THE DEAD AT THERMOPYLÆ.
Reading edition
FROM THE GREEK OF SIMONIDES.
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BY HENRY WILLIAM HERBERT.
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Bright was their fortune and sublime their doom,
Who perished at Thermopylæ—their tomb
An altar of their sons—their dirge, renown.
Their epitaph not rust shall e’er efface,
Nor Time, who changes all things else, debase,
Nor later ages insolent disown.
Their tomb contains, enshrined beside the dead,
A mightier inmate, her for whom they bled,
Glory—their country’s unforgotten fame.
Witness the royal Spartan, who in death
Did win high Valor’s, more than Pythian, wreath,
A crown immortal, an unfading name.