Page:The Works of Lord Byron (ed. Coleridge, Prothero) - Volume 1.djvu/187

77.

What minstrel grey, what hoary bard,
⁠Shall Allan's deeds on harp-strings raise?
The song is glory's chief reward,
⁠But who can strike a murd'rer's praise?

78.

Unstrung, untouch'd, the harp must stand,
⁠No minstrel dare the theme awake;
Guilt would benumb his palsied hand,
⁠His harp in shuddering chords would break.

79.

No lyre of fame, no hallow'd verse,
⁠Shall sound his glories high in air:
A dying father's bitter curse,
⁠A brother's death-groan echoes there.

TRANSLATION FROM ANACREON.

Θέλω λέγειν Ἀτρείδας, κ.τ.λ.^[1]

ODE I.

TO HIS LYRE.

I wish to tune my quivering lyre,^[2]

To deeds of fame, and notes of fire;

1. [The motto does not appear in Hours of Idleness or Poems O. and T.]
2. I sought to tune ——.—[MS. Newstead.]