86
GREEK SONGS.
IV.
THE SPARTAN'S MARCH*[1].
"The Spartans used not the trumpet in their march into battle, says Thucydides, because they wished not to excite the rage of their warriors. Their charging-step was made to the 'Dorian mood of flutes and soft recorders.' The valour of a Spartan was too highly tempered to require a stunning or rousing impulse. His spirit was like a steed too proud for the spur."—Campbell on the Elegiac Poetry of the Greek.
'Twas morn upon the Grecian hills,
Where peasants dress'd the vines,
Sunlight was on Cithæron's rills,
Arcadia's rocks and pines.
And brightly, through his reeds and flowers,
Eurotas wander'd by,
When a sound arose from Sparta's towers
Of solemn harmony.
- ↑ * Originally published in the Edinburgh Magazine.
