Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Greece and Turkey in Europe: Vol. XIX. 1876–79.

Greece: Thermopylæ

Thermopylæ

By Simonides (c. 556–468 B.C.)

Translated by M. P. Fitz-Gerald

WHO at Thermopylæ stood side by side,

And fought together and together died,

Under earth-barrows now are laid in rest,

Their chance thrice-glorious, and their fate thrice-blest:

No tears for them, but memory’s loving gaze;

For them no pity, but proud hymns of praise.

Time shall not sweep this monument away,—

Time the destroyer; no, nor dank decay.

This not alone heroic ashes holds;

Greece’s own glory this earth-shrine enfolds,—

Leonidas, the Spartan king; a name

Of boundless honor and eternal fame.