Journals, etc., of Thomas Moore
, vol. ii. p. 313).
An incident of the voyage from Constantinople to Zea is mentioned by Moore (
Life
, p. 110). Picking up a Turkish dagger on the deck, Byron looked at the blade, and then, before replacing it in the sheath, was overheard to say to himself, "I should like to know how a person feels after committing a murder." In
Firmilian; a Spasmodic Tragedy
(scene ix.) the sentiment is parodied. Firmilian determines to murder his friend, in order to shriek "delirious at the taste of sin!" He had already blown up a church full of people; but —
"I must have
A more potential draught of guilt than this
With more of wormwood in it!...
...
Courage, Firmilian! for the hour has come
When thou canst know atrocity indeed,
By smiting him that was thy dearest friend.
And think not that he dies a vulgar death —
'Tis poetry demands the sacrifice!"
And he hurls Haverillo from the summit of the Pillar of St. Simeon Stylites.