No More Learning

139
XVIII.
What country girl bewitches thy heart, who knows not how to draw her dress about her ankles?
XIX.
But if thou lovest us, choose another and a younger bedfellow ; for I will not brook to live with thee — old woman with young man.
xx.
Do thou, Dica, set garlands round thy lovely hair, twining shoots of dill together with soft bands; for those who have fair flowers may best stand first, even in the favor of goddesses, who turn their face away from those who lack garlands.
(Translation of C. D. Tonge. )
But place those garlands on thy lovely hair, Twining the tender sprouts of anise green With skillful hand ; for offerings and flowers Are pleasing to the gods, who hate all those Who come before them with uncrowned heads.
XXI.
I love delicacy, and for me Love has the sun's splendor and beauty.
XXII.
I have a fair daughter with a form like a golden flower, — Cleis, the beloved, above whom I [prize] nor all Lydia nor
lovely [Lesbos].
XXIII.
Sweet mother, I cannot weave my web, broken as I am by long ing for a boy, at soft Aphrodite's will.
(Paraphrase of Moore. )
As o'er her loom the Lesbian maid
In lovesick languor hung her head,
Unknowing where her fingers strayed, She weeping turned away and said :
140
FRAGMENTS OF SAPPHO.
" Oh, my sweet mother, 'tis in vain ; I cannot weave as once I wove, So wildered is my heart and brain
With thinking of that youth I love. "
XXIV.
As the sweet apple blushes on the end of the bough, the very end of the bough, which the gatherers overlooked — nay, overlooked not, but could not reach.
(Translation of Francis T. Palgrave. )
O fair — O sweet!
As the sweet apple blooms high on the bough,
High as the highest, forgot of the gatherers, So thou : —
Yet not so : nor forgot of the gatherers ; High o'er their reach in the golden air ;
O sweet — O fair!
xxv.
As on the hills the shepherds trample the hyacinth under foot, and the flower darkens on the ground.
(Translation of Sir Edwin Arnold. )
Pines she like to the hyacinth out on the path by the hilltop ; Shepherds tread it aside, and its purples lie lost on the herbage.
Beauty — a Combination from Sappho.
(Translation by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, of XXIV. and XXV. combined. ) I.
Like the sweet apple which reddens upon the topmost bough,
Atop on the topmost twig, — which the pluckers forgot somehow, — Forgot it not, nay, but got it not, for none could get it till now.
n.
Like the wild hyacinth flower which on the hills is found,
Which the passing feet of the shepherds forever tear and wound, Until the purple blossom is trodden into the ground.
FRAGMENTS OF SAPPHO. 141
XXVI.
Evening, thou that bringest all that bright morning scattered ; thou bringest the sheep, thou bringest the goat, thou bringest the child back to her mother.
(Byron's paraphrase in "Don Juan. ")
O Hesperus ! thou bringest all good things, Home to the weary, to the hungry cheer,
To the young bird the parent's brooding wings, The welcome stall to the o'er-labored steer ;
Whate'er of peace about our hearthstone clings, Whate'er our household gods protect of dear,
Are gathered round us by thy look of rest ;
Thou bring'st the child, too, to its mother's breast.
XXVII.
From an Epithalamium.
A. — Maidenhood, maidenhood, whither art thou gone away
from me?
B. — Never again will I
(Epitaph. ) This is the dust of Timas, whom Persephone's dark chamber received, dead before her wedding ; when she perished, all her fellows dressed with sharpened steel the lovely tresses of their heads.
XXIX. May the night be doubled for me.
XXX.
(Epitaph. ) Maidens, dumb as I am, I speak thus, if any ask, and set before your feet a tireless voice : To Leto's daughter ^Ethiopia was I dedicated by Aristo, daughter of Hermocleides son of Saon- aiades, thy servant, O queen of women : whom bless thou, and deign to glorify our house.
XXXI.
On a Priestess op Diana.
—
come to thee never again.
XXVIII.
I answer from the dead :
Does any ask ?
A voice that lives is graven o'er my head ;
To dark-eyed Dian, ere my days begun,
Aristo vowed me, wife of Saon's son :
Then hear thy priestess, hear, O Virgin Power, And thy best gifts on Saon's lineage shower.
142 SAPPHICS.
SAPPHICS.
By ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE.
[Algernon Charles Swinburne : English poet ; born at London, April 5, 1837. His skill in the use of English rhythms and rhymes is unexcelled by any modern English poet. He also writes French and Qreek with remarkable suc cess. His first notable work was two plays, " The Queen Mother " and " Rosa mund," 1881. "Atalanta " in Calydon," considered the finest reproduction of the classical spirit, 1804 ; Cbastelard," 1866; "Bothwell," 1874, the longest drama in English, consisting of about fifteen thousand lines and a multitude of characters, are among his ablest productions. His "Poems and Ballads" of 1866 met with severe criticism, and were withdrawn from the market. He has published in all no less than twenty volumes. ]
All the night sleep came not upon my eyelids, Shed not dew, nor shook nor unclosed a feather, Yet with lips shut close and with eyes of iron
Stood and beheld me.
Then to me so lying awake a vision
Came without sleep over seas and touched me, Softly touched mine eyelids and lips ; and I too,
Full of the vision,
Saw the white implacable Aphrodite,
Saw the hair unbound and the feet unsandaled Shine as fire of sunset on western waters ;
Saw the reluctant
Feet, the straining plumes of the doves that drew her, Looking always, looking with necks reverted,
Back to Lesbos, back to the hills whereunder
Shone Mitylene ;
Heard the flying feet of the Loves behind her Make a sudden thunder upon the waters,
As the thunder flung from the strong unclosing
Wings of a great wind.
So the goddess fled from her place, with awful Sound of feet and thunder of wings around her ; While behind a clamor of singing women
Severed the twilight
Ah the singing, ah the delight, the passion !
All the Loves wept, listening ; sick with anguish, Stood the crowned nine Muses about Apollo ;
Fear was upon them,
SAPPHICS.
While the tenth sang wonderful things they knew not Ah the tenth, the Lesbian ! the nine were silent,
None endured the sound of her song for weeping ;
Laurel by laurel,
Faded all their crowns ; but about her forehead, Round her woven tresses and ashen temples White as dead snow, paler than grass in summer,
Ravaged with kisses,
Shone a light of fire as a crown forever.
Yea, almost the implacable Aphrodite
Paused, and almost wept; such a song was that song,
Yea, by her name too
Called her, saying, " Turn to me, O my Sappho ! " Yet she turned her face from the Love's, she saw not Tears for laughter darken immortal eyelids,
Heard not about her
Fearful fitful wings of the doves departing,
Saw not how the bosom of Aphrodite
Shook with weeping, saw not her shaken raiment,
Saw not her hands wrung ;
Saw the Lesbians kissing across their smitten
Lutes with lips more sweet than the sound of lute strings Mouth to mouth and hand upon hand her chosen,
Fairer than all men;
Only saw the beautiful lips and fingers, Full of songs and kisses and little whispers, Full of musio ; only beheld among them
Soar, as a bird soars
Newly fledged, her visible song, a marvel, Made of perfect sound and exceeding passion, Sweetly shapen, terrible, full of thunders,
Clothed with the wind's wings.
