"I heard a pitious moan. Wondering I went
And found a wretched man; worn and opprest
He seemed with toil and years; and whispering faint
He said "Oh little maiden, sore distrest

"I sink for very want. Give me I pray,
A drop of water and a cake: I die
Of thirst and hunger, yet my sorrowing way
May tread once more, if thou my needs supply."

XIV.

"A long time missing from thy fondling arms--
It chanced that day thou'dst sent me in the shade
New bread, a cake of figs, and wine of palms [FN#10]
Mingled with water, sweet with honey made.

"These did I bring--raised as I could, his head;
Held to his lip the cup; and while he quaffed,
Upon my garment wiped the tears that sped
Adown his silvery beard and mingled with the draft.

[FN#10] "The palm is a very common plant in this country,
(Assyria,) and generally fruitful; this they cultivate like fig-trees
and it produces them bread, wine and honey." See Beloe's notes to his
translation of Herodotus. Mr. Gibbon adds, that the diligent natives
celebrated, either in verse or prose, three hundred and sixty uses to
which the trunk, the branches, the leaves, the juice and the fruit of
this plant were applied. Nothing can be more curious and interesting
than the natural history of the palm tree.

XV.

"When gaining sudden strength, he raised his hand,
And in this guise did bless me, "Mayst thou be
A crown to him who weds thee.--In a land
Far distant bides a captive. Hearken me

"And choose thee now a bridegroom meet: to day
O'er broad Euphrates' steepest banks a child
Fled from his youthful nurse's arms; in play
Elate, he bent him o'er the brink, and smiled

"To see their fears who followed him--but who
The keen wild anguish of that scene can tell--
He bend o'er the brink, and in their view,
But ah! too far beyond their aid--he fell.

XVI.

"They wailed--the long torn ringlets of their hair [FN#11]
Freighted the pitying gale; deep rolled the stream
And swallowed the fair child; no succour there--
They women--whither look--who to redeem

"What the fierce waves were preying on?--when lo!
Approached a stranger boy. Aside he flung,
As darted thought, his quiver and his bow
And parted by his limbs the sparkling billows sung.

[FN#11] The women, I believe, among all nations of antiquity were
accustomed to express violent grief by tearing their hair. This must
have been a great and affecting sacrifice to the object bemoaned, as
they considered it a pa