?
Or brought a kiss
From that sweetheart to this?
No, no; this sorrow, shown
By your tears shed,
Would have this lecture read:
"That things of greatest, so of meanest worth,
Conceived with grief are, and with tears brought forth. ”
YⓇ
TO MEADOWS
E HAVE been fresh and green;
Ye have been filled with flowers;
And ye the walks have been
Where maids have spent their hours;
Ye have beheld where they
With wicker arks did come,
To kiss and bear away
The richer cowslips home;
You've heard them sweetly sing,
And seen them in a round;
Each virgin, like the spring.
With honeysuckles crowned.
But now we see none here
Whose silvery feet did tread,
And with disheveled hair
Adorned this smoother mead.
Like unthrifts, having spent
Your stock, and needy grown,
You're left here to lament
Your poor estates alone.
## p. 7315 (#109) ###########################################
ROBERT HERRICK
7315
TO VIOLETS
ELCOME, maids of honor:
You do bring
In the Spring,
WE
And wait upon her.
She has virgins many
Fresh and fair;
Yet you are
More sweet than any.
Y' are the maiden posies,
And so graced
To be placed
Fore damask roses.
Yet though thus respected,
By-and-by
Ye do lie,
Poor girls, neglected.
HⓇ
THE NIGHT PIECE-TO JULIA
ER eyes the glow-worm lend thee,
The shooting-stars attend thee;
And the elves also,
Whose little eyes glow
Like the sparks of fire, befriend thee.
No Will-o-th'-wisp mislight thee,
Nor snake nor slow-worm bite thee:
But on thy way
Not making stay,
Since ghost there's none t'affright thee!
Let not the dark thee cumber;
What though the moon does slumber?
The stars of the night
Will lend thee their light,
Like tapers clear, without number.
Then, Julia, let me woo thee
Thus, thus to come unto me;
And when I shall meet
Thy silvery feet,
My soul I'll pour into thee
## p. 7316 (#110) ###########################################
7316
ROBERT HERRICK
MRS. ELIZ. WHEELER
UNDER THE NAME OF THE LOST SHEPHERDESS
MONG the myrtles as I walkt,
Love and my sighs thus intertalkt:
Tell me, said I, in deep distress,
Where I may find my Shepherdess.
Thou fool, said Love, know'st thou not this?
A
In everything that's sweet, she is.
In yond' carnation go and seek
Where thou shalt find her lip and cheek;
In that enameled pansy by,
There thou shalt have her curious eye;
In bloom of peach and rose's bud,
There waves the streamer of her blood.
'Tis true, said I; and thereupon
I went to pluck them one by one,
To make of parts an union;
But on a sudden all were gone.
At which I stopt: said Love, these be
The true resemblances of thee;
For as these flowers, thy joys must die,
And in the turning of an eye;
And all thy hopes of her must wither,
Like those short sweets ere knit together.
DELIGHT IN DISORDER
A
SWEET disorder in the dress
Kindles in clothes a wantonness :
A Lawn about the shoulders thrown
Into a fine distractión-
An erring Lace, which here and there
Enthralls the crimson Stomacher-
A Cuffe neglectful, and thereby
Ribbands to flow confusedly.
A winning wave (deserving Note)
In the tempestuous petticoat-
A careless shoestring, in whose tye
I see a wild civility—
Do more bewitch me, than when Art
Is too precise in every part.
## p. 7317 (#111) ###########################################
7317
HENRIK HERTZ
(1798-1870)
HE literary activity of Henrik Hertz falls within the golden
age of Danish literature. The opening years of the nine-
teenth century brought Oehlenschläger's first great poem,
followed by his Poetical Writings' and tragedies. A little later,
Hauch began writing his lyrics and romances in verse; Heiberg was
taking his position as critic and as creator of the Danish vaudeville;
Heiberg's mother, the Baroness Gyllembourg, was writing her popu-
lar novels, shielding her identity by signing them "By the Author of
'An Every-Day Story" (her first successful
novel); and finally, Hans Christian Ander-
sen joined the ranks with his famous 'Fairy
Tales. ' On the threshold of the century
stood Baggesen, who in spite of his sincere
admiration for the rising school of roman-
ticism had remained the representative of
the classic school, and had fought a brave
battle for form, when Oehlenschläger in the
enthusiasm of a wider vision began to neg-
lect it.
Continuing the line of Denmark's liter-
ary men of the first rank came Hertz, whose
career at the outset had-temporarily-a
direct connection with Baggesen. As dis-
tinguished among the greater Danish lyrical poets and the writers of
his own time, he may be called the poet of passion, while Oehlen-
schläger stands as the poet of dignity, and Heiberg as the poet of
form. Born of Jewish parents in Copenhagen, on August 25th, 1798,
the boy was early orphaned, and brought up by a relative, an editor
of a leading newspaper. A literary atmosphere thus became his nat-
ural element early in life; and it is not remarkable that he showed his
preference for authorship and his gifts for it rather than for the bar,
to which he was nevertheless called in 1825. He began his literary
activity with three or four plays, including 'Buchardt and his Fam-
ily' (1827), 'Love and Policy,' and 'Cupid's Strokes of Genius' (1830).
But in the last-mentioned year, when Baggesen had been dead some
four years, Copenhagen was startled by the publication of a satirical
HENRIK HERTZ
## p. 7318 (#112) ###########################################
7318
HENRIK HERTZ
literary criticism, purporting to be the great poet's message and com-
mentary from another world, under the title of Letters of a Ghost. '
It exhibited Baggesen's ironical humor, critical insight, and finish of
style; but all was blended with a wider sympathy and a broader tol-
erance than Baggesen had shown during his later years. The volume
was by Henrik Hertz, who however did not acknowledge the author-
ship till later, though the book met with enormous success and was
the talk of the town for a season. It may be noted in passing that
the Letters' contained a cutting criticism of Hans Christian Ander-
sen's earlier writings, severe enough to cause that sensitive author
many an hour of depression; and that when Andersen met Hertz
some years later in Rome, he had not yet conquered his dread of
the critic. They became excellent friends; and when Andersen found
his true field and held it, with his fairy tales, Hertz became one of
his warmest admirers.
Continuing to devote himself to the stage, Hertz wrote The
Savings Bank,' a comedy which had a great success, and still holds
the stage to-day. In 1838 he advanced into the romantic drama in
verse, Svend Dyring's House. ' The subject of this piece he took
from the old Danish folk-songs, and kept throughout their tone of
simplicity and tenderness. We find in this drama the knightly lover
cutting runes in an apple, that he may by their help win the love of
the gentle Regisse. We have the wicked stepmother who tries to win
the knight for her own unlovable daughter, cruelly neglecting Regisse
and her little sisters. We have the ghost of the dead mother, who
comes at night to give her own little children the motherly care they
so sadly need. Finally, after much sorrow, the lovers are happily
united. All is framed in the most exquisite verse, and presented with
great literary charm and dramatic power. The subject was so essen-
tially Danish, however, that it did not spread Hertz's fame outside of
his own country.
To the foreign world, in fact, Henrik Hertz is principally known
by one work, 'King René's Daughter,' a charming romantic drama,
dated as late as 1845. It was read and acted with immediate and
immense success in Denmark, where it is still in every repertory,
and thence passed into the standard library of the cultivated world.
In 1848 followed the author's tragedy of 'Ninon,' a high proof of his
artistic and dramatic power; but 'Ninon' is not universally known
like its charming predecessor. King René's Daughter,' the scene
of which is laid in Provence, is of most simple texture. It is more
like a pretty folk-tale than a drama, although its half-dozen person-
ages include historical ones, and even its heroine, the gentle Iolanthe,
is an idealized Princess Yolande, daughter of the real King René. It
is full of the charm of innocence, pure love, and chivalric romance,
## p. 7319 (#113) ###########################################
HENRIK HERTZ
7319
and a certain idyllic freshness exhales from every page and situation
of it, like the perfume from the roses in the blind Iolanthe's garden.
