60 The voice of pleading Nature was not heard, And in their hearts the fathers throbb'd no nzore; Stern to themselves, but gentle to the whole. Hence, fweeten'd pain, the luxury of toil; Patience that baffled Fortune's utmost rage; High minded Hope, which at the lowest ebb, When Brennus conquer 'd, and when Canna bled, The bravest impulfe felt, and fcorn'd defpair, Hence Moderation a new conquest gain'd As on the vanquish'd, like defcending Heaven, Their dewy mercy dropp'd, their bounty beam'd, And by the labouring hand were crowns beftow'd. Fruitful of men, hence hard laborious life, Which no fatigue can quell, no feason pierce : Hence Independence, with his little pleas'd, Serene, aad felf-fufficient, like a god,
Where with enlighten'd justice mercy mix'd. He e'en, into his tender fyftem, took Whatever fhares the brotherhood of life. He taught that life's indiffoluble flame, From brute to man, and man to brute again, For ever shifting, runs th' eternal round; Thence try'd against the blood-pol uted meal, And limbs yet quivering with fome kindred foul, To turn the human heart. Delightful truth! Had he beheld the living chain afcend, And not a circling form, but rifing whole. Amid thefe fmall Republics one arofe, On yellow Tiber's bank, almighty Rome! Fated for Me A nobler fpirit warm'd Her fons; and, rous'd by tyrants, nobler ftill It burn'd in Brutus; the proud Tarquins chas'd, With all their crimes; bade radiant eras rife, And the long honours of the Conful line.
Here from the fairer, not the greater, plan Of Greece I vary'd, whofe unmixing ftates, By the keen foul of Emulation pierc'd, Long wag'd alone the bloedlefs war of Arts, And their beft empire gain'd; but ta diffufe O'er men an empire was My purpose now; To let My martial Majefty abroad; Into the vortex of One State to draw The whole mix'd force and liberty on earth; To conquer tyrants, and fet nations free.
Already have I given, with flying touch, A broken view of this My ampleft reign: Now while its first, laft, periods you furvey, Mark how it lab'ring rofe, and rapid fell. When Rome in noon-tide empire grafp'd the world,
And, foon as her refiftlefs legions thone, The nations floop'd around; tho' then appear'd Her grandeur moft, yet in her dawn of power, By many a jealous equal people prefs'd, Then was the toil, the mighty struggle then; Then for each Roman I an hero told, And evey paffing fun and Latian scene Saw patriot virtues then, and awful deeds, That or furpafs the faith of modern times, Or, if believ'd, with facred horror strike. For then, to prove My most exalted power, I to the point of full perfection pufh'd, To fondnefs and enthufiaftic zeal, The great, the reigning paffion cf the Free! That godlike paffion! which the bounds of Self Divinely burfting, the whole public takes Into the heart, enlarg'd, and burning high With the mix d ardour o unnumber'd felves; Of all who fafe beneath the voted laws Of the fame parent ftate, fraternal, live, From this kind fun of moral Nature flow'd Virtues that fhine the light of human kind, And, ray'd thro' ftory, warm remotest time. Thefe virtues, too, reflected to their fource, Increas'd its flame. The focial charm went round,
The fair idea, more attractive ftill,
As more by virtue mark'd, till Romans, all One band of friends unconquerable grew. Hence, when their country rais'd her plain- tive voice,