Then rejoiced she, laughing with love, and scattered Roses, awful roses of holy blossom ;
Then the Loves thronged sadly with hidden faces
Round Aphrodite,
Then the Muses, stricken at heart, were silent ;
Yea, the gods waxed pale ; such a song was that song. All reluctant, all with a fresh repulsion,
Fled from before her.
144
LYRICS OF ALC^US.
All withdrew long since, and the land was barren, Full of fruitless women and music only.
Now perchance, when winds are assuaged at sunset,
Lulled at the dewfall,
By the gray seaside, unassuaged, unheard of, Unbeloved, unseen in the ebb of twilight, Ghosts of outcast women return lamenting,
Purged not in Lethe,
Clothed about with flame and with tears, and singing Songs that move the heart of the shaken heaven, Songs that break the heart of the earth with pity,
Hearing, to hear them.
LYRICS OF ALCLEUS.
(About B. c. 600) (Translated by Sir William Jones. ) What constitutes a State?
What constitutes a state ?
Not high-raised battlement or labored mound,
Thick wall or moated gate ;
Not cities proud with spires and turrets crowned ;
Not bays and broad-armed ports,
Where, laughing at the storm, rich navies ride,
Not starred and spangled courts,
Where low-browed baseness wafts perfume to pride.
No, — men, high-minded men,
With powers as far above dull brutes endued
In forest, brake, or den,
As beasts excel cold rocks and brambles rude —
Men who their duties know,
But know their rights, and, knowing, dare maintain,
Prevent the long-aimed blow,
And crush the tyrant while they rend the chain ;
These constitute a state ;
And sovereign law, that state's collected will,
O'er thrones and globes elate
Sits empress, crowning good, repressing ill. Smit by her sacred frown,
LYRICS OF ALC. EUS.
The fiend, Dissension, like a vapor sinks ; And e'en the all-dazzling crown
Hides his faint rays, and at her bidding shrinks ; Such was this heaven-loved isle,
Than Lesbos fairer and the Cretan shore ! No more shall freedom smile ?
Shall Britons languish, and be men no more ? Since all must life resign,
Those sweet rewards which decorate the brave 'Tis folly to decline,
And steal inglorious to the silent grave.
Defying the Stobm.
(Translated by J. A. Symonds. )
The rain of Zeus descends, and from high heaven A storm is driven :
And on the running water brooks the cold Lays icy hold :
Then up ! beat down the winter ; make the fire Blaze high and higher;
Mix wine as sweet as honey of the bee Abundantly ;
Then drink with comfortable wool around Your temples bound.
We must not yield our hearts to woe, or wear With wasting care ;
For grief will profit us no whit, my friend, Nor nothing mend :
But this is our best medicine, with wine fraught To cast out thought
An Arsenal.
(Translated by "William Mure. )
From roof to roof the spacious palace halls Glitter with war's array ;
With burnished metal clad, the lofty walls Beam like the bright noouday.
There white-plumed helmets hang from many a Above, in threatening row ;
Steel-garnished tunics and broad coats of mail
Spread o'er the space below. vol. m. — 10
THE OLD AGE OF THE SENSUALIST.
Chalcidian blades enow, and belts are here, Greaves and emblazoned shields ;
Well-tried protectors from the hostile spear, On other battle-fields.
With these good helps our work of war's begun, With these our victory must be won.
A Stobm at Sea.
(Translated by Sir William Jones. )
Now here, now there, the wild waves sweep, Whilst we betwixt them o'er the deep,
In shattered tempest-beaten bark, With laboring ropes are onward driven,
The billows dashing o'er our dark Upheaved deck — in tatters riven
Our sails — whose yawning rents between The raging sea and sky are seen.
Loose from their hold our anchors burst, And then the third, the fatal wave,
Comes rolling onward like the first, And doubles all our toil to save.
THE OLD AGE OF THE SENSUALIST.
By MIMNERMUS.
[About 625 B. C. ] (Translated by J. A. Symonds. )
What's life or pleasure wanting Aphrodite ? When to the gold-haired goddess cold am I,
When love and love's soft gifts no more delight me, Nor stolen dalliance, then I fain would die !
Ah ! fair and lovely bloom the flowers of youth ; On men and maids they beautifully smile :
But soon comes doleful eld, who, void of ruth, Indifferently afflicts the fair and vile :
Then cares wear out the heart ; old eyes forlorn Scarce reck the very sunshine to behold ——
Unloved by youths, of every maid the scorn So hard a lot God lays upon the old.
SOLON.
SOLON. By PLPTARCH.
147
[Plutarch : A Greek writer of biographies and miscellaneous works ; born about a. d. 60. He came of a wealthy and distinguished family and received a careful philosophical training at Athens under the Peripatetic philosopher Ammonius. After this he made several journeys, and stayed a considerable time in Rome, where he enjoyed friendly intercourse with persons of distinction, and conducted the education of the future Emperor Hadrian. He died about a. d. 120 in his native town, in which he held the office of archon and priest of the Pythian Apollo. His fame as an author is founded upon the celebrated " Parallel Lives," consisting of the biographies of forty-six Greeks and Romans, divided into pairs. Each pair contains the life of a Greek and a Roman, and generally ends with a comparison of the two. Plutarch's other writings, more than sixty short treatises on a great variety of subjects, are grouped under the title of " Morals. "]
It is perfectly possible for a good man and a statesman, without being solicitous for superfluities, to show some concern for competent necessaries. In his time, as Hesiod says, — " Work was a shame to none," nor was distinction made with respect to trade, but merchandise was a noble calling, which brought home the good things which the barbarous nations enjoyed, was the occasion of friendship with their kings, and a great source of experience. Some merchants have built great cities, as Protis, the founder of Massilia, to whom the Gauls, near the Rhone, were much attached. Some report also, that Thales and Hippocrates the mathematician traded ; and that Plato defrayed the charges of his travels by selling oil in Egypt. Solon's softness and profuseness, his popular rather than philo sophical tone about pleasure in his poems, have been ascribed to his trading life ; for, having suffered a thousand dangers, it was natural they should be recompensed with some gratifica tions and enjoyments ; but that he accounted himself rather poor than rich is evident from the lines, —
Some wicked men are rich, some good are poor — We will not change our virtue for their store : Virtue's a thing that none can take away ;
But money changes owners all the day.
At first he used his poetry only in trifles, not for any serious purpose, but simply to pass away his idle hours ; but afterwards he introduced moral sentences and state matters, which he did,
148 SOLON.
not to record them merely as an historian, but to justify his own actions, and sometimes to correct, chastise, and stir up the Athenians to noble performances. Some report that he designed to put his laws into heroic verse, and that they began thus, —
We humbly beg a blessing on our laws
From mighty Jove, and honor, and applause.
In philosophy, as most of the wise men then, he chiefly es teemed the political part of morals ; in physics, he was very plain and antiquated, as appears by this, —
It is the clouds that make the snow and hail, And thunder comes from lightning without fail ; The sea is stormy when the winds have blown, But it deals fairly when 'tis left alone.
