And illumining dark places of the earth, with radiance of classic lustre.
It hath power to make past things present, and availeth for the present in the future,
Delivering thoughts, and words, and deeds, from the outer darkness of oblivion.
Where are the sages and the heroes, giants of old time?—
Where are the mighty kings, that reigned before Agamemnon?—
Alas they lie unwept, unhonoured, hidden in the midnight:
Alas, for they died unchronicled: their memorial perished with them.
Where are the nobles of Nineveh, and mitred rulers of Babylon?
Where are the lords of Edom, and the royal pontiffs of Thebais?
The golden Satrap, and the Tetrarch,—the Hun, and the Druid, and the Celt?