5o

Till. SIUUE or COlllNTH.

And made the sign of a cross with a sigh,

Then seized a torch which blazed thereby;

And still he stood, while, with steel and flame,Inward and onward the Mussulman came.

XXXI.

The vaults beneath the mosaic stone 920

Contained the dead of ages gone;

Their names were on the graven floor,

But now illegible with gore;

The carved crests, and curious huesThe varied marble’s veins diffuse, 925

Were smeared, and slippery — stained, andstrownWith broken swords, and helms o’erlhrown:There were dead above, and the dead belowLay cold in many a coffined row;

You might see them piled in sable state, g 3 oBy a pale light through a gloomy grate;

But War had entered their dark caves,

And stored along the vaulted gravesHer sulphurous treasures, thickly spreadIn masses by the fleshless dead: <)35

Here, throughout the siege, had beenThe Christians’ ehicfest magazine;

To these a late formed train now led,