Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Greece and Turkey in Europe: Vol. XIX. 1876–79.
Thebes
By Seneca (c. 3 B.C.–65 A.D.)T
No more the valiant and the free?
Thou cradle-land of many a god,
Stoop’st thou beneath a tyrant’s rod?
She,—from whose fields together rose
The sworded bands of spell-born foes,
Whose walls to rear, Amphion’s tones
Led, as in dance, the charmed stones;
For whom so oft eternal Jove
Hath left his radiant seats above:
To whom in former years was given
To shrine her favorites in heaven;
Who, haply, gods will yet create,—
She bows beneath the cankering weight
Of iron bondage and disgrace.
How are ye fallen, Cadmean race!
Shall a proud outcast vilely spurn
Your freedom’s rights, ye dragon-born?
Shall he usurp your country’s throne,
A sordid exile from his own?
Whose crimes affront the land and main,
Shall he Herculean Thebes profane?