Into the vortex of one State to draw
The whole mix'd Force, and Liberty, on earth;
To conquer Tyrants, and set Nations free.
Already have I given, with flying touch,
A broken view of this my amplest reign.
Now, while its firft, laft, periods you furvey,
Mark how it lab'ring rose, and rapid fell.
When ROME in noon-tide empire grafp'd the world, And, foon as her refiftless legions shone,
The nations stoop'd around; tho' then appear'd
Her grandeur most, yet in her dawn of power,
By many a jealous equal people prefs'd,
Then was the toil, the mighty ftruggle then;
Then for each Roman I an Hero told
And every paffing fun, and Latian fscene,
Saw patriot virtues then, and awful deeds,
That or furpass the faith of modern times,
Or, if believ'd, with facred horror ftrike.
most exalted power,
For then, to prove my
I to the point of full perfection push'd,
To fondness and enthusiastic zeal,
The great, the reigning paffion of the Free;
That godlike paflion! which, the bounds of Self
Divinely bursting, the whole public takes
Into the heart-enlarg'd, and burning high
With the mix'd ardor of unnumber'd Selves;
Of all who fafe beneath the Voted Laws
Of the fame parent state, fraternal, live.
From this kind Sun of Moral Nature flow'd
Virtues, that shine the light of human kind,
And, ray'd thro' story, warm remotest time.
These Virtues too, reflected to their source,
Encreas'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 plaintive voice,
The voice of pleading Nature was not heard;
And in their hearts the father's throbb'd no more:
Stern to themselves, but gentle to the whole.
Hence fweetened 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 Cannae bled,
The bravest impulfe felt, and feorn'd defpair.
Hence Moderation a new conqueft gain'd ;
As on the vanquifh'd, like descending heaven,
Their dewy mercy drop'd, their bounty beam'd,
And by the labouring hand were crowns bestow'di
Fruitful of men, hence hard laborious life,
Which no fatigue can quell, no feason pierce.
Hence INDEPENDENCE, with his Little pleas'd
Serene, and felf-fufficient, like a God;
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 splendor all
Was in the public wealth and glory plac'd :
Or ready, a rough swain, to guide the plough;
Or elfe, the purple o'er his fhoulder thrown,
5 In long majestic flow, to rule the state,
With Wisdom's pureft eye; or, clad in steel,
To drive the steady battle on the foe.
Hence every paffion, even the proudest, stoop'd
To common good: CAMILLUS, thy revenge;
Thy glory, FARIUS. All fubmiflive hence,
Confuls, Dictators, ftill refign'd their rule,
The very moment that the laws ordain'd.
Z3
Tho' Conqueft o'er them clap'd her eagle-wings,
Her laurels wreath'd, and yoke'd her fnowy steeds
To the triumphal car; foon as expir'd
The latest hour of fway, taught to submit,
(A harder leffon that, than to command)
Into the private Roman funk the Chief.
If ROME was ferv'd, and glorious, careless they
By whom. Their country's fame they deem'd their own;
And, above envy, in a rival's train
Sung the loud Ios by themselves deferv'd.
Hence matchless courage. On Gremera's bank,
Hence fell the FABII; hence the DECII dy'd;
And CURTIUS plung'd into the flaming gulph.
Hence REGULUS the wavering fathers firm'd,
By dreadful counsel never given before:
For Roman honour fue'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 laft embrace,.
By chains polluted, put his wife afide,
His little children climbing for a kifs;
Then dumb, thro' rows of weeping wondering friends,
A new illustrious exile! press'd along.
Nor lefs impatient did he pierce the crouds
Oppofing his return, than if, efcap'd
From long litigious fuits, he glad forfook
The noify town a while and city cloud,
To breathe Venafrian or Tarentine air.
Need I these high particulars recount?
The meaneft bofom felt a thirst for fame;
Flight their worst death, and shame their only fear,
Life had no charms, nor any terrors fate,
When ROME and Glory call'd. But, in one view, 185
Mark the rare boast of these unequal'd times.
Ages revolv❜d, unsully'd by a crime:
Area reign'd, and scarcely needed laws
To bind a race elated with the pride
Of virtue, and difdaining to defcend
To meanness, mutual violence, and wrongs.
While war around them raged, in happy ROME
All peaceful fmil'd, all fave the paffing 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 state,
Still between Noble, and Plebeian toft,
As flow'd the wave of fluctuating power,
Was thence kept firm, and with triumphant prow 200 Rode out the storms. Oft tho' the native feuds, That from the first their conftitution shook,
(A latent ruin, growing as It grew)
Stood on the threatening point of civil war ·
Ready to rush: yet could the lenient voice
Of wisdom, foothing the tumultuous foul,
Those fans of virtue calm. Their generous hearts,.
Unpetrify'd by Self, so naked lay
And fenfible to Truth, that o'er the rage.
Of giddy faction, by oppreflion fwell'd,,
Prevail'd a fimple fable, and at once
To peace recover'd the divided state.
But if their often-cheated hopes refus'd;
The foothing touch; ftill, in the love of ROME,
The dread Dictator found a fure refource.
Was the affaulted? was her glory stain’d?
One common quarrel wide enflam'd the whole.
Foes in the Forum in the Field were friends,
By focial danger bound; each fond for each,
And for their dearest country all, to die.
Thus up the hill of empire flow they toil'd: Till, the bold fummit gain'd, the thousand statesOf proud ITALIA blended into one;
Then o'er the nations they resistless rush'd,
And touch'd the limits of the failing world:
Let Fancy's eye the distant lines unite.
See that which borders wild the western main,
Where ftorms at large refound, and tides immense:
From Caledonia's dim coerulean coast,
And moist Hibernia, to where Atlas, lodg'd
Amid the restless clouds and leaning heaven,
Hangs o'er the deep that borrows thence its name.
Mark that oppos'd, where first the springing morn
Her roses sheds, and shakes around her dews:
From the dire defarts by the Cafpian lav'd,
To where the Tygris and Euphrates, join'd,
Impetuous tear the Babylonian plain;.
And bleft Arabia aromatic breathes.
See that dividing far the watry north,.
Parent of floods! from the majestic Rhine;
Drunk by Butavian meads, to where, feven-mouth'd,
In Euxine waves the flashing Danube roars;
To where the frozen Tanaïs fcarcely stirs
The dead Meotic pool, or the long * Rha,.
In the black+ Scythian sea his torrent throws.
Laft, that beneath the burning zone behold.
See where it runs from the deep-loaded plains
Of Mauritania to the Lybian fands,
Where Ammon lifts amid the torrid wafte
A verdant isle, with shade and fountain fresh;
And farther to the full Egyptian shore,
To where the Nile from Ethiopian clouds,
His never-drain'd ethereal urn, descends.
The ancient name of the Volga. + The Cafpian fea.
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