of the Ten Thousand. Its full exertion, and most | While there my laws alone defpotic reign'd, beautiful effects, in Athens, to ver. 216. Liber- And kings as well as people proud obey'd; "ty the fource of free philofophy. The various I taught them fetence, virtue, wifdom, arts; fchools which took their rife from Socrates, to v. By poets, fages, legiflators fought, 257. Enumeration of fine arts: Eloquence, Po- The fchool of polish'd life and human-kind : etry, Mufic, Sculpture, Painting, and Architec-But when myfterious Superftition camé, ture, the effects of Liberty in Greece, & brought to their utmost perfection there, to ver. 381.Tranfition to the modern state of Greece, to ver: 411. Why Liberty declined, and was at laft entirely loft among the Greeks, to ver. 472. Concluding reflection.

TH

HUS fpoke the goddess of the fear lef's eye, And at her voice, renew'd, the Vifion rofe. Firft, in the dawn of time, with eaftern fwains,

In woods, and tents, and cottages, I liv'd,

60

And, with her Civil Sifter leagu ́d, involv'd
In ftudy'd darknefs the defponding mind,
Then tyrant Power the righteous fcourge un
loos'd;
For yielded reafon speaks the foul a flave.
Instead of useful works, like Nature's great,
Enormous, cruel wonders crufh'd the land,
And round a tyrant's tonib, who none deferv'd,
For one vile carcafs perish'd countless lives.
Then the great Dragon, couch'd amid his floods,
Swell'd his fierce heart, and cry'd-" This flood
is mine,

While on from plain to plain they led their flocks," 'Tis 1 that bid it flow."-But, undeceiv'd,

In fearch of clearer fpring, and fresher field.
Thefe, as increafing families difclos'd
The tender state, I taught an equal fway.
Few were offences, properties, and laws.
Beneath the rural portal, palm-o'erfpread,
The father fenate met. There Juftice dealt,
With reason then and equity the fame,
Free as the common air, her prompt decree ;
Nor yet had stain'd her fword with fubjects blood.
The fimpler arts were all their fimpler wants
15
Had urg'd to light; but inftant, these supply'd,
Another fet of fonder wants arofe,
And other arts with them of finer aim,
Till, from refining want to want impell'd,
The Mind by thinking pufh'd her latent powers,
And life began to glow, and arts to shine.

21

At first, on brutes alone the ruftic war
Launch'd the rude fpear; fwift as he glar'd along,
On the grim lion or the robber wolf!
For then young fportive Life was void of toil, 25
Demanding little, and with little pleas'd ;
But when to manhood grown, and endless joys,
Led on by equal toils, the bofom fir'd,
Lewd lazy Rapine broke primeval Peace,
And, hid in caves and idle forests drear,
From the lone pilgrim and the wandering fwain
Seiz'd what he durft not earn. Then brother's

blood

30

35

First, horrid, fmoak'd on the polluted skies.
Awful in juftice, then the burning youth,
Led by their temper'd fires, on lawless men,
The last worst monsters of the fhaggy wood,
Turn'd the keen arrow and the sharpen'd fpear.
Then war grew glorious. Heroes then arose,
Who, fcorning coward felf, for others liv'd,
Toil'd for their cafe, and for their safety bled.
Weft with the living day to Greece I came :
Earth fmild beneath my beam; the Mufe before
Sonorous flew, that low, till then, in woods
Had un'd the reed, and figh'd the fhepherd's
pain;

But now, to fing heroic deeds, the fwell'd
A nobler note, and bade the banquet burn.
For Greece my fous of Egypt I forfook,
A boaftful race, that in the vain abyfs
Of fabling ages lov'd to lose their fource,
And with their river trac'd it from the fkies.

