of danger, they are probably not inferior to their enemies; but such are
the fatal effects of military skill and discipline, that I dread the
event of a combat with such an army and such a leader.'

"'Alas!' answered Sophron, 'how well do the mature reflections of your
wisdom accord with my presaging fears! I know that my countrymen will
perform everything that can be effected by men in their situation, and
that thousands will generously sacrifice their lives rather than abandon
the cause they have undertaken to defend; yet, when I consider the
superior advantage of our enemies, my fears are no less active than your
own. This consolation, however, remains, that I shall either see my
country victorious, or avoid the miseries which will attend her ruin.'

"'Hear me, then,' replied Chares. 'The virtues of your friends, my own
obligations to yourself, and the desire I feel to oppose the career of
mad ambition, conspire to wrest from me a dreadful secret, which I have
hitherto buried in my own bosom, and had determined to conceal from the
knowledge of mankind. I have already told you that much of my life has
been dedicated to the acquisition of knowledge, and the investigation of
the laws of nature. Not contented with viewing the appearance of things
as they strike our senses, I have endeavoured to penetrate into the
deeper recesses of nature, and to discover those secrets which are
concealed from the greater part of mankind. For this purpose I have
tried innumerable experiments concerning the manner in which bodies act
upon each other; I have submitted the plants, the stones, the minerals,
which surround us, to the violence of all-consuming fires; I have
examined their structure, and the different principles which compose
them, with the patient labour and perseverance of a long life. In the
course of these inquiries I have made many curious and important
discoveries, but one above the rest, which I will now impart under the
promise of eternal and inviolable secrecy. Know, then, that I have found
out an easy and expeditious combination of common materials, the effect
of which is equal or superior to the most potent and destructive agents
in nature. Neither the proudest city can maintain its walls, nor the
strongest castle its bulwarks, against the irresistible attacks of this
extraordinary composition. Increase but the quantity, and the very rocks
and mountains will be torn asunder with a violence that equals that of
earthq