Of which we are but dreamers;—as he caught
As 'twere the twilight of a former Sun[1]
Thus spoke he,—"I believe the man of whom
You wot, who lies in this selected[2] tomb,
Was a most famous writer in his day,
And therefore travellers step from out their way30
To pay him honour,—and myself whate'er
Your honour pleases:"—then most pleased I shook[3]
From out my pocket's avaricious nook
Some certain coins of silver, which as 'twere
Perforce I gave this man, though I could spare
So much but inconveniently:—Ye smile,
I see ye, ye profane ones! all the while,
Because my homely phrase the truth would tell.
You are the fools, not I—for I did dwell
With a deep thought, and with a softened eye,40
On that old Sexton's natural homily,
In which there was Obscurity and Fame,—
The Glory and the Nothing of a Name.
First published, Prisoner of Chillon, etc., 1816.]
PROMETHEUS.[4]
I.
Titan! to whose immortal eyes
- ↑ [Compare—
"But here [i.e. in 'the realm of death'] all is
So shadowy and so full of twilight, that
It speaks of a day past."Cain, act ii sc. 2.] - ↑ ["Selected," that is, by "frequent travellers" (vide supra, line l2).]
- ↑
—— then most pleased, I shook
My inmost pocket's most retired nook,
And out fell five and sixpence.—[MS.] - ↑ [Byron was a lover and worshipper of Prometheus as a boy. His first English exercise at Harrow was a paraphrase of a chorus of the Prometheus Vinctus of Æschylus, line 528, sq., (see Poetical Works, 1898, i. 14). Referring to a criticism on Manfred (Edinburgh Review,
