The satraps now and leaders, at the call
Of Artemisia, were collected round
Their monarch. Seated on his throne, he spake:
Ye princes, satraps, heed our fix'd decree.
Our native Asia wants her king; by morn
To Susa we return, but leave behind
In Greece Mardonius, and a chosen host
Of thirty myriads. With command supreme,
With our imperial equipage and state,
Him we invest; to him submission pay
As to our presence. Artemisia, bear
Our sov'reign pleasure to the naval chiefs,
That all abandon, e'er the dawn return,
Phaleron's port, and hoist their sails to guard
The Hellespont. But thou, entrusted queen,
Thy own tried squadron to Spercheos bring;
Whence thou must wast to Ephesus a charge
Of high import, the children of thy king.
He ceas'd. A stranger, cas'd in steel, approach'd,
In look ferocious, limbs and shape robust,
Of stature huge; the satraps look'd amaz'd,
As were th' immortals, when, th' Olympian steep
Ascending, grim Briareus first produc'd
His mountain-bulk, and spread his hundred hands,
Auxiliary to Jove. The warrior stood,
Unbending, far as nature would permit,
His rugged brow; when, crouching to the king,
O Xerxes, live for ever, he began:
I am Euboean Demonax, the prince
Of Oreus late, who earth and water sent,
Acknowledging thy empire; from my throne
By curs'd Themistocles expell'd, I join'd
Thy shelt'ring fleet; at Salamis I fought.
An aid of troops and treasure can replace
Me thy true vassal, who will soon reduce
The granary of Athens to thy sway,
Euboea, sertile, populous, and rich.
The monarch thus: Mardonius, thou hast heard;
Begin to use thy plenitude of pow'r;
Reject or favour at thy will this pray'r.
Mardonius then: My sov'reign liege, the truth
Flows from his lips; twelve thousand of thy host,
With Mindarus commanding, and of gold
A hundred talents, would be well bestow'd
On this important Greek. The king assents;
He rises; all disperse. Mardonius now
Accosts the queen, descending to the port:
Alas! how uncontrollable the will
Of Xerxes! must thou leave me? Since the day
Of Salamis, my best belov'd of friends,
Masistius, whether by the waves devour'd,
Or slain, or captive, to my search is lost.
Foe to inaction, though compos'd and wise,
Of courage prone to perilous attempts,
He would embark; permitted by the king,
Against my warm remonstrance would partake
The naval conflict. Drooping, while I doubt
His preservation, must I further lose
Thy fellowship, auspicious, generous queen!
Yet stop, a moment listen. On the march
To Athens first, reposing in a cave,
I had a dream, perhaps a vision saw,
To me presaging glory-but success
Was wrap'd in clouded mystery. My heart
Teems with ill-boding thoughts, yet shall not faint;
At least impart thy wishes ere thou sail'st,
Thy last instructions! Fortunate thy voice,
Benign to me; repeat one parting strain!
If I successful to thy presence bring
The palms of conquest, say, accomplish'd queen,
Thou wilt accept them with a gracious hand;
If unsuccessful I the forfeit pay
Of this frail being, as becomes the brave,
Say, thou wilt praise Mardonius. Sage and grave
She answers: First, despair not to regain
The good Masistius; at the worst endure,
That common lot, the death of dearest friends,
With patience; long thy courage I have prais'd,
Now moderate the flame against a foe
Not less discreet, than disciplin'd and bold;
Nor let the gloom of superstition awe
Thy noble ardour. On the sharpest sword,
The strongest arm, on prudence, martial skill,
Not dreams and visions, looks the goddess Fame.
If Artemisia's wishes can avail,
Be sure to prosper, prosp'ring here to soar
Above the flight of Cyrus.-She departs.
Behind her, like the sinking globe of day,
She leaves a trail of radiance on his soul;
But, to protect him from returning shade,
Her light should ne'er forsake him, never set.
