—and Athens was saved through Euripides,
"Through Euthukles, through—more than ever—me,
Balaustion, me, who, Wild-Pomegranate-Flower,
Felt my fruit triumph, and fade proudly so!"
* * * * *
But next day, Sparta woke from the spell. Harsh Lysander decreed that though Athens might be saved, the Piræus should not. Comedy should destroy the Long Walls: the flute-girls should lead off in the dance, should time the strokes of spade and pickaxe, till the pride of the Violet-Crowned lay in the dust. "Done that day!" mourns Balaustion:
"The very day Euripides was born."
But they would not see the passing of Athenai; they would go, fleeing the sights and sounds,
"And press to other earth, new heaven, by sea
That somehow ever prompts to 'scape despair"
—and wonderfully, at the harbour-side they found that old grey mariner, whose ship she had saved in the first Adventure! The ship was still weather-wise: it should
"'Convey Balaustion back to Rhodes, for sake
Of her and her Euripides!' laughed he,"