112
THE LOWEST ROOM.
"Our life is given us as a blank;
Ourselves must make it blest or curst:
Who dooms me I shall only be
The second, not the first?
Ourselves must make it blest or curst:
Who dooms me I shall only be
The second, not the first?
"Learn from old Homer, if you will,
Such wisdom as his books have said:
In one the acts of Ajax shine,
In one of Diomed.
Such wisdom as his books have said:
In one the acts of Ajax shine,
In one of Diomed.
"Honoured all heroes whose high deeds
Through life, through death, enlarge their span
Only Achilles in his rage
And sloth is less than man."
Through life, through death, enlarge their span
Only Achilles in his rage
And sloth is less than man."
"Achilles only less than man?
He less than man who, half a god,
Discomfited all Greece with rest,
Cowed Ilion with a nod?
He less than man who, half a god,
Discomfited all Greece with rest,
Cowed Ilion with a nod?
"He offered vengeance, lifelong grief
To one dear ghost, uncounted price:
Beasts, Trojans, adverse gods, himself,
Heaped up the sacrifice.
To one dear ghost, uncounted price:
Beasts, Trojans, adverse gods, himself,
Heaped up the sacrifice.
"Self-immolated to his friend,
Shrined in world's wonder, Homers page,
Is this the man, the less than men
Of this degenerate age?"
Shrined in world's wonder, Homers page,
Is this the man, the less than men
Of this degenerate age?"
