nor of the Court of Rome;
And thus before the Royal Tyrant (who
It chanced was then at Ephesus) the youths
Bore witness to the faith more dear than life.
"The living God who made the earth and sky,
And dwells in Temples never made by hands,
Hath set within the Heaven of Heavens His Throne;
He holdeth in His hands a thousand spheres,
And hath created all that is create;
Jehovah infinite, eternal, good,
And wise, we humbly worship, serve, adore,
We cannot bow, O monarch, to thy gods."

Behind a smile the Emperor hid his rage,
And bade the youths consider well, and count
The gain or loss which might to them befall.
The Emperor's favor was a life of gain,
His anger roused was like a scorching fire.
And thus he sent them from his presence out,
To think upon his words, till he again,
And soon, should come in power to Ephesus.

So passed they from his presence, but the world
Loves not the men who are unloved of kings.
The silversmiths that made the idol shrines,
Raised, as of old, a tumult, and the youths
Fled secretly, and sought a refuge safe
Among the mountain heights near Ephesus;
And there within a hidden cave they dwelt,
While Malchus (one of them, but lately come
To Ephesus) brought food to them by night.

Ye deem their lives were sad? Oh they were blest,
On wings of prayer the hours went lightly by;
And oft, when day was spent, toward eventide
Came one into their midst, who brake to them
Celestial bread for their deep hungering.
Till, lo! again with martial pomp and pride,
The haughty Decius came to Ephesus,
And by the whisper of a faithless spy,
He learnt the guarded secret of the cave,
'Gainst which a massive wall the tyrant built,
And so the hiding-place became a tomb.

"They are not dead but sleeping," for the Lord
Hath sent His angel who hath touched their eyes,
And sweetly as a child at evening, dreams
Upon his mother's bosom, lulled to rest
By the soft pulsings of her gentle heart,
So rested well the brave Ephesian youths,--
Guarded by angels, while celestial light
Filled the lone cave and made its rocky bounds
Invisible; and thus they might have seen,
(But that their eyes were closed in heavenly sleep)
The bright stars drifting on the ethereal tide,--
The moon at quarter, like a golden boat
Rock onward to its changing destiny--
The great sun, rising from the under-world,
Blanch all the planets with his fiery rays.
Beneath them were the blue Aegean sea,
Miletus, and the proud Ephesus, wher