O'er gen'rous cares not thus Argestes broods;
Within his tent he meditates conceal'd;
By struggling pride tormented, thus he strives
To sooth her pangs: I see my pow'r eclips'd;
Mardonius governs. Pow'r, thou fleeting gleam,
Thee I possess no longer; why regret,
When Amarantha's beauty can exchange
Thy thorns for lilies? To my own domain
I will transport her; Sipylus hath flow'rs
To drop perfumes in Amarantha's walk;
Pactolus, Hermus, my subjected streams,
Shall furnish gold; her gems shall India send
To deck that form, and I in pleasure's folds
Forget ambition, stranger to the peace
Which honour yields. Libidinous in thought,
The statesman thus would cheat his baffled pride;
Accurs'd of men! who borrow'd from one vice
His med'cine for another (both deform
His ravag'd bosom in alternate strife)
Flagitious parent! rivalling in love
His eldest born! prepost'rous passion, big
With horror! while the youngest, lov'd by all,
By Xerxes favour'd, to Mardonius dear,
He held in detestation for his worth,
Nor knew the comfort of a virtuous child.
With diff'rent thoughts that sleepless youth employ'd
The night, serenely happy in the charge
Humanity impos'd. Before the dawn
His band is arm'd, Sandauce in her car,
Among innumerable fair the chief
In state and woe. Tears trickle at the sight
Of great Autarctus in his fun'ral pomp
Down ev'ry cheek; a solemn sadness reigns;
So oft Aurora, sable-suited, leads
A train of clouds, dissolving as they pass
In silent show'rs. Through Attica's waste fields,
Through half Boeotia, ere his ev'ning clos'd,
The second sun conducts them to the gates
Of antient Thebes. They enter; they ascend
The citadel; they find commanding there,
New from the ruins of unpeopled towns,
Fierce Mithridates. With a kind embrace,
To him the gentle Artamanes thus:
Hail! brother: twice a captive since we last
At Delphi parted, I would gladly know
Thy fortune. Tell me, where that beauteous maid,
Whom thou didst carry from the Delphian walls?
The grim Barbarian spoiler, quick reply'd:
Curs'd be her name, her beauty, which could melt
A heart like mine! Accurs'd my father's lust,
Which seiz'd my captive! Guarded by a troop
Of jealous eunuchs, and attendants arm'd,
Her in this citadel he still detains.
If I resign her, may Platæa's tow'rs,
May Thespia's hostile walls by me o'erthrown,
A second time to brave me rise from dust.
Oh! unbecoming strife, the brother cry'd,
Which startles nature! Thanks to Heav'n, the king
Hath now decided Amarantha's fate;
Her to his royal sister he hath giv'n,
A promis'd boon. Sandauce, by the foe
Restor'd to freedom, will requite that grace,
By rend'ring up this damsel to her sire,
Himself a pris'ner in Nicæa's fort,
Then both release from bondage. Further know,
In Thebes to morrow Xerxes will appear
On his retreat to Susa. I conduct
This train of eastern dames. By rising dawn
To her protection will the princess take
The Delphian maiden, then proceed. These words
Sting Mithridates; an atrocious deed
He meditates, but artful thus conceals:
Not to my father, to the king I yield.
This said, they parted. Mithridates held
The town; his brother's squadrons lay encamp'd
Without the walls. The citadel contain'd
A fane of Juno, there Sandauce rests.
To OEdipus devoted was a dome,
Which Artamanes enter'd, while his heart
Ran cold and shudder'd at a brother fell,
And treach'rous sire, competitors in love;
Abominable strife! His eyes he cast
O'er all the structure, lighted by the gleams
Of tapers blue attending; he surveys,
Insculptur'd round, the horrors which befel
The house of Laius; there th' ill-fated son
His father slays; incestuous there ascends
His mother's chamber; daughters he begets,
His sisters, sons his brothers; blameless he,
A man of virtues by despair oppress'd,
Rends forth his eyeballs, on the pavement dash'd.
There sev'n dire captains, leagu'd by horrid oaths
Which startled Heav'n, are figur'd; down to Hell
Amphiaraus on his martial car,
Through earth's dividing entrails, there descends;
Here Capaneus, blaspheming Jove, expires
Amid vindictive lightnings; mangled there,
Eteocles and Polynices fall,
Each other's victim to fraternal hate.
Full of these hideous images the youth
Reclines disturb'd, unvisited by sleep,
Till awful midnight; broken slumber, adds
To his disquiet. In a thrilling dream
The eyeless ghost of OEdipus ascends;
The vacant sockets, where the orbs of sight
Once beam'd, are bleeding fresh; a Stygian pall
Infolds the wither'd, pale, sepulchral form;
The arms are stretch'd abroad: Forever Thebes
Must thou to horror be the guilty stage!
