From Venice—once a race of worth

His gentle Sires—he drew his birth;

But late an exile from her shore,[oh]

Against his countrymen he bore

The arms they taught to bear; and now

The turban girt his shaven brow. 120

Through many a change had Corinth passed

With Greece to Venice' rule at last;

And here, before her walls, with those

To Greece and Venice equal foes,

He stood a foe, with all the zeal

Which young and fiery converts feel,

Within whose heated bosom throngs

The memory of a thousand wrongs.

To him had Venice ceased to be

Her ancient civic boast—"the Free;" 130

And in the palace of St. Mark

Unnamed accusers in the dark

Within the "Lion's mouth" had placed

A charge against him uneffaced:[344]

He fled in time, and saved his life,

To waste his future years in strife,[oi]

That taught his land how great her loss

In him who triumphed o'er the Cross,

'Gainst which he reared the Crescent high,

And battled to avenge or die. 140