ray before the
image, doeth he well?"

"Nay, blame us not that we came to beseech the Gods when we heard the
hailstorm of war rattling on the gates."

"'Tis well," cried the King, "yet men say that the Gods leave the city
that is at the point to fall. And mark ye this, that safety is the child
of obedience. But as for duty, 'tis for men to do sacrifice to the Gods,
and for women to keep silence and to abide at home."

But the maidens made reply, "'Tis the Gods who keep this city, nor do
they transgress who reverence them."

"Yes, but let them reverence them in due order. And now hearken to me.
Keep ye silence. And when I have made my prayer, raise ye a joyful shout
that shall gladden the hearts of our friends and put away all fear from
them. And to the Gods that keep this city I vow that if they give us
victory in this war I will sacrifice to them sheep and oxen, and will
hang up in their houses the spoils of the enemy. And now, ye maidens, do
ye also make your prayers, but not with vain clamour. And I will choose
seven men, being myself the seventh, who shall meet the seven that come
against the gates of our city."

Then the King departed, and the maidens made their prayer after this
fashion: "My heart feareth as a dove feareth the serpent for her young
ones, so cruelly doth the enemy come about this city to destroy it!
Shall ye find elsewhere as fair a land, ye Gods, if ye suffer this to be
laid waste, or streams as sweet? Help us then, for indeed it is a
grievous thing when men take a city, for the women, old and young, are
dragged by the hair, and the men are slain with the sword, and there is
slaughter and burning, while they that plunder cry each man to his
comrade, and the fruits of the earth are wasted upon the ground; nor is
there any hope but in death."

And as they made an end, the King came back, and at the same time a
messenger bringing tidings of the battle, how the seven chiefs had
ranged themselves each against a gate of the city. And the man's story
was this.

"First Tydeus, the AEtolian, standeth in great fury at the gate of
Proetus. Very wroth is he because the soothsayer, Amphiaraues,
suffereth him not to cross the Ismenus, for that the omens promise not
victory. A triple crest he hath, and there are bells of bronze under his
shield which ring terribly. And on his shield he hath this device: the
heaven studded with stars, and in the midst the mightiest of the stars,
the eye of night, even th