Classic Poem

Hail antient Greece! the sacred earth,
That gave to bards and heroes birth,
Where arts and virtue were combin'd
To perfect and adorn the mind.
'Twas there great Homer pour'd along
The majesty of epic song;
To him all nature stood consest,
And heav'nly genius warm'd his breast;
He gave to future writers law
And from his copious source they draw.
There history receiv'd its form
Taught by Herodotus to charm;
Thucydides with manly rage,
And nervous sense inform'd its page.
The drama there learn'd to impart
Each vary'd passion to the heart.
There could Demosthenes controul
By pow'rful eloquence the soul;
Greece on his lips attentive hung,
And took their motions from his tongue;
His words could rouse a drooping land,
Could force the vanquish'd to withstand;
And, ev'n while vict'ry led the way,
The tyrant's proud career delay.
There Socrates, the good and wise,
Brought down instruction from the skies;
And turn'd from empty dreams the mind,
To what belong'd to human-kind;
He led them to the first great Cause,
The Arbiter of nature's laws,
And taught their narrow hopes t'extend
To an existence without end:
Th' example that he show'd was fraught
With ev'ry virtue which he taught.
'Twas his a gen'rous life to spend,
And crown it by a noble end:
In black adversity his worth
With double radiance shone forth,
An unjust violent death but drew
His virtues into public view.
There Plato in poetic dress
Did philosophic truth express;
And Xenophon with native case
Nor seem'd to seek, nor fail'd, to please.

Illustrious sages, who refin'd,
And elevated human-kind,
They only can your worth express,
Who genius like your own possess!
Oh! could I, in these feeble lays
But add a note to swell your praise,
Or e'er to future time my name
Descend protected by your fame,
As one, whom youthful ardour fir'd
To celebrate what he admir'd,
And, at a distance, to pursue
The bright example set by you!