We Are All Greeks: Shelley's 'Hellas'

The full text of Shelley's Hellas, (composed 1821, published 1822) just so we all know what we are talking about- or what Percy Bysshe Shelley had in mind.

From the Preface:

"We are all Greeks. Our laws, our literature, our religion, our arts have their root in Greece."


He goes on to say:

"In fact, the Greeks...have undergone most important changes; the flower of their youth, returning to their country from the universities of Italy, Germany, and France, have communicated to their fellow-citizens the latest results of that social perfection of which their ancestors were the original source."


The origins of the European Union idea?


Shelley might well have joined the rallies. Maybe he would have recycled and adapted another of his revolutionary poems, as

"Song to the Men of Hellas"

Men of Hellas, wherefore plough
For the lords who lay ye low?
Wherefore weave with toil and care
The rich robes your tyrants wear?

Wherefore feed and clothe and save,
From the cradle to the grave,
Those ungrateful drones who would
Drain your sweat -nay, drink your blood?

Wherefore, Bees of Hellas, forge
Many a weapon, chain, and scourge,
That these stingless drones may spoil
The forced produce of your toil?

Have ye leisure, comfort, calm,
Shelter, food, love's gentle balm?
Or what is it ye buy so dear
With your pain and with your fear?

The seed ye sow another reaps;
The wealth ye find another keeps;
The robes ye weave another wears;
The arms ye forge another bears.

Sow seed, -but let no tyrant reap;
Find wealth, -let no imposter heap;
Weave robes, -let not the idle wear;
Forge arms, in your defence to bear.

Shrink to your cellars, holes, and cells;
In halls ye deck another dwells.
Why shake the chains ye wrought? Ye see
The steel ye tempered glance on ye.

With plough and spade and hoe and loom,
Trace your grave, and build your tomb,
And weave your winding-sheet, till fair
Hellas be your sepulchre!