curse upon curse; and, as the shaken weed scatters around a thousand poison-seeds, so they assassins ceaseless generate, their children's children ruthless to destroy.- Now tell the remnant of thy brother's tale, which horror darkly hid from me before. How did the last descendant of the race,— the gentle child, to whom the Gods assigned the office of avenger,-how did he escape that day of blood? did equal fate around Orestes throw Avernus' net?
say, was he saved? and is he still alive? and lives Electra, too?
S doth the flower revolve to meet the sun,
once more my spirit to sweet comfort turns, struck by thy words' invigorating ray.
How dear the counsel of a present friend, lacking whose godlike power, the lonely one
in silence droops! for, locked within his breast, slowly are ripened purpose and resolve,
which friendship's genial warmth had soon matured. Pyl. Farewell! I haste to re-assure our friends, who anxiously await us: then with speed
I will return, and, hid within the brake, attend thy signal.—Wherefore all at once, doth anxious thought o'ercloud thy brow serene? Iph. Forgive me: as light clouds athwart the sun, so cares and fears float darkling o'er my soul. Pyl. Oh, banish fear: with danger it hath formed a close alliance,—they are constant friends. Iph. It is an honest scruple, which forbids
that I should cunningly deceive the king, and plunder him who was my second sire. Him thou dost fly, who would have slain thy brother. To me, at least, he hath been ever kind. What fate commands is not ingratitude.
Iph. Alas! it still remains ingratitude; necessity alone can justify it.
Pyl. Thee, before gods and men it justifies.
But my own heart is still unsatisfied. Scruples too rigid are a cloak for pride.
Iph. I cannot argue, I can only feel.
Conscious of right, thou shouldst respect thyself. A. SWANWICK from Goethe
1064 TIMOLEON THE CORINTHIAN GENERAL INVEIGH
ING AGAINST THe degenERATE GOVERNMENT OF SYRACUSE
You have not, as good patriots should do, studied
the public good, but your particular ends;
your senate-house, which used not to admit
a man, however popular, to stand
at the helm of government, whose youth was not made glorious by action; whose experience, crowned with gray hairs, gave warrant to his counsels, heard and received with reverence, is now filled with green heads, that determine of the state over their cups, or when their sated lusts afford them leisure; or supplied by those
who, rising from base arts and sordid thrift,
are eminent for their wealth, not for their wisdom;
which is the reason that to hold a place
in council, which was once esteemed an honour and a reward for virtue, hath quite lost lustre and reputation, and is made
a mercenary purchase. Whence it proceeds that the treasure of the city is engrossed by a few private men, the public coffers hollow with want; and they, that will not spare one talent for the common good, to feed the pride and bravery of their wives, consume
in plate, in jewels, and superfluous slaves, what would maintain an army.-Yet, in this plenty, and fat of peace, your young men ne'er were trained in martial discipline; and your ships unrigged rot in the harbour; no defence prepared, but thought unuseful; as if that the gods, indulgent to your sloth, had granted you a perpetuity of pride and pleasure, no change feared or expected.
~HUS spake our fathers: and shall we endure the shame and infamy of this new yoke, and from the vassal brook what never king dared, in the fulness of his power, attempt? This soil we have created for ourselves
by the hard labour of our hands; we've changed the giant forest, that was erst the haunt of savage bears, into a home for man; extirpated the dragon's blood, that wont to rise, distent with venom, from the swamps; blasted the solid rock; o'er the abyss
thrown the firm bridge for the wayfaring man : by the possession of a thousand years And shall an alien lord, himself a vassal, dare to venture here, on our own hearths insult us, and attempt to forge the chains of bondage for our hands, and do us shame on our own proper soil? is there no help against such wrong as this? yes-there's a limit to the despot's power! when the oppressed looks round in vain for justice, with fearless heart he makes appeal to Heaven, and thence brings down his everlasting rights which there abide, inalienably his,
and indestructible as are the stars.
THE eye's light, of all the gifts of Heaven
the dearest, best! From light all beings live
each fair created thing-the very plants
turn with a joyful transport to the light,
and he he must drag on through all his days in endless darkness! Never more for him the sunny meads shall glow, the flow'rets bloom; nor shall he more behold the roseate tints of the iced mountain top! To die is nothing, but to have life, and not have sight,-oh, that
is misery indeed! Why do you look
so piteously at me? I have two eyes,
yet to my poor blind father can give neither; no, not one gleam of that great sea of light, that with its dazzling splendour floods my gaze.— What extremity
remains for apprehension, when men's eyes have ceased to be secure within their sockets? are we defenceless? wherefore did we learn to bend the cross-bow,—wield the battle-axe? what living creature, but in its despair, finds for itself a weapon of defence?
The baited stag will turn, and with the show of his dread antlers hold the hounds at bay; the chamois drags the huntsman down th' abyss ; the very ox, the partner of man's toil,
the sharer of his roof, that meekly bends
the strength of his huge neck beneath the yoke, springs up, if he's provoked, whets his strong horn, and tosses his tormentor to the clouds.
E is a man 'gainst whom I must provide, that, as he'll do no good, he'll do no harm. He, though he be not of the plot, will like it, and wish it should proceed; for unto men prest with their wants, all change is ever welcome. I must with offices and patience win him, make him by art that which he is not born, a friend unto the public, and bestow the province on him, which is by the senate decreed to me: that benefit will bind him: 'tis well if some men will do well for price; so few are virtuous when the reward's away. Nor must I be unmindful of my private.
He that stands up 'gainst traitors and their ends shall need a double guard of law and friends, especially in such an envious state,
that sooner will accuse the magistrate than the delinquent; and will rather grieve the treason is not acted, than believe.
HUS ever grave and undisturb'd reflection
pours its cool dictates in the madding ear of rage, and thinks to quench the fire it feels not. Say'st thou I must be cautious, must be silent, and tremble at the phantom I have raised? Carry to him thy timid counsels. He
perchance may heed 'em: tell him too, that one who had such liberal power to give, may still with equal power resume that gift, and raise a tempest that shall shake her own creation to its original atoms-tell me! say
this mighty emperor, this dreaded hero, has he beheld the glittering front of war? Knows his soft ear the trumpet's thrilling voice, and outcry of the battle? Have his limbs sweat under iron harness? Is he not the silken son of dalliance, nursed in ease and pleasure's flow'ry lap?—Rubellius lives, and Sylla has his friends, though school'd by fear to bow the supple knee, and court the times with shows of fair obeisance; and a call like mine might serve belike to wake pretensions drowsier than theirs, who boast the genuine blood of our imperial house.
ALK not of comfort: I have broke my faith,
and the gods fight against me; and proud man,
however magnified, is but as dust
before the raging whirlwind of their justice. What is it to be great, adored on earth, when the immortal powers that are above us turn all our blessings into horrid curses, and laugh at our resistance, or prevention of what they purpose? Oh, the Furies that I feel within me! whipp'd on by their angers for my tormentors! Could it else have been in nature, that a few poor fugitive Persians, unfriended and unarm'd too, could have robbed me
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