112
Merciful no, else I had never wak'd
To hear what you must tell me?
Asclepiades:
Thus, the God.
(Reads from a scroll.)
ANSWER OF THE ORACLE.
Faithful, to-day upon the Parthian plain
His mightiest victory doth Julian gain.
This day he doth to Helios restore
The torch which bright, on high thro' life he bore,
Hermes takes back the staff that once he gave,
Athene claims the buckler and the glaive,
The Dust the dust reclaims, Fire, the fire,
See skyward like a flame that soul aspire
Granted awhile to earth, His mission done,
Now rapt to presence of the Sovereign Sun,
Who, blest by radiance of Light supreme,
Knows now fulfilment of his life-long dream.
