ÆäÀÌÁö À̹ÌÁö
PDF
ePub

everything in order, else I shall never finish.

It is not an

army, as you think, Phanes, but an embassy from Cambyses, the present king of powerful Persia, which is on its way hither. I heard at Samos that they have already reached Miletus. They will arrive here in a few days. Relations of the king, and even old Croesus of Lydia, are with them. We shall see rare splendor. No one knows the reason of their coming, but it is thought that King Cambyses will propose an alliance to Amasis; it is even said that the king wishes to woo the daughter of the Pharaohs."

"An alliance," said Phanes, with an incredulous shrug; "the Persians already rule half the world. All the chief powers of Asia bow to their scepter. Only Egypt and our Greece have remained safe from the conqueror."

"You forget golden India, and the great nomadic races of Asia," returned Callias. "You also forget that an empire which consists of seventy races, possessing different languages and customs, always bears in it the seeds of rebellion, and must be on its guard against foreign wars, lest some of the provinces seize the favorable moment for revolt when the main body of the army is absent. Ask the Milesians whether they would keep quiet, if they heard that the chief forces of their oppressor had been defeated in battle."

Theopompus, the merchant of Miletus, interrupted the speaker and cried eagerly: "If the Persians are defeated in war, they will be attacked by a hundred foes, and my countrymen will not be the last to rise against the weakened tyrant.

[ocr errors]

"Whatever the intentions of the Persians may be," continued Callias, "I maintain that they will be here in three days."

"And so your oracle will be fulfilled, happy Aristomachus," cried Rhodopis. "The horsemen from the mountains can be none other than the Persians. When they reach the shores of the Nile, the five ephors will have changed their minds and you, the father of two Olympic victors, will be recalled. Fill the goblets again, Cnacias. Let us drink the last cup to the manes of famous Lysander, and then, though unwillingly, I must warn you of the approach of day. The host who loves his guests rises from table when the joy reaches its climax. The pleasant memory of this untroubled evening will soon bring you back to this house, whereas you would be less willing to return if

you were forced to think of the hours of depression which followed your enjoyment."

All the guests agreed with Rhodopis, and Ibycus praised the festive and pleasurable excitement of the evening and called her a true disciple of Pythagoras.

Every one prepared for departure; even the Sybarite, who to drown the emotion, which annoyed him, had drunk immoderately, raised himself from his comfortable position with the assistance of his slaves, who had been summoned, and muttered something about violated hospitality.

When Rhodopis held out her hand to him on bidding him. farewell he cried, overcome by the wine: "By Hercules, Rhodopis, you turn us out of doors as if we were importunate creditors. I am not accustomed to leave the table as long as I can stand, and I am still less accustomed to be shown the door like a parasite."

"Do you not understand, you immoderate drinker?" began Rhodopis, trying to excuse herself and smiling; but Philoinus who, in his present mood, was irritated by this retort, laughed scornfully and cried, staggering to the door: "You call me an immoderate drinker; well, I call you an insolent slave. By Dionysus, it is easy to see what you were in your youth. Farewell, slave of Iadmon and Xanthus, freed slave of Charaxus."

He had not finished, when the Spartan threw himself on him, gave him a violent blow with his fist, and carried the unconscious man, like a child, to the boat which, with his slaves, awaited him at the gate of the garden.

ARION.1

BY GEORGE ELIOT.

(Herodotus i. 24.)

[GEORGE ELIOT, pseudonym of Mrs. Marian Evans Cross: A famous English novelist; born in Warwickshire, England, November 22, 1819. After the death of her father (1849) she settled in London, where she became assistant editor of the Westminster Review (1851). In 1854 she formed a union with George Henry Lewes, and after his death married, in 1880, John Walter Cross. "Scenes of Clerical Life" first established her reputation as a writer, and was followed by the novels " Adam Bede," "The Mill on the Floss," "Silas Marner," "Romola,"

1
1 By permission of the executors and W. Black wood & Sons.

"Felix Holt," "Middlemarch," and "Daniel Deronda." Among her other works may be mentioned "The Spanish Gypsy," a drama, and the poems "Agatha," "The Legend of Jubal," and "Armgart."]

ARION, whose melodic soul
Taught the dithyramb to roll
Like forest fires, and sing
Olympian suffering,

Had carried his diviner lore

From Corinth to the sister shore

Where Greece could largelier be,
Branching o'er Italy.

