The Yazoo City weekly Whig. (Yazoo City, Miss.) 18??-1855, 1853-02-04

We Neie very Aaeh inteFesteu II az
account given by q traveller IN Greece Of a.
Exploration he recently Witnessed Of the old
battle ground Of Marathon. Certain ex.
Ecayalions were made which discovered the
Ipit where The Il, 900 Persians were buried
who feil in that memorable .battle Of antiq.
uity With the map Of Greece before Us,
and a vivid memory Of The lessons OF our
youth, it seems to US but little while since
that great overthrow Of the Persians took
place. Itoccured in the reign Of Darius, son
of cambys:s The Great, moro than three
Thousand years ago, Our little readers who
are students. win no doubt turn to their his
tories of Greece and learn all about iIscaus
es, and how the States Of Greece for while
forgot or laid aside their internal dissensions
and joined with the Athenians TO repulse
the invading foe. But when the tug of war
came, the Spartans would not join their al
lies until after the full moon and Miltiades.
the "tyrant of the Chersonese" met the
Persians, 100000 strong. with an intrepid
Greek army, mostly Athenians. of only TO-
900. on the plain Of Marathon which lies
between spur of the Olympus and the
Egaen sea. II was superstitiously said that
the ghost of Theseus in mail armor stalked
brayely among the Attic troops inspiring
them with courage and hope. The victory
was complete and the invading foe retreat
ed to their ships leaving 10000 dead sol
diers on the feld-more than the whole
number of the Greek army. tits said the
modification of this defeat killed Darias
He lived but three years afterwards nurs-
ing bitter vengeance against his van
quishers He commanded his servant to
wake him every morning with "Sire, re-
member the Athenians'! We hope our
little readers who have access to the trans
Iations of Herodotus and Thacydides, will
go back and read over with us the accounts
of these old wars when men fought not with
gunpowder but hand to hand in fearful.
deadly strife. But where is Greece now?
the land whose chronicles are glory's page
the country Of Aristides. of Plato and
Demosthenes-of Alcibiees and Socrates.
Trace her history down from the defeat Of
the Athenians under Lysander at Syracuse,
through her successive oFertrows- by the
Macedonian, the Roman and the Turk, even
to her last submission to petty German
King, and read Of the noble acts of heroes
and patriots whohaye given their lives in
vain for her redemption. and then say who
believes in the renovation of a country's
glory when it has once been put out by In
ternal dissensions and failure to act up t.
the modern political apothegm, "The price
of liberty is eternal vigilance" Read the
history of the late revolution in Greece and
see the exploits of her patriots which equal
any OF oldcn time when Greece was the
mistress of the world. Think Of the noble
efforts and self-sacrifce Of Marco Bozzaris,
Maroroeadato and Lord Byron g wonder if
you can, that SO few feel sympathy with
struggling freedom ia the old world, when.
its aspirantssknow 50 little how to use il
when obtained And here arises to our
minds eye verses we have known from.
childhood, from Byron's isles of Greece. =
The mountains look on Marathon
And Maranthon looks on the sea;
And musing there an hour alone,
| dream'd tina! Greece might still be free;
For standing on the Persians' grave,
/ couldnot deem myself slave.
A king safe on the rocky brow
Which looks Ger sea-born Salamis;
And ships, by thousands, lay below,
And men IN nations;all were his!
He counted them at break of day-
And when the sun set, where were they!
And where IRE theya and where art thou,
Ny country! On thy voieeiess shore
The heroic lay is tuneless now
The heroic bosom beats no more!
And must thy Tyre. so long divine,
Degenerate into hands. ike mine.
IT'S something. in the deafth of fame,
Though link'd among fetterad race,
To feel at least patriots shame,
Even as sing, suffuse my face;
For what's left the patriot herel
For Greek blush--sor Greece q tear.
Must zoe but weep Ger days more blessed!
Must zoe but blush4--Onr fathers bled.
Earth render back from out thy breast
A remnant Of our Spartan dead!
Ofthe three hundred grant but three,
To make new Thernopyle
What, silent still! and silent ala
All! no;--the voices Of the dead
Sound like distants torrents fall,
And answer, I.etone living head,
But one arises-we comas We come.
IT'S but the living who are dead,