Sweet, almost pastoral and yet moving to a romantic climax, it is in
touch with such things as Shakespeare's 'Winter's Tale,' or some of
those Provençal legends that the poets of Southern France have set
in verse. The diction is beautiful, and rarely has so happy a balance
between the play to read and the play to act been maintained. It
has passed into translations everywhere; and, a distinctively Southern
subject treated by a Northern poet, it stands for a kind of graft of
palm on pine.
Hertz's life was his literary work; and the record of that is its
most interesting element to the world. He died in Copenhagen,
February 25th, 1870.
THE BLIND PRINCESS
From King René's Daughter'
[The Princess Iolanthe, a lovely maid, has been brought up in complete
ignorance of the fact that her beautiful eyes have ever lacked the power of
sight, and in entire inability to judge of what the faculty of sight may be to
others. She has never heard of it, and is so free and unconstrained in all her
movements as not to need such a sense for her further happiness. Count Tris-
tan of Vaudemont makes his way to her garden retreat, and falls passionately
in love with her, unaware of her misfortune; and so ensues this dialogue. ]
RISTAN-Pray give me one of yonder blushing roses,
TRE
That rear their petals, fairest 'mongst all flowers,
As though they were the counterfeit of thee!
Iolanthe - A rose?
Tristan
Oh, willingly! [Plucks and gives him a white rose.
Ah, it is white!
-
Give me the red one, that is fair as thou!
Iolanthe - What meanest thou? – a red one?
Tristan [pointing]-
Iolanthe -Take it thyself!
Tristan-
One of these.
No; let me keep the rose
Which thou hast chosen, which thy fair hand has gathered.
And in good sooth, I do applaud thy choice.
For the white rose, within whose calyx sleeps
A faint and trembling ruddiness, betypes
The dream-like beauty of this garden fair.
Give me another rose a white one too;
Then with the twin flowers will I deck my cap,
And wear them as thy colors evermore.
## p. 7320 (#114) ###########################################
HENRIK HERTZ
7320
Iolanthe plucks and gives him a red rose] -
Here is a rose: meanest thou one like this?
Tristan [starts]—I asked thee for a white rose.
Iolanthe
Well, and this?
Tristan - Why this? [Aside. ] What thought comes o'er me?
[Aloud. ] Nay, then, tell me
How many roses have I in my hand?
Iolanthe [stretches out her hand towards them] –
――――
Give me them, then.
Tristan
Iolanthe
Tristan [aside]-
-
Iolanthe
-
[Holds up the two roses, along with another which he
has himself gathered]
How can I so?
Iolanthe
Tristan -
Tristan [confused]--
[Aloud, and with a faltering voice] —
Nay, I am sure you know.
Alas! alas! she's blind!
No; you mistake.
If I would know how anything is shaped,
Or what its number, I must touch it first.
Is not this clear?
Nay, tell me without touching.
Yes, certainly; you're right.
And yet sometimes-
—
Well, well?
sometimes? Speak! speak!
I think there are — that there are certain things
Which we distinguish by their hues alone,
-
As various kinds of flowers, and various stuffs.
Iolanthe - Thou mean'st by this their character, their form-
Is it not so?
Nay, not exactly that.
Tristan -
Iolanthe - Is it so hard, then, to distinguish flowers?
Are not the roses round and soft and fine,
Round to the feeling, as the zephyr's breath,
And soft and glowing as a summer's eve?
Are gilliflowers like roses? No; their scent
Bedizzies, like the wine I gave to thee.
And then a cactus- are its arrowy points
Not stinging, like the wind when frosts are keen?
Tristan [aside]- Amazement!
[Aloud. ]
Have they never told thee, then,
That objects, things, can be distinguished, though
Placed at a distance, with the aid-of-sight?
Iolanthe― At distance? Yes! I by his twittering know
The little bird that sits upon the roof,
And in like fashion, all men by their voice.
-
## p. 7321 (#115) ###########################################
HENRIK HERTZ
7321
The sprightly steed whereon I daily ride,
I know him in the distance by his pace,
And by his neigh. Yet-with the help of sight?
They told me not of that. An instrument
Fashioned by art, or but a tool, perhaps?
I do not know this sight. Canst teach me, then,
Its use and purpose?
Tristan [aside]-
O Almighty powers!
mer class excel those of the latter but in two respects; these last
excel the former in many. The wealthy man is better able to
content his desires, and to bear up against a sudden buffet of
calamity. The other has less ability to withstand these evils
(from which however his good luck keeps him clear), but he
enjoys all these following blessings: he is whole of limb, a stran-
ger to disease, free from misfortune, happy in his children, and
comely to look upon. If in addition to all this he ends his life
well, he is of a truth the man of whom thou art in search, the
man who may rightly be termed happy. Call him, however,
until he die, not happy but fortunate. Scarcely indeed can any
man unite all these advantages: as there is no country which con-
tains within it all that it needs, but each while it possesses some
things lacks others, and the best country is that which contains
the most, so no single human being is complete in every respect
-something is always lacking. He who unites the greatest num-
ber of advantages, and retaining them to the day of his death,
then dies peaceably,- that man alone, sire, is in my judgment
entitled to bear the name of 'happy. ' But in every matter it
behoves us to mark well the end; for oftentimes God gives men
a gleam of happiness, and then plunges them into ruin. ”
Such was the speech which Solon addressed to Croesus, a
speech which brought him neither largess nor honor. The King
saw him depart with much indifference, since he thought that
a man must be an arrant fool who made no account of present
good, but bade men always wait and mark the end.
## p. 7295 (#85) ############################################
HERODOTUS
7295
A TYRANT'S FORTUNE
THE
HE exceeding good fortune of Polycrates did not escape the
notice of Amasis, who was much disturbed thereat. When
therefore his success continued increasing, Amasis wrote
him the following letter, and sent it to Samos:-"Amasis to
Polycrates thus sayeth: It is a pleasure to hear of a friend and
ally prospering, but thy exceeding prosperity does not cause me
joy, forasmuch as I know that the gods are envious. My wish
for myself, and for those whom I love, is to be now successful
and now to meet with a check, thus passing through life amid
alternate good and ill, rather than with perpetual good fortune.
For never yet did I hear tell of any one succeeding in all his
undertakings who did not meet with calamity at last, and come
to utter ruin. Now therefore give ear to my words, and meet
thy good luck in this way: bethink thee which of all thy treas-
ures thou valuest most and canst least bear to part with; take
it, whatsoever it be, and throw it away, so that it may be sure
never to come any more into the sight of man. Then, if thy
good fortune be not thenceforth checkered with ill, save thyself
from harm by again doing as I have counseled. "
When Polycrates read this letter, and perceived that the advice
of Amasis was good, he considered carefully with himself which
of the treasures that he had in store it would grieve him most to
lose. After much thought he made up his mind that it was a
signet ring which he was wont to wear, an emerald set in gold,
the workmanship of Theodore son of Telecles, a Samian. So he
determined to throw this away; and manning a penteconter, he
went on board, and bade the sailors put out into the open sea.
When he was now a long way from the island he took the ring
from his finger, and in the sight of all those who were on board,
flung it into the deep. This done, he returned home, and gave
vent to his sorrow.
