Which his poor skill could make, his fancy fetch'd
Even from the blazing chariot of the sun

A beardless youth,* who touched a golden lute,
And filled the illumined groves with ravishment.
2. The nightly hunter, lifting a bright eye

Up toward the crescent moon, with grateful heart
Called on the lovely wanderer who bestow'd
That timely light to share his joyous sport.
And hence a beaming goddess, † with her nymphs,
Across the lawn, and through the darksome grove
(Not unaccompanied with tuneful notes
By echo multiplied from rock or cave),

Swept in the storm of chase, as moon and stars
Glance rapidly along the clouded heaven
When winds are blowing strong.

The traveler slaked
His thirst from rill or gushing fount, and thank'd
The Naiad. Sunbeams, upon distant hills
Gliding apace, with shadows in their train,

Might, with small help from fancy, be transformed
Into fleet Oreads§ sporting visibly.

3. The Zephyrs fanning, as they passed, their wings,
Lacked not for love fair objects, whom they wooed
With gentle whisper. Withered boughs grotesque,
Stripped of their leaves and twigs by hoary age,
From depth of shaggy covert peeping forth
In the low vale, or on steep mountain side;
And sometimes intermixed with stirring horns
Of the live deer, or goat's depending beard-
These were the lurking satyrs, ¶ a wild brood
Of gamesome deities; or Pan himself,
The simple shepherd's awe-inspiring God.**—

-WORDSWORTH.

LESSON III.-THE PERSIAN WARS.

1. PASSING Over the "fabulous period" of Grecian history, which may be supposed to end about the time of the close of the supposed Trojan war, and the "uncertain period,"

*This is Apollo, or the sun, the god of prophecy, archery, and music, represented as a youth in the perfection of manly strength and beauty. He bears a lyre in his hand, sometimes a bow, and a golden lute, with a golden quiver of arrows at his back.

† Diana, the exact counterpart of her brother Apollo, was queen of the woods, and the goddess of hunting. Diana is one of the names under which the moon was worshiped. The Naiads are represented as young and beautiful nymphs, who presided over rivers, brooks, springs, and fountains.

The Oreads, nymphs of the mountains, generally attended upon Diana, and accompanied her in hunting.

The Zephyrs were the genial west winds. They were brothers of the stars, and seldom visited the earth except during the shades of evening.

The Satyrs were represented like men, but with feet and legs of goats, short horns on the head, and the whole body covered with thick hair.

**The horned and goat-footed Pan was the god of shepherds, and lord of the woods and mountains. What are called panic terrors were ascribed to Pan; as loud noises, whose causes could not easily be traced, were oftenest heard in mountainous regions, which were his favorite haunts.

which embraces an account of the institutions of Lycurgus, the Messenian wars, and the legislation of Solon, we come down to what is called the "authentic period," which begins with the causes that led to the first Persian war.

2. Dari'us, king of Persia, exasperated against Athens on account of the assistance which she had given to the Greek colonies of Asia Minor in their revolt against the Persian resolved upon power, the conquest of all Greece; but in the third year of the war, 490 B.C., his army, numbering a hundred thousand men, was defeated with great slaughter by a force of little more than ten thousand Greeks on the plains of Marathon.

3. Ten years later, Xerxes, the son and successor of Dari'us, opened the second Persian war by invading Greece in person, at the head of the greatest army the world has ever seen, and whose numbers have been estimated at more than two millions of fighting men. This immense host, proceeding by the way of Thessaly, had arrived without opposition at the narrow defile of Thermopyla, between the mountains and the sea, where the Spartan Leonidas was posted with three hundred of his countrymen and some Thespian allies, in all less than a thousand men.

4. The Spartans were forbidden by their laws ever to flee from an enemy; they had taken an oath never to desert their standards; and Leonidas and his countrymen, and their few allies, prepared to sell their lives as dearly as possible. Bravely meeting the attack of the Persian host, and retreating into the narrowest of the pass as their numbers were thinned by the storm of arrows, and by the living mass that was hurled upon them, they fought with the valor of desperation until every one of their number had fallen.* A monument was afterward erected on the spot, bearing the following inscription: "Go, stranger, and tell at Lacedæmon that we died here in obedience to her laws."

*The story that Leonidas made a night attack, and penetrated nearly to the royal tent, as described by Croly in his well-known poem beginning,

"It was the wild midnight; a storm was on the sky,"

is a mere fiction, opposed to well-known history. For this reason we have not introduced it in our selections. The attack was commenced in the forenoon, and by the Persians. Historical fictions may be introduced without any impropriety where they fill up with probable events the gaps in history, but not where they are in opposition to history. Of the former character are most of the historical scenes in Shakspeare.

LESSON IV.-ADDRESS OF LEONIDAS TO THE SPARTANS. 1. "WHY this astonishment on every face,

Ye men of Sparta? Does the name of death
Create this fear and wonder? Oh my friends!
Why do we labor through the arduous paths
Which lead to virtue? Fruitless were the toil,
Above the reach of human feet were placed
The distant summit, if the fear of death
Could intercept our passage. But in vain
His blackest frowns and terrors he assumes
To shake the firmness of the mind which knows
That, wanting virtue, life is pain and woe;
That, wanting liberty, even virtue mourns,
And looks around for happiness in vain.

