GREECE, in those feats and contests hard,
Sung by the billowy Theban bard,
Kept her fair body sound and whole,
Yet also trimmed that lamp, her soul,
No lordly Pindar now acclaims,
At Life's Nemean or Pythian games,
The strength, the swiftness, and the grace,
That win the eternal chariot-race.
We have the shouts, the applause, the throng,
But Hellas, Hellas had the song!
She loved the clash of godlike play,
But it was song that crowned the day.