Now it happened five or six days afterwards that a fisher-
man caught a fish so large and beautiful that he thought it well
deserved to be made a present of to the King. So he took it
with him to the gate of the palace, and said that he wanted to
see Polycrates. Then Polycrates allowed him to come in, and
the fisherman gave him the fish with these words following: "Sir
King, when I took this prize I thought I would not carry it to
market, though I am a poor man who live by my trade.
## p. 7296 (#86) ############################################
7296
HERODOTUS
to myself, It is worthy of Polycrates and his greatness; and so
I brought it here to give it to you. " The speech pleased the
King, who thus spoke in reply: "Thou didst right well, friend,
and I am doubly indebted, both for the gift and for the speech.
Come now and sup with me. "
So the fisherman went home, esteeming it a high honor that
he had been asked to sup with the King. Meanwhile the serv-
ants, on cutting open the fish, found the signet of their master
in its belly. No sooner did they see it than they seized upon it,
and hastening to Polycrates with great joy, restored it to him,
and told him in what way it had been found. The King, who
saw something Providential in the matter, forthwith wrote a
letter to Amasis, telling him all that had happened, what he
had himself done, and what had been the upshot; and dispatched
the letter to Egypt.
When Amasis had read the letter of Polycrates, he perceived
that it does not belong to man to save his fellow-man from
the fate which is in store for him; likewise he felt certain that
Polycrates would end ill, as he prospered in everything, even
finding what he had thrown away. So he sent a herald to Samos,
and dissolved the contract of friendship. This he did, that when
the great and heavy misfortune came, he might escape the grief
which he would have felt if the sufferer had been his bond-friend.
CURIOUS SCYTHIAN CUSTOMS
WHAT
concerns war, their customs are the following: The
Scythian soldier drinks the blood of the first man he over-
throws in battle. Whatever number he slays, he cuts off all
their heads and carries them to the king; since he is thus en-
titled to a share of the booty, whereto he forfeits all claim if he
does not produce a head. In order to strip the skull of its cov-
ering, he makes a cut round the head above the ears, and laying
hold of the scalp, shakes the skull out; then with the rib of an
ox he scrapes the scalp clean of flesh, and softening it by rubbing
between the hands, uses it thenceforth as a napkin. The Scyth
is proud of these scalps, and hangs them from his bridle rein; the
greater the number of such napkins that a man can show, the
more highly is he esteemed among them. Many make themselves
cloaks, like the capotes of our peasants, by sewing a quantity of
## p. 7297 (#87) ############################################
HERODOTUS
7297
these scalps together. Others flay the right arms of their dead
enemies, and make of the skin, which is stripped off with the
nails hanging to it, a covering for their quivers. Now the skin
of a man is thick and glossy, and would in whiteness surpass
almost all other hides. Some even flay the entire body of their
enemy, and stretching it upon a frame, carry it about with them
wherever they ride. Such are the Scythian customs with respect
to scalps and skins.
The skulls of their enemies,-not indeed of all, but of those
whom they most detest,-they treat as follows: Having sawn
off the portion below the eyebrows, and cleaned out the inside,
they cover the outside with leather. When a man is poor, this is
all that he does; but if he is rich, he also lines the inside with
gold: in either case the skull is used as a drinking-cup. They
do the same with the skulls of their own kith and kin, if they
have been at feud with them, and have vanquished them in the
presence of the king. When strangers whom they deem of any
account come to visit them, these skulls are handed round, and
the host tells how that these were his relations who made war
upon him, and how that he got the better of them: all this being.
looked upon as proof of bravery.
Once a year the governor of each district, at a set place in
his own province, mingles a bowl of wine, of which all Scythians
have a right to drink by whom foes have been slain; while they
who have slain no enemy are not allowed to taste of the bowl,
but sit aloof in disgrace. No greater shame than this can hap-
pen to them.
Such as have slain a very large number of foes
have two cups instead of one, and drink from both.
The tombs of their kings are in the land of the Gerrhi, who
dwell at the point where the Borysthenes is first navigable. Here
when the king dies they dig a grave, which is square in shape
and of great size. When it is ready they take the king's corpse,
and embalm it with a preparation of chopped cypress, frankin-
cense, parsley seed, and anise seed; after which they inclose the
body in wax, and placing it on a wagon, carry it about through
all the different tribes. On this procession each tribe, when it
receives the corpse, imitates the example which is first set by
the Royal Scythians: every man chops off a piece of his ear,
crops his hair close, makes a cut all around his arm, lacerates
his forehead and his nose, and thrusts an arrow through his
left hand. Then they who have the care of the corpse carry it
XIII-457
## p. 7298 (#88) ############################################
7298
HERODOTUS
with them to another of the tribes which are under the Scythian
rule, followed by those whom they first visited. On completing
the circuit of all the tribes under their sway, they find them-
selves in the country of the Gerrhi, who are the most remote of
all, and so they come to the tombs of the kings. There the body
of the dead king is laid in the grave prepared for it, stretched
upon a mattress; spears are fixed in the ground on either side of
the corpse, and beams stretched across above it to form a roof,
which is covered with a thatching of osier twigs. In the open
space around the body of the king they bury one of his concu-
bines, first killing her by strangling, and also his cup-bearer, his
cook, his groom, his lackey, his messenger, some of his horses,
firstlings of all his other possessions, and some golden cups-
for they use neither silver nor brass. After this they set to work
and raise a vast mound above the grave, all of them vying with
each other and seeking to make it as tall as possible.
When a year is gone by, further ceremonies take place. Fifty
of the best of the late king's attendants are taken, all native
Scythians,- for as bought slaves are unknown in the country, the
Scythian kings choose any of their subjects that they like, to wait
on them,-fifty of these are taken and strangled, with fifty of
the most beautiful horses. When they are dead, their bodies are
stuffed with chaff. This done, a number of posts are driven into
the ground, in sets of two pairs each, and on every pair half the
felly of a wheel is placed archwise; then strong stakes are run
lengthways through the bodies of the horses from tail to neck,
and they are mounted up upon the fellies, so that the felly in
front supports the shoulders of the horse, while that behind sus-
tains the belly and quarters, the legs dangling in mid-air; each
horse is furnished with a bit and bridle, which latter is stretched
out in front of the horse, and fastened to a peg. The fifty
strangled youths are then mounted severally on the fifty horses.
To effect this, a second stake is passed through their bodies along
the course of the spine to the neck; the lower end of which pro-
jects from the body, and is fixed into a socket, made in the stake
that runs lengthwise down the horse. The fifty riders are thus
ranged in a circle round the tomb, and so left.
Such then is the mode in which the kings are buried. As for
the people, when any one dies his nearest of kin lay him upon
a wagon and take him round to all his friends in succession
each receives them in turn and entertains them with a banquet,
## p. 7299 (#89) ############################################
HERODOTUS
7299
whereat the dead man is served with a portion of all that is
set before the others; this is done for forty days, at the end
of which time the burial takes place. After the burial, those
engaged in it have to purify themselves, which they do in the
following way: First they well soap and wash their heads; then,
in order to cleanse their bodies, they act as follows: they make a
booth by fixing in the ground three sticks inclined towards one
another, and stretching around them woolen felts, which they
arrange so as to fit as close as possible; inside the booth a dish is
placed upon the ground, into which they put a number of red-
hot stones, and then add some hemp seed.
Hemp grows in Scythia; it is very like flax, only that it is a
much coarser and taller plant: some grows wild about the coun-
try, some is produced by cultivation. The Thracians make gar-
ments of it which closely resemble linen; so much so, indeed,
that if a person has never seen hemp he is sure to think they
are linen, and if he has, unless he is very experienced in such
matters, he will not know of which material they are.
