XXI

Lo, we confront the wisest of mankind,
The glory of old Athens and her shame;
The image of divinity enshrined
Within the lowliest temple, who doth claim
A memory that mocks the trump of fame,
Embodied virtue, Socrates the wise;
He who proved human wisdom was a name;
Who saw humanity in naked guise,

XI

There stands the living ruin; she weeps not,
Tears in their fountains dried have marble grown;
Despair's last pulse is stilled, the deed is wrought
That hurled her reason headlong from its throne;
Branchless, and lightning-stricken, and alone,
She lives, retaining breathless consciousness
Of passion chilled and petrified to stone;

PARTI .

I

I F thou wert aught, Time-hallowed phantom, Muse!
Save the creation of immortal mind,
Here throned apart thy temple wouldst thou choose;
O never yet mid Ida's woods reclined,
Parnassian height, or Delphic shades enshrined,
Was a sublimer, worthier altar thine
Than where I stand, companion of the wind,

The times change and we change with them
(Callahan)

Aspiring thoughts led Phaethon amiss;
Proud Icarus did fall, he soar'd so high;
Seek not to climb with fond Semiramis,
Lest son revenge the father's injury.
Take heed, ambition is a sugr'd ill,
That Fortune lays, presumptuous minds to spill.

The bitter grief that frets the quiet mind,
The sting that pricks the forward man to woe,
Is envy, which in honour seld we find,
And yet to honor sworn a secret foe.

" Gaze in my pallid face, my worn eyes tearful,
Look at my lacerated palms that bleed,
Gaze on my body scourged, and thin, and fearful,
Thou of my race and creed!

" And seeing me here, borne down by Fate's contention,
Learn from my lips the awful truth, that when
I died, God gave me not the grand ascension
Believed by many men.

" Cast out of Heaven and Hell, my woeful spirit

" By Him at that hour I was not forsaken,
For in the inner essence of my soul,
Poesy's charm to me He did awaken,
And gave me its control.

" Then I than earth's most noble bards was greater,
And on my lips inspired there ever hung
The unuttered canticles of my creator,
Songs that no man has sung.

" And I remember those departed glories,
When Kedron's vales re-echoed linnets' songs,

" " Jehovah his proud equal now doth make thee,
Until thy glorious mission shall be done;
And through life's gloom his light will ne'er forsake thee,
Oh, blessed, anointed one!"

" Then o'er me came divinest inspiration,
Knowledge and wisdom grew within my mind,
And love, like some delicious revelation,
Dawned for entire mankind.

" And I went forth feeling new joys immensely,
For pride had flown to my unsullied heart,

VIII

He, prescient of regenerate birth,
The hope and faith inspired by Thee;
Who delved the secrets of the earth,
Who portioned out infinity;
Who felt within a conscious soul
That widening in process grew,
Till owned, while opening on the whole,
Thy Spirit prompted all he knew.

IX

Thou One alone! whose altar is
The universe, whom all have sought;
The humble from their lowliness,

I

I WATCHED the heavens while I stood
Beside a new-made grave;
I saw the galaxying flood
Of lights around me wave;
The palace of Infinitude
Was opened to its height,
Its floor with starry chaplets strewed,
Enroofed with cressets bright.

II

Mortality's remains were flung
Around my feet in their decay;
I stood the worms and dead among;
Each skull beneath me had a tongue,

SCENE V.

KING, RHODOLINDA, GONDIBERT, BIRTHA, ASTRAGON, PHILOSOPHERS &c. as after the Banquet.

G ONDIBERT .

This royal Overflowing of your Bounty
Restrains my fault'ring Tongue, which fain wou'd speak
The thankful Language of my grateful Heart. —
My Actions shall declare my Zeal and Duty.

King .

Dear to my Soul as when, adorn'd with Spoils,
Thou bravely triumph'd o'er my Kingdoms Foes,