The trembling notes ascend the sky,
And heavenly joys inspire.

The song began from Jove;

Who left his blissful seats above,
(Such is the power of mighty love!)

A dragon's fiery form bely'd the god *): .
Sublime on radiant spires he rode,

When he to fair Olympia press'd,

And while he sought her snowy breast:

Then, round her slender waist he curl'd,

1

And stamp'd an image of himself, a sovereign of the world.
The listening crowd admire the lofty sound,

A present deity, they shout around:

A present deity, the vaulted roofs rebound:

With ravish'd ears

The monarch hears,
Assumes the god,

Affects to nod,

And seems to shake the spheres.

Chorus.

With ravish'd ears

The monarch hears,

Assumes the god,

Affects to nod,

And seems to shake the spheres.

land, verfertigte starke und männliche Gesangweisen, dergleichen am meisten nach Alexanders Geschmack waren. Durch die Phrygische hatte er ihn einst so aufser sich gesetzt, dafs er aufsprang und zu den Waffen griff. Auf diesen kleinen historischen Umstand hat Dryden sein Gedicht gegründet.

* In der berühmten Nachricht von Alexandern dem Betrüger schreibt Lucian:,,Zu Pella in Macedonien sahen sie eine Art von ungewöhnlich grofsen Schlangen oder Drachen, die so sanft und zahm sind, dass sie von Weibern wie andere Hausthiere aufgezogen wurden, bei den Kindern schlafen, sich ohre böse zu werden, necken und treten lassen, ja sogar wie Säuglinge an die Brust gelegt werden, anstatt jener die Milch auszuziehen. Sie sind in dieser Gegend sehr gemein, und vermuthlich ist das alte Mährchen, das von der Königin Olympias erzählt wird, daher entstanden, weil sie vielleicht eine solche Schlange bei sich schlafen liefs, als sie mit Alexandern schwanger ging." S. den sten Theil der Lucianischen Werke, übersetzt von Wieland.

III.

The praise of Bacchus then the sweet musician sung;
Of Bacchus ever fair and ever young:
The jolly god in triumph comes;
Sound the trumpets; beat the drums;
Flush'd with a purple grace

He shews his honest face:

Now give the hautboys breath; he comes, he comes.
Bacchus, ever fair and young,

Drinking joys did first ordain;
Bacchus blessings are a treasure,
Drinking is the soldier's pleasure,
Rich the treasure,

Sweet the pleasure;

Sweet is pleasure after pain.
Chorus.

Bacchus blessings are a treasure,
Drinking is the soldier's pleasure;
Rich the treasure,

Sweet the pleasure;

Sweet is pleasure after pain.

IV.

Sooth'd with the sound, the king grew vain;

Fought all his battles o'er again;

And thrice he routed all his foes; and thrice he slew the slain.
The master saw the madness rise;

His glowing cheeks, his ardent eyes;
And, while he heaven and earth defy'd,
Chang'd his hand, and check'd his pride.
He chose a mournful Muse,
Soft pity to infuse:

He sung Darius great and good,
By too severe a fate,
Fallen, fallen, fallen, fallen,
Fallen from his high estate,
And welt'ring in his blood;
Deserted, at his utmost need,
By those his former bounty fed:
On the bare earth expos'd he lies,

With not a friend to close his eyes.

With down-cast looks the joyless victor sate

Revolving in his alter'd soul

The various turns of chance below;
And now and then a sigh he stole;
And tears began to flow.

Chorus.

Revolving in his alter'd soul

The various turns of chance below,
And now and thên a sigh he stole;
And tears began to flow.,

V.

The mighty master smil'd, to see
That love was in the next degree:
"Twas but a kindred sound to move;

For pity melts the mind to love.

