43. 
Night came, a starless and a moonless gloom. 
Until the dawn, those hosts of many a nation
Stood round that pile, as near one lover’s tomb
Two gentle sisters mourn their desolation;
And in the silence of that expectation, 4175
Was heard on high the reptiles’ hiss and crawl—­
It was so deep—­save when the devastation
Of the swift pest, with fearful interval,
Marking its path with shrieks, among the crowd would fall.

44. 
Morn came,—­among those sleepless multitudes, 4180
Madness, and Fear, and Plague, and Famine still
Heaped corpse on corpse, as in autumnal woods
The frosts of many a wind with dead leaves fill
Earth’s cold and sullen brooks; in silence, still
The pale survivors stood; ere noon, the fear 4185
Of Hell became a panic, which did kill
Like hunger or disease, with whispers drear,
As ‘Hush! hark!  Come they yet?—­Just Heaven! thine hour is near!’

45. 
And Priests rushed through their ranks, some counterfeiting
The rage they did inspire, some mad indeed 4190
With their own lies; they said their god was waiting
To see his enemies writhe, and burn, and bleed,—­
And that, till then, the snakes of Hell had need
Of human souls:—­three hundred furnaces
Soon blazed through the wide City, where, with speed, 4195
Men brought their infidel kindred to appease
God’s wrath, and, while they burned, knelt round on quivering knees.

46. 
The noontide sun was darkened with that smoke,
The winds of eve dispersed those ashes gray. 
The madness which these rites had lulled, awoke 4200
Again at sunset.—­Who shall dare to say
The deeds which night and fear brought forth, or weigh
In balance just the good and evil there? 
He might man’s deep and searchless heart display,
And cast a light on those dim labyrinths, where 4205
Hope, near imagined chasms, is struggling with despair.

47. 
’Tis said, a mother dragged three children then,
To those fierce flames which roast the eyes in the head,
And laughed, and died; and that unholy men,
Feasting like fiends upon the infidel dead, 4210
Looked from their meal, and saw an Angel tread
The visible floor of Heaven, and it was she! 
And, on that night, one without doubt or dread
Came to the fire, and said, ’Stop, I am he! 
Kill me!’—­They burned them both with hellish mockery. 4215

48. 
And, one by one, that night, young maidens came,
Beauteous and calm, like shapes of living stone
Clothed in the light of dreams, and by the flame
Which shrank as overgorged, they laid them down,
And sung a low sweet song, of which alone 4220
One word was heard, and that was Liberty;
And that some kissed their marble feet, with moan
Like love, and died; and then that they did die
With happy smiles, which sunk in white tranquillity.