And, indeed, it is probable that at that time Thales alone had raised philosophy above mere practice into speculation ; and the rest of the wise men were so called from prudence in
. . . It is stated that Anacharsis and Solon, and Solon and Thales, were familiarly acquainted, and some
political concerns.
have delivered parts of their discourse ; for, they say, Ana charsis, coming to Athens, knocked at Solon's door, and told him, that he, being a stranger, was come to be his guest, and contract a friendship with him ; and Solon replying, " It is better to make friends at home," Anacharsis replied, " Then you that are at home make friendship with me. " Solon, some what surprised at the readiness of the repartee, received him kindly, and kept him some time with him, being already en gaged in public business and the compilation of his laws ; which, when Anacharsis understood, he laughed at him for imagining the dishonesty and covetousness of his countrymen could be restrained by written laws, which were like spiders' webs, and would catch, it is true, the weak and poor, but easily be broken by the mighty and rich. To this Solon rejoined that men keep their promises when neither side can get anything by the break ing of them ; and he would so fit his laws to the citizens, that all should understand it was more eligible to be just than to break the laws. But the event rather agreed with the conjec ture of Anacharsis than Solon's hope. Anacharsis, being once at the Assembly, expressed his wonder at the fact that in Greece wise men spoke and fools decided.
SOLON.
149
Solon went, they say, to Thales, at Miletus, and wondered that Thales took no care to get him a wife and children. To this, Thales made no answer for the present ; but a few days after procured a stranger to pretend that he had left Athens ten days ago ; and Solon inquiring what news there, the man, ac cording to his instructions, replied, " None but a young man's funeral, which the whole city attended ; for he was the son, they said, of an honorable man, the most virtuous of the citi zens, who was not then at home, but had been traveling a long time. " Solon replied, "What a miserable man is he! But
"I have heard it," says the man,
what was his name ? "
have now forgotten it, only there was a great talk of his wis dom and his justice. " Thus Solon was drawn on by every answer, and bis fears heightened, till at last, being extremely concerned, he mentioned his own name, and asked the stranger if that young man was called Solon's son ; and the stranger assenting, he began to beat his head, and to do and say all that is usual with men in transports of grief. But Thales took his hand, and, with a smile, said, " These things, Solon, keep me from marriage and rearing children, which are too great for even your constancy to support ; however, be not concerned at the report, for it is a fiction. " This Hermippus relates, from Pataecus, who boasted that he had ^Esop's soul.
However, it is irrational and poor-spirited not to seek con veniences for fear of losing them, for upon the same account we should not allow ourselves to like wealth, glory, or wisdom, since we may fear to be deprived of all these ; nay, even virtue itself, than which there is no greater nor more desirable posses sion, is often suspended by sickness or drugs. Now Thales, though unmarried, could not be free from solicitude, unless he likewise felt no care for his friends, his kinsmen, or his coun try ; yet we are told he adopted Cybisthus, his sister's son. For the soul, having a principle of kindness in itself, and being born to love, as well as perceive, think, or remember, inclines and fixes upon some stranger, when a man has none of his own to embrace. And alien or illegitimate objects insinuate them selves into his affections, as into some estate that lacks lawful
heirs ; and with affection come anxiety and care ; insomuch that you may see men that use the strongest language against the marriage bed and the fruit of it, when some servant's or concubine's child is sick or dies, almost killed with grief, and abjectly lamenting. Some have given way to shameful and
"
but
150
SOLON.
desperate sorrow at the loss of a dog or horse ; others have borne the death of virtuous children without any extravagant or unbecoming grief, have passed the rest of their lives like men, and according to the principles of reason. It is not affec tion, it is weakness that brings men, unarmed against fortune by reason, into these endless pains and terrors ; and they indeed have not even the present enjoyment of what they dote upon, the possibility of the future loss causing them continual pangs, tremors, and distresses. We must not provide against the loss of wealth by poverty, or of friends by refusing all acquaintance, or of children by having none, but by morality and reason. But of this too much.
Now, when the Athenians were tired with a tedious and dif ficult war that they conducted against the Megarians for the island Salamis, and made a law that it should be death for any man, by writing or speaking, to assert that the city ought to endeavor to recover it, Solon, vexed at the disgrace, and per ceiving thousands of the youth wished for somebody to begin, but did not dare to stir first for fear of the law, counterfeited a distraction, and by his own family it was spread about the city that he was mad. He then secretly composed some elegiac verses, and getting them by heart, that it might seem extem pore, ran out into the market place with a cap upon his head, and, the people gathering about him, got upon the herald's stand, and sang that elegy which begins thus : —
I am a herald come from Salamis the fair,
My news from thence my verses shall declare.
The poem is called Salamis ; it contains an hundred verses very elegantly written ; when it had been sung, his friends commended it, and especially Pisistratus exhorted the citizens to obey his directions ; insomuch that they recalled the law, and renewed the war under Solon's conduct.
The Megarians, however, still contending, and both sides having received considerable losses, they chose the Spartans for arbitrators. Some of Apollo's oracles, where he calls Salamis Ionian, made much for Solon. This matter was determined by five Spartans, Critolaidas, Amompharetus, Hypsechidas, Anaxilas, and Cleomenes.
For this, Solon grew famed and powerful ; but his advice in favor of defending the oracle at Delphi, to give aid, and not to suffer the Cirrhaeans to profane it, but to maintain the honor
SOLON.
151
of the god, got him most repute among the Greeks ; for upon his persuasion the Amphictyons undertook the war.
Now the Cylonian pollution had a long while disturbed the commonwealth, ever since the time when Megacles the archon persuaded the conspirators with Cylon that took sanctuary in Minerva's temple to come down and stand to a fair trial. And they, tying a thread to the image, and holding one end of it, went down to the tribunal ; but when they came to the temple of the Furies, the thread broke of its own accord, upon which, as if the goddess had refused them protection, they were seized by Megacles and the other magistrates ; as many as were with out the temples were stoned, those that fled for sanctuary were butchered at the altar, and only those escaped who made sup plication to the wives of the magistrates. But they from that time were considered under pollution, and regarded with hatred. The remainder of the faction of Cylon grew strong again, and had continual quarrels with the family of Megacles ; and now the quarrel being at its height, and the people divided, Solon, being in reputation, interposed with the chiefest of the Athe nians, and by entreaty and admonition persuaded the polluted to submit to a trial and the decision of three hundred noble citizens. And Myron of Phlya being their accuser, they were found guilty, and as many as were then alive were banished, and the bodies of the dead were dug up, and scattered beyond the confines of the country.
