The Flood of Thessaly The Girl of Provence, and Other Poems. By Barry Cornwall [i.e. Bryan Waller Procter] |
 |
|
| 1. |
| 2. |
|
 |
|
|
 | The Flood of Thessaly |  |
Next came the Macedonian who bestrode
Bucephalus (whose spirit, till then untamed,
He broke by turning to the blinding sun)—
Yet not alone in steeds or in fierce arms
Delighted he, but much he loved rich song,
And fed his mind upon the tales of Troy:—
Then Plato, musing, whose most great delight
Was wisdom, which he taught by streams and groves,
Making Ilissus and its banks renowned;
And Socrates, whose earnest aim was truth,
And the star-blinded sage Pythagoras;
Praxiteles, and Phidias, and the rest
Whose Promethean touch awaken'd life
In the cold marble; and that king who died
Self-martyr'd in thy strait Thermopylæ!
And he who taught retreat o'er woods and plains
So well, and desarts strange, and hostile shores;
And Archimedes whose fierce art brought down
Ruin on cities; and that tragic Three,
Athenians, who the dream of life unveiled,
Winning men's wondering hearts by speech and verse,
And gave this world its best philosophy:—
Then passed Demosthenes; and he whom Fame
Slanders, sage Epicurus, on whom leaned
A youth well fitted for aught wise or good,—
Valiant, but wanton Lais bound him down
By amorous magic and enchanted toils;
And Pericles then, and then Aspasia came,
Whose midnight study by some eastern lamp
Had paled her cheek, but filled her eyes with thought.
Bucephalus (whose spirit, till then untamed,
He broke by turning to the blinding sun)—
Yet not alone in steeds or in fierce arms
Delighted he, but much he loved rich song,
And fed his mind upon the tales of Troy:—
Then Plato, musing, whose most great delight
Was wisdom, which he taught by streams and groves,
Making Ilissus and its banks renowned;
And Socrates, whose earnest aim was truth,
69
Praxiteles, and Phidias, and the rest
Whose Promethean touch awaken'd life
In the cold marble; and that king who died
Self-martyr'd in thy strait Thermopylæ!
And he who taught retreat o'er woods and plains
So well, and desarts strange, and hostile shores;
And Archimedes whose fierce art brought down
Ruin on cities; and that tragic Three,
Athenians, who the dream of life unveiled,
Winning men's wondering hearts by speech and verse,
And gave this world its best philosophy:—
Then passed Demosthenes; and he whom Fame
Slanders, sage Epicurus, on whom leaned
A youth well fitted for aught wise or good,—
Valiant, but wanton Lais bound him down
By amorous magic and enchanted toils;
And Pericles then, and then Aspasia came,
Whose midnight study by some eastern lamp
Had paled her cheek, but filled her eyes with thought.
| The Flood of Thessaly | |