Excerpt from Verses Ail Iran! Ancient Iran! Sacred name To every heart that Ayran blood can claim! What land can boast the imperial renown That decked the lustre of thy former crown? Ah! Could the annals of thy pristine might Unfold their wonders to the astonished Sight, What records of the long-forgotten dead Would rouse the warrior from his earthy bed, To fight his former battles o'er again, And reap the glory that he died to gain? Once more great Cyrus beats his rivals down, And treads the bloody path that gives a crown. Again his warriors, nursed in victory, scale The clifis that frown o'er Hermus' rugged vale, Where Sardis nestles 'mid its guardian rocks, That seem to brave or time's or battle's shocks. Again he fells Belshazzar's tott'ring throne, And gains the brass-capped walls of Babylon; Subdues the unsubdued, and adds a gem To the bright frontlet of his diadem. But see! Darius arms his myriad host To pour their living flood on Hellas' coast. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.