Note the suggestion of the sea, and of eager hurry, in the movement of the verse. Compare the directness of the opening with that of the preceding poem: What is the advantage of such a beginning? How much is told of the hero? By what means is his heroism emphasized? How is Browning's departure from the legend a gain? Observe the abrupt energy of lines 39-40; the repetition, in 79-80; the picture of Hervé Riel in stanzas viii and x.
PHEIDIPPIDES. (PAGE [30].)
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The story is from Herodotus, told there in the third person. See Herodotus, VI., 105-106. The final incident and the reward asked by the runner are Browning's addition.
[Χαίρετε, νικωμεν]. Rejoice, we conquer.
[4]. [Zeus]. The chief of the Greek gods (Roman Jupiter). Her of the ægis and spear. These were the emblems of Athena (Roman Minerva), the goddess of wisdom and of [page 239] warfare.
[5]. Ye of the bow and the [buskin]. Apollo and Diana.
[8]. [Pan]. The god of nature, of the fields and their fruits.
[9]. [Archons]. Rulers. tettix, the grasshopper, whose image symbolized old age, and was worn by the senators of Athens. See the myth of Tithonus and Tennyson's poem of that name.
[13]. [Persia] attempted a conquest of Athens in 490 B.C. and was defeated by the Athenians in the famous battle of Marathon, under Miltiades.