Canto IV LXXXIV
Alas, the lofty city! and alasThe trebly hundred triumphs! and the dayWhen Brutus made the dagger's edge surpassThe conqueror's sword in bearing fame away!Alas for Tully's voice, and Virgil's lay,And Livy's pictured page! But these shall beHer resurrection; all beside--decay.Alas for Earth, for never shall we seeThat brightness in her eye she bore when Rome was free!
O thou, whose chariot rolled on Fortune's wheel,Triumphant Sylla! Thou, who didst subdueThy country's foes ere thou wouldst pause to feelThe wrath of thy own wrongs, or reap the dueOf hoarded vengeance till thine eagles flewO'er prostrate Asia;--thou, who with thy frownAnnihilated senates--Roman, too,With all thy vices, for thou didst lay downWith an atoning smile a more than earthly crown--
The dictatorial wreath,--couldst thou divineTo what would one day dwindle that which madeThee more than mortal? and that so supineBy aught than Romans Rome should thus be laid?She who was named eternal, and arrayedHer warriors but to conquer--she who veiledEarth with her haughty shadow, and displayedUntil the o'er-canopied horizon failed,Her rushing wings--Oh! she who was almighty hailed!
Words in this poem
- trebly adv.
- In a treble manner; with a threefold number or quantity; triply.
- pictured a.
- Furnished with pictures; represented by a picture or pictures; as, a pictured scene.
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- resurrection n.
- A rising again; the resumption of vigor. [F. résurrection, L. resurrectio, fr. resurgere, resurrectum, to rise again; pref. re- re- + surgere to rise. See Source.]
- didst
- , the 2d pers. sing. imp. of Do.
- reap n.
- A bundle of grain; a handful of grain laid down by the reaper as it is cut. Wright. [Cf. AS. rip harvest. See Reap, v.]
- dictatorial a.
- Pertaining or suited to a dictator; absolute. [Cf. F. dictatorial.]
- dwindle v. i.
- To diminish; to become less; to shrink; to waste or consume away; to become degenerate; to fall away. [From OE. dwinen to languish, waste away, AS. dwinan; akin to LG. dwinen, D. dwijnen to vanish, Icel. dvina to cease, dwindle, Sw. tvina; of uncertain origin. Th]
- supine a.
- Lying on the back, or with the face upward; -- opposed to prone. [L. supinus, akin to sub under, super above. Cf. Sub-, Super-.]
- aught n.
- Property; possession. [AS. , fr. agan to own, p. p. ahte.]
- veiled a.
- Covered by, or as by, a veil; hidden.
- haughty a.
- High; lofty; bold. [OE. hautein, F. hautain, fr. haut high, OF. also halt, fr. L. altus. See Altitude.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Canto IV LXXXIV is in the public domain. This text is taken from Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, Project Gutenberg ebook #5131; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Lord Byron, Canto IV LXXXIV, in Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (1812–1818), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #5131, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/byron-childe-harold/canto-iv-lxxxiv.html, id L06606.
