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Ζώη μᾶ, σὰς ἀγαπῶ. (2)

ATHENS, 1810.

1.

MAID of Athens, ere we part,
Give, oh, give me back my heart!
Or, since that has left my breast,
Keep it now, and take the rest!

Hear my vow before I go,

Ζώη με, σὰς ἀγαπῶ.

2.

By those tresses unconfined,
Woo'd by each gean wind;

By those lids whose jetty fringe

Kiss thy soft cheeks' blooming tinge;

By those wild eyes like the roe,

Ζώη μᾶ, σὰς ἀγαπῶ.

3.

By that lip I long to taste;
By that zone-encircled waist;

By all the token-flowers (3) that tell
What words can never speak so well;

By Love's alternate joy and woe,

Ζώη με, σὰς ἀγαπῶ.

4.

Maid of Athens! I am gone:

Think of me, sweet! when alone.

Though I fly to Istambol,

(4)

Athens holds my heart and soul:

Can I cease to love thee? No!

Ζώη με, σὰς ἀγαπῶ.

TRANSLATION OF THE FAMOUS GREEK WAR SONG,

Δεύτε παῖδες τῶν Ἑλλήνων,

Written by Riga, who perished in the attempt to revolutionize Greece. The following translation is as literal as the author could make it in verse: it is of the same measure as that of the original. See vol. i. p. 196.

1.

SONS of the Greeks, arise!

The glorious hour's gone forth,

And, worthy of such ties,

Display who gave us birth.

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Brave shades of chiefs and sages,

Behold the coming strife! Hellénes of past ages,

Oh, start again to life!

At the sound of my trumpet, breaking
Your sleep, oh, join with me!
And the seven-hill'd (5) city seeking,
Fight, conquer, till we're free.

Sons of Greeks, &c.

3.

Sparta, Sparta, why in slumbers

Lethargic dost thou lie?

Awake, and join thy numbers

With Athens, old ally!

Leonidas recalling,

That chief of ancient song,

Who saved ye once from falling,

The terrible! the strong!

Who made that bold diversion
In old Thermopylæ,

And warring with the Persian

To keep his country free;

With his three hundred waging

The battle, long he stood, And like a lion raging,

Expired in seas of blood.

Sons of Greeks, &c.

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