In the midst of these distractions, the Megarians falling upon them, they lost Nisaea and Salamis again; besides, the
city was disturbed with superstitious fears and strange appear ances, and the priests declared that the sacrifices intimated some villainies and pollutions that were to be expiated. Upon this, they sent for Epimenides the Phaestian from Crete, who is counted the seventh wise man by those that will not admit Periander into the number. He seems to have been thought a favorite of heaven, possessed of knowledge in all the super natural and ritual parts of religion ; and, therefore, the men of his age called him a new Cures, and son of a nymph named Balte. When he came to Athens, and grew acquainted with Solon, he served him in many instances, and prepared the way for his legislation. He made them moderate in their forms of worship, and abated their mourning by ordering some sacrifices presently after the funeral, and taking off those severe and
barbarous ceremonies which the women usually practiced ; but
152 SOLON.
the greatest benefit was his purifying and sanctifying the city, by certain propitiatory and expiatory lustrations, and founda tions of sacred buildings, by that means making them more submissive to justice, and more inclined to harmony. It is reported that, looking upon Munychia, and considering a long while, he said to those that stood by, "How blind is man in future things ! for did the Athenians foresee what mischief this would do their city, they would even eat it with their own teeth to be rid of it. " A similar anticipation is ascribed to Thales ; they say he commanded his friends to bury him in an obscure and contemned quarter of the territory of Miletus, say ing that it should some day be the market place of the Mile sians.
Epimenides, being much honored, and receiving from the city rich offers of large gifts and privileges, requested but one branch of the sacred olive, and, on that being granted, returned.
The Athenians, now the Cylonian sedition was over and the polluted gone into banishment, fell into their old quarrels about the government, there being as many different parties as there were diversities in the country. The Hill quarter favored democracy, the Plain, oligarchy, and those that lived by the Seaside stood for a mixed sort of government, and so hindered either of the other parties from prevailing. And the disparity of fortune between the rich and the poor at that time also reached its height ; so that the city seemed to be in a truly dangerous condition, and no other means for freeing it from disturbances and settling it to be possible but a despotic power. All the people were indebted to the rich ; and either they tilled their land for their creditors, paying them a sixth part of the increase, and were, therefore, called Hectemorii and Thetes, or else they engaged their body for the debt, and might be seized, and either sent into slavery at home, or sold to stran gers ; some (for no law forbade it) were forced to sell their chil dren, or fly their country to avoid the cruelty of their creditors ; but the most part and the bravest of them began to combine
together and encourage one another to stand to it, to choose a leader, to liberate the condemned debtors, divide the land, and change the government.
Then the wisest of the Athenians, perceiving Solon was of all men the only one not implicated in the troubles, that he had not joined in the exactions of the rich, and was not involved in the necessities of the poor, pressed him to succor the common
SOLON. 153
wealth and compose the differences. Though Phanias the Les bian affirms that Solon, to save his country, put a trick upon both parties, and privately promised the poor a division of the lands, and the rich security for their debts. Solon, however, himself says that it was reluctantly at first that he engaged in state affairs, being afraid of the pride of one party and the greediness of the other ; he was chosen archon, however, after Philombrotus, and empowered to be an arbitrator and lawgiver, the rich consenting because he was wealthy, the poor because he was honest. There was a saying of his current before the election, that when things are even there never can be war, and this pleased both parties, the wealthy and the poor, — the one conceiving him to mean, when all have their fair proportion ; the others, when all are absolutely equal.
Thus, there being great hopes on both sides, the chief men pressed Solon to take the government into his own hands, and, when he was once settled, manage the business freely and ac cording to his pleasure ; and many of the commons, perceiving it would be a difficult change to be effected by law and reason, were willing to have one wise and just man set over the affairs ; and some say that Solon had this oracle from Apollo —
Take the mid seat, and be the vessel's guide ; Many in Athens are upon your side.
But chiefly his familiar friends chid him for disaffecting mon archy only because of the name, as if the virtue of the ruler could not make it a lawful form ; Euboea had made this experi ment when it chose Tynnondas, and Mitylene, which had made Pittacus its prince ; yet this could not shake Solon's resolu tion; but, as they say, he replied to his friends, that it was true a tyranny was a very fair spot, but it had no way down from it ; and in a copy of verses to Phocus he writes —
— that I spared my land,
And withheld from usurpation and from violence my hand, And forbore to fix a stain and a disgrace on my good name,
I regret not ;
I believe that it will be my chiefest fame.
From which it is manifest that he was a man of great reputa tion before he gave his laws. The several mocks that were put upon him for refusing the power, he records in these words, —
154 SOLON.
Solon surely was a dreamer, and a man of simple mind ; When the gods would give him fortune, he of his own will
declined ;
When the net was full of fishes, overheavy thinking
He declined to haul up, through want of heart and want
of wit.
Had but that chance of riches and of kingship, for one day,
would give my skin for flaying, and my house to die away.
Thus he makes the many and the low people speak of him. Yet, though he refused the government, he was not too mild in the affair he did not show himself mean and submissive to the powerful, nor make his laws to pleasure those that chose him. For where was well before, he applied no remedy, nor altered anything, for fear lest,
Overthrowing altogether and disordering the state,
he should be too weak to new-model and recompose to toler able condition but what he thought he could effect by persua sion upon the pliable, and by force upon the stubborn, this he did, as he himself says,
With force and justice working both in one.
And, therefore, when he was afterwards asked he had left the Athenians the best laws that could be given, he replied, " The best they could receive. "
The way which, the moderns say, the Athenians have of softening the badness of thing, by ingeniously giving some pretty and innocent appellation, — calling harlots, for example, mistresses, tributes customs, garrison guard, and the jail the chamber, — seems originally to have been Solon's contrivance, who called canceling debts Seisacthea, a relief, or disencum- brance. For the first thing which he settled was that what debts remained should be forgiven, and no man, for the future, should engage the body of his debtor for security. Though some, as Androtion, affirm that the debts were not canceled, but the interest only lessened, which sufficiently pleased the people so that they named this benefit the Seisacthea, together with the enlarging their measures, and raising the value of their money for he made pound, which before passed for seventy-three drachmas, go for hundred; so that, though the number of pieces in the payment was equal, the value was less;
;
;
I
it I
aa a
a
a
it
if
it a
;
it
it,
;
SOLON. 155
which proved a considerable benefit to those that were to dis charge great debts, and no loss to the creditors. But most agree that it was the taking off the debts that was called Seisacthea, which is confirmed by some places in his poem, where he takes honor to himself, that
The mortgage stones that covered her, by me Removed, — the land that was a slave is free ;
that some who had been seized for their debts he had brought back from other countries, where
— so far their lot to roam,
They had forgot the language of their home ;
and some he had set at liberty,
Who here in shameful servitude were held.
While he was designing this, a most vexatious thing hap pened; for when he had resolved to take off the debts, and was considering the proper form and fit beginning for it, he told some of his friends, Conon, Clinias, and Hipponicus, in whom he had a great deal of confidence, that he would not meddle with the lands, but only free the people from their debts ; upon which they, using their advantage, made haste and borrowed some considerable sums of money, and purchased some large farms; and when the law was enacted, they kept the possessions, and would not return the money ; which brought Solon into great suspicion and dislike, as if he himself had not been abused, but was concerned in the contrivance. But he presently stopped this suspicion, by releasing his debtors of five talents (for he had lent so much), according to the law ; others, as Polyzelus the Rhodian, say fifteen ; his friends, how ever, were ever afterward called Chreocopidae, repudiators.
