Classic Poem

Canto the Fifth

To the grave author of this happy news
The pleased Argalia with delight did hear,
Till, whilst the fatal story he pursues,
He brings his great soul near the gates of fear

By letting him in full discovery know
The dreadful danger that did then attend
His royal sire; who to his sword must owe
For safety, ere his sad afflictions end.

" Forsaking now our solitary friends,
Whose prayers upon each slow-paced step attends,
From danger by a dress so coarse exempt,
As wore religion to avoid contempt,
Through toils of many a tedious day, at last
We Enna reach; where when his vows had past
The danger of a forfeiture, and we,
That debt discharged to heaven, had liberty
To look abroad, with sorrow-laden eyes
We view those ruins in whose ashes lies
Sad objects of our former loss, not then
Raked up so deep, but old observant men,
When youths were in procession led, could tell
Where towers once stood, and in what fights they fell;
Which to confirm, some in an aged pride
Show wounds, which then though they did wisely hide
As signatures of loyal valour, they,
Now unsuspected, with delight display.
" Hence when commanded by the wane of light,
We sought protection from approaching night
In an adjacent monastry; where we,
The wandering objects of their charity,
Although by all welcomed with friendly zeal,
Found only one whose outside did reveal
So much of an internal worth, that might
To active talk our clouded souls invite
From grief's obscure retreats; his grave aspect,
Though reverend age dwelt with unpruned neglect,
Seemed dressed with such a sacred solitude,
As ruined temples in their dust include.
" My royal master, as some power divine
Had by instinct taught great souls how to twine,
Though 'mongst the weeds of poverty, with this
Blest man consorting; whilst their apt souls miss,
In all their long discourse, no tittle set
For man's direction in heaven's alphabet;
Whilst controverted points, those rocks on which
Weak faiths are shipwrecked, did with gems enrich
Their art-assisted zeal, a sudden noise,
Clamorous and loud, in the soft womb destroys
That sacred infant; — The concordant bells
Proclaim a joy, which larger triumph tells
To be of such a public birth, that they
In quiet cells for what they late did pray
In tears — the souls o'erflowing language, now
(Being by example's common rule taught how)
They vary passions, and in manly praise
Their silent prayers to hallelujahs raise.
By swift report informed that this day's mirth
From the proclaiming of their prince took birth,
These private mourners for the public faults
Of busy nations, by the hot assaults
Of triumph startled from their gravity,
Prepare for joy; all but grave Sophron: he
Then with the pilgrim prince, who both were sat
Like sad physicians when the doubtful state
O' the patients threatens death: — the serious eye
Of Sophron as a threatening prodigy
Viewing that flattering smile of fate, which they
Of shallower souls praised as approaching day.
" When both, their souls from active words retired,
Awhile had silent sat, the prince desired
To know the cause why in that triumph he
Of all that convent found the time to be
With thoughtful cares alone; whom Sophron gave
This satisfaction: — " Worthy sir, I have
In the few hours of our acquaintance found
In you such worth, 'twould question for unsound
My judgment, if unwilling to impart
A secret, though the darling of my heart. —
Know then, this hapless province, which of late
Faction hath harassed, a wise prince, whom fate
Deprived us of, once ruled; but so long since,
That age hath learned from time how to convince
The hot enormities of youth, since we
With such a ruler lost our liberty.
For though at first, (as he alone had been
Our evil genius, whose abode brought in
All those attendant plagues), our fortune seemed
To calm her brow, and captive hope redeemed
In the destruction of our foes, which by
A hot infection were enforced to fly
From conquest near obtained: yet we, to show
That only 'twas our vices did o'erthrow
The merits of his weaker virtues, when
Successful battles had reduced again
Our panting land from all external ill,
Domestic quarrels threatened then to kill
What foreign powers assailed in vain, and made
Danger surprise, which trembled to invade.
For many years tossed by the uncertain wind
Of wild ambition, we had sailed to find
Out the Leucadian rocks of peace; but in
A vain pursuit: for we so long had been
A headless multitude, the factious peers
Oppressing the injured commons, till our fears
Became our fate, few having so much left
Unsequestered, as might incite to theft
Even those whom want makes desperate; all being spent
On those that turn to th' worst of punishment
What wore protection's name — villains that we,
Enforced, maintained to Christian tyranny
I' the injured name of justice, such as kept
Litigious counsels, for whose votes we wept,
From punishment so long, till grown above
The blinded people's envy or their love.
