Page:The poetical works of Matthew Arnold, 1897.djvu/262

224 II.—Noon. A Glen on the highest skirts of the woody region of Etna.

EMPEDOCLES.PAUSANIAS.

PAUSANIAS.

The noon is hot. When we have crossed the stream,

We shall have left the woody tract, and come

Upon the open shoulder of the hill.

See how the giant spires of yellow bloom

Of the sun-loving gentian, in the heat,15

Are shining on those naked slopes like flame!

Let us rest here; and now, Empedocles,

Pantheia's history!

EMPEDOCLES.

Hark! what sound was that

Rose from below? If it were possible,

And we were not so far from human haunt,

I should have said that some one touched a harp.

Hark! there again!

PAUSANIAS.

'Tis the boy Callicles,

The sweetest harp-player in Catana.

He is forever coming on these hills,

In summer, to all country-festivals,

With a gay revelling band; he breaks from them

Sometimes, and wanders far among the glens.

But heed him not, he will not mount to us;

I spoke with him this morning. Once more, therefore,

Instruct me of Pantheia's story, master,

As I have prayed thee.