The Destruction Of Sennacherib

by George Gordon Byron · Explore poems

I.
The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold,
And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold;
And the sheen of their spears was like stars on the sea,
When the blue wave rolls nightly on deep Galilee.
II.
Like the leaves of the forest when Summer is green,
That host with their banners at sunset were seen:
Like the leaves of the forest when Autumn hath blown,[304]
That host on the morrow lay withered and strown.
III.
For the Angel of Death spread his wings on the blast,
And breathed in the face of the foe as he passed;
And the eyes of the sleepers waxed deadly and chill,
And their hearts but once heaved--and for ever grew still!
IV.
And there lay the steed with his nostril all wide,
But through it there rolled not the breath of his pride;
And the foam of his gasping lay white on the turf,[mm]
And cold as the spray of the rock-beating surf.[mn]
V.
And there lay the rider distorted and pale,
With the dew on his brow, and the rust on his mail:[mo]
And the tents were all silent--the banners alone--
The lances unlifted--the trumpet unblown.
VI.
And the widows of Ashur are loud in their wail,[mp]
And the idols are broke in the temple of Baal;
And the might of the Gentile, unsmote by the sword,[mq]
Hath melted like snow in the glance of the Lord!
Seaham, Feb. 17, 1815.
A SPIRIT PASSED BEFORE ME.
FROM JOB.
I.
A spirit passed before me: I beheld
The face of Immortality unveiled--
Deep Sleep came down on every eye save mine--
And there it stood,--all formless--but divine:
Along my bones the creeping flesh did quake;
And as my damp hair stiffened, thus it spake:
II.
"Is man more just than God? Is man more pure
Than he who deems even Seraphs insecure?
Creatures of clay--vain dwellers in the dust!
The moth survives you, and are ye more just?
Things of a day! you wither ere the night,
Heedless and blind to Wisdom's wasted light!"
FOOTNOTES:
[287] {381} [In a manuscript note to a letter of Byron's, dated June 11,
1814, Wedderburn Webster writes, "I _did_ take him to Lady Sitwell's
party.... He there for the first time saw his cousin, the beautiful Mrs.
Wilmot [who had appeared in mourning with numerous spangles in her
dress]. When we returned to ... the Albany, he ... desired Fletcher to
give him a _tumbler of brandy_, which he drank at once to Mrs. Wilmot's
health.... The next day he wrote some charming lines upon her, 'She
walks in beauty,' etc."--_Letters_, 1899, iii. 92, note 1.
Anne Beatrix, daughter and co-heiress of Eusebius Horton, of Catton
Hall, Derbyshire, married Byron's second cousin, Robert John Wilmot
(1784-1841), son of Sir Robert Wilmot of Osmaston, by Juliana, second
daughter of the Hon. John Byron, and widow of the Hon. William Byron.
She died February 4, 1871.
Nathan (_Fugitive Pieces_, 1829, pp. 2, 3) has a note to the effect that
Byron, while arranging the first edition of the _Melodies_, used to ask
for this song, and would not unfrequently join in its execution.]
[le] {382}
_The Harp the Minstrel Monarch swept,_
_The first of men, the loved of Heaven,_
_Which Music cherished while she wept_.--[MS. M.]
[lf] {383} _It told the Triumph_----.--[MS. M.]
[288] ["When Lord Byron put the copy into my hand, it terminated with
this line. This, however, did not complete the verse, and I asked him to
help out the melody. He replied, 'Why, I have sent you to Heaven--it
would be difficult to go further!' My attention for a few moments was
called to some other person, and his Lordship, whom I had hardly missed,
exclaimed, 'Here, Nathan, I have brought you down again;' and
immediately presented me the beautiful and sublime lines which conclude
the melody."--_Fugitive Pieces_, 1829, p. 33.]
[lg]
_It there abode, and there it rings_,
_But ne'er on earth its sound shall be;_
_The prophets' race hath passed away;_
_And all the hallowed minstrelsy_--
_From earth the sound and soul are fled_,
_And shall we never hear again?_--[MS. M. erased.]
[289] [According to Nathan, the monosyllable "if" at the beginning of
the first line led to "numerous attacks on the noble author's religion,
and in some an inference of atheism was drawn."
Needless to add, "in a subsequent conversation," Byron repels this
charge, and delivers himself of some admirable if commonplace sentiments
on the "grand perhaps."-_Fugitive Pieces_, 1829, pp. 5, 6.]
[lh] {384} ----_breaking link_.--[Nathan, 1815, 1829.]
[290] [Compare _To Ianthe_, stanza iv. lines 1, 2--
"Oh! let that eye, which, wild as the Gazelle's,
Now brightly bold or beautifully shy."
