Page:The Works of Lord Byron (ed. Coleridge, Prothero) - Volume 3.djvu/381

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canto ii.]
LARA.
349
But creeping things shall revel in their spoil,
And fit thy clay to fertilise the soil.

II.
'Tis morn—'tis noon—assembled in the hall,
The gathered Chieftains come to Otho's call;
'Tis now the promised hour, that must proclaim
The life or death of Lara's future fame;
And Ezzelin his charge may here unfold,[lower-roman 1]
And whatsoe'er the tale, it must be told.
His faith was pledged, and Lara's promise given, 670
To meet it in the eye of Man and Heaven.
Why comes he not? Such truths to be divulged,
Methinks the accuser's rest is long indulged.

III.
The hour is past, and Lara too is there,
With self-confiding, coldly patient air;
Why comes not Ezzelin? The hour is past.
And murmurs rise, and Otho's brow's o'ercast.
"I know my friend! his faith I cannot fear.
If yet he be on earth, expect him here;
The roof that held him in the valley stands 630
Between my own and noble Lara's lands;
My halls from such a guest had honour gained.
Nor had Sir Ezzelin his host disdained.
But that some previous proof forbade his stay,
And urged him to prepare against to-day;
The word I pledged for his I pledge again.
Or will myself redeem his knighthood's stain."

  1. When Ezzelin ———.—[Ed. 1831.]

    1712, Works, 1754, viii. 226): "The morning after my exit the sun will rise as bright as ever, the flowers smell as sweet, the plants spring as green."]