 | Three Hundred Sonnets |  |
63
SOCRATES TO LYSIAS.
No, Lysias!—all that honied eloquenceMay not be buttress to my righteous cause;
The majesty of Truth and Innocence
Deigns not to hoodwink nor to cheat the laws:
What, if my foe's benighted moral sense
Will not, or cannot, see my holy ends?
To lure the youth of Athens to all good,—
To knit mankind in one, a world of friends,—
To win their worship from mere stone and wood,
And preach the Unknown God!—O God of All,
Thy will be done! let falsehood work my fall,
Martyr for truth I rise, and dwell at ease;
The only Advocate on whom I call
Is God Himself,—to plead for Socrates!
| Three Hundred Sonnets | |