Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Greece and Turkey in Europe: Vol. XIX. 1876–79. | | | | Greece: Marathon | | Marathon | | Richard Monckton Milnes, Lord Houghton (1809–1885) |
| | | I COULD believe that under such a sky, | |
| Thus grave, thus streakt with thunderlight, of yore | |
| The small Athenian troop rushed onward, more | |
| As Bacchanals than men about to die. | |
| How weak that massive, motley enemy | 5 |
| Seemed to those hearts, full-fed on that high lore, | |
| Which, for their use, in his melodious store, | |
| Old Homer had laid up immortally. | |
| Thus Marathon was Troy,—thus here again | |
| They were at issue with the barbarous East, | 10 |
| And favoring Gods spoke out, and walkt the plain; | |
| And every man was an anointed priest | |
| Of Nemesis, empoweréd to chastise | |
| The rampant insolence that would not be made wise. | | | | |
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