12. In Greek mythology the “Islands of the Blest” were situated somewhere far in the western ocean.
13. Mount Pentelicus and Mount Parnes overlook the plain of Marathon, where in 490 B.C. a great battle was fought between the Persians under Darius, and the Greeks, led by Miltiades.
21. Ten years after the battle of Marathon, Xerxes, the son of Darius, invaded Greece with a vast army. The Persian fleet was defeated at Salamis, by the Greeks under Themistocles. Xerxes watched the progress of the fight from the mainland.
31. in the dearth of fame. Though the Greeks are no longer famed for their poets.
32. a fetter’d race. Since 1715 Greece had been in the hands of the Turks. The War of Independence which began in 1821, resulted in the establishment of the Greek kingdom in 1832.
37-8. we. Italicized to bring out the contrast with fathers.
40-2. A reference to the battle of Thermopylae (470, B.C.) in which Leonidas with 300 Spartans and several hundred auxiliaries held the whole Persian army in check.
43. He has called upon the dead heroes of Greece to return (ll. 39-42); and now he listens for a reply.
49. In vain. It is in vain that we look for even one living hero to arise to lead the Greeks.
50-2. Samos, Chios, and other islands were famous for their wines.