LITMIR.BIZ

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Of planets, suns, and adamantine spheres

       Wheeling unshaken through the void immense;

       And speak, O man! does this capacious scene 490

       With half that kindling majesty dilate

       Thy strong conception, as when Brutus rose [Endnote G]

       Refulgent from the stroke of Caesar's fate,

       Amid the crowd of patriots; and his arm

       Aloft extending, like eternal Jove

       When guilt brings down the thunder, call'd aloud

       On Tully's name, and shook his crimson steel,

       And bade the father of his country, hail!

       For lo! the tyrant prostrate on the dust,

       And Rome again is free! Is aught so fair 500

       In all the dewy landscapes of the Spring,

       In the bright eye of Hesper, or the morn,

       In Nature's fairest forms, is aught so fair

       As virtuous friendship? as the candid blush

       Of him who strives with fortune to be just?

       The graceful tear that streams for others' woes?

       Or the mild majesty of private life,

       Where Peace with ever blooming olive crowns

       The gate; where Honour's liberal hands effuse

       Unenvied treasures, and the snowy wings 510

       Of Innocence and Love protect the scene?

       Once more search, undismay'd, the dark profound

       Where Nature works in secret; view the beds

       Of mineral treasure, and the eternal vault

       That bounds the hoary ocean; trace the forms

       Of atoms moving with incessant change

       Their elemental round; behold the seeds

       Of being, and the energy of life

       Kindling the mass with ever-active flame;

       Then to the secrets of the working mind 520

       Attentive turn; from dim oblivion call

       Her fleet, ideal band; and bid them, go!

       Break through time's barrier, and o'ertake the hour

       That saw the heavens created: then declare

       If aught were found in those external scenes

       To move thy wonder now. For what are all

       The forms which brute, unconscious matter wears,

       Greatness of bulk, or symmetry of parts?

       Not reaching to the heart, soon feeble grows

       The superficial impulse; dull their charms, 530

       And satiate soon, and pall the languid eye.

       Not so the moral species, nor the powers

       Of genius and design; the ambitious mind

       There sees herself: by these congenial forms

       Touch'd and awaken'd, with intenser act

       She bends each nerve, and meditates well pleased

       Her features in the mirror. For, of all

       The inhabitants of earth, to man alone

       Creative Wisdom gave to lift his eye

       To Truth's eternal measures; thence to frame 540

       The sacred laws of action and of will,

       Discerning justice from unequal deeds,

       And temperance from folly. But beyond

       This energy of Truth, whose dictates bind

       Assenting reason, the benignant Sire,

       To deck the honour'd paths of just and good,

       Has added bright Imagination's rays:

       Where Virtue, rising from the awful depth

       Of Truth's mysterious bosom, [Endnote H] doth forsake

       The unadorn'd condition of her birth; 550

       And dress'd by Fancy in ten thousand hues,

       Assumes a various feature, to attract,

       With charms responsive to each gazer's eye,

       The hearts of men. Amid his rural walk,

       The ingenuous youth, whom solitude inspires

       With purest wishes, from the pensive shade

       Beholds her moving, like a virgin muse

       That wakes her lyre to some indulgent theme

       Of harmony and wonder: while among

       The herd of servile minds, her strenuous form 560

       Indignant flashes on the patriot's eye,

       And through the rolls of memory appeals

       To ancient honour; or in act serene,

       Yet watchful, raises the majestic sword

       Of public Power, from dark Ambition's reach

       To guard the sacred volume of the laws.

      Genius of ancient Greece! whose faithful steps

       Well pleased I follow through the sacred paths

       Of Nature and of Science; nurse divine

       Of all heroic deeds and fair desires! 570

       Oh! let the breath of thy extended praise

       Inspire my kindling bosom to the height

       Of this untempted theme. Nor be my thoughts

       Presumptuous counted, if, amid the calm

       That soothes this vernal evening into smiles,

       I steal impatient from the sordid haunts

       Of strife and low ambition, to attend

       Thy sacred presence in the sylvan shade,

       By their malignant footsteps ne'er profaned.

       Descend, propitious, to my favour'd eye! 580

       Such in thy mien, thy warm, exalted air,

       As when the Persian tyrant, foil'd and stung

       With shame and desperation, gnash'd his teeth

       To see thee rend the pageants of his throne;

       And at the lightning of thy lifted spear

       Crouch'd like a slave. Bring all thy martial spoils,

       Thy palms, thy laurels, thy triumphal songs,

       Thy smiling band of art, thy godlike sires

       Of civil wisdom, thy heroic youth

       Warm from the schools of glory. Guide my way 590

       Through fair Lycéum's [Endnote I] walk, the green retreats

       Of Academus, [Endnote J] and the thymy vale,

       Where oft enchanted with Socratic sounds,

       Ilissus [Endnote K] pure devolved his tuneful stream

       In gentler murmurs. From the blooming store

       Of these auspicious fields, may I unblamed

       Transplant some living blossoms to adorn

       My native clime: while far above the flight

       Of Fancy's plume aspiring, I unlock

       The springs of ancient wisdom! while I join 600

       Thy name, thrice honour'd! with the immortal praise

       Of Nature; while to my compatriot youth

       I point the high example of thy sons,

      

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