The vaults beneath the mosaic stone[qm]

Contained the dead of ages gone;

Their names were on the graven floor,

But now illegible with gore;[qn]

The carvéd crests, and curious hues

The varied marble's veins diffuse, 970

Were smeared, and slippery—stained, and strown

With broken swords, and helms o'erthrown:

There were dead above, and the dead below

Lay cold in many a coffined row;

You might see them piled in sable state,

By a pale light through a gloomy grate;

But War had entered their dark caves,[qo]

And stored along the vaulted graves

Her sulphurous treasures, thickly spread

In masses by the fleshless dead: 980

Here, throughout the siege, had been

The Christians' chiefest magazine;

To these a late formed train now led,

Minotti's last and stern resource

Against the foe's o'erwhelming force.