Form and metre
Canto IV LXXXIV is 27 lines in 3 stanzas of 9 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABABBCBCC, the Spenserian stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.2 syllables. 63% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in the Spenserian stanza, other poems in iambic pentameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ABABBCBCC alasA · dayB · surpassA · awayB · layB · beC · decayB · seeC · freeC
- 2 ABABBCBCC wheelA · subdueB · feelA · dueB · flewB · frownC · tooB · downC · crownC
- 3 ABABBCBCC divineA · madeB · supineA · laidB · arrayedB · veiledC · displayedB · failedC · hailedC
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Alas, the lofty city! and alas | 10 | ˘/·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| The trebly hundred triumphs! and the day | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘··· |
| When Brutus made the dagger's edge surpass | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| The conqueror's sword in bearing fame away! | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| Alas for Tully's voice, and Virgil's lay, | 10 | ˘/·/˘··/˘· |
| And Livy's pictured page! But these shall be | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Her resurrection; all beside--decay. | 10 | ··˘/˘·˘/˘/ |
| Alas for Earth, for never shall we see | 10 | ˘/···/˘··· |
| That brightness in her eye she bore when Rome was free! | 12 | ·/˘········· |
| O thou, whose chariot rolled on Fortune's wheel, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Triumphant Sylla! Thou, who didst subdue | 10 | ˘/˘/˘···˘/ |
| Thy country's foes ere thou wouldst pause to feel | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| The wrath of thy own wrongs, or reap the due | 10 | ·········· |
| Of hoarded vengeance till thine eagles flew | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| O'er prostrate Asia;--thou, who with thy frown | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| Annihilated senates--Roman, too, | 10 | ˘/˘·˘/˘/˘· |
| With all thy vices, for thou didst lay down | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| With an atoning smile a more than earthly crown-- | 12 | ··˘/˘····/˘· |
| The dictatorial wreath,--couldst thou divine | 10 | ··˘/˘···˘/ |
| To what would one day dwindle that which made | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Thee more than mortal? and that so supine | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| By aught than Romans Rome should thus be laid? | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| She who was named eternal, and arrayed | 10 | ····˘/˘·˘/ |
| Her warriors but to conquer--she who veiled | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Earth with her haughty shadow, and displayed | 10 | ···/˘/··˘/ |
| Until the o'er-canopied horizon failed, | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| Her rushing wings--Oh! she who was almighty hailed! | 12 | ·/˘·····˘/˘· |
Notes from the edition 2
E. H. Coleridge's notes to Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, The Works of Lord Byron, Poetry vol. II (John Murray, 1899; Project Gutenberg #25340). Bracketed passages are the editor's; unbracketed are Byron's own (Cantos I-III) or John Cam Hobhouse's (Canto IV, his 'Historical Notes'). Digit footnotes ('[17]') are informational and numbered continuously through the whole book; end-notes keyed '[n.B.]' (Byron) or '[n.H.]' (Hobhouse) follow each canto and are numbered afresh from 1 there. Both kinds are placed here by matching each note's own quoted words against the site's text, not by the number or stanza the note states, because the site's text (Gutenberg #5131) and this edition (#25340) are different editions with different stanza counts in Canto I. Lettered footnotes ('[h]', '[dn]') are manuscript and edition variant readings and are not harvested, matching the treatment of Don Juan's and byron-works-3's lettered notes.
- Stanza 1, line 2 Orosius gives 320 for the number of triumphs [i.e. from Romulus to the double triumph of Vespasian and Titus (Hist., vii. 9)]. He is followed by Panvinius; and Panvinius by Mr. Gibbon and the modern writers.
- Stanza 2, line 2 Certainly, were it not for these two traits in the life of Sylla, alluded to in this stanza, we should regard him as a monster unredeemed by any admirable quality. The atonement of his voluntary resignation of empire may perhaps be accepted by us, as it seems to have satisfied the Romans, who if they had not respected must have destroyed him. There could be no mean, no division of opinion; they must have all thought, like Eucrates, that what had appeared ambition was a love of glory, and that what had been mistaken for pride was a real grandeur of soul.--("Seigneur, vous changez toutes mes idees, de la facon dont je vous vois agir. Je croyois que vous aviez de l'ambition, mais aucun amour pour la gloire; je voyois bien que votre ame etoit haute; mais je ne soupconnois pas qu'elle fut grande."--Dialogue de Sylla et d'Eucrate.) Considerations ... de la Grandeur des Romains, etc., Paris, 1795, ii. 219. By Charles de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu.
[Stanza lxxxiii. indicates the following events in the life of Sulla. In B.C. 81 he assumed the name of Felix (or, according to Plutarch, Epaphroditus, Plut, Vitae, 1812, iv. 287), (line 1). Five years before this, B.C. 86, during the consulship of Marius and Cinna, his party had been overthrown, and his regulations annulled; but he declined to return to Italy until he had brought the war against Mithridates to a successful conclusion, B.C. 83 (lines 3-6). In B.C. 81 he was appointed dictator (line 7), and B.C. 79 he resigned his dictatorship and retired into private life (line 9).]
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