In whom Corruption could not lodge one charm, While he his honeft roots to gold preferr'd; While truly rich, and by his Sabine field The man maintain'd, the Roman's fplendor all Was in the public wealth and glory plac'd; Or ready, a rough fwain, to guide the plough, Or elfe, the purple o'er his fhoulder thrown, In long majestic flow, to rule the state, With Wifdom's pureft eye, or clad in steel, To drive the steady battle on the foe. Hence every paffion, e'en the proudest, floop'd To common-good: Camillus! thy revenge; Thy glory, Fabius! All fubmiffive, hence Confuls, Dictators, fill refign'd their rule, The very moment that the laws ordain'd. Tho' conqueft o'er them clapp'd her eagle-wings, Her laurels wreath'd, and yok'd her fnowy fteeds To the triumphal car, foon as expir'd The latest hour of fway, taught to fubmit, (A harder leffon that than to command,) Into the private Roman funk the chief. If Rome was ferv'd, and glorious, carciefs they By whom their country's fame they deem'd their
And, above envy, in the rivals train, Sung the loud los by themfelves deferv'd Hence matchlefs courage: on Cremera's bank Hence fell the Fabii: hence the Decii dy'd; And Curtius plung'd into the flaming gulf: 165 Hence Regulus the wavering Fathers firm'd, By dreadful counfel never given before; For Roman honour fu'd, and his own doom; Hence he fuftain'd to dare a death prepar'd By Punic rage: on earth his manly look, Relentless fix'd, he from a last embrace, By chains polluted, put his wife afide, His little children climbing for a kifs; Then dumb thro' rows of weeping wondering friends,
Life had no charms, nof any terrors fate, When Rome and Glory call'd. But, in one view, Mark the rare boast of unequal'd times. Ages reyolv'd unfelly'd by a crime; Area reign'd, and fcarcely needed laws To bind a race clated with the pride Of virtue, and difdaining to defcend To meannefs, mutual violence, and wrongs. While war around them rag'd, in happy Rome All peaceful smil'd, all fave the passing clouds That often hang on Freedom's jealous brow, And fair unblemish'd centuries elaps'd, When not a Roman bled but in the field. Their virtue fuch that an unbalanc'd ftate, Still between Noble and Plebeian tofs'd, As flow'd the wave of fluctuating power, Was thence kept firm, and with triumphant prow Rode out the form. Oft' tho' the native feuds, That from the first their conftitutio. hook, A latent ruin, growing as it grew,) Stood on the treat'ning poin of Civil war Ready to rush, yet could the lenicut voice Of Aildom, frothing the tumultuous foul, Thofe fons of Virtue calm. Their generous hearts, Unpetrify'd by Self, fo naked lay, And fenfible to truth, that o'er the rage Of giddy faction, by Oppreffion fwell'd, Prevail'da fimple fable, and at once To peace recover'd the divided fate. But if their often-cheated hopes refus'd The foothing touch, fill in the love of Rome The dread Dictator found a fure refource. Was the affaulted? was her glory fain'd? One common quarrel wide-inflam'd the whole. Foes in the Forum in the field were friends, By focial danger bound; each fond for cach, And for their dearest country all, to dic.
Thus up the hill of Empire flow they toil'd, Till, the bold fummit gain'd, the Thoufand
Of proud Italia blended into one: Then o'er the nations they refifflefs rufh'd, And touch'd the limits of the failing world.
Laft that beneath the burning zone behold; See where it runs, from the deep loaded plains Of Mauritania to the Libya fands, Where Ammou lifts amid the torrid wafte
A verdant ifle, with fhade and fountain freth, 250 And farther to the full Egyptian shore, To where the Nile from Ethiopian clouds, His never drain'd ethereal urn, defcends. In this vaft space what various tongues and ftates! What bounding rocks, and mountains, floods, and feas!