Compare, too, _The Giaour_, lines 473, 474--
"Her eye's dark charm 'twere vain to tell,
But gaze on that of the Gazelle."
_Poetical Works_, 1899, ii. 13; _et ante_, p. 108.]
[291] {387} [Nathan (_Fugitive Pieces_, 1829, pp. 11, 12) seems to have
tried to draw Byron into a discussion on the actual fate of Jephtha's
daughter--death at her father's hand, or "perpetual seclusion"--and that
Byron had no opinion to offer. "Whatever may be the absolute state of
the case, I am innocent of her blood; she has been killed to my hands;"
and again, "Well, my hands are not imbrued in her blood!"]
[292] {388} ["In submitting the melody to his Lordship's judgment, I
once inquired in what manner they might refer to any scriptural subject:
he appeared for a moment affected--at last replied, 'Every mind must
make its own references; there is scarcely one of us who could not
imagine that the affliction belongs to himself, to me it certainly
belongs.' 'She is no more, and perhaps the only vestige of her existence
is the feeling I sometimes fondly indulge.'"--_Fugitive Pieces_, 1829,
p. 30. It has been surmised that the lines contain a final reminiscence
of the mysterious Thyrza.]
[li] ----_in gentle gloom._--[MS. M.]
[lj]
_Shall Sorrow on the waters gaze_,
_And lost in deep remembrance dream_,
_As if her footsteps could disturb the dead._--[MS. M.]
[lk] {389} _Even thou_----.--[MS. M.]
[ll]
IV.
_Nor need I write to tell the tale_,
_My pen were doubly weak;_
_Oh what can idle words avail_,
_Unless my heart could speak?_
V.
_By day or night, in weal or woe_,
_That heart no longer free_
_Must bear the love it cannot show_,
_And silent turn for thee_.--[MS. M.]
[293] [Compare "Nay, now, pry'thee weep no more! you know, ... that 'tis
sinful to murmur at ... Providence."--"And should not that reflection
check your own, my Blanche?"--"Why are your cheeks so wet? Fie! fie, my
child!"--_Romantic Tales_, by M. G. Lewis, 1808, i. 53.]
[294] [Compare "My soul is dark."--Ossian, "Oina-Morul," _The Works of
Ossian_, 1765, ii. 279.]
[295] {390} ["It was generally conceived that Lord Byron's reported
singularities approached on some occasions to derangement; and at one
period, indeed, it was very currently asserted that his intellects were
actually impaired. The report only served to amuse his Lordship. He
referred to the circumstance, and declared that he would try how a
_Madman_ could write: seizing the pen with eagerness, he for a moment
fixed his eyes in majestic wildness on vacancy; when, like a flash of
inspiration, without erasing a single word, the above verses were the
result."--_Fugitive Pieces_, 1829, p. 37.]
[296] [Compare the first _Sonnet to Genevra_ (addressed to Lady Frances
Wedderburn Webster), "Thine eye's blue tenderness."]
[lm] {392}
_He stands amidst an earthly cloud_,
_And the mist mantled o'er his floating shroud_.--[MS. erased.]
[ln] _At once and scorched beneath_----.--[MS. Copy (1, 2).]
[lo] _Bloodless are these bones_----.--[MS.]
[297] ["Since we have spoken of witches," said Lord Byron at Cephalonia,
in 1823, "what think you of the witch of Endor? I have always thought
this the finest and most finished witch-scene that ever was written or
conceived; and you will be of my opinion, if you consider all the
circumstances and the actors in the case, together with the gravity,
simplicity, and dignity of the language."--_Conversations on Religion
with Lord Byron_, by James Kennedy, M.D., London, 1830, p. 154.]
[lp] {393} _Heed not the carcase that lies in your path_.--[MS. Copy
(1).]
[lq]
----_my shield and my bow_,
_Should the ranks of your king look away from the foe_.--[MS.]
[lr] {394}
_Heir to my monarchy_----.--[MS.]
Note to _Heir_--Jonathan.--[Copy.]
[ls]
_My father was the shepherd's son_,
_Ah were my lot as lowly_
_My earthly course had softly run_.--[MS.]
[298] {395} [Compare _Childe Harold_, Canto I. stanza lxxxii.
lines 8, 9--
"Full from the fount of Joy's delicious springs
Some bitter o'er the flowers its bubbling venom flings."
_Poetical Works_, 1899, ii. 73, and note 16, p. 93.]
[lt]
_Ah! what hath been but what shall be_,
_The same dull scene renewing?_
_And all our fathers were are we_
_In erring and undoing_.--[MS.]
[lu] _When this corroding clay is gone_.--[MS. erased.]
[lv] _The stars in their eternal way_.--[MS. L. erased.]
[lw] {396} _A conscious light that can pervade_.--[MS. erased.]