It said, and vanish'd. By the phantom wak'd,
Or by a sudden clash of mingling swords,
With skrieks and tumult, Artamanes rose,
Unsheath'd his sabre, grip'd his target fast,
And issued swift. Before his startled eyes
A beauteous woman, of majestic form,
In garb disorder'd, and with ringlets fall'n,
Sustains aloft a poinard newly drawn
From Mithridates' heart, who, sinking, breathes
His last beneath her feet. So Phoebe pierc'd
Orion; so the groaning earth receiv'd
His giant bulk, which insolently dar'd
Attempt that child immaculate of Jove
With violence of love. Now spake the fair:
If to defend her chastity and fame
Becomes a woman, self approv'd at least
I stand, great Timon's daughter, from a line
Heroic sprung, in holy Delphi born;
If to have slain a ruffian be a crime
Among the Persians, give me instant death,
Such as becomes my dignity and sex.
Her words, her looks, impress'd on ev'ry heart
Amaze, and tam'd the savages combin'd
With Mithridates in his impious act.
So when, majestic on the choral scene,
Her tragic pomp Melpomene displays,
In awe profound she hushes rudest minds,
While terror humbles tyrants. Gather'd round
Were numbers now; a thousand torches blaz'd;
Sandauce last, environ'd by her guard,
Approach'd alarm'd. A wounded eunuch stepp'd
Before the princess; I will cloath in truth
My voice, he said. Argestes to my care
Entrusted Amarantha; from that lord,
Solicitations, threat'nings, gifts she spurn'd,
While I admir'd: Sure virtue hath a ray
To strike the meanest eye. To-night his son
Assail'd our dwelling; with my fellow slaves,
All butcher'd, I defended long my charge,
By Mithridates from the mansion forc'd;
Her chastity the noble maid hath sav'd,
Her poniard stretch'd the ravisher in blood.
To Artamanes, weeping o'er the corse,
Sandauce then: To thy consoling words
I oft have listen'd, listen thou to mine;
Forgive the maid; illustrious is her deed
For every maid to imitate. With me,
Come Amarantha; thou art mine; not long
Shalt so continue; at Nicæa's fort
I will restore thee to a joyful sire,
And both to freedom. Morning breaks; the cars,
The troops attend; the royal dame renews
Her progress; seated at her footstool weeps,
In speechless gratitude, the Delphian fair.
By public duty Artamanes rous'd,
Not long remains. This last fare well he sighs:
Oh! early fall'n! Oh! cut from proudest hopes!
Thee, Horomazes, may a brother's tears
For him propitiate! he hath none to shed.
These silent ruins to our father shew,
Thou faithful eunuch. May he feel like me!
His steed he mounts, and rapidly o'ertakes
The squadrons, op'ning on Cadmean plains.
Now Amarantha lifts her grateful head,
Intent to speak; but, heavy on the front
Of her protectress, heavier in her breast
Sat grief, each sense devouring, and her frame
Enfeebling; which, too delicately wrought,
Endures not ev'n remembrance of distress
So new, so strange in her exalted state,
To youth untry'd by evils. She forgets
Her late benignant act, till chance directs
Her eye to Amarantha; when her heart,
Sooth'd by the conscience of a gen'rous deed,
Her faded cheeks relumines with a smile.
Then spake the prudent virgin: Persian queen,
(Sure such thou art) what marvellous event
Gave thee a knowledge of my sire, his place
Of residence, and my disastrous fate?
Sense of thy goodness, from my breast would chace
The memory of troubles, if alas!
I did not see thy countenance o'ercast.
If thou repent thee, of thy favour deem
Me undeserving, send me to abide
The punishment ordain'd by Persian laws;
But if thy sorrows are thy own, unmix'd
With my misfortunes, let assiduous zeal,
Let tenderest service of my grateful hand
Strive to relieve the burdens which oppress
My benefactress. In the captive's hand
Sandauce drops her own; in sighs replies:
O! by thy aspect of superior mold
To all I e'er beheld of regal race,
Resembling me in fortune, lend an ear;
My soul conceives a melancholy wish
That thou shouldst hear my story, I to thine
Alternate listen. Mournful converse soon
Between these fairest in their native climes
Began, continued; sev'n diurnal rounds
The sun perform'd, till intercourse of grief,
Communicated sighs, unite their minds
In tender friendship. Diff'rent yet their lots;
On Amarantha's cheek the bloom revives;
A joyful sire, perhaps a dear betroth'd,
Her fortune promis'd. In Sandauce's train
A husband follow'd on his fun'ral bier;
Her fleeting hue a sickly paleness taints,
Which Artamanes with a sad'ning eye
Observes, portent of malady. Now rose
The eighth sad morn, revealing to their sight
Nicæa's neighb'ring gate. Sandauce then
To Artamanes: Take this virtuous maid;
To her my promise, to her father thine
Fulfill; conduct her. Amarantha dear,
From thee I part, rejoicing in thy joy;
Amid thy comforts in a fire's embrace,
Or bliss more tender with a destin'd spouse,
Forget not me. Autarchus near the tomb
Of Ariana by these widow'd hands
Deposited-She stops; the weaken'd pow'rs
Of health relax, nor furnish sound to grief:
Mute too is Delphi's maid. The Persian youth,
To leave a moment in her sick'ning state
The princess, feels a struggle, but resolves
In rapid haste her mandate to obey.
