A lengthened echo, mocking, shrilled again!
He spoke and raised the vail! And ask ye
Unto the gaze was there within revealed?
I know not. Pale and senseless, at the foot
Of the dread statue of Egyptian Isis,
The priests beheld him at the dawn of day;
But what he saw, or what did there befall,
His lips disclosed not. Ever from his heart
Was fled the sweet serenity of life,

what

And the deep anguish dug the early grave: "Woe-woe to him"-such were his warning

Answering some curious and impetuous brain,
Woe-for she never shall delight him more!
Woe-woe to him who treads through Guilt to
TRUTH!"

HONORS.

PROBABLY intended to apply to titles inherited or obtained without personal merit.

A

S light its column on the clear brook glasses, The golden track seems of itself to glow; Yet wave on wave adown the pathway passes, Each pressing each, and all as fleetly flow: So on the mortal Honors glass their light; The Place he moves through, not Himself is bright.

THE RING OF POLYCRATES;

A BALLAD.

PON his battlements he stands;

UPON

Look'd down on Samos-seas and lands-
And turned unto his guest;

"And all," he said, "that we survey,
Egyptian king, my power obey-
Dost thou not call me blest ?"

"To thee the gods have favor shown,
And they who were thine equals own
Thy sceptered sovereignty!
Yet one there lives to avenge the rest,
Nor can my lips pronounce thee blest,
Watched by a foeman's eye.”

He spoke, and from Miletus sent,
Behold, a herald came, and bent
Before the tyrant there.

"Let incense smoke upon the shrine,
And with the lively laurel twine,
Victor, thy godlike hair!

"Smit by the spear the foeman fell;
I come, the joyful news to tell,
From thy true Polydore."
And from the grisly bowl he drew

(Grim sight they well might start to view!) A head that dripped with gore.

The Egyptian king recoiled in fear, "Deem not from cloud thy fortune clear-Bethink thee yet," he cried,

66

66

16

Thy Fleets are on the faithless seas;
Thy Fortune trembles in the breeze,
And floats upon the tide."

Ere yet the warning ceased-aloud
Shouts from the joyous clamoring crowd-
It shouts from coast to street!
Laden from far with costliest stores,
Majestic come to homeward shores,
The Forests of the Fleet.

Astounded stood that kingly guest,
This day, in truth, thou seemest blest,

Yet trust in Fate forbear!

New perils yet assail thy fleet

Behold the flags and ships of Crete—
And lo, thy shores they near!"

Scarce spoke the Egyptian king—before
Hark, "Victory-Victory!" from the shore,
And from the seas, ascended;

Escaped the doom that round us lowered,
Swift storm he Cretan has devoured,

And war itself is ended!"

Then shuddering, faltered forth the guest, "To-day I must pronounce thee blest. Yet more thy doom I dread

The Gods oft grudge what they have given, And ne'er unmixed with grief has Heaven Its joys on mortals shed!

"No less than thine my rule has thriven, And o'er each deed the gracious heaven Has, favoring, smiled as yet.

But one beloved heir had I

God took him!-I beheld him die,
His life paid fortune's debt.

"So, would'st thou 'scape the coming ill-
Implore the dread Invisible

Thy sweets themselves to sour!

Well ends his life, believe me, never,
On whom, with hands thus full forever,
The Gods their bounty shower.

"And if thy prayer the Gods can gain not, This counsel of thy friend disdain notInvoke Adversity !

And what of all thy worldly gear
Thy deepest heart esteems most dear,
Cast into yonder sea!"

The Samian thrill'd to hear the king—
"No gems so rich as deck this ring,
The wealth of Samos gave:
By this- may the Fatal Three
My blissful fortunes pardon me !"-
He cast it on the wave.

And when the morrow's dawn began,
All joyous came a fisherman

Before the prince.-Quoth he,

"Behold this fish-a prize so rare
As never net till now did snare-
I bring my gift to thee !"

The cook to dress the fish begun-
The cook ran fast as cook could run-
'Look, look! O master mine-
The ring the ring the sea did win,
I found the fish's maw within-
Was ever luck like thine!"

In horror turns the kingly guest— "Then longer here I may not rest,

I'll have no friend in thee!

The Gods have marked thee for their

To share thy doom I dare not stay!"

He spoke and put to sea.

prey,

NOTE. This story is taken from the well-known correspondence between Amasis and Polycrates, in the third book of Herodotus. Polycrates-one of the ablest of that most able race, the Greek tyrants-was afterward decoyed into the power of Orotes, governor of Sardis, and died on the cross. Herodotus informs us, that the ring Polycrates so prized was an emerald set in gold, the workmanship of Theodorus the Samian. Pliny, on the contrary, affirms it to have been a sardonyx, and in his time it was supposed still to exist among the treasures in the Temple of Concord. It is worth while to turn to Herodotus, (c. 40-43, book 3,) to notice the admirable art with which Schiller has adapted the narrative, and hightened its effect.