And fweetnefs temper'd, virtue's pureft light Illumining the countenance divine,
Yet could not footh remorfelefs fate, nor teach Malignant fortune to revere the good, Which oft with anguish rends the spotless heart, And oft affociates wifdom with despair.
In courteous phrase began the chief humane. Exalted fair, who thus adorn'ft the night, Forbear to blame the vigilance of war, And to the laws of rigid Mars impute, That I thus long unwilling have delay'd Before the great Leonidas to place This your apparent dignity and worth.
He spake, and gently to the lofty tent Of Sparta's king the lovely stranger guides. At Agis' fummons with a mantle broad His mighty limbs Leonidas infolds,
And quits his couch. In wonder he furveys
Th' illuftrious virgin, whom his prefence aw'd:
fubmiffive to the ground inclin'd
With veneration of the godlike man.
But foon his voice her anxious dread difpell'd, Benevolent and hofpitable thus.
Thy form alone, thus amiable and great, Thy mind delineates, and from all commands Supreme regard. Relate, thou noble dame, By what relentless destiny compell'd,
Thy tender feet the paths of darkness tread. Rehearfe th' afflictions, whence thy virtue mourns. On her wan cheek a fudden blush arose,
Like day's first dawn upon the twilight pale, And, wrapt in grief, these words a passage broke: If to be most unhappy, and to know, That hope is irrecoverably fled;
If to be great and wretched may deferve Commiferation from the good; behold, Thou glorious leader of unconquer'd bands, Behold defcended from Darius' loins Th' afflicted Ariana, and my pray'r Accept with pity, nor my tears difdain? First, that I lov'd the best of human race, By nature's hand with ev'ry virtue form'd, Heroic, wife, adorn'd with ev'ry art; Of fhame unconfcious does my heart reveal. This day, in Grecian arms confpicuous clad, He fought, he fell. A paffion long conceal'd For me alas! within my brother's arms His dying breath refigning, he disclos'd. -Oh I will stay my forrows! will forbid My eyes to ftream before thee, and my heart, Thus full of anguish, will from sighs restrain! For why should thy humanity be griev'd
With my diftrefs, and learn from me to mourn The lot of nature, doom'd to care and pain !
Hear then, O king, and grant my fole requeft, To feek his body in the heaps of flain.
Thus to the Spartan fu'd the regal maid, Refembling Ceres in majestic woe,
When, fupplicant at Jove's resplendent throne, From dreary Pluto, and th' infernal gloom, Her lov'd and loft Proferpina she sought: Fix'd on the weeping queen with stedfaft eyes, Laconia's chief these tender thoughts recall'd. Such are thy forrows, O for ever dear! Who now at Lacedæmon doft deplore My everlasting abfence! then inclin'd
His head, and figh'd; nor yet forgot to charge- His friend, the gentle Agis, through the ftraits The Perfian princefs to attend and aid.
With careful steps they feek her lover's corse. The Greeks remember'd, where by fate reprefs'd, His arm firft ceas'd to mow their legions down, And from beneath a mafs of Perfian flain
Soon drew the hero, by his armour known. To Agis' high pavilion they resort. Now, Ariana, what tranfcending pangs
Thy foul involv'd? What horror clafp'd thy heart! But love grew mightiest, and her beauteous limbs On the cold breast of Teribazus threw The grief-distracted maid. The clotted gore Deform'd her fnowy bofom. O'er his wounds
Loofe flow'd her hair, and bubbling from her eyes, Impetuous forrow lav'd the purple clay.
When forth in groans her lamentations broke : O torn for ever from my weeping eyes s! Thou, who defpairing to obtain her heart, Who then moft lov'd thee, didft untimely yield Thy life to fate's inevitable dart
For her, who now in agony unfolds
Her tender bofom, and repeats her vows To thy deaf ear, who fondly to her own Now clafps thy breast insensible and cold. Alas! do thofe unmoving, ghaftly orbs Perceive my gufhing anguish! Does that heart, Which death's inanimating hand hath chill'd, Share in my fuff'rings, and return my sighs! -Oh! bitter unfurmountable distress!
Lo! on thy breast is Ariana bow'd,
Hangs o'er thy face, unites her cheek to thine Not now to liften with enchanted ears To thy perfuafive eloquence, no more Charm'd with the wisdom of thy copious mind! She could no more. Invincible defpair Supprefs'd her utt'rance. As a marble form, Fix'd on the folemn fepulcher, unmov'd O'er fome dead hero, whom his country lov'd, Bends down the head with imitated woe:
So paus'd the princefs o'er the breathless clay,
Intranc'd in forrow. On the dreary wound, Where Dithyrambus' fword was deepest plung'd, Mute for a space, and motionless she gaz'd. Then with a look unchang'd, nor trembling hand Drew forth a poniard, which her garment veil'd, And, fheathing in her heart th' abhorred steel, On her flain lover, filent finks in death.
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