Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


TEGEA: A CENOTAPH by SIMONIDES OF CEOS

First Line: NO CLOUD OF SMOKE, FROM TEGEA THROWN
Last Line: AND WENT TO DEATH CONTENT.

NO cloud of smoke, from Tegea thrown
In blaze of ruin, smote the sky;
Such men were these, she holds her own,
And wide her acres lie.

As counting freedom hard to lose,
To sons they left her prime unspent;
Themselves the battle's front they chose,
And went to death content.



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