The Scythians, as I said, take some of this hemp seed, and
creeping under the felt coverings, throw it upon the red-hot
stones; immediately it smokes, and gives out such a vapor as no
Grecian vapor bath can exceed: the Scyths, delighted, shout for
joy, and this vapor serves them instead of a water bath — for
they never by any chance wash their bodies with water. Their
women make a mixture of cypress, cedar, and frankincense wood,
which they pound into a paste upon a rough piece of stone, adding
a little water to it. With this substance, which is of a thick
consistency, they plaster their faces all over, and indeed their
whole bodies. A sweet odor is thereby imparted to them, and
when they take off the plaster on the day following, their skin
is clean and glossy.
KING RHAMPSINITUS AND THE ROBBER
AN EGYPTIAN TALE
Κ
ING RHAMPSINITUS was possessed, they said, of great riches in
silver; indeed, to such an amount that none of the princes
his successors surpassed or even equaled his wealth. For
the better custody of this money he proposed to build a vast
chamber of hewn stone, one side of which was to form a part of
## p. 7300 (#90) ############################################
7300
HERODOTUS
the outer wall of his palace. The builder, therefore, having de-
signs upon the treasures, contrived as he was making the build-
ing to insert in this wall a stone which could easily be removed
from its place by two men, or even by one. So the chamber was
finished, and the king's money stored away in it. Time passed,
and the builder fell sick; when, finding his end approaching,
he called for his two sons and related to them the contrivance
he had made in the king's treasure chamber, telling them it
was for their sakes he had done it, that so they might always
live in affluence. Then he gave them clear directions concern-
ing the mode of removing the stone, and communicated the meas-
urements, bidding them carefully keep the secret, whereby they
would be comptrollers of the royal exchequer so long as they
lived. Then the father died, and the sons were not slow in set-
ting to work: they went by night to the palace, found the stone
in the wall of the building, and having removed it with ease,
plundered the treasury of a round sum.
When the king next paid a visit to the apartment, he was
astonished to see that the money was sunk in some of the ves-
sels wherein it was stored away. Whom to accuse, however, he
knew not, as the seals were all perfect and the fastenings of the
room secure. Still, each time that he repeated his visits he found
that more money was gone. The thieves in truth never stopped,
but plundered the treasury ever more and more. At last the
king determined to have some traps made, and set near the ves-
sels which contained his wealth. This was done, and when the
thieves came as usual to the treasure chamber, and one of them
entering through the aperture made straight for the jars, sud-
denly he found himself caught in one of the traps. Perceiving
that he was lost, he instantly called his brother, and telling him
what had happened, entreated him to enter as quickly as possible
and cut off his head, that when his body should be discovered it
might not be recognized, which would have the effect of bringing
ruin upon both. The other thief thought the advice good, and
was persuaded to follow it; then, fitting the stone in its place,
he went home, taking with him his brother's head.
When day dawned, the king came into the room, and mar-
veled greatly to see the body of the thief in the trap without
head, while the building was still whole, and neither entrance
nor exit was to be seen anywhere. In this perplexity he com-
manded the body of the dead man to be hung up outside the
## p. 7301 (#91) ############################################
HERODOTUS
7301
palace wall, and set a guard to watch it, with orders that if any
persons were seen weeping or lamenting near the place, they
should be seized and brought before him. When the mother
heard of this exposure of the corpse of her son, she took it sorely
to heart, and spoke to her surviving child, bidding him to devise
some plan or other to get back the body, and threatening that if
he did not exert himself, she would go herself to the king and
denounce him as the robber.
The son said all he could to persuade her to let the matter
rest, but in vain; she still continued to trouble him, until at last
he yielded to her importunity, and contrived as follows: Filling
some skins with wine, he loaded them on donkeys, which he
drove before him till he came to the place where the guards
were watching the dead body, when pulling two or three of the
skins towards him, he untied some of the necks which dangled
by the asses' sides. The wine poured freely out, whereupon he
began to beat his head and shout with all his might, seeming
not to know which of the donkeys he should turn to first. When
the guards saw the wine running, delighted to profit by the occas-
ion, they rushed one and all into the road, each with some ves-
sel or other, and caught the liquor as it was spilling. The driver
pretended anger, and loaded them with abuse; whereon they did
their best to pacify him, until at last he appeared to soften and
recover his good humor, drove his asses aside of the road, and
set to work to rearrange their burthens; meanwhile, as he talked
and chatted with the guards, one of them began to rally him
and make him laugh, whereupon he gave them one of the skins
as a gift. They now made up their minds to sit down and have
a drinking bout where they were, so they begged him to remain
and drink with them. Then the man let himself be persuaded,
and stayed. As the drinking went on, they grew very friendly
together, so presently he gave them another skin, upon which
they drank so copiously that they were all overcome with the
liquor, and growing drowsy lay down, and fell asleep on the spot.
The thief waited till it was the dead of the night, and then took
down the body of his brother; after which, in mockery, he shaved
off the right side of all the soldiers' beards, and so left them.
Laying his brother's body upon the asses, he carried it home
to his mother, having thus accomplished the thing that she had
required of him.
## p. 7302 (#92) ############################################
7302
HERODOTUS
HEROISM OF ATHENS DURING THE PERSIAN INVASION
AND
ND here I feel constrained to deliver an opinion which most
men I know will mislike, but which, as it seems to me to
be true, I am determined not to withhold. Had the Athe-
nians from fear of the approaching danger quitted their country,
or had they without quitting it submitted to the power of Xerxes,
there would certainly have been no attempt to resist the Per-
sians by sea; in which case the course of events by land would
have been the following: Though the Peloponnesians might
have carried ever so many breastworks across the Isthmus, yet
their allies would have fallen off from the Lacedæmonians, not
by voluntary desertion but because town after town must have
been taken by the fleet of the barbarians; and so the Lacedæmo-
nians would at last have stood alone, and standing alone, would
have displayed prodigies of valor and died nobly. Either they
would have done thus, or else, before it came to that extremity,
seeing one Greek State after another embrace the cause of the
Medes, they would have come to terms with King Xerxes, and
thus either way Greece would have been brought under Persia.
For I cannot understand of what possible use the walls across
the Isthmus could have been, if the King had had the mastery
of the sea. If then a man should now say that the Athenians
were the saviors of Greece, he would not exceed the truth. For
they truly held the scales, and whichever side they espoused must
have carried the day. They too it was, who, when they had de-
termined to maintain the freedom of Greece, roused up that por-
tion of the Greek nation which had not gone over to the Medes;
and so, next to the gods, they repulsed the invader. Even the
terrible oracles which reached them from Delphi, and struck fear
into their hearts, failed to persuade them to fly from Greece.
They had the courage to remain faithful to their land and await
the coming of the foe.
When the Athenians, anxious to consult the oracle, sent their
messengers to Delphi, hardly had the envoys completed the cus-
tomary rites about the sacred precinct and taken their seats.
inside the sanctuary of the god, when the Pythoness, Aristonica
by name, thus prophesied:
"Wretches, why sit ye here? Fly, fly to the ends of creation,
Quitting your homes, and the crags which your city crowns
with her circlet.
## p. 7303 (#93) ############################################
HERODOTUS
7303
Neither the head nor the body is firm in its place, nor at bot-
tom
Firm the feet, nor the hands, nor resteth the middle uninjured.
All — all ruined and lost, since fire, and impetuous Ares
Speeding along in a Syrian chariot, haste to destroy her.
Not alone shalt thou suffer: full many the towers he will level,
Many the shrines of the gods he will give to a fiery destruction.
Even now they stand with dark sweat horribly dripping,
Trembling and quaking for fear, and lo! from the high roofs
trickleth
Black blood, sign prophetic of hard distresses impending.
