The  carnation  sighed,  the  rose  wept,  both  withered  away  to-
gether, and  the  flowers  fell ;  and  with  them  the  hapless  mother
became  a  lifeless  heap  of  earth."

The  numbers  of  these  mountain  warriors  were  greatly  in-
creased by  the  bloody  tyranny  of  Ali  Pacha,  who  attempted
to  crush  the  military  organization  of  the  Armatoli;  and  when
the  Revolution  broke  out,  the  courage,  temperance,  and  hardi-
hood of  these  bands  were  among  the  most  effective  agencies
in  rescuing  the  country  from  the  blighting  tyranny  of  the
Turks.  The  life  of  the  Klephts  placed  them  beyond  the  reach
of  anything  like  literary  culture.  They  had  no  more  time  or
taste  for  letters  than  the  confederated  chiefs  under  the  walls
of  Troy  ;  but,  like  them,  they  delighted  in  feats  of  strength,
and  in  listening  to  the  traditional  ballads  which  commemo-
rated in  unwritten  minstrelsy  the  exploits  of  their  fathers.
Swift-footed  Achilles  himself  could  scarcely  have  matched
them  in  the  race  or  the  leap.  Nico  Tsara  sprang  over  seven
horses  abreast ;  and  it  was  no  uncommon  thing  for  a  Klepht,
in  full  armor,  to  outrun  the  swiftest  racer.  The  Capitanos
Zacharias  was  so  tremendous  a  runner,  that  he  is  said  to
have  touched  his  ears  with  his  heels.  Of  the  Nico  Tsara
»bove  mentioned  and  his  troop,  one  of  the  ballads  relates  :

"  Three  days  he  keeps  the  Dattle  up,  three  days  and  three  long  nights,
And  snow  they  ate,  and  snow  they  drank,  and  bore  the  hostile  tire."

And  in  another  place  :

"  Three  .lays  he  keeps  the  battle  up,  three  days  and  three  long  nighta
Nor  bread  ate  he,  nor  water  drank,  no-  sleep  came  oVir  his  eyes  "


406  1IODERN   GREECE.
