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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE MARCH OF XERXES by LUIGI ALAMANNI

First Line: WHEN IN THE WANTONNESS OF KINGLY PRIDE
Last Line: MORE THAN A GOD HE CAME, LESS THAN A MAN HE FLED.
Subject(s): DARDANELLES; XERES I, THE GREAT (519-465 B.C.); HELLESPONT;
WHEN in the wantonness of kingly pride,
Vain Xerxes spurred his war-horse through the tide,
And bore his fleet o'er mountain-tops, -- e'en there
The Eternal bade his evil heart despair:
O'er Hellespont and Athos' marble head,
More than a god he came, less than a man he fled.



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