" " But lately these prodigious fires, that led
Us through the night of anarchy, being fled
At the approach of one, who since hath stood
Fixed like a star of the first magnitude,
Diffusive power, which then was only shown
In faction's dress, being now rebellion grown,
By the uniting of those atoms in
One haughty peer, ambitious Zarrobrin;
Whose pride, that spur of valour, when 't had set
Him in the front of honor's alphabet,
The sole commander of those forces whence
Our peace distilled, and in as large a sense
As subjects durst, whilst loyal, hope to have
Adorn their tombs, the highest titles gave
Of a depending honor; to repay
Their easy faiths that levelled had the way
Unto his greatness, that command he made
The steps by which he struggled to invade
A throne, and in their heedless votes include
Unnoted figures of their servitude.
" " When with attempts, frequent as fruitless, I
With others, whose firm love to loyalty
Time had not yet expunged, had oft in vain
Opposed our power; which found too weak to gain
Our country's freedom, we, as useless, did
Retire to mourn for what the Fates forbid
To have redressed. Since when, his pride being grown
The people's burthen whilst he urged his own
Ambitious ends, he hath, to fix their love
On principles whose structure should not move,
Unless it their allegiance shook, brought forth
Their prince, whose father's unforgotten worth
Did soon command their full consent, and he,
For treason feared, made loved for loyalty.
But since that 'mongst observant judgments, this
So sudden change might stand in doubt to miss
A fair construction, to confirm 't he brings
An old confessor of their absent king's,
The reverend Halophantes; one whose youth
Made human hearts submit to sacred truth
So much, that now, arrived to graver age,
He (like authentic authors) did engage
The people's easy faith into a glad
Belief — that, when his youth's afflictions had
Unthroned their prince, he in that fatal night,
Wisely contracting his imagined flight,
As roads unto destruction leaving all
Frequented paths, did in night's silence call
At 's unfrequented cell; where, entertained
With all the zeal that subjects, which have gained
From gracious sovereigns, study to express
A virtue in, which thrives by the distress
Of an afflicted patron's, he betrays
Inquiring scouts, till some expunging days
Make them forsake their inquisition in
Despair to find: which vacancy did win
Time to bestow his infant burthen where
Some secret friends did with indulgent care
Raise him from undiscerning childhood, to
Be such as now exposed unto their view."
" Thy father, who with doubtful thoughts had heard
This story, till confirmed in what he feared,
Starts into so much passion as betrays
Him, through the thick mask of those tedious days
Time had in thirty annual journeys stept,
To Sophron; who, when he awhile had wept
A short encomium to good fortune, in
Such prostrate lowliness as seemed — for sin
To censure guiltless ignorance, he meets
His prince's full discovery; whom he greets
With all the zeal, such whose uncourtly arts
Make tongues the true interpreters of hearts,
Do those wise princes whom they know to start
At aguish flattery, as if indesert
Ushered it in: — Those that know how to rate
Their worth, prize it by virtue, not by fate.
" With arguments, which to assist he made
Reason's firm power passion's light scouts invade,
He had so oft the unwilling prince assailed,
That importunity at length prevailed
On his resolves; from peaceful poverty,
His age's refuge, hurrying him to be
Once more an agent unto fortune in
Uncertain toils. Whose troubles to begin,
Leaving his prince to so much rest as those
Whose serious souls are busied to compose
Unravelled thoughts into a method, now
Sophron forsakes him, to discover how
His fellow peers of that lost party stand
Disposed for action, if a king's command
Should give it life; all which he finds to be
So full of yet untainted loyalty,
That in a swift convention they prepare
By joining judgments to divide their care.
From distant places, with such secret haste
As did declare a flaming zeal, though placed
In caution's shadow, old considerate peers,
Such whose light youth the experienced weight of years
Had long since ballast with discretion, met
To see their prince, and to discharge the debt
Of full obedience. Each had with him brought
His state's surviving hope, snatched from the soft
Hands of lamenting mothers, that to those,
If fit for arms, they safely might dispose
The execution of those councils, which
Their sober age with judgment did enrich.
" In Sophron's palace, which being far removed
From the street's talking throngs, was most approved
For needful privacy, these loyal lords,
Whose faithful hearts — the infallible records
The heedless vulgar (whose neglective sin
Had lost the copies of allegiance in
This interregnum) trust to, being met,
To shun delays, man's late repented debt,
The prince with speed appears; whom no disguise
Of youth's betrayer, time, could from their eyes
Long undiscovered keep: through the rough veil
Of age, or what more powerful did prevail
On beauty's ruins, they did soon descry
The unquenched embers of a majesty,
Too bright for time to hide with curtains less
Dark than that mansion of forgetfulness —
The grave, which man's first folly taught to be
The obscure passage to eternity.