In this he pleased neither party, for the rich were angry for their money, and the poor that the land was not divided, and, as Lycurgus ordered in his commonwealth, all men reduced to equality. He, it is true, being the eleventh from Hercules, and having reigned many years in Lacedaemon, had got a great reputation and friends and power, which he could use in model ing his state ; and applying force more than persuasion, inso much that he lost his eye in the scuffle, was able to employ the most effectual means for the safety and harmony of a state, by not permitting any to be poor or rich in his commonwealth.
156
SOLON.
Solon could not rise to that in his polity, being but a citizen of the middle classes ; yet he acted fully up to the height of his power, having nothing but the good will and good opinion of his citizens to rely on ; and that he offended the most part, who looked for another result, he declares in the words —
Formerly they boasted of me vainly ; with averted eyes
Now they look askance upon me ; friends no more, but enemies.
And yet had any other man, he says, received the same power,
He would not have forborne, nor let alone, But made the fattest of the milk his own.
Soon, however, becoming sensible of the good that was done, they laid by their grudges, made a public sacrifice, calling it Seisacthea, and chose Solon to new-model and make laws for the commonwealth, giving him the entire power over every thing, their magistracies, their assemblies, courts, and councils; that he should appoint the number, times of meeting, and what estate they must have that could be capable of these, and dis solve or continue any of the present constitutions, according to his pleasure.
First, then, he repealed all Draco's laws, except those con cerning homicide, because they were too severe, and the pun ishments too great ; for death was appointed for almost all offenses, insomuch that those that were convicted of idleness were to die, and those that stole a cabbage or an apple to suffer even as villains that committed sacrilege or murder. So that Demades, in after time, was thought to have said very happily, that Draco's laws were written not with ink but blood; and he himself, being once asked why he made death the punishment of most offenses, replied, " Small ones deserve that, and I have no higher for the greater crimes. "
Next, Solon, being willing to continue the magistracies in the hands of the rich men, and yet receive the people into the other part of the government, took an account of the citizens' estates, and those that were worth five hundred measures of fruit, dry and liquid, he placed in the first rank, calling them Pentacosiomedimni ; those that could keep a horse, or were worth three hundred measures, were named Hippada Teluntes, and made the second class ; the Zeugitae, that had two hundred measures, were in the third ; and all the others were called
SOLON. 157
Thetes, who were not admitted to any office, but could come to the assembly, and act as jurors ; which at first seemed nothing, but afterwards was found an enormous privilege, as almost every matter of dispute came before them in this latter capacity. Even in the cases which he assigned to the archon's cognizance, he allowed an appeal to the courts. Besides, it is said that he was obscure and ambiguous in the wording of his laws, on purpose to increase the honor of his courts ; for since their differences could not be adjusted by the letter, they would have to bring all their causes to the judges, who thus were in a manner masters of the laws. Of this equalization he himself
makes
mention in this manner : —
Such power I gave the people as might do, Abridged not what they had, now lavished new, Those that were great in wealth and high in place My counsel likewise kept from all disgrace. Before them both I held my shield of might,
And let not either touch the other's right.
And for the greater security of the weak commons, he gave general liberty of indicting for an act of injury ; if any one was beaten, maimed, or suffered any violence, any man that would and was able might prosecute the wrongdoer ; intending by this to accustom the citizens, like members of the same body, to resent and be sensible of one another's injuries. And there is a saying of his agreeable to his law, for, being asked what city was best modeled, " That," said he, " where those that are not injured try and punish the unjust as much as those that are. "
When he had constituted the Areopagus of those who had been yearly archons, of which he himself was a member there fore, observing that the people, now free from their debts, were unsettled and imperious, he formed another council of four hundred, a hundred out of each of the four tribes, which was to inspect all matters before they were propounded to the people, and to take care that nothing but what had been first examined should be brought before the general assembly. The upper council, or Areopagus, he made inspectors and keepers of the laws, conceiving that the commonwealth, held by these two councils, like anchors, would be less liable to be tossed by tumults, and the people be more quiet. Such is the general statement, that Solon instituted the Areopagus ; which seems
158
SOLON.
to be confirmed, because Draco makes no mention of the Areop- agites, but in all causes of blood refers to the Ephetae ; yet Solon's thirteenth table contains the eighth law set down in these very words : " Whoever before Solon's archonship were disfranchised, let them be restored, except those that, being condemned by the Areopagus, Ephetae, or in the Prytaneum by the kings, for homicide, murder, or designs against the govern ment, were in banishment when this law was made ; " and these words seem to show that the Areopagus existed before Solon's laws, for who could be condemned by that council before his time, if he was the first that instituted the court ? unless, which is probable, there is some ellipsis, or want of precision in the language, and it should run thus : " Those that are convicted of such offenses as belong to the cognizance of the Areopagites, Ephetae, or the Prytanes, when this law was made," shall remain still in disgrace, whilst others are restored ; of this the reader must judge.
Amongst his other laws, one is very peculiar and surprising, which disfranchises all who stand neuter in a sedition ; for it seems he would not have any one remain insensible and regard less of the public good, and, securing his private affairs, glory that he has no feeling of the distempers of his country ; but at once join with the good party and those that have the right upon their side, assist and venture with them, rather than keep out of harm's way and watch who would get the better. It seems an absurd and foolish law which permits an heiress, if her lawful husband fail her, to take his nearest kinsman ; yet some say this law was well contrived against those who, con scious of their own unfitness, yet, for the sake of the portion, would match with heiresses, and make use of law to put a vio lence upon nature ; for now, since she can quit him for whom she pleases, they would either abstain from such marriages, or continue them with disgrace, and suffer for their covetousness and designed affront ; it is well done, moreover, to confine her to her husband's nearest kinsman, that the children may be of the same family. Agreeable to this is the law that the bride and bridegroom shall be shut into a chamber, and eat a quince together ; and that the husband of an heiress shall consort with her thrice a month : for though there be no children, yet it is an honor and due affection which an husband ought to pay to a
virtuous, chaste wife ; it takes off all petty differences, and will not permit their little quarrels to proceed to a rupture.
SOLON.
159
In all other marriages he forbade dowries to be given ; the wife was to have three suits of clothes, a little inconsiderable household stuff, and that was all ; for he would not have mar riages contracted for gain or an estate, but for pure love, kind affection, and birth of children. When the mother of Dionysus desired him to marry her to one of his citizens, " Indeed," said he, "by my tyranny I have broken my country's laws, but cannot put a violence upon those of nature by an unseasonable marriage. " Such disorder is never to be suffered in a common wealth, nor such unseasonable and unloving and unperforming marriages, which attain no due end or fruit ; any provident governor or lawgiver might say to an old man that takes a young wife what is said to Philoctetes in the tragedy, —
Truly, in a fit state thou to marry !
and if he find a young man, with a rich and elderly wife, grow ing fat in his place, like the partridges, remove him to a young woman of proper age. And of this enough.
