Page:The Works of Lord Byron (ed. Coleridge, Prothero) - Volume 2.djvu/317

CANTO III.] They were gigantic minds, and their steep aim

Was, Titan-like, on daring doubts to pile

Thoughts which should call down thunder, and the flame

Of Heaven again assailed—if Heaven, the while,

On man and man's research could deign do more than smile.

CVI.

The one was fire and fickleness, a child

Most mutable in wishes, but in mind

A wit as various,—gay, grave, sage, or wild,—

Historian, bard, philosopher, combined;

He multiplied himself among mankind,

The Proteus of their talents: But his own