Get ye away from the temple, and brood on the ills that await
ye! »
When the Athenian messengers heard this reply they were
filled with the deepest affliction; whereupon Timon the son of
Androbulus, one of the men of most mark among the Delphians,
seeing how utterly cast down they were at the gloomy prophecy,
advised them to take an olive-branch, and entering the sanctuary
again, consult the oracle as suppliants. The Athenians followed
this advice, and going in once more, said, "O King, we pray
thee reverence these boughs of supplication which we bear in
our hands, and deliver to us something more comforting concern-
ing our country. Else we will not leave thy sanctuary, but will
stay here till we die. " Upon this the priestess gave them a
second answer, which was the following:-
――――――
"Pallas has not been able to soften the lord of Olympus,
Though she has often prayed him, and urged him with excel-
lent counsel.
Yet once more I address thee, in words than adamant firmer.
When the foe shall have taken whatever the limit of Cecrops
Holds within it, and all which divine Citharon shelters,
Then far-seeing Jove grants this to the prayers of Athene:
Safe shall the wooden wall continue for thee and thy children.
Wait not the tramp of the horse, nor the footmen mightily
moving
Over the land, but turn your back to the foe, and retire ye.
Yet shall a day arrive when ye shall meet him in battle.
Holy Salamis, thou shalt destroy the offspring of women,
When men scatter the seed, or when they gather the harvest. "
This answer seemed, as indeed it was, gentler than the for-
mer one; so the envoys wrote it down and went back with it to
## p. 7304 (#94) ############################################
HERODOTUS
7304
Athens. When, however, upon their arrival they produced it
before the people, and inquiry began to be made into its true
meaning, many and various were the interpretations which men.
put on it; two, more especially, seemed to be directly opposed
to one another. Certain of the old men were of opinion that the
god meant to tell them the citadel would escape, for this was
anciently defended by a palisade; and they supposed that barrier
to be the "wooden wall" of the oracle. Others maintained that
the fleet was what the god pointed at; and their advice was that
nothing should be thought of except the ships, which had best be
at once got ready. Still, such as said the "wooden wall" meant
the fleet were perplexed by the last two lines of the oracle:-
"Holy Salamis, thou shalt destroy the offspring of women,
When men scatter the seed, or when they gather the harvest. "
These words caused great disturbance among those who took
the wooden wall to be the ships; since the interpreters under-
stood them to mean that if they made preparations for a sea
fight, they would suffer a defeat of Salamis.
Now, there was at Athens a man who had lately made his
way into the first rank of citizens; his true name was Themis-
tocles, but he was known more generally as the son of Neocles.
This man came forward and said that the interpreters had not
explained the oracle altogether aright: "For if," he argued, "the
clause in question had really referred to the Athenians, it would
not have been expressed so mildly; the phrase used would have
been 'luckless Salamis' rather than 'holy Salamis,' had those
to whom the island belonged been about to perish in its neigh-
borhood. Rightly taken, the response of the god threatened the
enemy much more than the Athenians. " He therefore counseled
his countrymen to make ready to fight on board their ships, since.
they were the wooden wall in which the god told them to trust.
When Themistocles had thus cleared the matter, the Athenians.
embraced his view, preferring it to that of the interpreters. The
advice of these last had been against engaging in a sea fight:
"All the Athenians could do," they said, "was, without lifting a
hand in their defense, to quit Attica and make a settlement in
some other country. "
Themistocles had before this given a counsel which prevailed
very seasonably. The Athenians, having a large sum of money
in their treasury, the produce of the mines at Laureium, were
## p. 7305 (#95) ############################################
HERODOTUS
7305
about to share it among the full-grown citizens, who would have
received ten drachmas apiece, when Themistocles persuaded them
to forbear the distribution and build with the money two hun-
dred ships, to help them in their war against the Æginetans. It
was the breaking out of the Eginetan war which was at this
time the saving of Greece, for hereby were the Athenians forced
to become a maritime power. The new ships were not used for
the purpose for which they had been built, but became a help to
Greece in her hour of need. And the Athenians had not only
these vessels ready before the war, but they likewise set to
work to build more; while they determined, in a council which
was held after the debate upon the oracle, that according to the
advice of the god they would embark their whole force aboard
their ships, and with such Greeks as chose to join them, give
battle to the barbarian invader. Such, then, were the oracles
which had been received by the Athenians.
"LOPPING THE TALL EARS »
TH
HIS prince [Periander] at the beginning of his reign was of a
milder temper than his father; but after he corresponded
by means of messengers with Thrasybulus, tyrant of Miletus,
he became even more sanguinary. On one occasion he sent a
herald to ask Thrasybulus what mode of government it was
safest to set up in order to rule with honor. Thrasybulus led the
messenger without the city, and took him into a field of corn,
through which he began to walk, while he asked him again and
again concerning his coming from Corinth, ever as he went
breaking off and throwing away all such ears of corn as over-
topped the rest. In this way he went through the whole field,
and destroyed all the best and richest part of the crop; then,
without a word, he sent the messenger back. On the return of
the man to Corinth, Periander was eager to know what Thrasy-
bulus had counseled, but the messenger reported that he had
said nothing; and he wondered that Periander had sent him to
so strange a man, who seemed to have lost his senses, since he
did nothing but destroy his own property. And upon this he
told how Thrasybulus had behaved at the interview. Periander,
perceiving what the action meant, and knowing that Thrasybu-
lus advised the destruction of all the leading citizens, treated his
## p. 7306 (#96) ############################################
7306
HERODOTUS
subjects from this time forward with the very greatest cruelty.
Where Cypselus had spared any, and had neither put them to
death nor banished them, Periander completed what his father
had left unfinished.
CLOSE OF THE HISTORY
A WISE ANSWER OF CYRUS THE GREAT IS RECALLED IN THE HOur of
PERSIAN HUMILIATION
IT
WAS the grandfather of this Artayctes, one Artembares by
name, who suggested to the Persians a proposal which they
readily embraced, and thus urged upon Cyrus:-" Since Jove,"
they said, "has overthrown Astyages and given the rule to the
Persians, and to thee chiefly, O Cyrus,-come now, let us quit
this land wherein we dwell; for it is a scant land and a rugged,
and let us choose ourselves some other better country. Many
such lie around us, some nearer, some further off: if we take
one of these, men will admire us far more than they do now.
Who that had the power would not so act? And when shall
we have a fairer time than now, when we are lords of so many
nations, and rule all Asia? »
Then Cyrus, who did not greatly esteem the counsel, told
them they might do so if they liked; but he warned them not
to expect in that case to continue rulers, but to prepare for being
ruled by others. "Soft countries gave birth to soft men. There
was no region which produced very delightful fruits and at the
same time men of a warlike spirit. " So the Persians departed
with altered minds, confessing that Cyrus was wiser than they;
and chose rather to dwell in a churlish land and exercise lord-
ship, than to cultivate plains and be the slaves of others.
## p. 7306 (#97) ############################################
## p. 7306 (#98) ############################################
ROBERT HERRICK
## p. 7306 (#99) ############################################
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ROBERT HE
## p. 7307 (#101) ###########################################
7307
ROBERT HERRICK
(1591-1674)
HE "exquisite » Robert Herrick was born in Cheapside, London,
in August 1591; the son of Nicholas Herrick, a goldsmith,
who died in 1592. Little knowledge of Robert's life exists
except through his poems. He went to Cambridge in 1614, and took
his degree in 1620. From this date until 1629, when, having become
a clergyman, he was given by Charles I. the living of Dean Prior,
Devonshire, there is no record of his life. During this interval, or
earlier, while he was apprenticed to his uncle, a goldsmith, he became
familiar with London city life, and made the acquaintance of Ben
Jonson, whom in his verse he constantly lauds. One ode seems to
show Herrick as belonging to the circle of wits who met to drink
sack and spiced wine at the Mermaid or the Triple Tun. It is ad-
dressed to Ben Jonson, and begins:-
"Ah, Ben!
