Classic Poem

TO THE RISING GENERATION OF ROME .

Worship Diana, young daughters of Italy!
Youths! sing Apollo—both children of Jove:
Honour Latona, their mother, who mightily
Triumphed of old in the Thunderer's love.

Maids! sing the Huntress, whose haunts are the highlands;
Who treads, in a buskin of silvery sheen,
Each forest-crowned summit through Greece and her islands,
From dark Erymanthus to Cragus the green.

From Tempé's fair valley, by Phœbus frequented,
To Delos his birthplace—the light quiver hung
From his shoulders—the lyre that his brother invented—
Be each shrine by our youth and each attribute sung.

May your prayers to the regions of light find admittance
On Cæsar's behalf;—and the Deity urge
To drive from our land to the Persians and Britons,
Of Famine the curse! of Bellona the scourge!