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By him are led. His dictates I obey,
Him to resemble strive. No infant voice
Calls me a father. To the nuptial vow
I am a stranger, and among the Greeks
The least entitled to thy partial praise.

None more entitled, interpos'd the dame.
Deserving hero, thy demeanour speaks,
It justifies the fame, so widely spread,
Of Harmatides' heir. O grace and pride
Of that fair city, which the Muses love,
Thee an acceptant visitant I hail

In this their ancient temple. Thou shalt view
Their sacred haunts. Descending from the dome,
She thus pursues. First know, my youthful hours
Were exercis'd in knowledge. Homer's muse
To daily meditation won my soul,

With my young spirit mix'd undying sparks
Of her own rapture. By a father sage
Conducted, cities, manners, men I saw,
Their institutes and customs. I return'd.
The voice of Locris call'd me to sustain
The holy function here. Now throw thy sight
Across that meadow, whose enliven'd blades
Wave in the breeze, and glisten in the sun
Behind the hoary fane. My bleating train
Are nourish'd there, a spot of plenty spar'd
From this surrounding wilderness. Remark
That fluid mirror, edg'd by shrubs and flow'rs,
Shrubs of my culture, flow'rs by Iris dress'd.
Nor pass that smiling concave in the hill,

Whose pointed crags are soften'd to the sight
By figs and grapes. She pauses; while around
His eye, delighted, roves, in more delight
Soon to the spot returning, where she stood
A deity in semblance, o'er the place
Presiding awful, as Minerva wise,
August like Juno, like Diana pure,
But not more pure than fair.

FROM THE EPISODE OF TERIBAZUS AND ARIANA.

BOOK VIII.

AMID the van of Persia was a youth,
Nam'd Teribazus, not for golden stores,
Not for wide pastures, travers'd o'er by herds,
By fleece-abounding sheep, or gen❜rous steeds,
Nor yet for pow'r, nor splendid honours fam'd.
Rich was his mind in ev'ry art divine;
Through ev'ry path of science had he walk'd,
The votary of wisdom. In the years,
When tender down invests the ruddy cheek,
He with the Magi turn'd the hallow'd page
Of Zoroastres. Then his tow'ring thoughts
High on the plumes of contemplation soar'd.
He from the lofty Babylonian fane

With learn'd Chaldæans trac'd the heav'nly sphere,
There number'd o'er the vivid fires, which gleam
On night's bespangled bosom. Nor unheard
Were Indian sages from sequester'd bow'rs,

While on the banks of Ganges they disclos'd
The pow'rs of nature, whether in the woods,
The fruitful glebe, or flow'r, the healing plant,
The limpid waters, or the ambient air,
Or in the purer element of fire.

The realm of old Sesostris next he view'd,
Mysterious Egypt with her hidden rites

Of Isis and Osiris. Last he sought

Th' Ionian Greeks, from Athens sprung, nor pass'd
Miletus by, which once in rapture heard
The tongue of Thales, nor Priene's walls,
Where wisdom dwelt with Bias, nor the seat
Of Pittacus, rever'd on Lesbian shores.

Th' enlighten'd youth to Susa now return'd,
Place of his birth. His merit soon was dear
To Hyperanthes. It was now the time,
That discontent and murmur on the banks

Of Nile were loud and threat'ning. Chembes there
The only faithful stood, a potent lord,

Whom Xerxes held by promis'd nuptial ties
With his own blood. To this Egyptian prince
Bright Ariana was the destin'd spouse,
From the same bed with Hyperanthes born.
Among her guards was Teribazus nam'd
By that fond brother, tender of her weal.

Th' Egyptian boundaries they gain. They hear Of insurrection, of the Pharian tribes

In arms, and Chembes in the tumult slain.
They pitch their tents, at midnight are assail'd,
Surpris'd, their leaders massacred, the slaves

Of Ariana captives borne away,

Her own pavilion forc'd, her person seiz'd
By ruffian hands: when timely to redeem
Her and th' invaded camp from further spoil
Flies Teribazus with a rallied band,

Swift on her chariot seats the royal fair,

Nor waits the dawn. Of all her menial train

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None but three female slaves are left. Her guide,
Her comforter and guardian fate provides

In him, distinguish'd by his worth alone,
No prince, nor satrap, now the single chief
Of her surviving guard. Of regal birth,
But with excelling graces in her soul,
Unlike an eastern princess, she inclines
To his consoling, his instructive tongue
An humbled ear. Amid the converse sweet
Her charms, her mind, her virtues he explores,
Admiring. Soon his admiration chang'd
To love; nor loves he sooner than despairs.
From morn till eve her passing wheels he guards
Back to Euphrates. Often, as she mounts,
Or quits the car, his arm her weight sustains
With trembling pleasure. His assiduous hand
From purest fountains wafts the living flood.
Nor seldom by the fair one's soft command
Would he repose him, at her feet reclin'd;
While o'er his lips her lovely forehead bow'd,
Won by his grateful eloquence, which sooth'd
With sweet variety the tedious march,
Beguiling time. He too would then forget

His pains awhile, in raptures vain entranc'd,
Delusion all, and fleeting rays of joy,

Soon overcast by more intense despair;

Like wint❜ry clouds, which, op'ning for a time, Tinge their black folds with gleams of scatter'd light,

Then, swiftly closing, on the brow of morn
Condense their horrors, and in thickest gloom
The ruddy beauty veil. They now approach
The tow'r of Belus. Hyperanthes leads
Through Babylon an army to chastise
The crime of Egypt. Teribazus here
Parts from his princess, marches bright in steel
Beneath his patron's banner, gathers palms
On conquer'd Nile. To Susa he returns,
To Ariana's residence, and bears
Deep in his heart th' immedicable wound.
But unreveal'd and silent was his pain;
Nor yet in solitary shades he roam'd,

Nor shunn'd resort: but o'er his sorrows cast
A sickly dawn of gladness, and in smiles
Conceal'd his anguish; while the secret flame
Rag'd in his bosom, and its peace consum'd:

His soul still brooding o'er these mournful thoughts.

*

The day arriv'd, when Xerxes first advanc'd His arms from Susa's gates. The Persian dames, So were accustom'd all the eastern fair, In sumptuous cars accompanied his march,

A beauteous train, by Ariana grac'd.

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