Enigma XXIII

To the dictates of vengeance true,
And filled with savage joy,
Say, who brave Hector 's body drew
Thrice round the walls of Troy ?
Ponder the deed--then blush that Fame
Should lend her trump to sound his name.

What Cretan prince so justly reign'd,
And govern'd men so well,
That he has been by poets feign'd,
As ruling ev'n in hell ?
(Ere he the debt of nature paid,
The isles call'd "Cyclades" he sway'd.)

Soon as Cambyses had expir'd,
And Smerdis' king was known,
Seven Persian noblemen conspir'd
Th' usurper to dethrone.
Say which of these, in after times,
Forfeits his life for treas'nous crimes ?

When Sparta's valiant prince awaits
Persia's o'erwhelming power,
Thermopylæ ! at thy fam'd straits,
With troops, of Greece the flower,
Oh, tell what wretch betrays (alas !)
The mount that overhangs the pass.

What Roman minister of state,
When proud Tiberius reign'd,
With Fortune's smiles became elate,
And by no fear restrain'd,
Seeking to wear his sov'reign's wreath,
Was led to prison and to death ?

These sev'ral queries I've propos'd
Because I wish to hear
The sign in which the sun's suppos'd
To enter every year,
At spring-time--when the gloom of night,
Is equall'd by the hours of light.