LII.

Oh! where, Dodona! is thine aged grove,
Prophetic fount, and oracle divine?

What valley echo'd the response of Jove?

What trace remaineth of the thunderer's shrine?

,

All, all forgotten--and shall man repine

That his frail bonds to fleeting life are broke?

Cease, fool! the fate of gods may well be thine :

Wouldst thou survive the marble or the oak?

When nations, tongues, and worlds must sink beneath the stroke!

LII.

Epirus' bounds recede, and mountains fail;

Tir'd of up-gazing still, the wearied eye

Reposes gladly on as smooth a vale

As ever Spring yclad in grassy dye;
Ev'n on a plain no humble beauties lie,
Where some bold river breaks the long expanse,
And woods along the banks are waving high,

Whose shadows in the glassy waters dance,

Or with the moon-beam sleep in midnight's solemn trance.

LIV.

"

The Sun had sunk behind vast Tomerit, 25

And Laos wide and fierce came roaring by; 26

The shades of wonted night were gathering yet,
When, down the steep banks winding warily,
Childe Harold saw, like meteors in the sky,
The glittering minarets of Tepalen,

Whose walls o'erlook the stream; and drawing nigh,
He heard the busy hum of warrior-men

Swelling the breeze that sigh'd along the lengthening glen.

LV.

He pass'd the sacred Haram's silent tower,
And underneath the wide o'erarching gate
Survey'd the dwelling of this chief of power,
Where all around proclaim'd his high estate.

Amidst no common pomp the despot sate,

While busy preparation shook the court,

Slaves, eunuchs, soldiers, guests, and santons wait;

Within, a palace, and without, a fort:

Here men of every clime appear to make resort.

LVI.

Richly caparison'd, a ready row

Of armed horse, and many a warlike store
Circled the wide extending court below:
Above, strange groups adorn'd the corridore;
And oft-times through the Area's echoing door
Some high-capp'd Tartar spurr'd his steed away:
The Turk, the Greek, the Albanian, and the Moor
Here mingled in their many-hued array,

While the deep war-drum's sound announc'd the close of day.

LVII.

The wild Albanian kirtled to his knee,
With shawl-girt head and ornamented gun,
And gold-embroider'd garments, fair to see;
The crimson-scarfed men of Macedon;
The Delhi with his cap of terror on,
And crooked glaive; the lively, supple Greek;
And swarthy Nubia's mutilated son;

The bearded Turk that rarely deigns to speak,
Master of all around, too potent to be meek,

LVIII.

Are mix'd conspicuous: some recline in groups,

Scanning the motley scene that varies round;

There some grave
And some that smoke, and some that play, are found;
Here the Albanian proudly treads the ground;

Moslem to devotion stoops,

Half whispering there the Greek is heard to prate;
Hark! from the mosque the nightly solemn sound,

The Muezzin's call doth shake the minaret,

"There is no god but God!—to prayer-lo! God is great!"

As

LIX.

Just at this season Ramazani's fast

Through the long day its penance did maintain :

But when the lingering twilight hour was past,

Revel and feast assum'd the rule again :
Now all was bustle, and the menial train
Prepar❜d and spread the plenteous board within;
The vacant gallery now seem'd made in vain,
But from the chambers came the mingling din,
page and slave anon were passing out and in,

LX.

Here woman's voice is never heard: apart,

And scarce permitted, guarded, veil'd, to rove,
She yields to one her person and her heart,
Tam'd to her cage, nor feels a wish to move:
For, not unhappy in her master's love,

And joyful in a mother's gentlest cares,

Blest cares! all other feelings far above!

Herself more sweetly rears the babe she bears,

Who never quits the breast, no meaner passion shares,

LXI

In marble-pav'd pavilion, where a spring
Of living water from the centre rose,
Whose bubbling did a genial freshness fling,

And soft voluptuous couches breath'd repose,

ALI reclin'd, a man of war and woes;

Yet in his lineaments ye cannot trace,

While Gentleness her milder radiance throws

Along that aged venerable face,

The deeds that lurk beneath, and stain him with disgrace.