45

His frenzy foon the proud blafphemer felt:
Felt that, without My fertilizing power,
Suns loft their force, and Niles o'erflow'd in vain.
Nought could retard me; nor the frugal state
Of rifing Perfia, fober in extreme,
Beyond the pitch of man, and thence revers'd
Into luxurious wafte: nor yet the ports
Of old Phoenicia, ficft for letters fam'd

75

That paint the voice, and filent fpeak to fight,
Of arts prime fource and guardian! by fair stars,
Firft tempted out into the lonely deep,
To whom I first difclos'd mechanic arts,
The winds to conquer, to fubdue the waves, 89
Earneft of Britain. Nor by these retain'd,
with all the peaceful power of ruling trade;
Nor by the neighbouring land, whose palmy
fhore

The filver Jordan laves: before Me lay
The promis'd Land of Arts, and urg'd my flight.

gods,

100

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 finih'd life. How many Rates,
And clustering towns, and monuments of fame,
And fcenes of glorious deeds, in little bounds!
From the rough tract of bending mountains, beat
By Adria's here, there by Ægean waves,
To where the deep-adorning Cyclade ifles
In fhining profpect rife, and on the there.
Of farthelt Crete refounds the Lybian main.
O'er all two rival cities rear'd the brow,
And balanc'd all. Spread on Eurota's bank,
3 Pa

105

Amid

110 | Felt every ardour burn; their great reward
The verdant wreath which founding Pifa gave.

Amid a circle of foft-rifing hills,
The patient Sparta one; the fober, hard,
And man-fubduing city, which no fhape
Of pain could conquer, or of pleasure charm. ·
Lycurgus there built, on the folid base
Of equal life, fo well a temper'd state, 115
Where mix'd each government in fuch just poife,
Each power fo checking and fupporting 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 fprings of wealth, corruption

there

Lay wither'd at the root

Thrice happy land!
Had not neglected Art, with weedy Vice 1
Confounded, funk But if Athenian arts
Lov'd not the foil, yet there the calm abode
Of Wisdom, Virtue, philofophic Ease,
Of manly Senfe and Wit, in-frugal phrase
Confin'd, and prefs'd into laconic force.

120

Hence thro' the continent ten thousand Graks Urg'd a retreat, whose glory not the prime 125 Of victories can reach. Deferts in vain

There, too, by rooting thence still treacherous
Self,

The public and the private grew the fame :
The children of the nurfing Public all,
And at its table fed; for that they toil'd,
For that they liv'd entire, and e'en for that
The tender mother urg'd her fon to die.

Oppos'd their courfe; and hoflile lands, unknown;

190

And deep rapacious floods; dire-bank'd with
death;
And mountains, in whofe jaws deftruction grinn'd;
130 Hunger and toil, Armenian fnows and forms,
And circling myriads ftill of barbarous foes.
Greece in their view, and glory yet untouch'd,
Their fteady column pierc'd the scattering herds
Which a whole empire pour'd, and held its way
Triumphant, by the fage exalted Chief
Fir'd and sustain'd. Oh! light and force of mind
Almoft almighty, in fevere extremes !

135

The fea at laft from Colchian mountains fecn, Kind hearted tranfport round their captains threw 140 The foldiers' fond embrace, o'erflow'd their eyes With tender floods, and loos'd the general voice To cries refounding loud-The sea! The sea !

145

Of fofter genius, but no lefs intent
To feize the palm of empire, Athens arofe;
Where, with bright marbles big and future pomp,
Hymettus fpread, amid the fcented sky,
His thymy treasures to the labouring bee,
And to botanic hand the stores of health.
Wrapt in a foul-attenuating clime,
Between Iliffus and Cephiffes glow'd
This hive of Science, thedding fweets divine,
Of active arts and animated arms..
There, paffionate for Me, an easy-mov'd,
A quick, refin'd, a delicate, humane,
Enlighten'd people reign'd. Oft' on the brink
Of ruin, hurry'd by the charm of speech,
Inforcing hafty counsel immature,
Totter'd the rafh 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 laft, their mild restorer, rofe,
Allay'd the tempeft, 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.

