Spake, as a witness, of a second birth For all that is most perfect upon earth; 1815. ] [Footnote 9: 1820. Our future course, upon the silent sea;[B] 1815. ] [Footnote 10: 1836. Towards 1815. ] [Footnote 11: 1827. this 1815. ] [Footnote 12: 1845. Ah, judge her gently who so deeply loved! Her, who, in reason's spite, yet without crime, Was in a trance of passion thus removed; Delivered from the galling yoke of time And these frail elements--to gather flowers 1815. By no weak pity might the Gods be moved; She who thus perished not without the crime Of Lovers that in Reason's spite have loved, Was doomed to wander in a grosser clime, Apart from happy Ghosts--that gather flowers 1827. Was doomed to wear out her appointed time, Apart from happy Ghosts-- 1832. She--who, though warned, exhorted, and reproved, Thus died, from passion desperate to a crime-- By the just Gods, whom no weak pity moved, Was doomed to wear out. 1840. She perished thus, admonished and reproved In vain; and even as for a wilful crime By the just Gods, C. Thus, though forewarned, exhorted, and reproved, She perished; and even as for a wilful crime, C. ] FOOTNOTES: [Footnote A: Wordsworth mentioned in a letter to De Quincey (February 8, 1815) that this stanza was added while the poem was passing through the press.--ED.] [Footnote B: The original MS. of _Laodamia_, however, contained the finally adopted reading "The oracle." Wordsworth explained to De Quincey (February 8, 1815) that he substituted the phrase "our future course," in case the words should seem to allude to the other answer of the oracle which commanded the sacrifice of Iphigenia.--ED.] [Footnote C: For the account of these long-lived trees, see Pliny's _Natural History_, lib. xvi. cap. 44; and for the features in the character of Protesilaus see the _Iphigenia in Aulis_ of Euripides. Virgil places the Shade of Laodamia in a mournful region, among unhappy Lovers:-- His Laodamia It comes. W. W. 1827.