A Victor of Salamis

ble or bronze, no weavers of eloquence or song, dwelt beneath its shadow, it would stand t

r disclose a soul,-and the Rock of Athens has all but a soul: a soul seems to glow through its adamant when the fire-footed morning steals over the long crest of Hymettus, and touches the citadel'

usy havens of Peir?us and Phalerum, the scattered gray isles of the ?gean, and far away to the domelike crest of Acro-Corinthus. Let him turn to the right: below him nestles the [pg 85]gnarled hill of Areopagus, home of the Furies, the buzzing plaza of the Agora, the closely clustered city. Behind, there spread mountain, valley, pl

"Here is my dwelling-place." This will be the vision until earth and ocean are no more. The human habitation changes, the

-crowned procession to bear a formal thanksgiving, but his wife had not then been with him. Now they would go together, without pomp. They walked side by si

y crossed the Agora, where traffic was in its morning bust

cides' statues at the upper end of the plaza a grave councilman

Hermione, thinking only of her hus

of the glad. For the gods have sent me blessings beyond desert, I no longer fear their envy as once. I enjoy honour with all good men. I have no enemy in the world. I have the dearest of friends, Cimon, Themistocles-b

oddess by likening me unto her. It is joy enough for me if I can look up at

t stood in beauty-a hundred Doric columns, a sculptured pediment, flashing with white marble and with tints of scarlet, blue, and gold. Below it, over the irregular plateau of the Rock, spread avenues of votive statues of gods and heroes in stone, bronze, or painted wood. Here [pg 87]and there were numerous shrines and small temples, and a giant altar for burning a hundred oxen. So hand in hand the twain went to the bronze portal of the Temple. The kindly old priest on guard smiled as he sprinkled them with the purifying salt water out

ow us both. Give us to strive for the noblest, to speak the wise word, to love one another. Give us prosperity, but not

rama-rocks, plain, sea, and bending heavens-opened before them in glory. The light faded upon the purple breasts of the western

rnmost pinnacle of the Roc

s one another. We dwell in 'violet-crowne

nted less pleased toward

oud comes on a rushing wind! It will c

ad, ma

-day as a thunder-cloud above Athens a

closer to

f me?" he as

women. It is not the hateful and old th

burst of unoccasioned fear, her eyes shone wi

winds. It breaks into a thousand bits. So shall Themistocles scatter the hordes of Xerxes

nt it!" pra

mood. "And now that we have paid our vows to her, let us descend. Our friend

to join them, and in the brisk chatter that arose the omen of

* *

d to surpass every one both in jests and in wisdom. So they fared down across the broad plain-land to the harbours, till the hill Munychia rose steep before them. A scramble over a rocky, ill-marked way led to the top; then before them broke a second view comparable almost to that from the Rock of Athena: at their feet lay the four blue havens of Athens, to the right Phaleron, closer at hand the land-locked bay of Munychia, beyond th

frowning at the handsome statesman; "I do not love any

ll against the Barbarian, dear lady," answered he, qui

iend's wife, "I would cast two thunderbolts, one to destroy Xerxes, the sec

t-skin. The bribe of two obols brought him out with his pipe. Four of the slave-boys fell to dancing. The party sat down upon the burnt grass,-eating, drinking, wreathing poppy-crowns, and watching the nimble slaves and the ships

mes swinging lazily at anchor. Twice they pulled around the proudest of the fleet,-the Nausica?, the gift of Hermippus to the state, a princely gift even in days when every Athenian put his all at the public service. She would be

rireme in an opposite direction, collided abruptly. A lurch, a few splinters was all the hu

yrian, and his master and the boy from the East too. What busines

s, instantly, from the bow; "if the harbour-watch doe

no harm. Now they row to another trireme. With what falcon eyes

s the life of a crow, who, they say, lives a thousand years, but I don't see

demanded

ocles. "Let us see the battle

on the oars and making the skiff bound, "if we can find water deep enough

t at lightness; "I have been preparing my oration against the c

e man!" cri

ity him; he was und

y in days like these is worse than he

earest eavesdroppers, yon fishermen, are a good five furlongs. Would you see something?" Glaucon rested on the oars, while

when I spread the ink. In short here is the ordering of the ships of the allied Greeks when we meet Xerxes in battle. Leonidas and our other chiefs gave

llies. A few comments on the use of the light penteconters behind the heavy triremes. A few more comments on Xerxes's probable naval tactics. Only the knowledge that Themistocles never comm

ork; "Leonidas shall see this, then Xerxes, and after that-" he laugh

ttica, were spreading over them. Around the islet of Psyttaleia in the strait the brown fisher-boats were gliding. Beyond the strait opened the blue hill-girdl

it is the [pg 93]work of God.' It cannot be that, here, between these purple hills and the glistening sea,

les shook

are dice in the hi

ll scan the mind of t

r Attic mother wit, and trust the rest to destiny. Let

many moment

e Democrates, at length; "s

use, where he said he expected Sicinnus; Cimon and Democrates sought a tavern for an evening cup; Glaucon and Hermione hastened to their house in the Colonus suburb near the trickling Cephissus, where in the starlit night the tettix4 in the black old olives by the stream made its monotonous music, where great fir

ater from an upper window. Democrates thereupon quitted the party. His head was very befogged, but he could not expel one idea from it-that Themistocles had revealed that day a priceless secret, that the statesman and Glaucon and he himself were the only men who shared it, and that it was bel

something. Sicinnus, who has been searching in Athens, is ce

shorter. It cam

rhenian pirates have taken the ship. La

er closed his

g