Softly sweet, in Lydian measures,

Soon he sooth'd his soul to pleasures.
War, he sung, is toil and trouble;
Honour but an empty bubble;

Never ending, still beginning,

Fighting still, and still destroying:

If the world be worth thy winning,
Think, O think, it worth enjoying:
Lovely Thais sits beside thee,

Take the good the gods provide thee.
The many rend the skies with loud applause;
So Love was crown'd, but Music won the cause.
The prince, unable to conceal his pain
Gaz'd on the fair

Who caus'd his care,

And sigh'd and look'd, sigh'd and look'd,
Sigh'd and look'd, and sigh'd again:

At lenght, with love and wine at once oppress'd,
The vanquish'd victor sunk upon her breast.

Chorus.

The prince, unable to conceal his pain

Gaz'd on the fair

Who caus'd his care,

And sigh'd and look'd, sigh'd and look'd, Sigh'd and look'd, and sigh'd again:

At length, with love and wine at once oppress'd,
The vanquish'd victor sunk upon her breast.

VI.

Now strike the golden lyre again:

And louder yet, and yet a louder strain.
Break his bands of sleep asunder,

And rouse him, like a rattling peal of thunder.
Hark, hark, the horrid sound

Has rais'd up his head:

As awak'd from the dead,
And amaz'd, he stares around.
Revenge, revenge, Timotheus cries,
See the furies arise,

See the snakes that they rear,
How they hiss in their hair,

And the sparkles that flash from their eyes!
Behold a ghastly band,

Each a torch in his hand!

Those are Grecian ghosts, that in battle were slain,
And unbury'd remain

Inglorious on the plain:

Give the vengeance due

To the valiant crew:

Behold how they toss their torches on high,
How they point to the Persian abodes,
And glittering temples of their hostile gods *).
The princes applaud, with a furious joy:
And the king seiz'd a flambeau with zeal to destroy;
Thais led the way **),

To light him to his prey,

And, like another Helen, fir'd another Troy.

*) Die Perser verachteten die Vielgötterei. Als der Persische König Kambyses in Agypten den Tempel der Kabiren besuchte, welche man als Götter verehrte, und wovon man glaub te, dafs es sehr gefährlich wäre, sie zu beleidigen, trieb er ein Gespott mit den Zwergbildern derselben, und liefs den Tempel verbrennen. Dem Apis, dem göttlich verehrten Stier der Ägyp ter, stiefs er den Dolch in die Seite, und liefs die Priester des selben geifseln. Der König Darius Ochus liefs den Apis sogar schlachten und verzehrte ihn mit seinen Hofleuten.

**) Thais, eine Athenienserin, wünschte bei dem königli chen Gastmahl zu Persepolis die Ehre zu haben, den Pallast des Xerxes, welcher Athen eingeäschert hatte, mit eigner Hand anzuzünden. Ihre Rede fand bei den betrunkenen Gästen Beifall und Alexander selbst ergriff eine Fackel.

Plutarch

Chorus.

And the king seiz'd a flambeau with zeal to destroy;
Thais led the way

To light him to his prey,

And, like another Helen, fir'd another Troy.

Thus, long ago,

VII.

Ere heaving bellows learn'd to blow,

While organs yet were mute;
Timotheus to his breathing flute,
And sounding lyre,

Could swell the soul to rage, or kindle soft desire.
At last divine Cecilia came,

Inventress of the vocal frame;

The sweet enthusiast, from her sacred store,
Enlarg'd the former narrow bounds,
And added length to solemn sounds,

With nature's mother-wit, and arts unknown before.
Let old Timotheus yield the prize,

Or both divide the crown:

He rais'd a mortal to the skies;

She drew an angel down.
Grand Chorus.

At last divine Cecilia came,
Inventress of the vocal frame;
The sweet enthusiast, from her sacred store,
Enlarg'd the former narrow bounds,

And added length to solemn sounds,

With nature's mother-wit, and arts unknown before.
Let old Timotheus yield the prize,

Or both divide the crown;

He rais'd a mortal to the skies;

She drew an angel down.

im Leben Alexanders. Auch Arrian und Strabo berichten, dafs man nur den königlichen Pallast verbrannt habe. Curtius schreibt, dafs die ganze Stadt verbrannt worden sey. Auch Plinius nennt Persepolis eine von Alexandern zerstörte Stadt.