Then weighted with his glorious name
And bags of gold, aboard he came
'Mid harsh seafaring men

To Corinth bound again.

The sailors eyed the bags and thought:
"The gold is good, the man is naught—
And who shall track the wave
That opens for his grave?"

With brawny arms and cruel eyes
They press around him where he lies
In sleep beside his lyre,

Hearing the Muses quire.

He waked and saw this wolf-faced Death
Breaking the dream that filled his breath
With the inspiration strong

Of yet unchanted song.

"Take, take my gold and let me live!"
He prayed, as kings do when they give
Their all with royal will,

Holding born kingship still.

To rob the living they refuse,
One death or other he must choose,
Either the watery pall

Or wounds and burial.

"My solemn robe then let me don,
Give me high space to stand upon,
That dying I may pour

A song unsung before."

It pleased them well to grant this prayer,
To hear for naught how it might fare
With men who paid their gold
For what a poet sold.

In flowing stole, his eyes aglow
With inward fire, he neared the prow
And took his godlike stand,
The cithara in hand.

The wolfish men all shrank aloof,
And feared this singer might be proof
Against their murderous power,
After his lyric hour.

But he, in liberty of song,

Fearless of death or other wrong,

With full spondaic toll

Poured forth his mighty soul:

Poured forth the strain his dream had taught,
A nome with lofty passion fraught

Such as makes battles won

On fields of Marathon.

The last long vowels trembled then
As awe within those wolfish men:
They said, with mutual stare,
Some god was present there.

But lo! Arion leaped on high,
Ready, his descant done, to die;
Not asking, "Is it well?"
Like a pierced eagle fell.

1873.

THE STORY OF CROESUS.

BY HERODOTUS.

[HERODOTUS: A celebrated Greek historian, surnamed "The Father of History"; born between B.C. 490 and B.C. 480 at Halicarnassus in Asia Minor. While his country was being oppressed by the tyrant Lygdamis, he withdrew to Samos, and subsequently traveled extensively in Europe, Asia, and Africa. Having later assisted in the expulsion of Lygdamis, he took part in the colonization

of Thurii in southern Italy, and gave public readings from his writings. He died about B.C. 426. His monumental work, "The Histories," consists of nine books, named from the nine Muses, and treats of the history of the Greeks and barbarians from the Persian invasion of Greece down to B. c. 479. It marks the beginning of historical writing among the Greeks.]

CRSUS was a Lydian by birth; son of Alyattes, and sovereign of the nations on this side the river Halys. He was the first barbarian we know of that subjected some of the Greeks to the payment of tribute, and formed alliances with others. He subdued the Ionians and Eolians, and the Dorians in Asia, and formed an alliance with the Lacedæmonians. Before the reign of Croesus all the Greeks were free; for the incursion of the Cimmerians into Ionia was not for the purpose of subjecting states, but an irruption for plunder.

The government, which formerly belonged to the Heraclidæ, passed in the following manner to the family of Croesus, who were called Mermnada. Candaules was tyrant of Sardis, and a descendant of Hercules. He was enamored of his own wife, and thought her by far the most beautiful of women. Gyges, one of his bodyguard, happened to be his especial favorite; and to him Candaules confided his most important affairs, and moreover extolled the beauty of his wife in exaggerated terms. At last (for he was fated to be miserable) he addressed Gyges as follows: "Gyges, as I think you do not believe me when I speak of my wife's beauty (for the ears of men are naturally more incredulous than their eyes), you must contrive to see her naked."

But he, exclaiming loudly, answered: "Sire, what a shocking proposal do you make, bidding me behold my queen naked! With her clothes a woman puts off her modesty. Wise maxims have been of old laid down by men; from these it is our duty to learn: among them is the following:

"Let every man look to the things that concern himself.' I am persuaded that she is the most beautiful of her sex, but I entreat of you not to require what is wicked."

Saying thus, Gyges fought off the proposal, dreading lest some harm should befall himself; but the king answered: "Gyges, take courage, and be not afraid of me, as if I desired to make trial of you by speaking thus; nor of my wife, lest any harm should befall you from her: for I will so contrive that she shall not know she has been seen by you. I will place you behind the open door of the apartment in which we

« ÀÌÀü°è¼Ó »