Page:Landon in The New Monthly 1836.pdf/4



"During Alexander the Great's illness, Peithou, Attalus, Demophon, Peucestas, Cleomenes, Minedas, and Seleucus, slept in the Temple of Serapis, and asked the god if it would be desirable and better for Alexander to be conveyed to the temple, and to supplicate the god, and be healed by him. The answer forbade his removal, declaring that it would be better for him to remain where he was. The companions reported this answer, and Alexander not long after expired, as if, under all circumstances, that were the better fate ."—.

heavy night is falling, A dark and silent night, And aloud the storm is calling From the mountains' wooded height, There is weeping in the pines. But a voice of louder sorrow Arises from the plain, For the nations fear the morrow, And ask for aid in vain, From the old ancestral shrines In the still and stately temple— The temple of the god.

The kingly chiefs are seven Who seek that ancient shrine, To ask of night and heaven An answer and a sign; Pale as shadows pass they by. They are warriors, yet they falter, As with feet unshod They approach thy mighty altar, O Assyrian god! Will the secret of the sky Fill the stately temple— The temple of the god?

Conquerors they enter, In the conqueror's name; The altar in the centre, Burnt with undying flame— Day and night that flame is fed. Lamps from many a marble column In the distance burn, And the light is sad and solemn As a funeral urn. For the presence of the dead Haunts the mystic temple— The temple of the god.

Seven warriors were their number, Seven future kings; Down they laid them to their slumber Mid the silvery rings Of the fragrant smoke that swept From the golden vases streaming, With their spice and oil, And the rich frankincense steaming, Half a summer's spoil.