Another commendable law of Solon's is that which forbids men to speak evil of the dead ; for it is pious to think the deceased sacred, and just, not to meddle with those that are gone, and politic, to prevent the perpetuity of discord. He likewise forbade them to speak evil of the living in the temples, the courts of justice, the public offices, or at the games, or else to pay three drachmas to the person, and two to the public. For never to be able to control passion shows a weak nature and ill breeding ; and always to moderate it is very hard, and to some impossible. And laws must look to possibilities, if the maker designs to punish few in order to their amendment, and not many to no purpose.
He is likewise much commended for his law concerning wills ; for before him none could be made, but all the wealth and estate of the deceased belonged to his family ; but he by permitting them, if they had no children, to bestow it on whom they pleased, showed that he esteemed friendship a stronger tie than kindred, and affection than necessity; and made every man's estate truly his own. Yet he allowed not all sorts of legacies, but those only which were not extorted by the frenzy of a disease, charms, imprisonment, force, or the persuasions of a wife, — with good reason thinking that being seduced into wrong was as bad as being forced, and that between deceit and
160 SOLON.
necessity, flattery and compulsion, there was little difference, since both may equally suspend the exercise of reason.
He regulated the walks, feasts, and mourning of the women, and took away everything that was either unbecoming or immodest ; when they walked abroad, no more than three articles of dress were allowed them ; an obol's worth of meat and drink ; and no basket above a cubit high ; and at night they were not to go about unless in a chariot with a torch before them. Mourners tearing themselves to raise pity, and set wailings, and at one man's funeral to lament for another, he forbade. To offer an ox at the grave was not permitted, nor to bury above three pieces of dress with the body, or visit the tombs of any besides their own family, unless at the very funeral ; most of which are likewise forbidden by our laws, but this is further added in ours, that those that are convicted of extravagance in their mournings are to be punished as soft and effeminate by the censors of women.
Observing the city to be filled with persons that flocked from all parts into Attica for security of living, and that most of the country was barren and unfruitful, and that traders at sea imported nothing to those that could give them nothing in exchange, he turned his citizens to trade, and made a law that no son be obliged to relieve a father who had not bred him up to any calling. It is true, Lycurgus, having a city free from all strangers, and land, according to Euripides,
Large for large hosts, for twice their number much,
and, above all, an abundance of laborers about Sparta, who should not be left idle, but be kept down with continual toil and work, did well to take off his citizens from laborious and mechanical occupations, and keep them to their arms, and teach them only the art of war. But Solon, fitting his laws to the state of things, and not making things to suit his laws, and finding the ground scarce rich enough to maintain the husband men, and altogether incapable of feeding an unoccupied and leisured multitude, brought trades into credit, and ordered the Areopagites to examine how every man got his living, and chas tise the idle. But that law was yet more rigid which, as Hera- clides Ponticus delivers, declared the sons of unmarried mothers not obliged to relieve their fathers ; for he that avoids the honorable form of union shows that he does not take a woman
for children, but for pleasure, and thus gets his just reward,
SOLON. 161
and has taken away from himself every title to upbraid his children, to whom he has made their very birth a scandal and reproach.
Since the country has but few rivers, lakes, or large springs, and many used wells which they had dug, there was a law made, that, where there was a public well within a hippicon, that is, four furlongs, all should draw at that ; but when it was farther off, they should try and procure a well of their own ; and if they had dug ten fathoms deep and could find no water, they had liberty to fetch a pitcherful of four gallons and a half in a day from their neighbors' ; for he thought it prudent to make provision against want, but not to supply laziness. He showed skill in his orders about planting, for any one that would plant another tree was not to set it within five feet of his neighbor's field ; but if a fig or an olive, not within nine ; for their roots spread farther, nor can they be planted near all sorts of trees without damage, for they draw away the nourish ment, and in some cases are noxious by their effluvia. He that would dig a pit or a ditch was to dig it at the distance of its own depth from his neighbor's ground ; and he that would raise stocks of bees was not to place them within three hundred feet of those which another had already raised.
He permitted only oil to be exported, and those that ex ported any other fruit, the archon was solemnly to curse, or else pay an hundred drachmas himself; and this law was written in his first table, and, therefore, let none think it in credible, as some affirm, that the exportation of figs was once unlawful, and the informer against the delinquents called a sycophant. He made a law, also, concerning hurts and in juries from beasts, in which he commands the master of any dog that bit a man to deliver him up with a log about his neck, four and a half feet long ; a happy device for men's security. The law concerning naturalizing strangers is of doubtful char acter ; he permitted only those to be made free of Athens who were in perpetual exile from their own country, or came with their whole family to trade there ; this he did, not to discourage strangers, but rather to invite them to a permanent participation in the privileges of the government ; and, besides, he thought those would prove the more faithful citizens who had been forced from their own country, or voluntarily forsook it. The law of public entertainment (parasitein is his name for it) is
also peculiarly Solon's ; for if any man came often, or if he VOL. HI. — 11
162 SOLON.
that was invited refused, they were punished, for he concluded that one was greedy, the other a contemner of the state.
All his laws he established for an hundred years, and wrote them on wooden tables or rollers, named axones, which might be turned round in oblong cases ; some of their relics were in my time still to be seen in the Prytaneum, or common hall, at Athens. These, as Aristotle states, were called cyrbes, and there is a passage of Cratinus the comedian, —
By Solon, and by Draco, if you please,
Whose Cyrbes make the fires that parch our peas.
But some say those are properly cyrbes, which contain laws con cerning sacrifices and the rites of religion, and all the others axones. The council all jointly swore to confirm the laws, and every one of the Thesmothetae vowed for himself at the stone in the market place, that if he broke any of the statutes, he would dedicate a golden statue, as big as himself, at Delphi.
Observing the irregularity of the months, and that the moon does not always rise and set with the sun, but often in the same day overtakes and gets before him, he ordered the day should be named the Old and New, attributing that part of it which was before the conjunction to the old moon, and the rest to the new, he being the first, it seems, that understood that verse of Homer, —
The end and the beginning of the month, —
and the following day he called the new moon. After the twentieth he did not count by addition, but, like the moon itself in its wane, by subtraction ; thus up to the thirtieth.
When Solon was gone, the citizens began to quarrel ; Lycurgus headed the Plain ; Megacles, the son of Alcmaeon, those to the Seaside ; and Pisistratus the Hill party, in which were the poorest people, the Thetes, and greatest enemies to the rich ; insomuch that, though the city still used the new laws, yet all looked for and desired a change of government, hoping severally that the change would be better for them, and put them above the contrary faction. Affairs standing thus, Solon returned, and was reverenced by all, and honored ; but his old age would not permit him to be as active, and to speak in public, as formerly; yet, by privately conferring with the heads of the factions, he endeavored to compose the differences,
SOLON. 163
Pisistratus appearing the most tractable ; for he was extremely smooth and engaging in his language, a great friend to the poor, and moderate in his resentments ; and what nature had not given him, he had the skill to imitate ; so that he was trusted more than the others, being accounted a prudent and orderly man, one that loved equality, and would be an enemy to any that moved against the present settlement. Thus he deceived the majority of people ; but Solon quickly discovered his character, and found out his design before any one else ; yet did not hate him upon this, but endeavored to humble him, and bring him off from his ambition, and often told him and others, that if any one could banish the passion for preemi nence from his mind, and cure him of his desire of absolute power, none would make a more virtuous man or a more excellent citizen.