Nicæa's gate he enters; Timon soon
He finds: receive thy daughter, swift he spake;
Receive thy freedom from the bounteous hand
Of Xerxes' sister; but a short farewell
My urgent cares allow; to set thee free
At thy own time I hasten to enjoin
The chief commander here. He said, and turn'd
Precipitate away, unheard, unmark'd
By Timon, who no other voice nor form
Than Amarantha's heeds. In Carian steel
Now Meliboeus from the gymnic school,
Where he was daily exercis'd in arms,
Approach'd; to him in transport Timon spake:
Behold my daughter!-Instant from the port
Appears Aronces, who proclaims the news
Of Artemisia landed. She had left
Phaleron; station'd in the Malian bay,
She waits the king's arrival, not remote
Now with his army; all advance to meet
The Carian queen; when sudden clouds of dust
The sky envelop; loud the hollow sound
Of trampling hoofs is heard. The portal pass'd
By Artamanes fac'd the southern sun;
An entrance eastward rudely is possess'd
By Caspian horsemen, in the hairy skins
Of goats all horrid; round their brawny loins
From shaggy belts keen cimeters depend;
Well-furnish'd quivers rattle on their backs.
Now fifty grim-fac'd savages dismount
To seize on Amarantha. Then his arm
New-train'd to battle Meliboeus proves;
With native strength, agility and fire,
He springs, confronts the Caspians; from the first
He lops the ruffian hand; by diff'rent wounds
Five more lie prostrate. As a vessel new,
Compact and strong, impetuous from the dock
In her first launch divides the troubled waves,
On either side recoiling, till the weight
Of reuniting waters stops her course,
And beats her lofty ribs; so valour drives
The warrior on, till rallying numbers join'd,
Arrest his progress; fearless yet he stands
A while defensive. Timon from the dead
Lifts two forsaken cimeters; both hands
His indignation arms; he sends to hell
Three miscreants gasping at his daughter's feet.
With aiding Theseus, so Pirithous heap'd
With centaurs slain the Lapithæan hall,
When in flagitious tumult they deform'd
The nuptial banquet, and his fair espous'd
With violation menac'd. But the eye
Of Amarantha mark'd th' unequal fight;
Her poniard drawn, the only succour left,
She holds intrepid, resolute on death,
No second thraldom; when th' auspicious sight
Of Caria's queen revives her fainting hopes.
Stern Artemisia, rapid on the call
Of vigilant Aronces, now approach'd
In awful tone the Caspians: Sheath your blades,
Ye fierce in look, not courage, or this arm
(Her falchion here she waves) shall hide these streets
With your vile carrion. Despicable herd
Of rebels, led by what presumptuous fiend
Dare you invade a fortress of your king,
Ev'n in my presence, he perhaps in sight?
They hear; they pause. Inclos'd by thick'ning guards,
In multitude confiding, urg'd by lust,
Which lends a courage new, Argestes fell,
Inciting loud his ruffians to persist,
Strikes her indignant eye. What wrath, what hopes
Of just, of long-sought vengeance swell her breast!
As when the mother of a lion brood,
From wonted chace returning, sees a wolf,
Or treach'rous tiger stealing towards her den,
Who in her absence would securely prey
On her defenceless whelps, her eyeballs roll
In fire, she rushes on th' insidious foe
With fangs resistless; he contends in vain,
His chest she rends asunder, and his heart
Devours unsated; so incens'd the queen,
Begirt by Carians terrible in war,
To each Barbarian terrible who saw
Their high exploits on Salaminian waves,
Rush'd on Argestes; Meliboeus brave
March'd by her side a second, whom the god
Of arms might rank among his foremost sons.