[299] {397} [Compare the lines entitled "Belshazzar" (_vide post_, p.
421), and _Don Juan_, Canto III. stanza lxv.]
[lx] ----_in the hall_.--[Copy.]
[ly] _In Israel_----.--[Copy.]
[300] {398} [It was not in his youth, but in extreme old age, that
Daniel interpreted the "writing on the wall."]
[lz] _Oh king thy grave_----.--[Copy erased.]
[301] {400} [Mariamne, the wife of Herod the Great, falling under the
suspicion of infidelity, was put to death by his order. Ever after,
Herod was haunted by the image of the murdered Mariamne, until disorder
of the mind brought on disorder of body, which led to temporary
derangement. See _History of the Jews_, by H. H. Milman, 1878, pp. 236,
237. See, too, Voltaire's drama, _Mariamne_, _passim_.
Nathan, wishing "to be favoured with so many lines pathetic, some
playful, others martial, etc.... one evening ... unfortunately (while
absorbed for a moment in worldly affairs) requested so many _dull_
lines--meaning _plaintive_." Byron instantly caught at the expression,
and exclaimed, "Well, Nathan! you have at length set me an easy task,"
and before parting presented him with "these beautifully pathetic lines,
saying, 'Here, Nathan, I think you will find these _dull_
enough.'"--_Fugitive Pieces_, 1829, p. 51.]
[ma]
_And what was rage is agony_.--[MS. erased.]
_Revenge is turned_----.--[MS.]
[mb] _And deep Remorse_----.--[MS.]
[mc] _And what am I thy tyrant pleading_.--[MS. erased.]
[md]
_Thou art not dead--they could not dare_
_Obey my jealous Frenzy's raving_.--[MS.]
[me] _But yet in death my soul enslaving_.--[MS. erased.]
[mf] {401} _Oh I have earned_----.--[MS.]
[mg] ----_that looks o'er thy once holy dome_.--[MS.]
[mh]
----_o'er thy once holy wall_
_I beheld thee O Sion the day of thy fall_.--[MS. erased.]
[mi] _And forgot in their ruin_----.--[MS. erased.]
[mj] {402}
_And the red bolt_----.--[MS. erased.]
_And the thunderbolt crashed_----.--[MS.]
[302] [The following note, in Byron's handwriting, is prefixed to the
copy in Lady Byron's handwriting:--
"Dear Kinnaird,--Take only _one_ of these marked 1 and 2 [i.e. 'By
the Rivers,' etc.; and 'By the waters,' _vide_ p. 404], as both are
but different versions of the _same thought_--leave the choice to
any important person you like.
Yours,
B."]
[303] [Landor, in his "Dialogue between Southey and Porson" (_Works_,
1846, i. 69), attempted to throw ridicule on the opening lines of this
"Melody."
"A prey in 'the hue of his slaughters'! This is very pathetic; but
not more so than the thought it suggested to me, which is plainer--
'We sat down and wept by the waters
Of Camus, and thought of the day
When damsels would show their red garters
In their hurry to scamper away.'"]
[mk] {403}
_Our mute harps were hung on the willow_
_That grew by the stream of our foe_,
_And in sadness we gazed on each billow_
_That rolled on in freedom below_.--[MS, erased.]
[ml]
_On the willow that harp still hangs mutely_
_Oh Salem its sound was for thee_.--[MS. erased.]
[304] {405} [Compare--"As leaves in autumn, so the bodies fell." _The
Barons' Wars_, by Michael Drayton, Bk. II. stanza lvii.; Anderson's
_British Poets_, iii. 38.]
[mm] _And the foam of his bridle lay cold on the earth_.--[MS.]
[mn] ----_of the cliff-beating surf_.--[MS.]
[mo] _With the crow on his breast_----.--[MS.]
[mp] _And the widows of Babel_----.--[MS. erased.]
[mq] _And the voices of Israel are joyous and high_.--[MS. erased.]
POEMS 1814-1816.
POEMS 1814-1816.
FAREWELL! IF EVER FONDEST PRAYER.
1.
Farewell! if ever fondest prayer
For other's weal availed on high,
Mine will not all be lost in air,
But waft thy name beyond the sky.
'Twere vain to speak--to weep--to sigh:
Oh! more than tears of blood can tell,
When wrung from Guilt's expiring eye,[305]
Are in that word--Farewell!--Farewell!
2.
These lips are mute, these eyes are dry;
But in my breast and in my brain,
Awake the pangs that pass not by,
The thought that ne'er shall sleep again.
My soul nor deigns nor dares complain,
Though Grief and Passion there rebel:
I only know we loved in vain--
I only feel--Farewell!--Farewell!
[First published, _Corsair_, Second Edition, 1814.]