" That their example might be precept to
Unknowing youth, with all the reverence due
To awful princes on their thrones, the old
Experienced courtiers kneel; by which grown bold
In their belief, those of unriper age
Upon their judgments did their faith engage
So far, that they in solemn vows unite
Their yet concordant thoughts, which, ere the flight
Of time should leave the day behind, desire
To live in action. But this rising fire
Of loyal rage, which in their breasts did burn,
The thankful prince thus gently strives to turn
Into a milder passion, such as might
Not scorch with anger, but with judgment light. —
" " How much 'tis both my wonder and my joy,
That we, whom treason studied to destroy
With near as much of miracle, as in
The last of days lost bodies, that have been
Scattered amongst the elements, shall be
Convened i' the court of immortality.
Depressed with fortune, and disguised with age,
(Sad arguments, brave subjects, to engage
Your loyal valour!) I had gone from all
My mortal hopes, had not this secret call
Of Heaven, which doth with unknown method curb
Our wild intention, brought me to disturb
Your peaceful age, whose abler youth had in
Defending me exposed to ruin been.
I had no more, my conscience now at rest,
With widows' curses, orphan's tears opprest;
No more in fighting fields, those busy marts
Where honor doth for fame with death change hearts,
Beheld the sad success of battles, where
Proud victors make youth's conquest age's care;
But, hid from all a crown's false glories, spent,
Like beauteous flowers, which vainly waste the scent
Of odors in unhaunted deserts, all
My time concealed till withered age should fall
From that short stem of nature — life, to be
Lost in the dust of death's obscurity.
" " When in the pride of youth my stars withdrew
Their influence first, I then had stood with you
Those thunderbolts of fate, and bravely died,
Contemning fortune, had that feverish pride
Of valour not been quenched in hope to save
My infant son from an untimely grave.
But he, when from domestic ills conveyed
In safety, being by treacherous fate betrayed,
Either by death or ignorance, from what
His stars, when kindled first, were pointed at,
Either lives not, or else concealed within
Some coarse disguise, whose poverty hath been
So long his dull companion, till he 's grown
Not less to us than to himself unknown.
" " All this being weighed in reason's scale, is there
Aught in 't can tempt decrepit age to bear
Such glorious burthens, which if fortunate
In the obtaining of, in Nature's date
Can have no long account, ere I again
What I had got with danger, kept with pain,
Summoned by Death — the grave's black monarch, must
With sorrow lose? Yet since that Heaven so just,
And you so loyal I have found, that it
Might argue fear, if I unmoved should sit
At all your just desires, I here, i' the sight
Of Heaven declare, together with my right,
To prosecute your liberties as far
As justice dares to patronize a war."
" This, with a magnanimity that showed
His youth's brave spirits were not all bestowed
On the accounts of age, had to so high
A pitch of zeal inflamed their loyalty,
That in contempt of slow-paced counsels they
Did, like rash youth, whose wit wants time's allay,
Haste to unripe engagements, such as found
The issue weak, whose parents are unsound.
" All, to those towns where neighbourhood had made
Them loved for virtue, or for power obeyed,
Whilst each with his peculiar guard attends
His honored prince, employ their active friends;
Who having with collecting trumpets made
Important errands ready to invade
The people's censure, for a theme to fame —
Their long-lost prince's safe return proclaim:
Which, though at first a subject it appeared
Only for faith, when circumstance had cleared
The eye of reason, from each nobler mind
The embraces of a welcome truth did find.
In public throngs, whilst every forward friend
Spoke his resolves, his sullen foes did spend
Their doubts in private whispers; by exchange
Of which they found hate had no further range
Than close intelligence, whose utmost bounds
Ere they obtain, the useful trumpet sounds
No distant summons, but close marches to
His loyal friends; whom now their foes might view
In troops, which if fate favor their intents,
Ere long must swell to big-bulked regiments.
Through country towns, and cities' prouder streets,
The murmuring drum in busy marches meets
Such forward valour — husbandmen did fear
The earth would languish the succeeding year
For want of laborers; nor could business stop
The straitened prentice, who, the slighted shop
Left to his angry master, (who must be
Forced to abridge his seven years' tyranny),
Changes the baser utensils of trade
For burnished arms, and by example made
More valiant, scorns those shadows which they feared
More than rough war, whilst 'mongst the city's herd.
" To regiments from scattering bands being grown,
From that to armies, whose big looks made known
Those bold designs, which justice feared to own,
Though her's till placed in Power's imperial throne,
They now toward action haste. Which to begin,
Whilst castles are secured, and towns girt in
With armed lines, whose pallisadoes had
Whole forests of their whispering oaks unclad;
The prince, his mercy willing to prevent
Approaching danger, by a herald sent
To Zarrobrin, commands him to lay down
His arms, and, as he owed unto his crown
A subject's due allegiance, to appear,
Before a month was added to that year,
Within his court; which now, since action gave
Life to that body whose firm strength did save
His life — by treason levelled at, was in
His moving camp. But this too weak to win
The doubtful rebel; since his lawful right
Swords must dispute, the prince prepares to fight.
