பக்கம் எண் :

348மயிலை சீனி. வேங்கடசாமி ஆய்வுக் களஞ்சியம் - 20

Nor thou nor I the worth of these things now
Can judge ; we stand too near them; said the sage.
    None till they reach the tomb
        Scan with just eye the treasures of the palace.      32
But for the building - as we speak, I feel
Thro’ all the crannies pierce an icy wind
    More bitter than the blasts
         Which howled without the tents of thy rude fathers.      36
Thou hast forgot to bid thy masons close
The chinks of stone against Calamity.’
     The sage inclined his brow,
        Shivered, and, parting, round him wrapt his mantle.      40
The king turned, thoughtful, to a favourite chief,
The rudest champion of the polished change
    That fixed the wain - borne homes
         Of the wild Scythian, and encamped a city;      44
‘Heard’st thou the Sage, brave Seuthes ?’ asked the King.
Yea, the priest deemed thy treasures insecure,
    And fain would see them safe In his own temple;’
        The King smiled on Seuthes.      48
Unto this Scythian monarch’s nuptial bed
    But one fair girl, Argiope was born:
    For whom no earthly throne
        Soared from the level of his fond ambition.      52
To her, indeed, had Aphrodite given
    Beauty, that royalty which subjects kings,
    Sweet with unconscious charm,
        And modest as the youngest of the Graces.      56
Men blest her when she moved before their eyes
    Shame - faced, as blushing to be born so fair,
    Mild as that child of gods
        Violet - crowned Athens hallowing named ‘Pity,’*     60


* In the Market place of the Athenians is an altar of Pity which divinity, as she is, above alt others, beneficent to human life and to the