Page:The poetical works of Matthew Arnold, 1897.djvu/399

Rh Immersed in serious state-craft is the King,

Bent above all to pacify, to rule,

Rigidly, yet in settled calm, this realm;

Not prone, all say, averse to bloodshed now.—

So much is due to truth, even tow'rds our foe.

(To LAIAS.)

Do I, then, give to usurpation grace,

And from his natural rights my son debar?

Not so! let him—and none shall be more prompt

Than I to help—raise his Messenian friends;

Let him fetch succors from Arcadia, gain

His Argive or his Spartan cousins' aid;

Let him do this, do aught but recommence

Murder's uncertain, secret, perilous game—

And I, when to his righteous standard down

Flies Victory wing'd, and Justice raises then

Her sword, will be the first to bid it fall.

If, haply, at this moment, such attempt

Promise not fair, let him a little while

Have faith, and trust the future and the Gods.

He may; for never did the Gods allow

Fast permanence to an ill-gotten throne.—

These are but woman's words—yet, Laias, thou

Despise them not! for, brother, thou and I

Were not among the feuds of warrior-chiefs,

Each sovereign for his dear-bought hour, born;

But in the pastoral Arcadia rear'd,

With Cypselus our father, where we saw

The simple patriarchal state of kings,

Where sire to son transmits the unquestion'd crown,

Unhack'd, unsmirch'd, unbloodied, and have learnt

That spotless hands unshaken sceptres hold.

Having learnt this, then, use thy knowledge now.