What purple tyrants quell'd, and nations freed! O'er Greece defcended chief, with stealth divine,
The Roman bounty in a flood of day, As at her Ifthmian games, a fading pomp! Her ful! affumbled youth innumerous fwarm'd. On a tribunal rais'd Flaminius fate; A victor he, from the deep phalanx pierc'd Of Iron-coted Macedon, and back The Grecian tyrant to his bounds repell'd. In the high thoughtless gaiety of game, While fport alone their unambicious hearts Poffefs'd, the fudden trumpet, founding hoarfe, Bade filence o'er the bright affembly reign. Then thus a herald To the ftates of Greece "The Roman people, unconfin'd, restore "Their countries, cities, liberties, and laws; "Taxes reftit, and garrifons withdraw." The crowd, aftonifh'd half, and half inform'd, Star'd dubious round; fome question'd, fome exc aim'd,
From many a thousand hearts ecftatic fprung. 225 On every hand rebellow'd to their joy
Let Fancy's eye the diftant lities unite, See that which borders wild the western main, Where forms at large refound, and tides immenfe; From Caledonia's dim cerulean coaft, And moist Hibernia, to where Atlas, lodg'd, Amid the restlefs clouds and leaning heaven, 231 Hangs o'er the deep that borrows thence its name. Mark that oppos'd, where firft the fpringing
The swelling fea, the rocks, and vocal hills: 285 Thro' all her turrets Aately Corinth fhook, And. from the void above of flatter'd air, The flitting bird fell breathlefs to the ground. What piercing blifs! how keen a fenfe of fame Did then, Flaminius! reach thy inmost foui! And with what deep-felt glory disift thou then Efcape the fondness of transported Greece! Mix'd in a tempest of luperior joy,
hey left the fports; like Bacchanals they flew, Each other ftraining in a strict embrace, 295 Nor ftrain'd a flave; and loud acclaims till night ound the Proconful's tent repeated 'rung, Then, crowu'd with garlands, came the feftive
"At what a dire expence of kindred blood? And are they now diffolv'd? and fearce one drop
"For the fair firft of bleffings have we paid? Courage and conduct in the doubtful field, "When rages wide the ftorm of mingling war, "Are rare indeed; but how to generous ends "To turn fuccefs and conqueft, rarer ftill; 310 "That the great Gods aud Romans only know. Lives there on earth, almost to Greece un- known,
"A people so magnanimous, to quit.
Their native foil, traverse the formy decp, "And by their blood and treasure, fpent for us, "Redeem our states, our liberties, and laws! "There does! there does! oh! Saviour Titus! Rome !"
Still stronger shoot beneath the rigid axe) By lots, by flaughter, from the steel itself 365 E'en force and fpirit drew, fmit with the calm,. The dead ferene of profperous fortune, pin'd. Nought now her weighty legions could oppose. Her terror once on Afric's tawny shore, Now fmoak'd in duft, a ftabling now for wolves; And every dreaded power receiv'd the yoke. Besides, deftructive, from the conquer'd East, In the foft plunder came that work of plagues, That peftilence of mind, a fever'd thirt For the falfe joys which Luxury prepares; Unworthy joys! that wafteful leave behind No mark of honour, in reflecting hour, No fecret ray to glad the confcious foul At once involving in one ruin wealth And wealth acquiring powers; while stupid Self,
Thus thro' the happy night they pour'd their Of narrow guft and heberating fenfe,
And in My laft-reflected beams rejoic'd. As when the fhepherd, on the mountain brow, Sits piping to his flocks and gamefome kids, Mean time the fun, beneath the green earth funk, Slants upward o'er the scene a parting gleam, Short is the glory that the mountain gilds, Plays on the glittering flocks, and glads the fwain;
To western worlds irrevocably roll'd Rapid, the fource of light recalls his ray. Here, interpofing, I,-" Oh, Queen of Men! "Beneath whofe fceptre in effential rights Equal they live tho' plac'd, for common good, "Various, or in fubjeétion or command, "And that by common choice; alas! the fcene, "With virtue, freedom, and with glory bright, "Streams into blood, and darkens into woe." Thus fhe purfu d.-Near this great æra, Rome Began to feel the fwift approach of Fate, 336 That now her vitals gain'd; ftill more and more Her deep divifions kindling into rage, And war with chains and defolation charg'd. From an unequal balance of her fons The fierce contentions fprung, and, as increas'd This hated inequality, more fierce They flam'd to tumult. Independence fail'd, Here by luxurious wants, by real there; And with this virtue every virtue funk, As with the fliding rock the pile sustain'd. A laft attempt, too late, the Gracchi made, To fit the flying fcale, and poise the state. On oze fide fwell'd ariftocratic pride, With fury, the villain whofe fell gripe ends by degrees to baseness the free foul; And Luxury rapacious, cruel, nean, Mother of vice! while on the other crept A por alace in want, with pleasure fir'd,
