The Works of Lord Byron. Vol. 2Byron, George Gordon Byron, Baron
General
The Works of Lord Byron. Vol. 2
Byron, George Gordon Byron, Baron
English poetry
object of regard: it changed its worshippers; but still it was a place
of worship thrice sacred to devotion: its violation is a triple
sacrifice. But--
"Man, proud man,
Drest in a little brief authority,
Plays such fantastic tricks before high Heaven
As make the angels weep."
[Shakespeare, _Measure for Measure_,
act ii. sc. 2, lines 117-122.]
3.
Far on the solitary shore he sleeps.
Stanza v. line 2.
It was not always the custom of the Greeks to burn their dead; the
greater Ajax, in particular, was interred entire. Almost all the chiefs
became gods after their decease; and he was indeed neglected, who had
not annual games near his tomb, or festivals in honour of his memory by
his countrymen, as Achilles, Brasidas, etc., and at last even Antinous,
whose death was as heroic as his life was infamous.
4.
Here, son of Saturn! was thy favourite throne.
Stanza x. line 3.
The Temple of Jupiter Olympius, of which sixteen columns, entirely of
marble, yet survive; originally there were one hundred and fifty. These
columns, however, are by many supposed to have belonged to the Pantheon.
[The Olympieion, or Temple of Zeus Olympius, on the south-east of the
Acropolis, some five hundred yards from the foot of the rock, was begun
by Pisistratos, and completed seven hundred years later by Hadrian. It
was one of the three or four largest temples of antiquity. The cella had
been originally enclosed by a double row of twenty columns at the sides,
and a triple row of eight columns at each front, making a hundred and
four columns in all; but in 1810 only sixteen "lofty Corinthian columns"
were standing. Mr. Tozer points out that "'base' is accurate, because
Corinthian columns have bases, which Doric columns have not," and notes
that the word "'unshaken' implies that the column itself had fallen, but
the base remains."--_Childe Harold_, 1888, p. 228.]
5.
And bear these altars o'er the long-reluctant brine.
Stanza xi. line 9.
The ship was wrecked in the Archipelago.
[The _Mentor_, which Elgin had chartered to convey to England a cargo
consisting of twelve chests of antiquities, was wrecked off the Island
of Cerigo, in 1803. His secretary, W. R. Hamilton, set divers to work,
and rescued four chests; but the remainder were not recovered till
1805.]
6.
To rive what Goth, and Turk, and Time hath spared.
Stanza xii. line 2.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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