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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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Vol. IV.
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Vol. V.
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SARDANAPALUS:
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THE TWO FOSCARI:
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CAIN:
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HEAVEN AND EARTH;
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WERNER;
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WERNER.
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THE DEFORMED TRANSFORMED:
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THE AGE OF BRONZE;
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THE ISLAND;
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CANTO THE FIRST.
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I.
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II.
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III.
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IV.
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V.
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VI.
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VII.
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VIII.
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IX.
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X.
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CANTO THE SECOND.
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CANTO THE THIRD.
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CANTO THE FOURTH.
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[volume]

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IV.

In vain, not silenced by the eye of Death,
Thou call'st the loyal with thy menaced breath:—
They come not; they are few, and, overawed,
Must acquiesce, while sterner hearts applaud.
In vain thou dost demand the cause: a curse
Is all the answer, with the threat of worse.
Full in thine eyes is waved the glittering blade,
Close to thy throat the pointed bayonet laid.
The levelled muskets circle round thy breast
In hands as steeled to do the deadly rest.
Thou dar'st them to their worst, exclaiming—“Fire!”
But they who pitied not could yet admire;
Some lurking remnant of their former awe
Restrained them longer than their broken law;
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They would not dip their souls at once in blood,
But left thee to the mercies of the flood.
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