It is enough that all men speak of it. But I will also say, that when the gods Visit us as they do with sign and plague, To know those spells of thine which stay their hand Were to live free from terror. EMPEDOCLES. Spells? Mistrust them! Mind is the spell which governs earth and heaven; Man has a mind with which to plan his safety,-- Know that, and help thyself! PAUSANIAS. But thine own words? “The wit and counsel of man was never clear; Troubles confound the little wit he has.” Mind is a light which the gods mock us with, To lead those false who trust it. [_The harp sounds again._ EMPEDOCLES. Hist! once more! Listen, Pausanias!--Ay, ’tis Callicles; I know those notes among a thousand. Hark! CALLICLES (_sings unseen, from below_). The track winds down to the clear stream, To cross the sparkling shallows; there The cattle love to gather, on their way To the high mountain pastures, and to stay, Till the rough cow-herds drive them past, Knee-deep in the cool ford; for ’tis the last Of all the woody, high, well-watered dells On Etna; and the beam Of noon is broken there by chestnut-boughs Down its steep verdant sides; the air Is freshened by the leaping stream, which throws Eternal showers of spray on the mossed roots Of trees, and veins of turf, and long dark shoots Of ivy-plants, and fragrant hanging bells Of hyacinths, and on late anemones, That muffle its wet banks; but glade, And stream, and sward, and chestnut-trees, End here; Etna beyond, in the broad glare Of the hot noon, without a shade, Slope behind slope, up to the peak, lies bare,-- The peak, round which the white clouds play. In such a glen, on such a day, On Pelion, on the grassy ground Chiron, the aged Centaur, lay, The young Achilles standing by. The Centaur taught him to explore The mountains; where the glens are dry, And the tired Centaurs come to rest, And where the soaking springs abound, And the straight ashes grow for spears, And where the hill-goats come to feed, And the sea-eagles build their nest. He showed him Phthia far away, And said, “O boy, I taught this lore To Peleus, in long-distant years!” He told him of the gods, the stars, The tides; and then of mortal wars, And of the life which heroes lead Before they reach the Elysian place, And rest in the immortal mead; And all the wisdom of his race. _The music below ceases, and EMPEDOCLES speaks, accompanying himself in a solemn manner on his harp._