Say, how or when
Shall we, thy guests,
Meet at those lyric feasts
Made at the Sun,
The Dog, the Triple Tun?
Where we such clusters had
As made us nobly wild, not mad;
And yet each verse of thine
Outdid the meat, outdid the frolic wine! »
Herrick wrote most of his verses at Dean Prior, where he lived
as an old bachelor in his rustic vicarage, hung with the honeysuckle
that he loved so well. His companions were Prudence Baldwin, his
housekeeper; Tracy, a pet spaniel; Phil, a tame sparrow; a cat, a pet
lamb, a goose, a few chickens, and a pig, which he taught to delight
in the dregs of his ale jug. He commends Prudence in various
verses for her loyalty, and when she dies, writes this epitaph:-
"In this little urn is laid
Prudence Baldwin (once my maid),
From whose happy spark here let
Spring the purple violet. »
-
## p. 7308 (#102) ###########################################
7308
ROBERT HERRICK
Herrick does not like Devonshire; he laughs at the country folk
in scraps of verse; and once he throws his sermon at his inattentive
hearers, whom he calls-
"A people currish, churlish as the seas,
And rude, almost as rude as savages. "
He constantly sighs for London; he hates Cromwell, and though
valuing his home, he will not subscribe to Puritanism, and is turned
out of Dean Prior by the government. Returning to London in 1648,
he drops his ecclesiastical habit and title and publishes 'Hesperides. '
Perhaps his friends aid him; perhaps he lives in Bohemia, out at
elbows but not unhappy. Whatever his estate, the good-natured
Charles II. restored him in 1660 to Dean Prior, where he died in his
eighty-fourth year, October 15th, 1674.
His portrait shows him in clerical garb with a Roman head, the
profile of the voluptuous Roman emperors, and a broad bull-throat,
which loved to quaff the blushing wine-cup or a tankard of froth-
ing beer. He is at times an amatory poet, and at times a looker-on
at country fairs and merrymakings, enjoying Twelfth Night revels,
Christmas wassailings, Whitsun ales, May games, wakes, and bridals,
morris dancers, mummers, and every manifestation of "nut-brown
mirth. "
The gay old vicar seems never so light of heart as when inditing
his tiny lyrics to those imaginary beauties whom he addresses as
Corinna, Silvia, Anthea, Electra, Diamene, Perilla, and Perinna. Julia
was a real love. Her lips are cherries, her teeth "quarelets of pearl,"
her cheeks roses, her tears "the dew of roses," her voice silver, while
her very shadow "breathes of pomander. " She is his "queen-priest";
when she is ill, the flowers wither in sympathy; and when he dies,
he is sure the "myrrh of her breath" will be sufficient to embalm
him. How splendid is her apparel! her azure petticoat sprinkled with
golden stars, under which her little feet play bo-peep; her jeweled
stomacher; her slashed sleeves; and her lawn neckerchief smelling of
musk and ambergris. How her silks shimmer, clinging to her as she
walks or blowing from her like a flame! How lovely are the "roses
on her bosom," her hair "filled with dew," the golden net that binds
her ringlets, her lacing-strings, her fillet, her ring, her ribbons, and
her bracelet!
Just as Herrick loves the coquetry of dress, he loves the goodies
his Prudence makes him: the custards, mince pies, almond paste,
frumenty, wassail, Twelfth Night cakes, possets of wine. He encour-
ages himself to hospitality:-
*From pomme d'ambre, a mixture of perfumes.
## p. 7309 (#103) ###########################################
ROBERT HERRICK
7309
"Yet can thy humble roof maintain a choir
Of singing Crickets by the fire;
And the brisk Mouse may feast herself with crumbs,
Till that the green-eyed Kitling comes. »
'The Hesperides has been frequently compared to the 'Carmina'
of Catullus; but Gosse in his sympathetic study of Herrick shows him
as more like Martial. He points out also how much Herrick owes to
Ben Jonson's Masques,' a debt which the pupil acknowledges in a-
PRAYER TO BEN JONSON
WHEN I a verse shall make,
Know I have prayed thee
For old religion's sake,
Saint Ben, to aid me.
Make the way smooth to me
When I, thy Herrick,
Honoring thee on my knee,
Offer my lyric!
Candles I'll give to thee,
And a new altar,
And thou, Saint Ben, shalt be
Writ in my Psalter.
With a few exceptions, the Noble Numbers' are written in the
same spirit. "Here," says Gosse, "our pagan priest is seen despoiled
of his vine wreath and his thyrsus, doing penance in a white sheet
and with a candle in his hand. That rubicund visage, with its sly
eye and prodigious jowl, looks ludicrously out of place in the peni-
tential surplice; but he is evidently sincere, though not very deep in
his repentance, and sings hymns of faultless orthodoxy with a loud
and lusty voice to the old pagan airs. " It must be remembered that
Herrick wrote some beautiful 'Epithalamia,' and that with him the
poetic literature of England's fairy lore, so choicely described in
Drayton's 'Nymphidia,' in Browne's 'Pastorals,' and in Ben Jonson's
'Oberon,' died, killed by the chill of Puritanism. In his own day his
verses were greatly admired, and many of them were set to music.
His first published poem was 'Oberon's Feast,' which appeared in a
'Description of the King and Queen of Fairies' (1635). Half forgot-
ten for two generations, Herrick was revived by Nichols in an article
in the Gentleman's Magazine in 1796, by a sketch in Dr. Drake's
'Literary Hours,' and by a few selected poems issued by Dr. Nott in
1810. Many modern editions exist; that of Alfred Pollard, published
in 1891, contains a fine critical preface by Swinburne.
## p. 7310 (#104) ###########################################
ROBERT HERRICK
7310
A THANKSGIVING
ORD, thou hast given me a cell
Wherein to dwell;
A little house, whose humble roof
Is weather-proof;
L
Under the spars of which I lie
Both soft and dry.
Where thou, my chamber for to ward,
Hast set a guard
Of harmless thoughts, to watch and keep
Me while I sleep.
Low is my porch, as is my fate,
Both void of state;
And yet the threshold of my door
Is worn by the poor,
Who hither come, and freely get
Good words or meat.
Like as my parlor, so my hall,
And kitchen small;
A little buttery, and therein
A little bin,
Which keeps my little loaf of bread
Unchipt, unflead.
Some brittle sticks of thorn or brier
Make me a fire,
Close by whose living coal I sit,
And glow like it.
Lord, I confess, too, when I dine,
The pulse is thine,
And all those other bits that be
There placed by thee:
The worts, the purslane, and the mess
Of water-cress,
Which of thy kindness thou hast sent;
And my content
Makes those, and my belovèd beet,
To be more sweet.
'Tis thou that crown'st my glittering hearth
With guiltless mirth;
And giv'st me wassail bowls to drink,
Spiced to the brink.
Lord, 'tis thy plenty-dropping hand
That sows my land;
## p. 7311 (#105) ###########################################
ROBERT HERRICK
7311
All this, and better, dost thou send
Me for this end:
That I should render for my part
A thankful heart,
Which, fired with incense, I resign
As wholly thine;
But the acceptance - that must be
O Lord, by thee.
TO KEEP A TRUE LENT
I
S THIS a fast-to keep
The larder lean,
And clean
From fat of veals and sheep?
