The March of Xerxes

Translated by Sir Aubrey de Vere

WHEN in the wantonness of kingly pride,

Vain Xerxes spurred his war-horse through the tide,

And bore his fleet o’er mountain-tops,—e’en there

The Eternal bade his evil heart despair:

O’er Hellespont and Athos’ marble head,

More than a god he came, less than a man he fled.