Page:The Works of Lord Byron (ed. Coleridge, Prothero) - Volume 1.djvu/199

By gloomy Night and thy right hand I vow,
Her parting tears would shake my purpose now;^[1]
Do thou, my prince, her failing age sustain,
In thee her much-lov'd child may live again;190
Her dying hours with pious conduct bless,
Assist her wants, relieve her fond distress:
So dear a hope must all my soul enflame,^[2]
To rise in glory, or to fall in fame."
Struck with a filial care so deeply felt,
In tears at once the Trojan warriors melt;
Faster than all, Iulus' eyes o'erflow!
Such love was his, and such had been his woe.
"All thou hast ask'd, receive," the Prince replied;
"Nor this alone, but many a gift beside.200
To cheer thy mother's years shall be my aim
Creusa's^[3] style but wanting to the dame;
Fortune an adverse wayward course may run,
But bless'd thy mother in so dear a son.
Now, by my life!—my Sire's most sacred oath—
To thee I pledge my full, my firmest troth,
All the rewards which once to thee were vow'd,^[4]
If thou should'st fall, on her shall be bestow'd."
Thus spoke the weeping Prince, then forth to view

A gleaming falchion from the sheath he drew;210

1. Her falling tears ——.—[MS. Newstead.]

2. With this assurance Fate's attempts are vain;
   Fearless I dare the foes of yonder plain.—[MS. Newstead.]

3. The mother of Iulus, lost on the night when Troy was taken.
4. That all the gifts which once to thee were vowed.—[MS. Newstead.]