Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Asia: Vols. XXI–XXIII. 1876–79.

Asia Minor: Troy

Before the Walls of Troy

By Homer (fl. 850 B.C.)

SO Hector said, and sea-like roared his host;

Then loosed their sweating horses from the yoke

And each beside his chariot bound his own;

And oxen from the city, and goodly sheep

In haste they drove, and honey-hearted wine

And bread from out the houses brought, and heaped

Their fire-wood, and the winds from off the plain

Rolled the rich vapor far into the heaven.

And these all night upon the bridge of war

Sat glorying; many a fire before them blazed:

As when in heaven the stars about the moon

Look beautiful, when all the winds are laid,

And every height comes out, and jutting peak

And valley, and the immeasurable heavens

Break open to their highest, and all the stars

Shine upon the shepherd gladdens in his heart:

So many a fire between the ships and stream

Of Hanthus blazed before the towers of Troy,

A thousand on the plain; and close by each

Sat fifty in the blaze of burning fire;

And champing golden grain, the horses stood

Hard by their chariots, waiting for the dawn.