Page:The Prelude, Wordsworth, 1850.djvu/278

256 Hath called upon to embody his deep sense

In action, give it outwardly a shape,

And that of benediction, to the world.

Then doubt is not, and truth is more than truth,—

A hope it is, and a desire; a creed

Of zeal, by an authority Divine

Sanctioned, of danger, difficulty, or death.

Such conversation, under Attic shades,

Did Dion hold with Plato; ripened thus

For a Deliverer's glorious task,—and such

He, on that ministry already bound,

Held with Eudemus and Timonides,

Surrounded by adventurers in arms,

When those two vessels with their daring freight,

For the Sicilian Tyrant's overthrow,

Sailed from Zacynthus,—philosophic war,

Led by Philosophers. With harder fate,

Though like ambition, such was he, O Friend!

Of whom I speak. So Beaupuis (let the name

Stand near the worthiest of Antiquity)

Fashioned his life; and many a long discourse,

With like persuasion honoured, we maintained:

He, on his part, accoutred for the worst.

He perished fighting, in supreme command,

Upon the borders of the unhappy Loire,