Another inscription, said to have been written by Simonides for the tombs of the heroes of Thermopylæ, is as follows: Happy they, the chosen brave, Whom Destiny, whom Valor led To their consecrated grave 'Mid Thessalia's mountains dread. Their sepulchre's a holy shrine, Their epitaph, the engraven line Recording former deeds divine; And Pity's melancholy wail Is changed to hymns of praise that load the evening gale. Entombed in noble deed's they're laid-- Nor silent rust, nor Time's inexorable hour, Shall e'er have power To rend that shroud which veils their hallowed shade. Hellas mourns the dead Sunk in their narrow grave; But thou, dark Sparta's chief, whose bosom bled First in the battle's wave, Bear witness that they fell as best beseems the brave. Leonidas himself fell in the plain, and his body was carried into the defile by his followers. He was buried at the north entrance to the pass, and over his grave was erected a mound, on which was placed the figure of a lion sculptured in stone. The sculptured lion marked the grave of the hero down to the time Of Herodotus. On Phocis' shores the cavern's gloom Imbrowns yon solitary tomb: There, in the sad and silent grave Repose the ashes of the brave Who, when the Persian from afar On Hellas poured the stream of war, At Freedom's call, with martial pride, For his loved country fought and died. Seek'st thou the place where, 'midst the dead The hero of the battle bled? Yon sculptured lion, frowning near, Points out Leonidas's bier. --ANON. The poet BYRON, who was peculiarly the friend of Greece, and an earnest admirer of both the genius and the heroic deeds of her sons, has written the following lines commemorating the glory of those who fell at Thermopylæ: They fell devoted, but undying; The very gale their names seemed sighing: The waters murmured of their name; The woods were peopled with their fame; The silent pillar, lone and gray, Claimed kindred with their sacred clay: Their spirits wrapped the dusky mountain, Their memory sparkled o'er the fountain; The meanest rill, the mightiest river Rolled mingling with their fame forever. THE ABANDONMENT OF ATHENS.