The brave that 'midst these dire alarms
For their lost country greatly dare,
And fired with vengeance rush to arms,
Fall victims to the blood-stained spear.
The bleeding babe, with innocent cries,
Drops from his mother's breast, and dies.
See rapine rushes, bent on prey,
His hasty step brooks no delay;
The spoiler, loaded with his store,
Envious the loaded spoiler views;
Disdains another should have more,
And his insatiate toil renews.
Thick on the earth the rich spoil lies;
For the rude plunderers' restless-rolling tide,
Their worthless numbers waving wide,
Drop in their wild haste many a glitt'ring prize."
The chorus is brought to an end by the return of the messenger, who is now able to give a full account of the seven champions who are leading the attack. The portion of the play which follows is occupied entirely with the description of the combatants who are to meet at each gate. It combines three elements—an epic, a tragic, and a scenic.
It is a grand epic muster-roll: heroes and arms and warlike challenges are described with the pomp and circumstance of the Homeric story; as graphic as Scott, as solemn as Milton.
The tragic element is twofold. First, through all the messenger's description of arms and shields, runs the idea of the moral conflict that is to be waged at the same time between moderation and boastfulness, between patriotism and fury; a part and type of the
