He was coming out of the Bath when the Alarm was given, so that he had not time to put on his Cloaths, much less his Armour; however transported with a Desire to serve his Country in so great an Exigency, snatching up a Spear in one Hand, and a Sword in the other, he flung himself into the thickest Ranks of his Enemies.  Nothing could withstand his Fury:  in what Part soever he fought he put the Enemies to Flight without receiving a single Wound.  Whether, says Plutarch, he was the particular Care of some God, who rewarded his Valour that Day with an extraordinary Protection, or, that his Enemies, struck with the Unusualness of his Dress, and Beauty of his Shape, supposed him something more than Man, I shall not determine.

The Gallantry of this Action was judged so great by the Spartans, that the Ephori, or chief Magistrates, decreed he should be presented with a Garland; but as soon as they had done so, fined him a thousand Drachmas for going out to the Battle unarmed.

* * * * *

No. 565.  Friday, July 9, 1714.  Addison.

  ’—­Deum namque ire per omnes
  Terrasque, tractusque maris, coelumque profundum.’

  Virg.

I was Yesterday about Sun-set walking in the open Fields, ’till the Night insensibly fell upon me.  I at first amused my self with all the Richness and Variety of Colours, which appeared in the Western Parts of Heaven:  In Proportion as they faded away and went out, several Stars and Planets appeared one after another ’till the whole Firmament was in a Glow.  The Blewness of the AEther was exceedingly heightened and enlivened by the Season of the Year, and by the Rays of all those Luminaries that passed through it.  The Galaxy appeared in its most beautiful White.  To compleat the Scene, the full Moon rose at length in that clouded Majesty, which Milton takes Notice of, and opened to the Eye a new Picture of Nature, which was more finely shaded, and disposed among softer Lights than that which the Sun had before discovered to us.

As I was surveying the Moon walking in her Brightness and taking her Progress among the Constellations, a Thought rose in me which I believe very often perplexes and disturbs Men of serious and contemplative Natures. David himself fell into it in that Reflection,

  When I consider the Heavens the Work of thy Fingers, the Moon and the
  Stars which thou hast ordained; what is man that thou art mindful of
  him, and the son of man that thou regardest him!

In the same manner when I considered that infinite Host of Stars, or, to speak more Philosophically, of Suns, which were then shining upon me, with those innumerable Sets of Planets or Worlds, which were moving round their respective Suns; When I still enlarged the Idea, and supposed another Heaven of Suns and Worlds rising still above this which we discovered, and these still enlightened by a superior Firmament of Luminaries, which are planted at so great a Distance, that they may appear to the Inhabitants of the former as the Stars do to us; In short, whilst I pursued this Thought, I could not but reflect on that little insignificant Figure which I my self bore amidst the Immensity of God’s Works.