Page:Songs, Legends, and Ballads.djvu/150

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NATION'S greatness lies in men, not acres;
 * One master-mind is worth a million hands.

No royal robes have marked the planet-shakers,
 * But Samson-strength to burst the ages' bands.

The might of empire gives no crown supernal—
 * Athens is here—but where is Macedon?

A dozen lives make Greece and Rome eternal,
 * And England's fame might safely rest on one.

Here test and text are drawn from Nature's preaching :
 * Afric and Asia—half the rounded earth—

In teeming lives the solemn truth are teaching,
 * That insect-millions may have human birth.