155

In Attic bounds hence heroes, fages, wits, 205
Shone thick as ftars the Milky Way of Greece!
And tho' gay Wit and pleafing Grace was theirs,
All the foft Modes of Elegance and Eafe,
Yet was not Courage lefs, the patient touch
Of toiling Art, and Difquifition deep.

My fpirit pours a vigour thro' the foul,

210

215

150 Th unfetter'd thought with energy infpires,
Invincible in arts, in the bright field
Cf nobler Science, as in that of Arms.
Athenians thus not lefs intrepid burst
The bonds of tyrant darkness, than they fpura'd
The Perfian chains; while thro' the city, full
Of mirthful quarrel and of witty war,
Irceffent firuggled tafte refining tafle,
And friendly free difcuffion, calling forth
From the fair jewel Truth its latent ray.
O'er all fhone out the great Athenian Sage,
And Father of Philofophy; the fun

16c

165

Nor was My forming care to these confin'd ;
For emulation thro' the V hole 1 pour'd,
Noble contention ho fhould most excel
In government well pois'd, adjusted best
To public weal; in countries cultur'd high;
In ornamented towns, where Order reigns,
Frce focial life, and polifh'd manners fair;
In excrcife and arms; arms only drawn
For common Greece, to quell the Perfian pride;
In meral science, and in graceful arts.
Hence, as for glory peacefully they frove,
The prize grew greater, and the prize of all. 170
By conteft brighten'd, hence the radiant youth
Pour'd every beam; by generous pride inflam'd,

220

From whole white blaze, emerg'd, each waricus

L

300

Exalting, blending in a perfect whole.
Thy workmen left e'en Nature's felf behind.
From those far different, whofe prolifie hand
Peoples a nation, they for years on years,
By the cool touches of judicious toil,
Their rapid genius curbing, pour'd it all
Thro' the live features of one breathing stone.
240 There, beaming full, it fhone, expreffing gods;
Jove's awful brow, Apollo's air divine,
The fierce atrocious frown of finew'd Mars, 305
Or the fly graces of the Cyprian Queen.
Minutely perfect all! each dimple funk,
And every muscle fwell'd, as Nature taught.
In treffes, braided gay, the marble wav'd,
Flow'd in loofe robes, or thin tranfparent veils ;
Sprung into motion, foften'd into flesh,
Was fir'd to paffion, or refin'd to foul.

Or grace mankind, and what he taught he was.
Compounded high, tho' plain, his doctrine broke
In different Schools. The bold poetic phrafe 235
Of figur'd Plato, Xenophon's pure ftrain,
Like the clear brook that fteals along the vale,
Diffecting truth, the Stagyrite's keen eye,
Th' exalted Stoic pride, the Cynic fneer,
The flow-confenting Academic doubt;
And, joining bifs to virtue, the glad ease
Of Epicurus, feldom understood.
They, ever candid, reafon ftili oppos'd
To reafon, and, fince virtue was their aim,"
Each by fure practife try'd to prove his way
The best. Then flood untouch'd the folid base
Of Liberty, the liberty of mind;
For fiflems yet, and foul-enflaving creeds,
Slept with the monsters of fucceeding times.
From priefly darknefs fprung the enlightening

arts

245

255

260

Of fire, and fword, and rage, and horrid names.
O Greece! thou fapient nurfe of finer Arts!
Which to bright Science blooming Fancy bore,
Be this thy praife, that thou, and thou a'one,
In these haft led the way, in these excell'd,
Crown'd with the laurel of affenting Time.
In thy full language, speaking mightier things,
Like a clear torrent close, or elfe diffus'd
Abroad majestic ftream, and rolling on
Thro' all the winding harmony of found,
In it the power of Eloquence, at large,
Breath'd the perfuafive or pathetic fonl,
Still'd by degrees the democratic ftorm,
Or bade it threatning rife, and tyrants fhock,
Fiufh'd at the head of their victorious troops.
In it the Mufe, her fury never quench'd,
By mean unyielding phrafe, or jarring found,
Her unconfin'd divinity difplay'd,
And, ftill harmonious, form'd it to her will,
Or foft deprefs'd it to the shepherd's moan,
Or rais'd it fwelling to the tongue of gods.

