THE Greeks narrate that Zeno Cypriote -- Ger-Baal ben Manasseh, Lord of Truth -- Twixt Citium and Athens, in his youth Trading in Tyrian purple, plied his boat. Still in the Porch and Grove the Athenians quote The lean Phoenician merchant, swart, uncouth, Who stopped to read beside the copyist's booth, And left his cargo twenty years afloat! He was the first who said to Man: "Renounce. Follow thy soul: thou hast no other claim; And yield to Fate as lambs to the eagle's pounce. "Do right. Fear nothing, deeming all the same." Yet not for that we heap his tomb with crowns. But, Duty, he was first to breathe thy name! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...TO THE BELOVED by ALICE MEYNELL THE SOLSEQUIUM by ALEXANDER MONTGOMERIE WAR AND WASHINGTON by JONATHAN MITCHELL SEWALL THERE WILL COME SOFT RAINS' by SARA TEASDALE STEEL MILL by LOUIS UNTERMEYER A JEWISH FAMILY; IN A SMALL VALLEY OPPOSITE ST. GOAR by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH ANDROMEDA by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH THE FOUR ZOAS: NIGHTS THE SEVENTH AND EIGHTH by WILLIAM BLAKE |