XLII.

Ye slept, O heroes! chief ones of the earth![31] High demigods of ancient days! ye slept: There lived no spark of your ascendant worth When o’er your land the victor Moslem swept. No patriot then the sons of freedom led, In mountain pass devotedly to die; The martyr-spirit of resolve was fled, And the high soul’s unconquer’d buoyancy; And by your graves, and on your battle-plains, Warriors! your children knelt to wear the stranger’s chains.