Can tyrants but by tyrants conquered be, And Freedom find no champion and no child Such as Columbia saw arise when she Sprung forth a Pallas, arm'd and undefiled? Or must such minds be nourish'd in the wild, Deep in the unpruned forest, 'midst the roar Of cataracts where nursing Nature smiled
There is a stern round tower of other days, Firm as a fortress, with its fence of stone, Such as an army's baffled strength delays, Standing with half its battlements alone, And with two thousand years of ivy grown, The garland of eternity, where wave
The green leaves over all by time o'erthrown ;- What was this tower of strength? within its cave What treasure lay so lock'd, so hid?-A woman's grave.
But who was she, the lady of the dead, Tomb'd in a palace! Was she chaste and fair? Worthy a king's-or more-a Roman's bed? What race of chiefs and heroes did she bear? What daughter of her beauties was the heir? How lived-how loved-how died she? Was she not So honour'd-and conspicuously there,
Where meaner relics must not dare to rot, Placed to commemorate a more than mortal lot?
Was she as those who love their lords, or they Who love the lords of others? such have been Even in the olden time Rome's annals say. Was she a matron of Cornelia's mien, Or the light air of Egypt's graceful queen, Profuse of joy-or 'gainst it did she war, Inveterate in virtue? Did she lean
To the soft side of the heart, or wisely bar
Love from amongst her griefs?-for such the affections are.
Perchance she died in youth: it may be, bow'd With woes far heavier than the ponderous tomb That weigh'd upon her gentle dust, a cloud Might gather o'er her beauty, and a gloom
In her dark eye, prophetic of the doom
Heaven gives its favourites-early death; yet shed A sunset charm around her, and illume
With hectic light, the Hesperus of the dead,
Perchance she died in age-surviving all, Charms, kindred, children—with the silver gray On her long tresses, which might yet recal, It may be, still a something of the day
When they were braided, and her proud array And lovely form were envied, praised, and eyed By Rome-But whither would Conjecture stray? Thus much alone we know-Metella died,
The wealthiest Roman's wife; behold his love or pride!
I know not why-but standing thus by thee
It seems as if I had thine inmate known, Thou tomb! and other days come back on me With recollected music, though the tone
Is changed and solemn, like the cloudy groan
Of dying thunder on the distant wind; Yet could I seat me by this ivied stone
Till I had bodied forth the heated mind,
Forms from the floating wreck which Ruin leaves behind;
And from the planks, far shatter'd o'er the rocks,
Built me a little bark of hope, once more
To battle with the ocean and the shocks
Of the loud breakers, and the ceaseless roar
Which rushes on the solitary shore
Where all lies founder'd that was ever dear: But could I gather from the wave-worn store Enough for my rude boat, where should I steer?
Then let the winds howl on! their harmony Shall henceforth be my music, and the night The sound shall temper with the owlets' cry, As I now hear them, in the fading light Dim o'er the bird of darkness' native site, Answering each other on the Palatine,
With their large eyes, all glistening gray and bright, And sailing pinions.-Upon such a shrine What are our petty griefs?-let me not number mine.
Cypress and ivy, weed and wallflower grown Matted and mass'd together, hillocks heap'd
On what were chambers, arch crush'd, column strown In fragments, choked up vaults, and frescos steep'd In subterranean damps, where the owl peep'd, Deeming it midnight:-Temples, baths, or halls? Pronounce who can; for all that Learning reap'd From her research hath been, that these are walls- Behold the Imperial Mount! 'tis thus the mighty falls.
There is the moral of all human tales;
'Tis but the same rehearsal of the past,
First freedom, and then glory—when that fails, Wealth, vice, corruption,-barbarism at last. And History, with all her volumes vast, Hath but one page,-'tis better written here, Where gorgeous Tyranny had thus amass'd All treasures, all delights, that eye or ear,
Heart, soul could seek, tongue ask-Away with words! draw near,
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