Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Greece and Turkey in Europe: Vol. XIX. 1876–79.

Greece: Lepanto

Sonnet on Lepanto

By Fernando de Herrera (c. 1534–1597)

Translated by Edward Churton

DEEP sea, whose thundering waves in tumult roar,

Call forth thy troubled spirit,—bid him rise,

And gaze, with terror pale, and hollow eyes,

On floods all flashing fire, and red with gore.

Lo! as in lists enclosed, on battle-floor

Christian and Sarzan, life and death the prize,

Join conflict: lo! the battered Paynim flies;

The din, the smouldering flames, he braves no more.

Go, bid thy deep-toned bass with voice of power

Tell of this mightiest victory under sky,

This deed of peerless valor’s highest strain;

And say a youth achieved the glorious hour,

Hallowing thy gulf with praise that ne’er shall die,—

The youth of Austria, and the might of Spain.