XLVIII.

Yet one eternal sound is ever heard

In that repose which lives eternally,

Save by the Tempest's wrath for moments stirred:-
Yon solitary Waterfall! whose free

And sweeping waters make a melody,

Wilder than Harp to loftiest Epic rhyme :

How speaks its sad, yet grand monotony !

The movement of Existence:-the sublime

Voice, that doth tell, even here, the march of Life and

Time!

XLIX.

Onward ye pass: there is a rivulet

Wells silently along, whose silvery threads,
Disparting, scarce their emptied channel wet;

But here they form a river, such as heads

The steed, slow wading through its pebbled beds:
Its name is a familiar sound with men,

By-word for him who, late or early, treads

Life's fortunate path-who grasps that moment, when

The good or ill are offered-ne'er to come again

L

Which, taken, leads to happiness or fame :
But leaves, for aye, in shallows, if withstood:
Lo, how yon red banks stamp its waters' name,
The RUBICON--and here, the Rebel stood
Whose name is ever linked with that pale flood;
Spoiled child of Rome and Fortune, he, whose will
Embodied law: the conqueror unsubdued:

The ever-changing Proteus, who could fill

All characters-his own, quick, wayward, restless still.

LI.

Swayed by each breath; here CÆSAR paused-even

he;

His Roman Mother stood before her son!

Awing him back to filial piety;

"Twas but one brief and burning moment-one

But what a world of Thought was from it won!

Past-present-future-crowded in that span;
All he had suffered, felt, proved, purposed, done ;

All that can move and shake the central man

To the heart's inmost core, convulsing through him ran;

LII.

Flashing from that unsettled eye, perturbed,

That looked on-but saw not the River's course:

Earth seemed herself as if she palpably curbed

His passage, while a deep Voice, like a curse,

Rose from its waves her mandate to enforce :
The fate of Empires on that moment hung,
While ebbed in him the last sands of remorse !

Strength, faith, and confidence, behind him clung; Before-his foe's cold smile, pride conquered-and he

sprung

LIII.

Onward-as springs the Mind when it hath ta'en
Its desperate purpose, shaking off all fears,

The tossed-off dew-drops from the Lion's mane;

The doubt that fevers, the remorse that sears,

Which, maddening, finds no sweet relief in tears!
So to escape from pain-be disentwined

From Memories of execrated years,

Is of itself delight; no fetters bind

Like that protracting doubt, the torture of the mind!

LIV.

And oh! what loves or memories e'er slaked,

Country, or fame, or gods, the undying thirst
Of feverish Ambition once awaked?

Yet thine was purer: 'twas but to be first:
Mankind were never by thy tyranny cursed:
Rome loved, and marvelled at thee: and the fear

Of thy dread eagles, which, by Victory nursed,
"Came, saw, and conquered"-vanished when more

near,

For thy unbroken faith taught foemen to revere.

LV.

But he who mounts himself above mankind,
Unsympathising Solitude doth seek;

Where, from the atmosphere he left behind,
The bolt, already forged, but waits to break
On his, the loftiest head, its wrath to wreak :
Rome still was free: but thy quick spleen, or pride,
Those forms of usage slighted; which, if weak,

By habit, time, and law are sanctified:

And he, the opposer sinks, who dares their strength deride.

LVI.

Thou wert their sacrifice, the first and last:

The throne reared by thee, a less worthy took, Yet fitter-so thy end of life surpassed:

He, wiser, turned the sword into a crook :

But who on thy bald, laurelled brow could look, Nor fear what heights thy fever would attain ? Hate struck the blow for Virtue's he mistook: But thou didst leave, on thy own Altar slain, A warning to earth's tyrants-given not in vain.

LVII.

What is this Fame? this phantom of our youth, This hope for ever sought? this wild desire

Still unenjoyed? age changes not the truth,

Changing our faith: doth not the Shade inspire

Past

ages-ours-while its Promethean fire

Shall light futurity? is it a dream

To which our waking visions so aspire?—
Where are its pledges given to redeem

Life's sacrifices offered on its shrine supreme?