Heroism in the damp and noxious prisons, where the noble qualities of the
mind are shaken and swayed by the sufferings of the body, is far different
from that which is displayed upon the battle-field, amid the glittering
and inspiring pomp of war.
The men at Thermopylae fought in the shadows of the soul-inspiring
mountains, and beheld, through the charm of distance, their homes and the
beautiful valleys they had sworn to defend. The Decii saw the shining
swords of their enemies when they rushed into battle, and the dying nobly
and the glory made all fear of death but of little weight.
Here, instead of bright and glorious banners and the flash of arms, the
long array of men eager for the contest, and the songs, the shouts of
defiance, there was a vast ditch, crowded with living beings of scarce the
human form, haggard and unnatural in appearance--a sea of red and fetid
mud, trampled and defiled by the immense throng. Instead of the white
tents and canopies of military encampments, there were the ragged blankets
vainly stretched over upright sticks; there were the holes in the earth,
the burrows in the sand, like the villages of the rats of the great
prairies of the West. They were more like the dens of the beasts of the
desert than habitations for human beings.
No Christian hand ever penetrated to their depths to aid the sick and
suffering inmates, to nourish the hungry and console the dying, save one
Romish priest; and in spite of the horrors and dangers of the place, he
was faithful to his trust. Noble man! you have proved by these acts that
humanity is not a mendacious idol, and that devotion to humanity is not a
mere matter of gain and self-aggrandizement.
More than four thousand human beings perished in these excavations!
It seemed as though vengeance was prolonged beyond death itself.
"Where was thine AEgis, Pallas, that appalled
Stern Alaric and Havoc on their way?"