152 THEOGXIS

But the time comes when such a chosen few have to be resorted to, as a last resource, in preference to the ruin certain to overtake them if, after their plots have been sit still and await it. There is extant a passage of some length, which Mr Frere ingeniously conceives to have been the heads. of Theognis's speech to the conspirators. Its conclusion represents the oath of the malcontents, a formula pledging assistance to friends and requital to foes to the very uttermost. It breathes the courage of desperation, but does not hold out a prospect of success which could justify the resort to action. The precise nature of what fol- lowed we know not. An elegiac and subjective poet like Theognis is . readier to moralise than to describe. The outbreak may have had a gleam of success, or mayjiave been crushed at the beginning by the fore- sight of its opponents, or the despair and faint heart of its promoters. It seems quite clear, however, that, perhaps by the aid of an armed force from some demo- cratic state, most likely Corinth, the insurrection is beaten to its last breathing-place. Here is a fragment which vividly pictures the hurried resolve of the party of Cyrnus and Theognis to abandon their country and ill-starred enterprise : " A speechless messenger, ihe beacon's light, Announces danger from the mountain's height ! Bridle your horses and prepare to fly ; The final crisis of our fate is nigh. A momentary pause, a narrow space, Detains them ; but the foes approach apace !