it for profcriptions, for the darkest deeds, As the proud feeder bade, inconftant, blind; Deferting friends at need, and dup'd by foes; Loud and feditious, when a chief infpir'd- Their headlong fury; but of him depriv'd, Already flaves that lick'd the fcourging hand This firm Republic, that against the blaft 361 Of Oppofition 1ofe, that (like an oak,
Nurs' on ferocious Algidum, whofe boughs
Devour the nobler faculties of blifs. Hence Roman virtue flacken'd into floth, Security relax'd the foftuing fate, And the broad eye of Goverment lay clos'd. No more the laws inviolable reign'd, And public weal no more; but party rag'd; And partial power, and licenfe unrestrain'd, Let Difcord thro' the deathful City loofe.. First, mild Tiberius! on thy facred head 390 The Fury's vengeance fell; the first whofe blood Had fince the Confuls flain'd contending Rome; Of precedent pernicious! With thee bled Three hundred Romans; with thy brother, next, Three thousand more; til into battles turn'd 395 Debates of peace, and forc'd the trembling laws. The Forum and Comitia horrid grew,
A fcene of barter'd power or recking gore; When, half-afham'd, Corruption's thievifh arts, And ruffian Force, began to fap the mounds 400 And majesty of laws; if not in time Reprefs'd fevere, for human aid too ftrong, The torrent turns, and overbears the whole.
Thus luxury, diffenfion, a mir'd rage Of boundless pleasure and of boundiefs wealth,` Want wifhing change, and wafte repairing war, Rapine for ever loft to peaceful toil, Guilt unaton'd, profufe of blood Revenge, Corruption all avow'd, and lawless Force, Each heightning each, alternate fhook the ftate, Mean time Ambition, at the dazzling head Of hardy legions, with the laurels heap'd And spoil of nations, in one cir.ling blast Combin'd invarious form, and from its bafe
The broad Republic tore. By Virtue built, 415
It touch'd the kies, and fpread o'er fhelter'd earth
An ample roof; by Virtue, too, fuitain'd, And balanc'd steady, every tempeft fung Innexious by, or bade it firmer ftand: But when, with fudden and enormous change, The first of mankind funk into the last, As once in virtue, fo in vice extreme, This univerfal fabric yielded loofe, Before Ambition ftill; and thundering down, At last, beneath its ruins crufh'd a world. A conquering people, to themselves a prey, Muft ever fall, when their victorious troops, In blood and rapine favage grown, can find
No land to fack and pillage but their own. By brutal Marius and keen Sylla first Effus'd the deluge dire of civil blood, Unceafing woes began, and this or that (Deep drenching their revenge) nor virtue fpar'd, Nor fex, nor age, nor quality, nor name; Till Rome into an human fhanables turn'd, 435 Made deferts lovely-Oh! too well earn'd chains! Devoted race!If no true Roman then, No Scævola, there was, to raise for Me
A vengeful hand; was there no father, robb'd Of blooming youth to prop his wither'd age? No fon a witnefs to his hoary fire
In dust and gore defil'd? No fiend, forlørn? No wretch that doubtful trembled for himself?
None brave, or wild, to pierce a monster's heart, Who, heaping horror round, no more deserv'd- The facred fhelter of the laws he spurn'd? No fad o'er all profound Dejection fate, And nerveless Fear. The flave's asylum theirs ; Or flight, il-judging, that the timid back Turns weak to flaughter, or partaken guilt. In vain from Sylla's vanity I drew, An unexampled deed. The power refign'd, And all unhop'd the Commonwealth restor'd, Amaz'd the public, and effac'd his crimes. Thro' ftreets yet ftreaming from his murderous 455
Unarm'd he fray'd, unguarded, unaffail'd, And on the bed of peace his afhes laid; A grace which I to his difmiffion gave. But with him died not th' defpotic foul : Ambition faw that flooping Rome could bear A Mafter, nor had virtue to be free. 461 Hence for fucceeding years My troubled reign, No certain peace, no fpreading profpect, knew. Destruction gathered round. Still the black foul Or oft a Cataline or Rullus fwell'd With fell defigns, and all the watchful art Of Cicero demanded, all the force, All the state-wielding magic of his tongue, And all the thunder of My Cato's zeal. With thefe I linger'd, till the flame anew 470 Burst out in blaze immenfe, and wrapt the world.
