When later he saw the havoc that had been caused at Athens, his mood changed from raillery to seriousness, and he burst out with fury at the man whom he considered a wanton plunderer and at the nation which could tolerate his depredations. Under this stimulus he wrote the stanzas on Elgin in _Childe Harold_, but his rage found a better outlet in _The Curse of Minerva_. This satire contains only 312 lines, but it goes straight to its goal, with a directness and a concentration which distinguish it above any of the other early satires, even above _English Bards_, superior as that poem is to it in more important respects. The satire has a narrative basis, with a plot which is simple and unified. The beautiful opening description of an evening at Athens precedes, and accentuates by contrast, the ensuing indictment by Minerva of Elgin, the desecrator of all this loveliness. The poet’s reply to the accusing goddess disclaims any responsibility for the vandalism on England’s part, and lays the blame on Scotland, Elgin’s fatherland. Minerva’s answering curse and prophecy extend the scope of the satire beyond mere personal malice, and give it a broad application to England’s policy as oppressor and devastator. Her speech ends somewhat abruptly, and the poem closes. Although Byron was, by his own admission, “half a Scot by birth, and bred a whole one,”[146] he joined, in _The Curse of Minerva_, the long line of satirists from the authors of _Eastward Ho!_ to Cleveland with his grim couplet, “Had Cain been Scot, God would have changed his doom; Not forced him wander but confined him home,”