Enormous, cruel wonders crush'd the land,
And round a tyrant's tomb*, who none deserv'd,
For one vile carcass perish'd countless lives.
Then the great Dragon t, couch'd amid his floods, 65
Swell'd his fierce heart, and cry'd-" This flood is
"'Tis I that bid it flow."-But, undeceiv'd, [mine,
His frenzy foon the proud blafphemer felt;
Felt that, without My fertilizing power,
Suns loft their force, and Niles o'erflow'd in vain. 70
Nought could retard Me; nor the frugal state
Of rifing Perfia, sober in extreme,
Beyond the pitch of man, and thence revers'd
Into luxurious waste; nor yet the ports
Of old Phenicia, first for letters fam'd,
That paint the voice, and filent speak to fight,
Of arts prime source and guardian! by fair stars,
First tempted out into the lonely deep,
To whom I first disclos'd mechanic arts,
The winds to conquer, to subdue the waves,
With all the peaceful power of ruling trade,
Earnest of Britain. Nor by these retain'd,
Nor by the neighbouring land, whose palmy shore
The filver Jordan laves: before Me lay
The promis'd Land of Arts, and urg'd my flight. 85
Hail, Nature's utmost boast! unrivall'd Greece!
My fairest reign! where every power benign
Conspir'd to blow the flower of human-kind,
* The pyramids.
Volume II.
And lavish'd all that Genius can infpire.
Clear funny climates, by the breezy main,
Ionian or Ægæan, temper'd kind :
Light airy foils: a country rich and gay,
Broke into hills, with balmy odours crown'd,
And, bright with purple harvest, joyous vales: 94
Mountains & ftreams whereverse spontaneous flow'd;
Whence deem'd by wondering men the feat of gods,
And still the mountains and the streams of fong.
All that boon Nature could luxuriant pour
Of high materials, and My restless arts
Frame into finish'd life. How many states,
And clustering towns, and monuments of fame,
And scenes of glorious deeds, in little bounds,
From the rough tract of bending mountains, beat
By Adria's here, there by Ægæan waves,
To where the deep-adorning Cyclade Ifles
In shining profpect rise, and on the shore
Of farthest Crete refounds the Libyan main?
O'er all two rival cities rear'd the brow,
And balanced all. Spread on Eurotas' bank,
Amid a circle of foft-rifing hills,
The patient Sparta one; the sober, hard,
And man-fubduing city, which no shape
Of pain could conquer, or of pleasure charm.
Lycurges there built, on the solid base
Of equal life, so well a tempered state,
Where mix'd each government in such just poife,
Each power so checking and supporting each,
That firm for ages, and unmov'd, it stood,
The fort of Greece! without one giddy hour,
One shock of faction, or of party rage.
For, drain'd the springs of wealth, corruption there
Lay withered at the root. Thrice happy land!
Had not neglected Art, with weedy Vice
Confounded, funk. But if Athenian arts
Lov'd not the foil, yet there the calm abode
Of Wisdom, Virtue, philofophic Eafe,
Of manly Sense and Wit, in frugal phrafe
Confin'd, and press'd into laconic force.
There, too, by rooting thence still treacherous Self
The public and the private grew the fame:
The children of the nursing Public all,
And at its table fed; for that they toil'd,
For that they liv'd entire, and even for that
The tender mother urg'd her fon to die.
Of fofter genius, but not less intent To feize the palm of empire, Athens rofe. Where, with bright marbles big and future pomp, Hymettus * spread, amid the scented sky, His thymy treasures to the labouring bee, And to botanic hand the stores of health, Wrapt in a foul-attenuating clime, Between Ilissus + and Cephissus glow'd
* A mountain near Athens.
+ Two rivers, betwixt which Athens was fituated,
This hive of Science, shedding sweets divine,
Or active arts and animated arms.
There, passionate for Me, an easy-mov'd,
A quick, refin'd, a delicate, humane,
Enlightened people, reign'd. Oft' on the brink
Of ruin, hurry'd by the charm of speech,
Inforcing hasty counsel immature,
Totter'd the rash Democracy, unpois'd,
And by the rage devour'd that ever tears
A populace unequal; part too rich,
And part or fierce with want or abject grown.
Solon, at last, their mild restorer, rose,
Allay'd the tempest, to the calm of laws
Reduc'd the fettling whole, and, with the weight
Which the two Senates * to the public lent,
As with an anchor, fix'd the driving state.
Nor was My forming care to these confin'd;
For emulation thro' the Whole I pour'd;
Noble contention! who should most excel
In government well-pois'd, adjusted best
To public weal; in countries cultur'd high,
In ornamented towns, where Order reigns,
Free social life, and polish'd manners fair;
In exercise and arms, arms only drawn
* The Areopagus, or fupreme court of judicature, which Solon reformed and improved; and the council of Four Hundred by him inftituted. In this council all affairs of state were deliberated, before they came to be voted in the afsem bly of the people.
For common Greece, to quell the Perfian pride;
In moral science, and in graceful arts.
Hence, as for glory peacefully they strove,
The prize grew greater, and the prize of all, 170
By contest brighten'd, hence the radiant youth
Pour'd every beam; by generous pride inflam'd,
Felt every ardour burn; their great reward
The verdant wreath which founding Pisa * gave.
Hence flourish'd Greece, and hence a race of men,
As gods by conscious future times ador'd,
In whom each virtue wore a smiling air,
Each fcience shed o'er life a friendly light,
Each art was nature. Spartan valour, hence,
At the fam'd pass + firm as an isthmus stood,
And the whole eastern ocean, waving far
As eye could dart its vision, nobly check'd.
While in extended battle at the field
Of Marathon, My keen Athenians drove
Before their ardent band an host of flaves.
Hence thro' the continent ten thousand Greeks Urg'd a retreat, whose glory not the prime Of victories can reach. Deserts, in vain,
Oppos'd their course, and hoftile lands, unknown, And deep rapacious floods, dire-bank'd with death, And mountains, in whose jaws Destruction grinn'd, Hunger and toil, Armenian fnows and storms, 192
* Or Olympia, the city where the Olympic games were celebrated.
+ The straits of Thermopylæ.
|