A rage impatient of an equal name; Or to the nobler Cæfar, on whofe brow O'er daring Vice deluding Virtue smil'd, And who no lets a vain fuperior feem'd. Both bled, but bled in vain, New traitors rofe. The venal will be bought, the base have lords. To thefe vile wars I left ambitious flaves And from Phillppi's field, from where in duft The laft of Romans, matchlefs Brutus! lay, Spread to the North, untam'd, a rapid wing. What tho' the firft smooth Cæfars arts carefs'd, Merit and Virtue, fimulating Me? Severely tender! cruelly humane! The chain to clench, and make it fofter fit On the new broken ftill ferocious state, From the dark Third, fucceeding, I beheld
Th' imperial monsters all-A race on earth Vindictive fent the fcourge of human kind! Whose blind profufion drain'd a bankrupt world, Whofe luft to forming Nature seems difgrace, Andhofe infernal rage bade every drop of ancient blood that yet retain'd my flame, 495 To that of Pætus in the peaceful bath, O'er Rome's affrighted ftreets inglorious flow. But almoft juft the meanly-patient death That waits a tyrant's unprevented stroke. Titus, indeed, gave one short evening gleam; More cordial felt, as in the midft it spread Of storm and horror the delight of men! He who the day, when his o'erflowing hand Had made no happy heart, concluded loft ; Trajan and he, with the mild Sire and Son, 505
His fon of virtue ! eas'd a while mankind, And Arts revivid beneath their gentle beam. Then was their laft effort; what Sculpture rais'd To Trajan's glory, following triumphs stole, And mixt with Gothic forms, (the chiffel's fhame,) 510
On that triumphal arch, the forms of Greece.
Mean time o'er rocky Thrace, and the deep vales
Of gelid Hamus, I purfu'd my flight, And, piercing fartheft Scythia, weftward swept Sarmatia, travers'd by a thousand streams: SI5 A fullen land of lakes, and fens immenfe, Of rocks, refounding torrents, gloomy heaths, And cruel deferts, black with founding pine, Where Nature frowns; tho' fometimes into fmiles She foftens, and immediate, at the touch Of fouthern gales, throws from the fudden glebe Luxuriant pafture and a waste of flowers. But, cold compreft, when the whole loaded hea-
Defends in fnow, loft in one white abrupt Lies undiftinguish'd earth; and, feiz'd by froft, Lakes, headlong streams, and floods, and oceans,
Yet there life glows; the furry millions there Deep-dig their dens beneath the fheltering fnows; And there a race of men prolific fwarms, To various pain, to little pleasure, us'd; On whom, keen parching, beat Riphæan winds, Hard like their foil, and like their climate fierce, The nursery of nations -Thefe I rous'd, Drove land on land, on people people pour'd, Till from almoft perpetual night they broke, 535 As if in fearch of day, and o'er the banks Of yielding Empire, only flave-fuftain'd, Refiftlefs rag'd, in vengeance urg'd by Me.
In the bright regions there of pureft day, Far other feenes and palaces arife, A dorn'd profufe with other arts divine. All beauty here below, to them compar'd, Would, like a rofe before the mid-day fun, Shrink un its bloffom; like a bubble break The paffing poor magnificence of kings: For there the King of Nature, in full blaze, Calls every fplendour forth; and there his court Amid ethereal powers and virtues holds; Angel. archangel, tutelary gods, Of cities, nations, empires, and of worlds. But facred be the veil that kindly clouds A light too keen for mortals, wraps a view Too foftening fair, for thofe that here in duft Muft chearful toil out their appointed years. A fenfe of higher life would only damp The fchoolboy's task, and fpoil his playful hours; Nor could the child of Reafon, feeble Man! With vigour thro' this infant being drudge, Did brighter worlds, their unimagin'd blifs Difclofing, dazzie and diffolve his mind.
cludes with an abstract of the English history, making the feveral advances of Liberty, down to her complete eftablishment at the Revolution.