Thespis, at this time, beginning to act tragedies, and the thing, because it was new, taking very much with the multi tude, though it was not yet made a matter of competition, Solon, being by nature fond of hearing and learning something new, and now, in his old age, living idly, and enjoying himself, indeed, with music and with wine, went to see Thespis himself, as the ancient custom was, act : and after the play was done, he addressed him, and asked him if he was not ashamed to tell so many lies before such a number of people ; and Thespis reply ing that it was no harm to say or do so in play, Solon vehe mently struck his staff against the ground : " Ah," said he, " if we honor and commend such play as this, we shall find it some day in our business. "
Now when Pisistratus, having wounded himself, was brought into the market place in a chariot, and stirred up the people, as if he had been thus treated by his opponents because of his political conduct, and a great many were enraged and cried out, Solon, coming close to him, said, " This, O son of Hippoc rates, is a bad copy of Homer's Ulysses ; you do, to trick your countrymen, what he did to deceive his enemies. " After this, the people were eager to protect Pisistratus, and met in an assembly, where one Ariston making a motion that they should allow Pisistratus fifty clubmen for a guard to his person, Solon opposed it, and said much to the same purport as what he has left us in his poems, —
You dote upon his words and taking phrase ;
164 SOLON.
and again, —
But observing the poor men bent to gratify Pisistratus, and tumultuous, and the rich fearful and getting out of harm's way, he departed, saying he was wiser than some and stouter than others ; wiser than those that did not understand the design, stouter than those that, though they understood it, were afraid to oppose the tyranny.
Now, the people, having passed the law, were not nice with Pisistratus about the number of his clubmen, but took no notice of it, though he enlisted and kept as many as he would, until he seized the Acropolis. When that was done, and the city in an uproar, Megacles, with all his family, at once fled ; but Solon, though he was now very old, and had none to back him, yet came into the market place and made a speech to the citizens, partly blaming their inadvertency and meanness of spirit, and in part urging and exhorting them not thus tamely to lose their liberty ; and likewise then spoke that memorable saying, that, before, it was an easier task to stop the rising tyranny, but now the greater and more glorious action to destroy it, when it was begun already, and had gathered strength. But all being afraid to side with him, he returned home, and, taking his arms, he brought them out and laid them in the porch before his door,
True, you are singly each a crafty soul, But all together make one empty fool.
I have done my part to maintain my country and my laws," and then he busied himself no more. His friends advising him to fly, he refused, but wrote poems,
If now you suffer, do not blame the Powers, For they are good, and all the fault was ours. All the strongholds you put into his hands, And now his slaves must do what he commands.
And many telling him that the tyrant would take his life for this, and asking what he trusted to, that he ventured to speak so boldly, he replied, "To my old age. "
But Pisistratus, having got the command, so extremely courted Solon, so honored him, obliged him, and sent to see him, that Solon gave him his advice, and approved many of his actions ; for he retained most of Solon's laws, observed them himself, and compelled his friends to obey. And he himself,
with these words : "
and thus reproached the Athenians in them, —
A QUARTET OF GREEK LYRICS. 165
though already absolute ruler, being accused of murder before the Areopagus, came quietly to clear himself ; but his accuser did not appear. And he added other laws, one of which is that the maimed in the wars should be maintained atthe public charge.
Solon lived after Pisistratus seized the government, as Hera- clides Ponticus asserts, a long time; but Phanias the Eresian says not two full years; for Pisistratus began his tyranny when Comias was archon, and Phanias says Solon died under Hegestratus, who succeeded him. The story that his ashes were scattered about the island Salamis is too strange to be easily believed, or be thought anything but a mere fable; and yet it is given, amongst other good authors, by Aristotle, the philosopher.
A QUARTET OF GREEK LYRICS. (Translated by J. A. Symonds. )
Danab to Perseus. By SIMONIDES OF CEOS.
When in the carven chest,
The winds that blew and waves in wild unrest Smote her with fear, she, not with cheeks unwet, Her arms of love round Perseus set,
And said : O child, what grief is mine ! But thou dost slumber, and thy baby breast Is sunk in rest,
Here in the cheerless brass-bound bark, Tossed amid starless night and pitchy dark.
Nor dost thou heed the scudding brine
Of waves that wash above thy curls so deep,
Nor the shrill winds that sweep, —
Lapped in thy purple robe's embrace,
Fair little face !
But if this dread were dreadful too to thee, Then wouldst thou lend thy listening ear to me; Therefore I cry, — Sleep, babe, and sea be still, And slumber our unmeasured ill !
Oh, may some change of fate, sire Zeus, from thee Descend, our woes to end !
But if this prayer, too overbold, offend
Thy justice, yet be merciful to me !
166 A QUARTET OF GREEK LYRICS.
Peace.
By BACCHYLIDE8.
To mortal men Peace giveth these good things : Wealth, and the flowers of honey -throated song ; The flame that springs
On carven altars from fat sheep and kine,
Slain to the gods in heaven ; and, all day long,
Games for glad youths, and flutes, and wreaths, and circling Then in the steely shield swart spiders weave
Their web and dusky woof ;
Rust to the pointed spear and sword doth cleave ;
The brazen trump sounds no alarms ;
Nor is sleep harried from our eyes aloof,
But with sweet rest my bosom warms :
The streets are thronged with lovely men and young,
And hymns in praise of boys like flames to heaven are flung.
Hymn to the Goddesses op Song and Beauty. AUTHOR UNKNOWN.
Muses and Graces ! daughters of high Jove, When erst you left your glorious seats above To bless the bridal of that wondrous pair, Cadmus and Harmonia fair,
Ye chanted forth a divine air : " What is good and fair Shall ever be our care. "
Thus the burden of it rang :
" That shall never be our care Which is neither good nor fair. "
Such were the words your lips immortal sang.
Love's Torrid Midsummeb. By 1BYCUS.
In spring Cydonian apple trees,
Watered by fountains ever flowing
Through crofts unmown of maiden goddesses, And young vines, 'neath the shade
Of shooting tendrils, tranquilly are growing. Meanwhile for me Love never laid
In slumber, like a north wind glowing
With Thracian lightnings, still doth dart Blood-parching madness on my heart,
From Kupris hurtling, stormful, wild, Lording the man as erst the child.
THE CRANES OF IBYCUS. 167
THE CRANES OF IBYCUS. By SCHILLER.
