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The works of Lord Byron

A new, revised and enlarged edition, with illustrations. Edited by Ernest Hartley Coleridge and R. E. Prothero
Byron, George Gordon Byron (1788-1824)

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Vol. I. HOURS OF IDLENESS AND OTHER EARLY POEMS.
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Vol. II.
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Vol. III.
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POEMS 1809–1813.
  
THE GIAOUR:
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THE BRIDE OF ABYDOS.
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THE CORSAIR:
  
ODE TO NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE.
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LARA:
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HEBREW MELODIES.
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POEMS 1814–1816.
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THE SIEGE OF CORINTH.
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PARISINA.
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POEMS OF THE SEPARATION.
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Vol. IV.
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Vol. V.
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TO BELSHAZZAR.

1

Belshazzar! from the banquet turn,
Nor in thy sensual fulness fall;
422

Behold! while yet before thee burn
The graven words, the glowing wall,
Many a despot men miscall
Crowned and anointed from on high;
But thou, the weakest, worst of all—
Is it not written, thou must die?

2

Go! dash the roses from thy brow—
Grey hairs but poorly wreathe with them;
Youth's garlands misbecome thee now,
More than thy very diadem,
Where thou hast tarnished every gem:—
Then throw the worthless bauble by,
Which, worn by thee, ev'n slaves contemn;
And learn like better men to die!

3

Oh! early in the balance weighed,
And ever light of word and worth,
Whose soul expired ere youth decayed,
And left thee but a mass of earth.
423

To see thee moves the scorner's mirth:
But tears in Hope's averted eye
Lament that even thou hadst birth—
Unfit to govern, live, or die.
February 12, 1815.
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