The Caspians shrunk; by desperation bold,
The satrap spurr'd his courser on the queen,
And whirl'd a javelin shiv'ring on her shield;
She on the forehead smote the restiff horse,
Who, rearing, hurl'd his rider to the ground,
Then points her dreadful weapon tow'rds the breast
Of her detested foe, intent to pierce
The trait'rous heart. This invocation first
She solemn utters: Manes of the brave!
Whom he devoted on the Malian fields
Unpitied victims of his hate to me,
To you, my subjects, this malignant head
I immolate. Hence satrap, once the chief
In pow'r and state, in vice and falsehood chief,
Seek Rhadamanthus; tell him, while he frowns
On his tribunal, Themis to my hand
Her sword resign'd to cut thy treason short.
Her vengeance levels now the mortal blow,
When dignity restrains her. Rise, she said,
Thou criminal, unworthy by this arm
To die; preserve him, Carians, to abide
The ignominous lot, by justice doom'd
To common villains. Meliboeus, change
Thy name; I clasp thee Haliartus now,
My brother, prov'd by gallant deeds; at least
No evidence but virtue I require
For nobler union than congenial birth,
By friendship's sacred ties to call thee mine.
She scarce had finish'd, when a second troop
Of horsemen through the southern portal spread
New terror. In their front a splendid chief,
Who wears a regal circle; round he casts
A searching eye, impatient soon beholds
Bright Amarantha, where she stands beset
By Caspians, strangers to their leader's fate,
Persisting still in pertinacious strife
Against Aronces, and her manly sire;
Then swift as sulph'rous ether, when its flame
Divides a knotted oak or cleaves a tow'r,
Flies on the ruffians: Do ye lift, he cries,
Your hands profane against the destin'd queen
Of Macedon? a carnage wide he spreads
Beneath his trampling steed and pond'rous blade.
Dismounting victor, he unclasps his helm,
Her dear betroth'd to Amarantha shews
In Alexander, Macedonia's king.
Ne'er yet so comely, so endearing look'd
A lover; rescu'd from Barbarian spoil
She meets his arms, while Timon weeps in joy.
With Meliboeus, from a stage of blood,
The Carian queen approach'd, while thus the king
His servent soul was opening: Oh! my love,
My Amarantha! my affianc'd love!
I feel, but cannot paint, my sorrows past,
My present joys. The day, the appointed day
To solemnize our nuptial rites was nigh,
I left my kingdom, flew to Delphi's walls;
Thou wast not there. What horror, when I heard
Thou wast a captive! by what barb'rous hand
None could inform me; thence from march to march
I track'd the Persians; tidings of thy fate
No tongue could tell; through Attica I rang'd,
Boeotia, Phocis, Doris; Locris still
Was left to search. Disconsolate I join'd
The royal camp last ev'ning; there I heard
Of Mithridates by thy virtue slain;
At Thebes, of curs'd Argestes, who had held
Thee pris'ner there; of thy departure thence
With kind Sandauce to Nicæa's fort;
But further told, that base Argestes led
The Caspian horse forerunners of the host,
Alarm'd, my troop I gather'd, I pursu'd,
Am come to save thee, nor one hour withhold
The full protection of my nuptial hand.
Th' illustrious virgin answer'd in a sigh:
O Alexander, I am thine, thou mine
By sacred vows; yet thou a foe to Greece!
Then Artemisia: Noble maid, I praise
That zeal for Greece, thy country; but forbear
At this momentous crisis to combine
Thy preservation with a public care;
Thou need'st protection both of rank and pow'r.
Few can resist the lustre of thy form,
Which, left unguarded thro' the lawless course
Of war, might light, in others less deprav'd
Than foul Argestes and his barb'rous son,
New flames to burst in violence again.
She ceases; Timon ratifies her words.
A mother's office now the queen performs
In preparation for connubial rites;
Nor old Aronces, nor th' acknowledg'd heir
Of Lygdamis are slow. With human blood
Impure, the streets are cleans'd, the slain remov'd;
Flow'rs pluck'd for chaplets, nuptial torches burn,
The altars smoke with odours, sternest hearts
Grow mild, Bellona's furies sleep forgot,
Her fifes and clarions soften to delight
The ear of Hymen; joy concludes the day.

End of the Eighth Book