Hither the triumph came, and, winding round And there they parted, where the road divides, Well might the great, the mighty of the world, They who were wont to fare deliciously And war but for a kingdom more or less, Shrink back nor from their thrones endure to look, - To think that way! Well might they in their pomp Humble themselves, and kneel and supplicate Here Cincinnatus passed, his plough the while assailed; but he bore his sufferings with less composure, as well indeed he might; taking refuge in the vestibule of the nearest house. Ad Att. iv, 3. An allusion to Cæsar in his Gallic triumph. lium ad lumina," &c.-SUETONIUS. "Adscendit Capito 2 In the triumph of Æmilius, nothing affected the Roman people like the children of Perseus. Many wept; nor could any thing else attract notice, till they were gone by.- PLUTARCH. Consuls, Dictators, still in Curule state The last on Philip's throne; and the Numidian,2 Thrust under-ground, "How cold this bath of yours!" And thy proud queen, Palmyra, thro' the sands 3 Whose temples, palaces, a wondrous dream 4 Death and escaped; the Egyptian, when her asp Now all is changed; and here, as in the wild, 1 Perseus. 2 Jugurtha. 3 Zenobia. 4 Cleopatra. 5 Sophonisba. The story of the marriage and the poison is well known to every reader. A FUNERAL. CHENCE this delay ?"-" Along the crowded street A Funeral comes, and with unusual pomp." > I withdrew a little and stood still, hile it went by. "She died as she deserved," aid an Abate, gathering up his cloak, nd with a shrug retreating as the tide lowed more and more.-"But she was beautiful!" teplied a soldier of the Pontiff's guard. And innocent as beautiful!" exclaimed A Matron sitting in her stall, hung round With garlands, holy pictures, and what not? Her Alban grapes and Tusculan figs displayed In rich profusion. From her heart she spoke; And I accosted her to hear her story. "The stab," she cried, "was given in jealousy; But never fled a purer spirit to heaven, As thou wilt say, or much my mind misleads, When thou hast seen her face. Last night at dusk, When on her way from vespers-None were near, A dull and dismal noise assailed the ear, Do Spirits come and fetch them? What are these, 66 "It is an ancient Brotherhood thou seest. Such their apparel. Through the long, long line, As 't were her nightly posture, through the crowd Death, when we meet the Spectre in our walks, Knocks at the heart. His form and fashion here To me, I do confess, reflect a gloom, A sadness round; yet one I would not lose; In this, this land of shadows, where we live gue beyond league, like one great cemetery, covered o'er with mouldering monuments; d, let the living wander where they will, ey cannot leave the footsteps of the dead. Oft, where the burial-rite follows so fast e agony, oft coming, nor from far, ist a fond father meet his darling child, im who at parting climbed his knees and clung) ay-cold and wan, and to the bearers cry, Stand, I conjure ye!" Seen thus destitute, hat are the greatest? They must speak beyond thousand homilies. When Raphael went, is heavenly face the mirror of his mind, His mind a temple for all lovely things o flock to and inhabit-when He went, Vrapt in his sable cloak, the cloak he wore, To sleep beneath the venerable Dome,1 By those attended, who in life had loved, Had worshipped, following in his steps to Fame, Twas on an April-day, when Nature smiles) All Rome was there. But, ere the march began, Ere to receive their charge the bearers came, Who had not sought him? And when all beheld Him, where he lay, how changed from yesterday, Him in that hour cut off, and at his head His last great work; 2 when, entering in, they looked Now on the dead, then on that master-piece, Then on those forms divine that lived and breathed, The Pantheon. 2 The Transfiguration; "la quale opera, nel vedere il corpo morto, e quella viva, faceva scoppiare l'anima di dolore a ogni uno che quivi guardava."-VASARI. |