Page:Hellas, a Lyrical Drama - Shelley (1822).djvu/34

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14
HELLAS.
Apollo, Pan, and Love,
And even Olympian Jove
Grew weak, for killing Truth had glared on them;
Our hills and seas and streams,
Dispeopled of their dreams,
Their waters turned to blood, their dew to tears,
Wailed for the golden years.

Enter Mahmud, Hassan, Daood, and others.

Mahmud.
More gold? our ancestors bought gold with victory,
And shall I sell it for defeat?

Daood.
The Janizars
Clamour for pay.

Mahmud.:
Go! bid them pay themselves
With Christian blood! Are there no Grecian virgins
Whose shrieks and spasms and tears they may enjoy?
No infidel children to impale on spears?
No hoary priests after that Patriarch (3)
Who bent the curse against his country’s heart,
Which clove his own at last? Go! bid them kill,
Blood is the seed of gold.

Daood.
It has been sown,