Page:The Works of Lord Byron (ed. Coleridge, Prothero) - Volume 3.djvu/45

LINES IN THE TRAVELLERS' BOOK AT ORCHOMENUS.^{[decimal 1]}

IN THIS BOOK A TRAVELLER HAD WRITTEN:—

"Fair Albion, smiling, sees her son depart
To trace the birth and nursery of art:
Noble his object, glorious is his aim;
He comes to Athens, and he—writes his name."

BENEATH WHICH LORD BYRON INSERTED THE FOLLOWING:—

The modest bard, like many a bard unknown,
Rhymes on our names, but wisely hides his own;
But yet, whoe'er he be, to say no worse,
His name would bring more credit than his verse.

1810.
[First published, Life, 1830.]

MAID OF ATHENS, ERE WE PART.^{[lower-roman 1]}

Ζωή μου, σᾶς ἀγαπῶ.

1.

Maid of Athens,^{[decimal 2]} ere we part,
Give, oh give me back my heart!

Variants

1. Song.—[1812.]

Notes

1. ["At Orchomenus, where stood the Temple of the Graces, I was tempted to exclaim, 'Whither have the Graces fled?' Little did I expect to find them here. Yet here comes one of them with golden cups and coffee, and another with a book. The book is a register of names.... Among these is Lord Byron's connected with some lines which I shall send you: 'Fair Albion,' etc." (See Travels in Italy, Greece, etc., by H. W. Williams, ii. 290, 291; Life, p. 101.)]
2. [The Maid of Athens was, it is supposed, the eldest of three sisters, daughters of Theodora Macri, the widow of a former English