Is it to quit the dish
Of flesh, yet still
To fill
The platter high with fish?
Is it to fast an hour,
Or ragged to go,
Or show
A downcast look and sour?
No! 'Tis a fast to dole
Thy sheaf of wheat,
And meat,
Unto the hungry soul.
It is to fast from strife,
From old debate
And hate;
To circumcise thy life.
To show a heart grief-rent;
To starve thy sin,
Not bin,-
And that's to keep thy Lent.
## p. 7312 (#106) ###########################################
7312
ROBERT HERRICK
TO FIND GOD
WEI
EIGH me the fire: or canst thou find
A way to measure out the wind;
Distinguish all those floods that are
Mixt in the watery theatre;
And taste thou them as saltless there
As in their channel first they were;
Tell me the people that do keep
Within the kingdoms of the deep;
Or fetch me back that cloud again,
Beshivered into seeds of rain;
Tell me the motes, dust, sands, and spears
Of corn, when Summer shakes his ears;
Show me thy world of stars, and whence
They noiseless spill their influence:
This if thou canst: then show me Him
That rides the glorious cherubim.
TO DAFFODILS
AIR Daffodils, we weep to see
You haste away so soon:
As yet the early-rising sun
Has not attained his noon.
Stay, stay,
Until the hasting day
Has run
FA
But to the evensong;
And having prayed together, we
Will go with you along.
We have short time to stay as you;
We have as short a spring;
As quick a growth to meet decay
As you, or anything.
We die,
As your hours do, and dry
Away,
Like to the summer's rain;
Or as the pearls of morning's dew,
Ne'er to be found again.
## p. 7313 (#107) ###########################################
ROBERT HERRICK
7313
TO DAISIES, NOT TO SHUT SO SOON
SHUT
HUT not so soon; the dull-eyed night
Has not as yet begun
To make a seisure on the light,
Or to seal up the sun.
XIII-458
No marigolds yet closed are;
No shadows great appear;
Nor doth the early shepherds'-star
Shine like a spangle here.
Stay ye but till my Julia close
Her life-begetting eye;
And let the whole world then dispose
Itself to live or die.
STAY
TAY while ye will, or go;
And leave no scent behind ye;
Yet trust me, I shall know
The place where I may find ye:
WHY
TO CARNATIONS
TO PRIMROSES FILLED WITH MORNING DEW
Y do ye weep, sweet babes? Can tears
Speak grief in you,
Who were but born
Just as the morn
Teemed her refreshing dew?
Alas! ye have not known that shower
That mars a flower;
Nor felt th' unkind
Breath of the blasting wind;
Nor are ye worn with years;
Or warped, as we,
Who think it strange to see
Within my Lucia's cheek
(Whose livery ye wear),
Play ye at hide-and-seek,—
I'm sure to find ye there.
## p. 7314 (#108) ###########################################
ROBERT HERRICK
7314
Such pretty flowers, like unto orphans young,
Speaking by tears before ye have a tongue.
Speak, whimpering younglings, and make known
The reason why
Ye droop and weep.
Is it for want of sleep,
Or childish lullaby?
Or that ye have not seen as yet
The violet?
Or brought a kiss
From that sweetheart to this?
No, no; this sorrow, shown
By your tears shed,
Would have this lecture read:
"That things of greatest, so of meanest worth,
Conceived with grief are, and with tears brought forth. ”
YⓇ
TO MEADOWS
E HAVE been fresh and green;
Ye have been filled with flowers;
And ye the walks have been
Where maids have spent their hours;
Ye have beheld where they
With wicker arks did come,
To kiss and bear away
The richer cowslips home;
You've heard them sweetly sing,
And seen them in a round;
Each virgin, like the spring.
With honeysuckles crowned.
But now we see none here
Whose silvery feet did tread,
And with disheveled hair
Adorned this smoother mead.
Like unthrifts, having spent
Your stock, and needy grown,
You're left here to lament
Your poor estates alone.
## p. 7315 (#109) ###########################################
ROBERT HERRICK
7315
TO VIOLETS
ELCOME, maids of honor:
You do bring
In the Spring,
WE
And wait upon her.
She has virgins many
Fresh and fair;
Yet you are
More sweet than any.
Y' are the maiden posies,
And so graced
To be placed
Fore damask roses.
Yet though thus respected,
By-and-by
Ye do lie,
Poor girls, neglected.
HⓇ
THE NIGHT PIECE-TO JULIA
ER eyes the glow-worm lend thee,
The shooting-stars attend thee;
And the elves also,
Whose little eyes glow
Like the sparks of fire, befriend thee.
No Will-o-th'-wisp mislight thee,
Nor snake nor slow-worm bite thee:
But on thy way
Not making stay,
Since ghost there's none t'affright thee!
Let not the dark thee cumber;
What though the moon does slumber?
The stars of the night
Will lend thee their light,
Like tapers clear, without number.
Then, Julia, let me woo thee
Thus, thus to come unto me;
And when I shall meet
Thy silvery feet,
My soul I'll pour into thee
## p. 7316 (#110) ###########################################
7316
ROBERT HERRICK
MRS. ELIZ. WHEELER
UNDER THE NAME OF THE LOST SHEPHERDESS
MONG the myrtles as I walkt,
Love and my sighs thus intertalkt:
Tell me, said I, in deep distress,
Where I may find my Shepherdess.
Thou fool, said Love, know'st thou not this?
A
In everything that's sweet, she is.
In yond' carnation go and seek
Where thou shalt find her lip and cheek;
In that enameled pansy by,
There thou shalt have her curious eye;
In bloom of peach and rose's bud,
There waves the streamer of her blood.
'Tis true, said I; and thereupon
I went to pluck them one by one,
To make of parts an union;
But on a sudden all were gone.
At which I stopt: said Love, these be
The true resemblances of thee;
For as these flowers, thy joys must die,
And in the turning of an eye;
And all thy hopes of her must wither,
Like those short sweets ere knit together.
DELIGHT IN DISORDER
A
SWEET disorder in the dress
Kindles in clothes a wantonness :
A Lawn about the shoulders thrown
Into a fine distractión-
An erring Lace, which here and there
Enthralls the crimson Stomacher-
A Cuffe neglectful, and thereby
Ribbands to flow confusedly.
A winning wave (deserving Note)
In the tempestuous petticoat-
A careless shoestring, in whose tye
I see a wild civility—
Do more bewitch me, than when Art
Is too precise in every part.
## p. 7317 (#111) ###########################################
7317
HENRIK HERTZ
(1798-1870)
HE literary activity of Henrik Hertz falls within the golden
age of Danish literature. The opening years of the nine-
teenth century brought Oehlenschläger's first great poem,
followed by his Poetical Writings' and tragedies. A little later,
Hauch began writing his lyrics and romances in verse; Heiberg was
taking his position as critic and as creator of the Danish vaudeville;
Heiberg's mother, the Baroness Gyllembourg, was writing her popu-
lar novels, shielding her identity by signing them "By the Author of
'An Every-Day Story" (her first successful
novel); and finally, Hans Christian Ander-
sen joined the ranks with his famous 'Fairy
Tales. ' On the threshold of the century
stood Baggesen, who in spite of his sincere
admiration for the rising school of roman-
ticism had remained the representative of
the classic school, and had fought a brave
battle for form, when Oehlenschläger in the
enthusiasm of a wider vision began to neg-
lect it.
