'Holding high thoughts, they on the bridge of war 'Sat all night long, and many blazed their fires. 'As when in heaven stars round the glittering moon 'Shine forth exceeding beautiful, and when 'Breathlessly tranquil is the upper air, 'And in their places all the stars are seen, 'And glad at heart the watching shepherd is; 'So many, 'twixt the ships and Xanthus' streams, 'Shone fires by Trojans kindled fronting Troy.'" "The spirit of Greece, with Greek simplicity, A nobleness all of Homer, there I feel," Concession checking with reserve, said Saul; "Our Hebrew, to us Hebrews, rises higher. Homer, unconscious of sublimity, Down all its dreadful height above our sphere Brings the august encampment of the skies-- To count the number of the Trojan fires! Our poet David otherwise beholds The brilliance of the nightly firmament, Seeing it mirror of the majesty Of Him who spread it arching over earth, And who yet stoops His awful thought to think Kindly of us as Father to our race, Nay, kingdom gives us, glory, honor, power, And all things subjugates beneath our feet. Let me some echoes from that harp awake To which, with solemn touches, this his theme Our psalmist David chanted long ago: 'Jehovah, our dread Sovereign, how Thy Name 'Is excellent in glory through the earth! 'Upon the heavens Thy glory hast Thou set; 'The heart of babe and suckling reads it there, 'And, raised to rapture, utters forth Thy praise, 'That mute may be the adversary mouth 'Which would the ever-living God gainsay. 'When I survey Thy heavens, Thy handiwork, 'The moon, the stars, Thou didst of old ordain, 'Man, what is he? that Thou for him shouldst care, 'The son of man, that Thou shouldst visit him. 'For Thou hast made him hardly lower than God, 'And dost with glory him and honor crown. 'Dominion over all Thy works to wield 'Thou madest him, and underneath his feet 'Put'st all things, sheep and oxen, roaming beast, 'And winging fowl, and swimming fish, and all 'That passes through the pathways of the seas. 'Jehovah, our dread Sovereign, how Thy Name 'Is excellent in glory through the earth!'" Recited in slow solemn monotone, As with an inward voice muffled by awe, Those new and strange barbaric-sounding notes Of Hebrew music shut in measured words Smote on some deeper chord in Sergius' ear That, trembling, tranced him silent for a while. Then he said, rousing: "What a sombre strain! From the light-hearted Greek how different!"