Chapter IX

While every river mothered daughters fair,
And clouds conceived, and ancient trees enslaved
Satyr and hama-dryad ... then the flare
Of the Greek torch too happy-high was waved--
The jealous East was plotting, Persians lay
In plundering splendor, with their blazing hosts,
Till Marathon and grim Thermopylæ....
Then, envious cities, roused at Athens’ boasts
Of glittering power, crushed the Golden Age.
Under the Spartan and Bœotian rage;
“Leagues” and sea-struggles, Macedonian terrors,
Dragged to a desperate pass the Greek Wayfarers.