" Proud Zarrobrin, who had by late success
Taught Syracuse how to avoid distress
By seeking peace, like a black storm that flies
On southern winds, which in a tumult rise
From neighbouring seas, was on his march. But come
So near the prince, that now he had by some
Of's spreading scouts made full discovery where
His army lay, whose scarce discovered rear
Such distance from their well-armed van appeared,
That such, whose judgments were with numbers feared,
Making no further inquisition, fled —
By swift report their pale disease to spread.
Disturbing clouds, which rather seemed to rise
From guilt than fear, spread darkness o'er the eyes
O' the rebels, who, although by custom made
To death familiar, wish their killing trade
In peace concluded; and with murmurs, nigh
Grown to the boldness of a mutiny,
Question their own frail judgments, which so oft
Had life exposed to dangers, that had brought
No more reward than what preserved them still
The slaves unto a proud commander's will.
To stop this swift infection, which, begun
In lowly huts, to lofty tents had run,
Sly Zarrobrin, who to preserve the esteem
Of honor, least liberality might seem
The child of fear, with secret speed prevents
What he appears to slight — their discontents,
As if attending, though attended by
Their young mock-prince, whose landscape royalty
Showed only fair when viewed at distance, he
Passing with slow observant pace to see
Each squadron's order, he confirms their love
With donatives, such as were far above
Their hopes if victors; then, to show that in
That pride of bounty he 'd not strove to win
Assistance by unworthy bribes, he leads
Them far from danger, since his judgment reads
In long experience — that authentic story,
Whose lines have taught the nearest way to glory,
That soft delays, like treacherous streams, which by
Submitting let the rash intruder try
Their dangerous depth, to an unwilling stay
His fierce pursuers would ere long betray:
Whose force, since of the untutored multitude,
By want made desperate and by custom rude,
Would soon waste their unwieldy strength; whilst they,
Whom discipline had taught how to obey,
By pay made nimble and by order sure,
Would war's delays with easier wants endure.
" This sound advice meeting with sad success
From the pursuing army; whose distress,
From tedious marches being too clamorous grown
For 's friends' estates to quiet, soon was shown
In actions such, which though necessity
Enforced on virtue, made their presence be
To the inconsiderate vulgar, whose loose glance
For virtue takes vice glossed with circumstance,
Such an oppression, that comparing those
Which fled with mildness, they behold as foes,
Only their ruder followers, whom they curse —
Not that their cause, but company was worse.
" When thus their wants had brought disorder in,
And that neglect whose looser garb had been
At first so shy, that what was hardly known
From business then, was now to custom grown;
This large limbed body, since united by
No cement but the love to loyalty,
Loses those baser parts, such as to please
Unworthy ends turned duty to disease,
Retaining only those whose valour sought
No more reward than what with blood they bought.
But here, to show that slumbering justice may,
Oppressed with power, faint in the busy day
Of doubtful battle; when their valour had
So many souls from robes of flesh unclad
Of his brave friends, that the forsaken prince,
Whose sad success taught knowledge to convince
The arguments of hope, unguarded, left
Unto pursuing foes, was soon bereft
Of all that in this cloud of fortune might,
By opposition or unworthy flight,
But promise safety; and, when death denied
Him her last dark retreat, to raise the pride
Of an insulting foe, is forced to see
The scorn of greatness in captivity.
" Yet with more terror to limn sorrow in
His mighty soul, such friends, as had not been
By death discharged in fatal battle, now
Suffered so much as made even fear allow
Her palest sons to seek in future wars
Brave victory, got by age's honor — scars,
Or braver death — that antidote of shame,
Whose stage none pass upon the road of fame;
Those that fared best being murdered, others sent
With life to more afflicting banishment. "
When thus by him, whose sacred order made
The truth authentic, from his fortune's shade
Argalia was redeemed; the prelate, to
Confirm his story, from his bosom drew
The jewel, which having by ways unknown
To him that wore it opened, there was shown
By wit contracted into art, as rare
As his that durst make silver spheres compare
With heaven's light motion, an effigies, which
His royal sire, whilst beauty did enrich
His youth, appeared in such epitome,
As spacious fields are represented by
Rare optics on opposing walls, where sight
Is cozened with imperfect forms of light.
When with such joy as Scythians, that grow proud
Of day, behold light gild an eastern cloud,
Argalia long had viewed that picture, in
Whose face he saw forms that said his had been
Drawn by that pattern, with such thanks, as best
The silent eloquence of looks exprest,
The night grown antient ere their story's end,
With solemn joy leaves his informing friend.