2. "Then speak, oh Sparta! and demand my life;
My heart, exulting, answers to thy call,

And smiles on glorious fate. To live with fame
Is allowed to the many; but to die
With equal lustre is a blessing Heaven
Selects from all the choicest boons of fate,
And with a sparing hand on few bestows."
Salvation thus to Sparta he proclaimed.
*Joy, rapt a while in admiration, paused,
Suspending praise; nor praise at last resounds

In high acclaim to rend the arch of heaven;

A reverential murmur breathes applause.-RICH. GLOVER.

LESSON V.-THE SPARTANS NOBLY KEPT THEIR OATH.

1. 'Twas an hour of fearful issues,

When the bold three hundred stood,
For their love of holy freedom,
By that old Thessalian flood-

When, lifting high each sword of flame,
They called on every sacred name,
And swore, beside those dashing waves,
They never, never would be slaves!
2. And ch! that oath was nobly kept.
From morn to setting sun

Did desperation urge the fight
Which valor had begun;

Till, torrent-like, the stream of blood
Ran down and mingled with the flood,
And all, from mountain cliff to wave,
Was Freedom's, Valor's, Glory's grave.
3. Oh yes! that oath was nobly kept,
Which nobly had been sworn,
And proudly did each gallant heart
The foeman's fetters spurn;

And firmly was the fight maintained,
And amply was the triumph gained;
They fought, fair Liberty, for thee;

They fell-TO DIE IS TO BE FREE!-GEO. W. DOANE.

LESSON VI.-THE GLORY OF THEIR FALL.
THEY fell devoted, but undying;

The very gale their names seem'd sighing;
The waters murmur'd of their name;
The woods were peopled with their fame;
The silent pillar, lone and gray,

Claim'd kindred with their sacred clay:
Their spirits wrapp'd the dusky mountain,
Their memory sparkled o'er the fountain:
The meanest rill, the mightiest river,
Roll'd mingling with their fame forever.
Despite of every yoke she bears,
The land is glory's still and theirs.
'Tis still a watchword to the earth:
When man would do a deed of worth,

He points to Greece, and turns to tread,
So sanctioned, on the tyrant's head;

He looks to her, and rushes on

Where life is lost, or freedom won.-BYRON. *

LESSON VII.-BATTLE OF SAL'AMIS, AND FLIGHT OF XERXES, 480 B.C.

AFTER the fall of Leonidas, Xerxes ravaged Attica and burned Athens. He then made preparations to annihilate the power of the Grecians in a naval engagement, and sent his whole fleet to block up that of the Greeks in the narrow strait of Sal'amis. Proceeding thither with his army also, he drew up his countless thousands on the shore, and then caused a throne to be erected on one of the neighboring heights, where he might witness the naval battle, in which he was confident of victory; but he had the misfortune and the mortification to see his magnificent navy almost utterly annihilated. Terrified at the result, he hastily fled across the Hellespont, and retired into his own dominions, leaving his general Mardonius, at the head of three hundred thousand men, to complete, if possible, the conquest of Greece.

I. DESCRIPTION OF THE BATTLE OF SALAMIS.

1.

From ÆSCHYLUS.

The Persian chief,

Little dreaming of the wiles of Greece
And gods averse, to all the naval leaders

Gave his high charge: "Soon as yon sun shall cease
To dart his radiant beams, and dark'ning night
Ascends the temple of the sky, arrange

In three divisions your well-ordered ships,
And guard each pass, each outlet of the seas:
Others enring around this rocky isle

Of Salamis. Should Greece escape her fate,
And work her way by secret flight, your heads
Shall answer the neglect." This harsh command
He gave, exulting in his mind, nor knew
What Fate designed. With martial discipline
And prompt obedience, snatching a repast,
Each mariner fixed well his ready oar.
2. Soon as the golden sun was set, and night
Advanced, each, trained to ply the dashing oar,
Assumed his seat; in arms each warrior stood,
Troop cheering troop through all the ships of war.
Each to the appointed station steers his course,
And through the night his naval force each chief
Fix'd to secure the passes. Night advanced,
But not by secret flight did Greece attempt
To escape. The morn, all beauteous to behold,

Drawn by white steeds, bounds o'er the enlighten'd earth: 3. At once from every Greek, with glad acclaim, Burst forth the song of war, whose lofty notes

The echo of the island rocks returned,

Spreading dismay through Persia's host, thus fallen
From their high hopes; no flight this solemn strain
Portended, but deliberate valor bent

On daring battle; while the trumpet's sound
Kindled the flames of war. But when their oars
(The pæan ended) with impetuous force
Dash'd the surrounding surges, instant all
Rush'd on in view; in orderly array

The squadron of the right first led, behind

Rode their whole fleet; and now distinct was heard
From every part this voice of exhortation:

4. " 'Advance, ye sons of Greece, from thraldom save
Your country-save your wives, your children save,
The temples of your gods, the sacred tomb
Where rest your honor'd ancestors; this day
The common cause of all demands your valor."
Meantime from Persia's hosts the deep'ning shout
Answer'd their shout; no time for cold delay;
But ship 'gainst ship its brazen beak impell'd.
5. First to the charge a Grecian galley rush'd;
Ill the Phoenician bore the rough attack,
Its sculptured prow all shatter'd.
Daring an opposite. The deep array
Of Persia at the first sustain'd the encounter;
But their throng'd numbers, in the narrow seas
Confined, want room for action; and, deprived
Of mutual aid, beaks clash with beaks, and each

Each advanced,