Canto IV XCIII
And came, and saw, and conquered. But the manWho would have tamed his eagles down to flee,Like a trained falcon, in the Gallic van,Which he, in sooth, long led to victory,With a deaf heart which never seemed to beA listener to itself, was strangely framed;With but one weakest weakness--vanity:Coquettish in ambition, still he aimedAt what? Can he avouch, or answer what he claimed?
And would be all or nothing--nor could waitFor the sure grave to level him; few yearsHad fixed him with the Caesars in his fate,On whom we tread: For THIS the conqueror rearsThe arch of triumph! and for this the tearsAnd blood of earth flow on as they have flowed,An universal deluge, which appearsWithout an ark for wretched man's abode,And ebbs but to reflow!--Renew thy rainbow, God!
What from this barren being do we reap?Our senses narrow, and our reason frail,Life short, and truth a gem which loves the deep,And all things weighed in custom's falsest scale;Opinion an omnipotence, whose veilMantles the earth with darkness, until rightAnd wrong are accidents, and men grow paleLest their own judgments should become too bright,And their free thoughts be crimes, and earth have too much light.
Words in this poem
- sooth a.
- True; faithful; trustworthy. [OE. soth, AS. s, for san; akin to OS. s, OHG. sand, Icel. sannr, Sw. sann, Dan. sand, Skr. sat, sant, real, genuine, present, being; properly p. pr. from a root]
- strangely adv.
- As something foreign, or not one's own; in a manner adapted to something foreign and strange.
- coquettish a.
- Practicing or exhibiting coquetry; alluring; enticing.
- avouch v. t.
- To appeal to; to cite or claim as authority. [OF. avochier, LL. advocare to recognize the existence of a thing, to advocate, fr. L. advocare to call to; ad + vocare to call. Cf. Avow to declare, Advocate, a]
- abode n.
- Act of waiting; delay. [OE. abad, abood, fr. abiden to abide. See Abide. For the change of vowel, cf. abode, imp. of abide.]
- reflow v. i.
- To flow back; to ebb.
- 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.]
- omnipotence n.
- The state of being omnipotent; almighty power; hence, one who is omnipotent; the Deity. [L. omnipotentia: cf.F. omnipotence.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Canto IV XCIII 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 XCIII, in Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (1812–1818), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #5131, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/byron-childe-harold/canto-iv-xciii.html, id L06609.
Form and metre
Canto IV XCIII 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 86%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.2 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 41% 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 manA · fleeB · vanA · victoryB · beB · framedC · vanityB · aimedC · claimedC
- 2 ABABBCBCC waitA · yearsB · fateA · rearsB · tearsB · flowedC · appearsB · abodeC · godC
- 3 ABABBCBCC reapA · frailB · deepA · scaleB · veilB · rightC · paleB · brightC · lightC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| And came, and saw, and conquered. But the man | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Who would have tamed his eagles down to flee, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Like a trained falcon, in the Gallic van, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Which he, in sooth, long led to victory, | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| With a deaf heart which never seemed to be | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| A listener to itself, was strangely framed; | 10 | ·/˘·˘/·/˘· |
| With but one weakest weakness--vanity: | 10 | ···/˘/˘/˘˘ |
| Coquettish in ambition, still he aimed | 10 | ˘/˘·˘/˘··· |
| At what? Can he avouch, or answer what he claimed? | 12 | ····˘/·/˘··· |
| And would be all or nothing--nor could wait | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| For the sure grave to level him; few years | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Had fixed him with the Caesars in his fate, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| On whom we tread: For THIS the conqueror rears | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| The arch of triumph! and for this the tears | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| And blood of earth flow on as they have flowed, | 10 | ·········· |
| An universal deluge, which appears | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Without an ark for wretched man's abode, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| And ebbs but to reflow!--Renew thy rainbow, God! | 12 | ····˘/˘/·/·· |
| What from this barren being do we reap? | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Our senses narrow, and our reason frail, | 10 | //˘/˘·//˘· |
| Life short, and truth a gem which loves the deep, | 10 | ·········· |
| And all things weighed in custom's falsest scale; | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Opinion an omnipotence, whose veil | 10 | ˘/˘·˘/˘˘·· |
| Mantles the earth with darkness, until right | 10 | /˘···/˘··· |
| And wrong are accidents, and men grow pale | 10 | ···/˘˘···· |
| Lest their own judgments should become too bright, | 10 | ···/˘·˘/·· |
| And their free thoughts be crimes, and earth have too much light. | 12 | ············ |
Notes from the edition 4
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 1 [According to Suetonius, i. 37, the famous words, Veni Vidi, Vici, were blazoned on litters in the triumphal procession which celebrated Caesar's victory over Pharnaces II., after the battle of Zela (B.C. 47).]
- Stanza 1, line 3 [By "flee" in the "Gallic van," Byron means "fly towards, not away from, the foe." He was, perhaps, thinking of the Biblical phrases, "flee like a bird" (Ps. xi. 1), and "flee upon horses" (Isa. xxx. 16); but he was not careful to "tame down" words to his own use and purpose.]
- Stanza 3, line 1 ----"Omnes poene veteres; qui nihil cognosci, nihil percipi, nihil sciri posse dixerunt; augustos sensus, imbecillos animos, brevia curricula vitar, et (ut Democritus) in profundo veritatem esse demersam; opinionibus et institutis omnia teneri; nihil veritati relinqui: deinceps omnia tenebris circumfusa esse dixerunt."--Academ., lib. I. cap. 12. The eighteen hundred years which have elapsed since Cicero wrote this, have not removed any of the imperfections of humanity: and the complaints of the ancient philosophers may, without injustice or affectation, be transcribed in a poem written yesterday.
- Stanza 3, line 4 [Compare Gray's Elegy, stanza xv.--
"Full many a gem of purest ray serene The dark unfathom'd caves of ocean bear."]
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.