CXXXVI.* From mighty wrong to petty perfidy, CXXXVII. But I have lived, and have not lived in vain : My mind may lose its force, my blood its fire, CXXXVIII. The seal is set.-Now welcome, thou dread power! And grow unto the spot, all-seeing but unseen. The following Stanza was written as the 136th, but afterwards suppressed, If to forgive be heaping coals of fire, As God hath spoken, on the heads of foes, Than o'er the Titans crush'd Olympus rose, Or Athos soars, or blazing Etna glows. True, they who stung were creeping things—but what The lion may be goaded by the gnat. Who sucks the slumb'rer's blood? the eagle? no, the bat. CXXXIX. And here the buzz of eager nations ran, CXL. I see before me the gladiator lie : 59 The arena swims around him-he is gone, Ere ceased the inhuman shout which hail'd the wretch who won. CXLI. He heard it, but he heeded not-his eyes Were with his heart, and that was far away; He reck'd not of the life he lost, nor prize-But where his rude hut by the Danube lay, There were his young barbarians all at play, There was their Dacian mother-he, their sire, Butcher'd to make a Roman holiday—6 60 All this rush'd with his blood.-Shall he expire, CXLII. But here, where murder breathed her bloody steam; CXLIII. A ruin-yet what ruin! from its mass Walls, palaces, half-cities, have been rear'd; And marvel where the spoil could have appear'd : When the colossal fabric's form is near'd; It will not bear the brightness of the day, Which streams too much on all years, man, have reft CXLIV. But when the rising moon begins to climb When the stars twinkle through the loops of time, away. tread. "While stands the Coliseum, Rome shall stand:" When falls the Coliseum, Rome shall fall; And when Rome falls-the world." From our own land Thus spake the pilgrims o'er this mighty wall In Saxon times, which we are wont to call On their foundations, and unalter'd all; Rome and her ruin past redemption's skill, The world the same wide den-of thieves, or what ye will. CXLVI. Simple, erect, severe, austere, sublime— Shrine of all saints, and temple of all gods, From Jove to Jesus-spared and blest by time ;64 Looking tranquillity, while falls or nods Arch, empire, each thing round thee, and man plods His way through thorns to ashes-glorious dome! Shalt thou not last? Time's scythe and tyrants' rods Shiver upon thee-sanctuary and home Of art and piety-Pantheon!-pride of Rome! CXLVII. Relic of nobler days, and noblest arts; Despoil'd yet perfect, with thy circle spreads To art a model; and to him who treads And they who feel for genius may repose Their eyes on honour'd forms, whose busts around them close.66 CXLVIII. There is a dungeon, in whose dim drear light The blood is nectar :-but what doth she there, CXLIX. Full swells the deep pure fountain of young life, No pain and small suspense, a joy perceives Man knows not, when from out its cradled nook She sees her little bud put forth its leaves- CL. But here youth offers to old age the food, Of health and holy feeling can provide Great nature's Nile, whose deep stream rises higher Than Egypt's river :-from that gentle side Drink, drink and live, old man! Heaven's realm holds no such tide. CLI. The starry fable of the milky way Where sparkle distant worlds :—Oh, holiest nurse! CLII. Turn to the mole which Adrian rear'd on high, Whose travell'd phantasy from the far Nile's 67 To build for giants, and for his vain earth, To view the huge design which sprung from such a birth! CLIII. But lo! the dome-the vast and wondrous dome, 68 To which Diana's marvel was a cell Christ's mighty shrine above his martyr's tomb! I have beheld the Ephesian's miracle— Its columns strew the wilderness, and dwell I have beheld Sophia's bright roofs sweli Their glittering mass i' the sun, and have survey'd Its sanctuary the while the usurping Moslem pray'd: CLIV. But thou, of temples old, or altars new, Power, glory, strength, and beauty, all are aisled In this eternal ark of worship undefiled. |