Mark that oppos'd, where first the springing morn
Her roses sheds, and shakes around her dews :
From the dire deferts by the Cafpian lav'd,
To where the Tigris and Euphrates, join'd,
Impetuous tear the Babylonian plain;
And bleft Arabia aromatic breathes.
See that dividing far the watery north,

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Parent of floods! from the majestic Rhine,

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Drunk by Batavian meads, to where, seven-mouth'd, In Euxine waves the flashing Danube roars;

To where the frozen Tanais scarcely stirs -
The dead Meotic pool, or the long Rha,
In the black Scythian sea his torrent throws.
Laft, that beneath the burning zone behold.

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See where it runs, from the deep-loaded plains
Of Mauritania to the Libyan fands,

Where Ammon lifts amid the torrid wafte

A verdant ifle, with fhade and fountain fresh;

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And farther to the full Egyptian fhore,

To where the Nile from Ethiopian clouds,

His never-drain'd ethereal urn, defcends.

In this vaft space what various tongues, and states!
What bounding rocks, and mountains, floods and feas!
What purple tyrants quell'd, and nations free'd!
O'er Greece defcended chief, with stealth divine,
The Roman bounty in a flood of day :
As at her Ifthmian games, a fading pomp!

Her full-affembled youth innumerous fwarm'd,
On a tribunal rais'd Flaminius fat;

A victor he, from the deep phalanx pierc'd
VOL. II.

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of

Of iron-coated Macedon, and back
The Grecian tyrant to his bounds repell❜d.
In the high thoughtlefs gaiety of game,
While sport alone their unambitious hearts
Poffefs'd; the fudden trumpet, founding hoarfe,
Bade filence o'er the bright affembly reign.

Then thus a herald." To the ftates of Greece
"The Roman People, unconfin'd, restore
"Their countries, cities, liberties, and laws:
"Taxes remit, and garrisons withdraw.”

The crowd aftonish'd half, and half inform'd,

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Star'd dubious round; fome question'd, fome exclaim'd, (Like one who dreaming, between hope and fear, 275 Is loft in anxious joy) Be that again,

Be that again proclaim'd, distinct, and loud.
Loud, and diftinct, it was again proclaim'd;

And still as midnight in the rural shade,

When the gale flumbers, they the words devour'd. 280
A while fevere amazement held them mute,

Then, bursting broad, the boundless shout to heaven
From many a thousand hearts ecstatic sprung.
On every hand rebellow'd to their joy

The fwelling fea, the rocks, and vocal hills:
Through all her turrets ftately Corinth shook;
And, from the void above of shatter'd air,
The flitting bird fell breathless to the ground.
What piercing bliss! how keen a sense of fame,
Did then, Flaminius, reach thy inmost foul!
And with what deep-felt glory didst thou then
Escape the fondness of transported Greece!

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Mix'd in a tempeft of superior joy,

They left the sports; like Bacchanals they flew,
Each other ftraining in a strict embrace,

Nor ftrain'd a flave; and loud acclaims till night
Round the proconful's tent repeated rung.

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Then, crown'd with garlands, came the feftive hours; And mufic, fparkling wine, and converse warm, Their raptures wak'd anew.-" Ye Gods! they cry'd, "Ye guardian Gods of Greece! And are we free? "Was it not madnefs deem'd the very thought? "And is it true? How did we purchase chains? "At what a dire expence of kindred blood ? "And are they now diffolv'd? And scarce one drop "For the fair firft of bleffings have we paid? "Courage, and conduct, in the doubtful field, "When rages wide the storm of mingling war, "Are rare indeed; but how to generous ends "To turn success, and conqueft, rarer still: "That the great Gods and Romans only know. "Lives there on earth, almoft to Greece unknown, "A people fo magnanimous, to quit

"Their native foil, traverse the stormy deep,

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..

"And by their blood and treasure, spent for us, 315 "Redeem cur ftates, our liberties, and laws! "There does! there does! oh, faviour Titus! Rome!" Thus through the happy night they pour'd their fouls, And in my last reflected beams rejoic'd. As when the shepherd, on the mountain brow, Sits piping to his flocks, and gamesome kids ; Meantime the fun, beneath the green earth funk,

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Slants

Slants upward o'er the scene a parting gleam:
Short is the glory that the mountain gilds,
Plays on the glittering flocks, and glads the fwain;
To western worlds irrevocable roll'd,

Rapid, the fource of light recalls his ray.

Here interpofing I.-" Oh, Queen of men! "Beneath whofe fceptre in effential rights "Equal they live; though plac'd, for common good, "Various, or in fubjection, or command; "And that by common choice: alas! the fcene, "With virtue, freedom, and with glory bright, "Streams into blood, and darkens into woe."

Thus the purfued.-Near this great æra, Rome
Began to feel the fwift approach of fate,

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That now her vitals gain'd: still more and more
Her deep divifions kindling into rage,

As, with the fliding rock, the pile sustain❜d.
A laft attempt, too late, the Gracchi made,
To fix the flying scale, and poise the state.
On one fide fwell'd Ariftocratic pride;
With Ufury, the villain! whofe fell gripe
Bends by degrees to baseness the free foul;
And Luxury rapacious, cruel, mean,

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Mother

Mother of vice! while on the other crept
A populace in want, with pleasure fir'd; .
Fit for profcriptions, for the darkest deeds,
As the proud feeder bade: inconstant, blind,
Deserting friends at need, and dup'd by foes;
Loud and feditious, when a chief inspir'd
Their headlong fury, but, of him depriv'd,
Already flaves that lick'd the scourging hand.
This firm republic, that against the blast
Of oppofition rofe; that (like an oak,
Nurs'd on feracious Algidum, whose boughs
Still ftronger shoot beneath the rigid axe)
By lofs, by flaughter, from the steel itself,

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Ev'n force and spirit drew; fmit with the calm,

The dead ferene of profperous fortune, pin'd.
Nought now her weighty legions could oppofe;
Her terror once on Afric's tawny fhore,

Now fmoak'd in dust, a stabling now for wolves; 370
And every dreaded power receiv'd the yoke.
Befides, destructive, from the conquer'd east,
In the foft plunder came that worst of plagues,
That peftilence of mind, a fever'd thirst
For the false joys which luxury prepares.
Unworthy joys! that wasteful leave behind
No mark of honour, in reflecting hour,
No fecret ray to glad the confcious foul;
At once involving in one ruin wealth,

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And wealth-acquiring powers: while ftupid felf, 380
Of narrow guft, and hebetating sense
Devour the nobler faculties of bliss.