Page:The Works of Lord Byron (ed. Coleridge, Prothero) - Volume 4.djvu/297

CANTO II.] Over Cambyses' host the desert spread

Her sandy ocean, and the Sea-waves' sway

Rolled over Pharaoh and his thousands,—why,

Mountains and waters, do ye not as they?

And you, ye Men! Romans, who dare not die,

Sons of the conquerors who overthrew

Those who overthrew proud Xerxes, where yet lie

The dead whose tomb Oblivion never knew,

Are the Alps weaker than Thermopylæ?

Their passes more alluring to the view

Of an invader? is it they, or ye,

That to each host the mountain-gate unbar,

And leave the march in peace, the passage free?

Why, Nature's self detains the Victor's car,

And makes your land impregnable, if earth

Could be so; but alone she will not war,

Yet aids the warrior worthy of his birth

In a soil where the mothers bring forth men:

Not so with those whose souls are little worth;

For them no fortress can avail,—the den

Of the poor reptile which preserves its sting

Is more secure than walls of adamant, when

The hearts of those within are quivering.

Are ye not brave? Yes, yet the Ausonian soil

Hath hearts, and hands, and arms, and hosts to bring

Against Oppression; but how vain the toil,

While still Division sows the seeds of woe

And weakness, till the Stranger reaps the spoil.