Helmet and shield, and sword and spear thrown down, And every hand uplifted, every heart Poured out in thanks to heaven. Once again We look; and lo, the sea is white with sails Innumerable, wafting to the shore Treasures untold; the vale, the promontories, The Imperial City! They have now subdued All nations. Who, when at length released by victory, (Buckler and spear hung up-but not to rust) Held poverty no evil, no reproach, Living on little with a cheerful mind, The DECII, the FABRICII? Where the spade, Reclining, quaff in gold, and roses swim, Summer and winter, through the circling year, On their Falernian-in the hands of men Dragged into slavery with how many more But their days, Their hours are numbered. Hark, a yell, a shriek, And mark, beneath us, like a bursting cloud, Of forests, from what none had dared explore, Once more we look, and all is still as night, Amid the sulphurous vapours that exhale And on the road, where once we might have met We meet, none else, the pilgrim and the beggar. THE ROMAN PONTIFFS. THOSE ancient men, what were they, who achieved A sway beyond the greatest conquerors; Setting their feet upon the necks of kings, And, through the world, subduing, chaining down * Whoever has entered the church of St. Peter's or the Pauline chapel, during the Exposition of the Holy Sacrament there, will not soon forget the blaze of the altar or the dark circle of worshippers kneeling in silence before it. What in his day the SYRACUSAN sought, They had; and, having it, like gods not men Moved this world at their pleasure. Ere they came, Their shadows, stretching far and wide, were known; And Two, that looked beyond the visible sphere, Gave notice of their coming-he who saw Who in an awful vision of the night Saw the Four Kingdoms. Distant as they were, Those holy men, well might they faint with fear!† * An allusion to the saying of ARCHIMEDES, 'Give me a place to stand upon, and I will move the earth.' + An allusion to the Prophecies concerning ANTICHRIST. See the interpretations of Mede, Newton, Clarke, &c.; not to mention those of Dante and Petrarch. |