TRUCK with the rifing fcene, thus I, a
Ah! Goddess, what a change! Is earth the fame?
"Of the fame kind the ruthlefs race the feeds? "And does the fame fair fun and ather fpread "Round this vile fpot their all-enlivening foul? S Lo! Beauty fails; loft in unlovely forms "Of little pomp, Magnificence no more "Exalts the mind, and bids the Public fmile; "While to rapacious intereft Glory leaves
Mankind, and every grace of life is gone." a To this the power whofe vital radiance calls From the brute mais of man an ordered world :
"Wait till the morning fhines, and from the depth
Of Gothic darkness fprings another day. True, Genius droops; the tender ancient taste. "Of Beauty, then fref-blooming in her prime, But faintly trombles thro' the callous foul, "And Grandeur, or of morals or of life, Sinks into fafe purfuts and creeping caros. "E'en cautious Virtue feems to floop her flight, And aged Life to deem the generous deeds 20 Of youth romantic, yet in cooler thought “Well-reafon`d, in researches piercing deep "Thro' Nature's works, in profitable arts. "And all that calm Expericuce can difclofe, "Slow guide, but fure behold the world anew "Exalted rife, with other honours crown'd;
And, where My fpirit wakes the finer powers, Athenian laurels fill afresh fall bloom,"
Oblivious ages pafs'd, while Earth, forfook 30 By her best Genij, lay to Demons foul, And unchain'd Furies, an abandon'd prey. Contention led the van; firft fmall of Lize, But, foou dilating, to the fkies fhe towers: Then wide as air the livid fury spread, And, high her head above the stormy clouds, She blaz'd in omens, fwell'd the groaning winds With wild furmifes, battlings, founds of war: From land to land the madd'ning trumpet blew, Ard pour'd her venom thro' the heart of man. 40. Shook to the Pole, the North ohey'd her call. Forth rufh d the bloody Power of Gothic war, War against human-kiud; Rapine that led Millions of raging robbers in his train; Unliftening, barbarous Force, to whom the fword Is reafon, honour, law; the Foe of Arts 46. By monsters follow'd, hideous to behold, That claim'd their place Outrageous mix'd with thefe
Difference between the Ancients and Moderns" flightly touched upon, to ver 20. Defcription of the dark ages. The Goddess of Liberty, who, during these is supposed to have left the earth, returns attended with Arts and Sciences, to v. 100. She firti defcends on Italy. Sculpture, Painting, and Architecture, fix at Rome, to revive their feveral Arts by their great models of Antiquity there, which many barbarous invafions had not been able to deftray. The revival of thefe Arts marked out. That fometimes Arts may flourish for a while under defpotic governments, though never the natural and genuine production of them, to ver. 254. Learning begins to dawn. The Muie and Science attend Liberty, who, in her progrefs towards Great Britain, raifes feveral free ftates and cities. Thefe enumerated to ver. 381. Author's exclamation of joy, upon feeing the British feas and coaft rife in the Vifion, which painted whatever the G. ddefs of Liberty faid She refumes her narration. The Genius of the Deep appears, and, addreffing Liberty, affociates Great Britain into his dominion, to ver. 451 Liberty received and congratulated by Britannia and the native Genii or Virtues of the island: Thefe defcribed animated by the prefence of Lis berty, they begin their operations. Their beneficent influence contrafted with the works and delufions of oppofing demons, to ver. 626. Con
Another fpecies of tyrannic rule, Unknown before, whofe cancrous fhackles seiz'd Th' envenom'd foul; a wilder Fury, the E'en o'er her elder Sifter tyranniz'd; Or if, perchance, agreed, inflam'd her rage. Dire was her train, and loud: the Sable Band Thundering-“ Submit, ye Laity! ye Profane!
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