Byron’s Social Doctrine 31
Rhine, he regrets the “evil will” of the robber barons who
built tire castles along tire banks of the river. He laments
their power, which kept so many people in subjection for so
long.
He eulogizes the soldier Marceau, not for his prowess in
battle, but because
.. . He was freedom’s champion, one of those
The few in number, who had not o’erstept
The charter to chastise which she bestows
On such as wield her weapons; he had kept
The whiteness of his soul—and thus men o’er him wept.20
This picture is in striking contrast to the description of
Napoleon in the same canto.
In a simdar manner he contrasts Waterloo with Morat and
Marathon. Perhaps time had obliterated the less heroic, more
terrible memories of the two ancient battlefields, but, never-
theless, Byron believed that
They were true Glory’s stainless victories,
Won by the unambitious heart and hand
Of a proud, brotherly, and civic band.21
The poet is led to a brief discussion of the French Revolu-
tion, and herein Hes much of Byron’s philosophy of “revolu-
tion in the right cause.” The French people made themselves
a fearful monument, the wreck of old opinions. They went
too far and overthrew good with evil; hence they left ruins
and only the foundations upon which to renew dungeons and
thrones. In short, tyrants were conquered by tyrants. Note
how closely this idea is related to the “Ode to Napoleon”
and to other passages in Childe Harold, to which attention
has already been called.
But all hope is not lost, for man has felt his strength. He
might have used it better, but Byron does not place too
much blame upon those who have been oppressed so long,