THE SIEGE OF CORINTH. 1. MANY a vanished year and age, And tempest's breath, and battle's rage, Have swept o'er Corinth; yet she stands A fortress formed to Freedom's hands. The whirlwind's wrath, the earthquake's shock, 5 Have left untouched her hoary rock, The keystone of a land, which still, Though fall'n, looks proudly on that hill, VOL. V. B The land-mark to the double tide That purpling rolls on either side, As if their waters chafed to meet, pause and crouch beneath her feet. But could the blood before her shed Since first Timoleon's brother bled, Or baffled Persia's despot fled, Arise from out the earth which drank The stream of slaughter as it sank, 10 15 20 Who perished there, be piled again, That rival pyramid would rise More mountain-like, through those clear skies, Than yon tower-capt Acropolis Which seems the very clouds to kiss. 23 On dun Citharon's ridge appears The gleam of twice ten thousand spears; The tent is pitched, the crescent shines 30 The turbaned cohorts throng the beach; 35 And there the Arab's camel kneels, And there his steed the Tartar wheels; The Turcoman hath left his herd', The sabre round his loins to gird; B2 40 |