themselves, where the sound of their grief may not increase the panic.
"My charge shall be at our seven gates to fix
Six of our bravest youth, myself the seventh,
In dreadful opposition to the foe."
In obedience to the king's command, the band of maidens begin their prayers afresh. The first tones are soft and feminine, and exhibit, in their expressions of fear, that delicate perception of a particular phase of emotion and wonderful command of words for its description, which, even in this early period, distinguishes the Greek writers. "Care and fear," the maiden says, "keep all rest from my heart; pressing on my inmost soul comes a crowd of anxieties, that kindles there a burning dread."
"And as the trembling dove, whose fears
Keep watch in her uneasy bow'r,
Thinks in each rustling leaf she hears
The serpent gliding to devour,
I tremble at each sullen sound
Of clashing arms, that roars around:
With all their troops, with all their powers,
Fierce they advance to storm our towers;
Now hurtling in the darkened sky
What does my cruel fate prepare!
Rude batt'ring stones incessant fly,
And all the missive storm of war."
Half familiarly they argue with the gods. "Where will ye find," they say, "a better home?" If the city is taken, it will be because the gods have left it,
