Page:The poetical works of Matthew Arnold, 1897.djvu/338

300 ÆPYTUS.

O brother of my mother, guardian true,

And second father from that hour when first

My mother's faithful servant laid me down,

An infant, at the hearth of Cypselus,

My grandfather, the good Arcadian king—

Thy part it were to advise, and mine to obey.

But let us keep that purpose, which, at home,

We judged the best; chance finds no better way.

Go thou into the city, and seek out

Whate'er in the Messenian people stirs

Of faithful fondness for their former king

Or hatred to their present; in this last

Will lie, my grandsire said, our fairest chance.

For tyrants make man good beyond himself;

Hate to their rule, which else would die away,

Their daily-practised chafings keep alive.

Seek this! revive, unite it, give it hope;

Bid it rise boldly at the signal given.

Meanwhile within my father's palace I,

An unknown guest, will enter, bringing word

Of my own death—but, Laias, well I hope

Through that pretended death to live and reign.

Softly, stand back!—see, to these palace gates

What black procession slowly makes approach?—

Sad-chanting maidens clad in mourning robes,

With pitchers in their hands, and fresh-pull'd flowers—

Doubtless, they bear them to my father's tomb.

And look, to meet them, that one, grief-plunged Form,

Severer, paler, statelier than they all,

A golden circlet on her queenly brow!