fifteen, although according to tradition he was thirty when he was
raised from the dead, and lived only thirty years after. Upon this
Prof. Charles B. Wright comments in Poet-lore, April, 1897: "I
incline to think that the oversight is not Browning's. Let us stand
by the tradition and the resulting age of sixty-five. . . . Karshish
is simply stating his professional judgment. Lazarus is given an
age suited to his appearance--he seems a man of fifty. The years
have touched him lightly since 'heaven opened to his soul.'
. . . And that marvellous physical freshness deceives the very leech
himself."

177. Greek fire: used by the Byzantine Greeks in warfare, first
against the Saracens at the siege of Constantinople in 673 A. D.
Therefore an anachronism in this poem. Liquid fire was, however,
known to the ancients, as Assyrian bas-reliefs testify. Greek fire
was made possibly of naphtha, saltpetre, and sulphur, and was thrown
upon the enemy from copper tubes; or pledgets of tow were dipped in
it and attached to arrows.

281. Blue-flowering borage: (Borago officianalis). The ancients
deemed this plant one of the four "cordial flowers," for cheering
the spirits, the others being the rose, violet, and alkanet. Pliny
says it produces very exhilarating effects.


JOHANNES AGRICOLA IN MEDITATION

1842

There's heaven above, and night by night