(Translated by Bulwer-Lytton. )
[Johann Chhistoph Friedricu yon Schiller, the famous German poet and dramatist, was born at Marbach, Wttrtemberg, November 10, 1759. He studied law and medicine at Stuttgart, and was appointed surgeon to a Wttrtem berg regiment. Objecting to the restraint imposed upon him by the Duke of Wttrtemberg in consequence of the production of his first play, " The Bobbers " (1782), he left the army and went to Mannheim, Leipsic, Dresden, Jena, and Weimar, where he became the firm friend of Goethe. From 1789 to"1799 Schiller held a professorship at Jena, and during this period published The History of the Thirty Years' War. " He died at Weimar, May 9, 1806, of an affection of the lungs. Besides the works already mentioned, Schiller wrote " The History of the Revolt of the Netherlands " ; the dramas " Mary Stuart," "Maid of Orleans," "Bride of Messina," " William Tell" ; and the trilogy of " Wallenstein. " Among his lyric pieces are : " The Ring of Polycrates," " The Diver," " The Knight of Toggenburg," and " The Song of the Bell. "]
From Rhegium to the Isthmus, long Hallowed to steeds and glorious song, Where, linked awhile in holy peace, — Meet all the sons of martial Greece Wends Ibycus — whose lips the sweet
And ever young Apollo fires ; — The staff supports the wanderer's feet
The God the Poet's soul inspires !
Soon from the mountain ridges high,
The tower-crowned Corinth greets his eye ; In Neptune's groves of darksome pine,
He treads with shuddering awe divine ; Naught lives around him, save a swarm —
Of Cbanes, that still pursued his way Lured by the South, they wheel and form
In ominous groups their wild array.
And "Hail ! beloved Birds ! " he cried; " My comrades on the ocean tide,
Sure signs of good ye bode to me ;
Our lots alike would seem to be ;
From far, together borne, we greet
A shelter now from toil and danger ;
And may the friendly hearts we meet Preserve from every ill — the Stranger ! "
His step more light, his heart more gay, Along the mid wood winds his way,
THE CRANES OF IBYCUS.
When, where the path the thickets close, Burst sudden forth two ruffian foes ; Now strife to strife, and foot to foot !
Ah ! weary sinks the gentle hand ; The gentle hand that wakes the lute
Has learned no lore that guides the brand.
He calls on men and Gods — in vain ! His cries no blest deliverer gain ;
Feebler and fainter grows the sound, And still the deaf life slumbers round — " In the far land I fall forsaken,
Unwept and unregarded, here ;
By death from caitiff hands o'ertaken,
Nor ev'n one late avenger near ! "
Down to the earth the death stroke bore him — Hark, where the Cranes wheel dismal o'er him 1 He hears, as darkness veils his eyes,
Near, in hoarse croak, their dirgelike cries.
" Ye whose wild wings above me hover, (Since never voice, save yours alone,
Naked and maimed the corpse was found — And, still through many a mangling wound, The sad Corinthian Host could trace
The loved — too well remembered face. "And must I meet thee thus once more ?
Who hoped with wreaths of holy pine, Bright with new fame — the victory "o'er —
The deed can tell) — the hand discover — Avenge ! " — He spoke, and life was gone.
The Singer's temples to entwine !
And loud lamented every guest — Who held the Sea-God's solemn feast As in a single heart prevailing, Throughout all Hellas went the wailing. Wild to the Council Hall they ran —
—
Yet 'mid the throng the Isthmus claims, Lured by the Sea-God's glorious games — The mighty many-nationed throng —
How track the hand that wrought the wrong ?
In thunder rushed the threat'ning Flood <fRevenge shall right the murdered man,
The last atonement — blood for blood ! "
—
THE CRANES OF IBYCUS.
How guess if that dread deed were done, By ruffian hands, or secret foes ? -
He who sees all on earth — the Sun — Alone the gloomy secret knows.
Perchance he treads in careless peace,— Amidst your Sons, assembled Greece Hears with a smile revenge decreed — Gloats with fell joy upon the deed — His steps the avenging gods may mock
Within the very Temple's wall,
Or mingle with the crowds that flock
To yonder solemn scenic halL
Wedged close, and serried, swarms the crowd Beneath the weight the walls are bowed — Thitherwards streaming far, and wide,
Broad Hellas flows in mingled tide —
A tide like that which heaves the deep
When hollow-sounding, shoreward driven ;
On, wave on wave, the thousands sweep Till arching, row on row, to heaven !
The tribes, the nations, who shall name, That guestlike, there assembled came ? — From Theseus' town, from Aulis' strand From Phocis, from the Spartans' land — From Asia's wave-divided clime,
The Isles that gem the jEgaean Sea, To hearken on that Stage Sublime,
The Dark Choir's mournful melody !
True to the awful rites of old,
In long and measured strides, behold The Chorus from the hinder ground, Pace the vast circle's solemn round. So this World's women never strode,
Their race from Mortals ne'er began, Gigantic, from their grim abode,
They tower above the Sons of Man !
Across their loins the dark robe clinging, In fleshless hands the torches swinging, Now to and fro, with dark red glow —
No blood that lives the dead cheeks know !
THE CRANES OF IBYCUS.
Where flow the locks that woo to love On human temples — ghastly dwell
The serpents, coiled the brow above, And the green asps with poison swelL
Thus circling, horrible, within
That space —doth their dark hymn begin, And round the sinner as they go,
Cleave to the heart their words of woe. Dismally wails, the senses chilling,
The hymn — the Furies' solemn song; And froze the very marrow thrilling
As rolled the gloomy sounds along.
" And weal to him — from crime secure — Who keeps his soul as childhood's pure ; Life's path he roves, a wanderer free — We near him not — The Avengers, We! But woe to him for whom we weave
The doom for deeds that shun the light : Fast to the murderer's feet we cleave,
The fearful Daughters of the Night.
"And deems he flight from us can hide him ? Still on dark wings We sail beside him !
The murderer's feet the snare enthralls —
Or soon or late, to earth he falls !
Untiring, hounding on, we go ;
For blood can no remorse atone !
On, ever — to the Shades below, " And there — we grasp him, still our own !
So singing, their slow dance they wreathe, And stillness, like a silent death,
Heavily there lay cold and drear,
As if the Godhead's self were near.
Then, true to those strange rites of old, Pacing the circle's solemn round,
In long and measured strides — behold, They vanish in the hinder ground !
Confused and doubtful — half between The solemn truth and phantom scene, The crowd revere the Power, presiding O'er secret deeps, to justice guiding —
THE CRANES OF IBYCUS.
The TJnfathomed and Inscrutable
By whom the web of doom is spun ;
Whose shadows in the deep heart dwell, Whose form is seen not in the sun !
Just then, amidst the highest tier, Breaks forth a voice that starts the ear : "See there — see there, Timotheus; Behold the Cranes of Ibycus ! "
A sudden darkness wraps the sky ;
Above the roofless building hover Dusk, swarming wings ; and heavily
Sweep the slow Cranes — hoarse-murmuring, over!
"Of Ibycus? "—that name so dear
Thrills through the hearts of those who hear ! Like wave on wave in eager seas, — From mouth to mouth the murmur flees
" Of Ibycus, whom we bewail ?
The murdered one ! What mean those words ? Who is the man—knows he the tale ? "
Why link that name with those wild birds ?
Questions on questions louder press — — Like lightning flies the inspiring guess Leaps every heart — "The truth we seize; Your might is here, Eumenides ! — The murderer yields himself confest
Vengeance is near — that voice the token — Ho! —him who yonder spoke, arrest !