The Storm of Delphi

Far through the Delphian shadesAn Eastern trumpet rung!And the startled eagle rush’d on high,With a sounding flight through the fiery sky;And banners, o’er the shadowy glades,To the sweeping winds were flung.

Banners, with deep-red goldAll waving as a flame,And a fitful glance from the bright spear-headOn the dim wood-paths of the mountain shed,And a peal of Asia’s war-notes toldThat in arms the Persian came.

He came with starry gemsOn his quiver and his crest;With starry gems, at whose heart the dayOf the cloudless Orient burning lay,And they cast a gleam on the laurel-stems,As onward his thousands press’d.

But a gloom fell o’er their way,And a heavy moan went by!A moan, yet not like the wind’s low swell,When its voice grows wild amidst cave and dell,But a mortal murmur of dismay,Or a warrior’s dying sigh!

A gloom fell o’er their way!’Twas not the shadow castBy the dark pine-boughs, as they cross’d the blueOf the Grecian heavens with their solemn hue;The air was fill’d with a mightier sway--But on the spearmen pass’d!

And hollow to their treadCame the echoes of the ground;And banners droop’d, as with dews o’erborne,And the wailing blast of the battle-hornHad an alter’d cadence, dull and dead,Of strange foreboding sound.

But they blew a louder strain,When the steep defiles were pass’d!And afar the crown’d Parnassus rose,To shine through heaven with his radiant snows,And in golden light the Delphian faneBefore them stood at last!

In golden light it stood,Midst the laurels gleaming lone;For the Sun-god yet, with a lovely smile,O’er its graceful pillars look’d awhile,Though the stormy shade on cliff and woodGrew deep round its mountain-throne.

And the Persians gave a shout!But the marble walls repliedWith a clash of steel and a sullen roarLike heavy wheels on the ocean-shore,And a savage trumpet’s note peal’d out,Till their hearts for terror died!

On the armour of the godThen a viewless hand was laid;There were helm and spear, with a clanging din,And corslet brought from the shrine within,From the inmost shrine of the dread abode,And before its front array’d.

And a sudden silence fellThrough the dim and loaded air!On the wild-bird’s wing and the myrtle spray,And the very founts in their silvery way:With a weight of sleep came down the spell,Till man grew breathless there.

But the pause was broken soon!’Twas not by song or lyre;For the Delphian maids had left their bowers,And the hearths were lone in the city’s towers,But there burst a sound through the misty noon--That battle-noon of fire!

It burst from earth and heaven!It roll’d from crag and cloud!For a moment on the mountain-blastWith a thousand stormy voices pass’d;And the purple gloom of the sky was riven,When the thunder peal’d aloud.

And the lightnings in their playFlash’d forth, like javelins thrown:Like sun-darts wing’d from the silver bow,They smote the spear and the turban’d brow;And the bright gems flew from the crests like spray,And the banners were struck down!

And the massy oak-boughs crash’dTo the fire-bolts from on high,And the forest lent its billowy roar,While the glorious tempest onward bore,And lit the streams, as they foam’d and dash’d,With the fierce rain sweeping by.

Then rush’d the Delphian menOn the pale and scatter’d host.Like the joyous burst of a flashing wave,They rush’d from the dim Corycian cave;And the singing blast o’er wood and glenRoll’d on, with the spears they toss’d.

There were cries of wild dismay,There were shouts of warrior-glee,There were savage sounds of the tempest’s mirth,That shook the realm of their eagle-birth;But the mount of song, when they died away,Still rose, with its temple, free!

And the Pæan swell’d ere long,Io Pæan! from the fane;Io Pæan! for the war-arrayOn the crown’d Parnassus riven that day!--Thou shalt rise as free, thou mount of song!With thy bounding streams again.See the account cited from Herodotus, in Mitford’s Greece.