Continuing the line of Denmark's liter-
ary men of the first rank came Hertz, whose
career at the outset had-temporarily-a
direct connection with Baggesen. As dis-
tinguished among the greater Danish lyrical poets and the writers of
his own time, he may be called the poet of passion, while Oehlen-
schläger stands as the poet of dignity, and Heiberg as the poet of
form. Born of Jewish parents in Copenhagen, on August 25th, 1798,
the boy was early orphaned, and brought up by a relative, an editor
of a leading newspaper. A literary atmosphere thus became his nat-
ural element early in life; and it is not remarkable that he showed his
preference for authorship and his gifts for it rather than for the bar,
to which he was nevertheless called in 1825. He began his literary
activity with three or four plays, including 'Buchardt and his Fam-
ily' (1827), 'Love and Policy,' and 'Cupid's Strokes of Genius' (1830).
But in the last-mentioned year, when Baggesen had been dead some
four years, Copenhagen was startled by the publication of a satirical
HENRIK HERTZ
## p. 7318 (#112) ###########################################
7318
HENRIK HERTZ
literary criticism, purporting to be the great poet's message and com-
mentary from another world, under the title of Letters of a Ghost. '
It exhibited Baggesen's ironical humor, critical insight, and finish of
style; but all was blended with a wider sympathy and a broader tol-
erance than Baggesen had shown during his later years. The volume
was by Henrik Hertz, who however did not acknowledge the author-
ship till later, though the book met with enormous success and was
the talk of the town for a season. It may be noted in passing that
the Letters' contained a cutting criticism of Hans Christian Ander-
sen's earlier writings, severe enough to cause that sensitive author
many an hour of depression; and that when Andersen met Hertz
some years later in Rome, he had not yet conquered his dread of
the critic. They became excellent friends; and when Andersen found
his true field and held it, with his fairy tales, Hertz became one of
his warmest admirers.
Continuing to devote himself to the stage, Hertz wrote The
Savings Bank,' a comedy which had a great success, and still holds
the stage to-day. In 1838 he advanced into the romantic drama in
verse, Svend Dyring's House. ' The subject of this piece he took
from the old Danish folk-songs, and kept throughout their tone of
simplicity and tenderness. We find in this drama the knightly lover
cutting runes in an apple, that he may by their help win the love of
the gentle Regisse. We have the wicked stepmother who tries to win
the knight for her own unlovable daughter, cruelly neglecting Regisse
and her little sisters. We have the ghost of the dead mother, who
comes at night to give her own little children the motherly care they
so sadly need. Finally, after much sorrow, the lovers are happily
united. All is framed in the most exquisite verse, and presented with
great literary charm and dramatic power. The subject was so essen-
tially Danish, however, that it did not spread Hertz's fame outside of
his own country.
To the foreign world, in fact, Henrik Hertz is principally known
by one work, 'King René's Daughter,' a charming romantic drama,
dated as late as 1845. It was read and acted with immediate and
immense success in Denmark, where it is still in every repertory,
and thence passed into the standard library of the cultivated world.
In 1848 followed the author's tragedy of 'Ninon,' a high proof of his
artistic and dramatic power; but 'Ninon' is not universally known
like its charming predecessor. King René's Daughter,' the scene
of which is laid in Provence, is of most simple texture. It is more
like a pretty folk-tale than a drama, although its half-dozen person-
ages include historical ones, and even its heroine, the gentle Iolanthe,
is an idealized Princess Yolande, daughter of the real King René. It
is full of the charm of innocence, pure love, and chivalric romance,
## p. 7319 (#113) ###########################################
HENRIK HERTZ
7319
and a certain idyllic freshness exhales from every page and situation
of it, like the perfume from the roses in the blind Iolanthe's garden.
Sweet, almost pastoral and yet moving to a romantic climax, it is in
touch with such things as Shakespeare's 'Winter's Tale,' or some of
those Provençal legends that the poets of Southern France have set
in verse. The diction is beautiful, and rarely has so happy a balance
between the play to read and the play to act been maintained. It
has passed into translations everywhere; and, a distinctively Southern
subject treated by a Northern poet, it stands for a kind of graft of
palm on pine.
Hertz's life was his literary work; and the record of that is its
most interesting element to the world. He died in Copenhagen,
February 25th, 1870.
THE BLIND PRINCESS
From King René's Daughter'
[The Princess Iolanthe, a lovely maid, has been brought up in complete
ignorance of the fact that her beautiful eyes have ever lacked the power of
sight, and in entire inability to judge of what the faculty of sight may be to
others. She has never heard of it, and is so free and unconstrained in all her
movements as not to need such a sense for her further happiness. Count Tris-
tan of Vaudemont makes his way to her garden retreat, and falls passionately
in love with her, unaware of her misfortune; and so ensues this dialogue. ]
RISTAN-Pray give me one of yonder blushing roses,
TRE
That rear their petals, fairest 'mongst all flowers,
As though they were the counterfeit of thee!
Iolanthe - A rose?
Tristan
Oh, willingly! [Plucks and gives him a white rose.
Ah, it is white!
-
Give me the red one, that is fair as thou!
Iolanthe - What meanest thou? – a red one?
Tristan [pointing]-
Iolanthe -Take it thyself!
Tristan-
One of these.
No; let me keep the rose
Which thou hast chosen, which thy fair hand has gathered.
And in good sooth, I do applaud thy choice.
For the white rose, within whose calyx sleeps
A faint and trembling ruddiness, betypes
The dream-like beauty of this garden fair.
Give me another rose a white one too;
Then with the twin flowers will I deck my cap,
And wear them as thy colors evermore.
## p. 7320 (#114) ###########################################
HENRIK HERTZ
7320
Iolanthe plucks and gives him a red rose] -
Here is a rose: meanest thou one like this?
Tristan [starts]—I asked thee for a white rose.
Iolanthe
Well, and this?
Tristan - Why this? [Aside. ] What thought comes o'er me?
[Aloud. ] Nay, then, tell me
How many roses have I in my hand?
Iolanthe [stretches out her hand towards them] –
――――
Give me them, then.
Tristan
Iolanthe
Tristan [aside]-
-
Iolanthe
-
[Holds up the two roses, along with another which he
has himself gathered]
How can I so?
Iolanthe
Tristan -
Tristan [confused]--
[Aloud, and with a faltering voice] —
Nay, I am sure you know.
Alas! alas! she's blind!
No; you mistake.
If I would know how anything is shaped,
Or what its number, I must touch it first.
Is not this clear?
Nay, tell me without touching.
Yes, certainly; you're right.
And yet sometimes-
—
Well, well?
sometimes? Speak! speak!
I think there are — that there are certain things
Which we distinguish by their hues alone,
-
As various kinds of flowers, and various stuffs.
Iolanthe - Thou mean'st by this their character, their form-
Is it not so?
Nay, not exactly that.
Tristan -
Iolanthe - Is it so hard, then, to distinguish flowers?
Are not the roses round and soft and fine,
Round to the feeling, as the zephyr's breath,
And soft and glowing as a summer's eve?
Are gilliflowers like roses? No; their scent
Bedizzies, like the wine I gave to thee.
And then a cactus- are its arrowy points
Not stinging, like the wind when frosts are keen?
Tristan [aside]- Amazement!
[Aloud. ]
Have they never told thee, then,
That objects, things, can be distinguished, though
Placed at a distance, with the aid-of-sight?
Iolanthe― At distance? Yes! I by his twittering know
The little bird that sits upon the roof,
And in like fashion, all men by their voice.
-
## p. 7321 (#115) ###########################################
HENRIK HERTZ
7321
The sprightly steed whereon I daily ride,
I know him in the distance by his pace,
And by his neigh. Yet-with the help of sight?
They told me not of that. An instrument
Fashioned by art, or but a tool, perhaps?
I do not know this sight. Canst teach me, then,
Its use and purpose?
Tristan [aside]-
O Almighty powers!