266

275

280

Heoric Song was thine, the fountain bard,
Whence each poetic fream derives it courfe.
Thine the dread Moral Scene, thy chief delight!
Where idly Fancy durft not mix her voice,
When reafon spoke auguft; the fervent heart
Or plain'd or form'd, and in the impaffion'd man,
Concealing art with art, the poct funk.
This potent school of manners, but when left
To loofe neglect, a land corrupting plague,
Was not unworthy deem'd of public care,
And boundless coft, by thee, whole every fon,
E'en laft mechanic, the true tale poffefs d
Of what had favour to the nourish'd foul.
The fwet enforcer of the poet's ftrain,
Thine was the meaning Mulic of the heart;
Not the vain thrill that, void of paffion, runs,
In giddy mazes, tickling idle cars,
But that deep-fearching voice, and artful hand,
To which refpondent shakes the varied foul.
Thy fair ideas, thy delightful forms,
By Love imagin'd, by the Graces touch'd,
The boast of well pleas'd Nature! Sculpture
feiz'd,

And bad them ever fmile in Parian ftone.
Selecting Beauty's choice, and that again

285

290

295

Nor lefs thy pencil, with creative touch,
Shed mimic life, when all thy brightest dames
Affembled, Zeuxis in his Helen mix'd. 315
And when Appelles, who peculiar knew
To give a grace that more than mortal smil'd,
The foul of Beauty! call'd the Queen of Love
Fresh from the billows, blufhing orient charms,
E'en fuch enchantment then thy pencil pour'd,
That cruel-thoughted War th' impatient torch
Dash'd to the ground, and, rather than destroy
The patriot picture, let the city 'scape.

325

330

First elder Sculpture taught her fister Art
Correct defign, where great ideas thone,
And in the fecret trace expreffion spoke :
Taught her the graceful attitude, the turn,
And beauteous airs of head; the native act,
Or bold or eafy, and caft free behind,
The fwelling mantle's well-adjufted flow.
Then the bright Mufe, their eldest Sister, came,
And bade her follow where the led the way!
Bade earth, and fea, and air, in colours rife,
And copious action on the canvas glow;
Gave her gay Fable, fpread Invention's ftore,
Enlarg'd her view, taught composition high,
That starts to fight, binds and commands the
And juft arrangement, circling round one point,

485

490

With arts of war, of government, elate;

To tyrants dreadful, dreadful to the best;

Whom I Myfelf could fcarcely rule; and thus

The Perfian fetters, that inthrall'd the mind,

Were turn'd to: format and apparent chains.

Unless Corruption first deject the pride

And guardian vigour of the Free-born foul,

The crude attempts of Violence are vain ;

For firm within, and while at heart untouch'd,

Ne'er yet by Force was Freedom overcome.

But foon as Independence ftoops the head,

To vice enflav'd, and vice created wants,

Then to fome toul corrupting hand, whofe wafte

Thefe heighten'd wants with fatal bounty feeds,

From man to man the flackening ruin runs,

Till the whole State, unnerv'd, in flavery finks.

ROME,

LIBERT Y.

་་་་་་་

PART ALT

THE CONTENTS.

495

tra

the dark ages; to ver. 536. The celestial regi
ons, to which Liberty retired, not proper to be
opened to the view of mortals.

ERE melting mix'd with air th' ideal forms,

That painted. ftill whate'er the goddefs

fung,

Then I, impatient," From extinguish'd Greece.

"To what new region ftream'd the Human Day?"

