Page:The Works of Lord Byron (ed. Coleridge, Prothero) - Volume 1.djvu/509

Rh Yet Caledonia claims some native worth,

As dull Bœotia gave a Pindar birth;

So may her few, the lettered and the brave,

Bound to no clime and victors of the grave,

Shake off the sordid dust of such a land,

And shine like children of a happier strand;

As once, of yore, in some obnoxious place,

Ten names (if found) had saved a wretched race."

"Mortal!" the blue-eyed maid resumed, "once more

Bear back my mandate to thy native shore.

Though fallen, alas! this vengeance yet is mine,

To turn my counsels far from lands like thine.

Hear then in silence Pallas' stern behest;

Hear and believe, for Time will tell the rest.

"First on the head of him who did this deed

My curse shall light,—on him and all his seed:

Without one spark of intellectual fire,

Be all the sons as senseless as the sire:

If one with wit the parent brood disgrace,

Believe him bastard of a brighter race:

Still with his hireling artists let him prate,