She, foftly fighing, as when Zephyr leaves,

Refign'd to Boreas, the declining year,

Refum'd, Indignant, thefe laft fcenes I fled,

And long ere then Leucadia's cloudy cliff,

And the Ceraunian hills behind me thrown,

All Latium stood arous'd. Ages before,

Great mother of Republics! Greece had pour'd,

Swarm after fwarm, her ardent youth around;

On Afia, Africa, Sicily, they froop'd.

But chief on fair Hefperia's winding fhore,

Where from Lacinium to Etrurian vales

They roll'd increasing colonies along,

And lent materials for My Roman reign.

With them my fpirit fpread, and numerous ftates

And cities rofe, on Grecian models form'd,

As its parental policy and arts

Each had imbib'd. Befides, to each affign'd,

A Guardian genius o'er the public weal,

Kept an unclofing eye; try'd to fuftain,

O more, fublime the foul infus'd by Me;

And trong the battle rofe, with 'various wave,

Against the tyrant demons of the land.

Thus, they their little wars and triumphs knew,

Their flows of fortune, and receding times,

But alnioft all below the proud regard

Of ftory vow'd to Rome, on deeds intent,

That truth beyond the flight of fable bore.

15

20

26

30

35

40

AS this part contains a defcription of the efla

blishment of Liberty in Rome, it begins

view of the Grecian colonies fettled in the fo

fou

thern parts of Italy, which, with Sicily, confti-

tuted the Great Greece of the Ancients. With

thefe colonies the fpirit of Liberty and of Re-

publics fpreads over Italy, to ver. 32. Tranfi-

Not fo the Samian Sage; to him belongs

tion to Pythagoras and his philofophy, which he The brightest witnefs of recording fame..

taught through thefe free fates and cities, to ver, for thefe free ftates his native afle forfook,

71. Amidst the many fall republics in Italy, And a vain tyrant's tranfitory fmile,

Rome the deftined feat of Liberty. Her efla He fought Crotona's pure falubrious air,

blifhment there dated from the expulfion of the And thro' Great Greece his gentle wildoin taught;

Tarquins How differing from that in Greece, Wifdom that calm'd for liftening years the mind,

to ver 88. Reference to a view of the Roman Nor ever heard amid the form of zeal

Republic given in the First Part of this Poem: His mental eye first launch'd into the deeps

to mark its rife and fail the peculiar purport of Of boundless ether, where unnumber'd orbs,

This. During its first ages, the greaten force of Myriads on myriads, thro' the pathlefs fky

Liberty and virtue exerted, to ver. 103 The Unerring roll, and wind their steady way,

fource whence derived the heroic virtues of the There he the fall confenting choir beheld,

Romans. Enumeration of thefe virtues. Thence There firft difcern'd the fecret bands of love, 45

their fecurity at home; their glory, fuccefs, and The kind attraction that to central funs

empire, abroad, to ver.

226. Bounds of the Dinds circling earths, and world with world

Roman Empire geographically defcribed, to ver.

unités. 2 2

257. The ftates of Greece reflored to liberty by

Titus Quintus Flaminius, the highest inftance of

public generolity and beneficence, to ver, 328,

The lofs of Liberty in Rome. Its caufes, pro-

grefs, and completion, in the death of Brutus,

to ver. 485, Rome under the Emperors, to ver.

513. From Rome the Goddcts of Liberty goes

among the Northern nations, where, by infufing

into them her fpirit and general principles, the

lays the ground-work of her future establish-

ments; fends them in vengeance on the Roman

Empire, now totally enflaved; and then, with

Arts and Sciences in her train, quits earth during

luftructed thence, he great ideas form'd

Of the whole-moving all-informing God,

The Sun of beings beaming unconfin'd

Light, life, and love, and ever acting power;

Whom naught can image, and who best approves

The filent worship of the moral heart,

That joys in bounteous Heaven, and spreads the

joy.

Nor fcorn'd the foaring fage to ftoop to life,
And bound his reafon to the sphere of Man.
He gave the four yet reigning virtues name :
Infpir'd the study of the finer arts,
That civilize mankind, and laws devis'd,”