Of this ethereal seminary claim, Which gives immortal vigour to sustain The varying seasons, till old tyrant Time Sooth'd by her charms, his deadly scythe resigns. Conduct me, Clio! not to vine-clad hills, Pasture of herbage deep, nor genial mould That loves the plough, and pays the peasant's toil "Till his wide granaries refund the store:
It was not there that Freedom first drew breath, Tho' sometimes there she dwells. Oh may she dwell Long on the banks of Liger! may she learn To love the lowings of the lusty droves And sport amid the vines! But on the verge, The sea-beat verge, where old * Cecropia's hills Over th' Ægean look with barren frown,
With us she first saw light. Even now she loves With light step o'er the lofty range to stray, From the hill's breezy brow to catch the gale,
And listen to the carols of the lark
Which wakes the toiling train. She loves to brace The nerves of her laborious band. From toil,
From hard necessity she bids them learn How, from encroaching despots to defend Their pittance, dearly earn'd, and firmly hold With grasp of steel. Tho' in th' ungrateful soil The vegetable tribes in pigmy files Scarce colonize the long extended hills, And clothe their giant limbs with scanty robe, Let not their naked majesty be scorn'd; For there, by sharp necessity compress'd, Like flame by frost, with unoppressive might, The mental energies ascend the sky,
* Attica, so called from Cecrops. Viz. in Europe.
* And oft, like meteors, o'er the cultur'd plain Terrific hang. But from the lighter hand Of him, who from the long, luxuriant vale Her tribute culls with ease, unnerv'd by dread The cheap-earned blessing falls, as cheaply lost; Scar'd at the free-man's angry look he flies.
The freeman, in the bounty of the plain Battens at ease, till slack'ning sloth untwines Those nerves, that hurl'd the lance, or bent the bow. Meantime to barren hills exil'd, the slave From toil new strength obtains, the vig'rous task Invigorates the mind, and down by hordes Destructive as the torrent from the heights Of Appenine, on their degen'rate foes
Once victors, down at once the vanquish'd come, And vengeance, vengeance fires the cultur'd plain.
'Twas at that season when the pamper'd sons Of Israel, scorn'd their Theocratic law, And, drunk with licence, or in love with change, Clamour'd for monarchy, just as the lamp Of Liberty, to mortal vision lost,
Extinguish'd seem'd on CARMEL's lofty brow, Or in mid ocean setting, far above The windy contest, and conflicting brine, An Angel bore it with unruffl'd beam To fair Cecropia's shore. (A nobler freight Than his, who wafted o'er the Ægean main His deities from IDA to the strand
Where the wide TUSCAN roars.) "Twas then he saw, He saw, and pitied, from Boeotia's plains, By a fell band of Thracian pirates driven Her antient habitants + in flying hordes,
Frequent invasions of Asia by the Scythians.
This is an historical fact.-See Pausanias in Atticis.
O'er wide Cecropia's limits, o'er her hills In wild precipitance, till stretch'd afar Below, th' interminable waste of waves (Shipless, or by the solitary sail
Of Corsair only crost) impos'd a pause On their disastrous flight. Not like the host Of Israel, when the Red Sea stop'd their course, Did they long stand aghast, but on their foes Turn'd head and stood at bay. For mid their bands, In show like a plebeian militant,
Walk'd their new guardian.
he cries, "Turn on your fell pursuers! Yonder pass "Seize, and prevent the torrent of your foes "Who to the rocky porch innum❜rous pour, "Which seems to court their entrance.
"That glooms above the valley, downward sweep, "And bid invasion tremble! At yon pass, "Where, with fraternal frown, the hostile hills "Menace above their heads, prevent their haste, "And under rocky ruin thund'ring down,
Their ranks o'erwhelm !" They heard, their swelling
In full concordance to the descant bold,
Danc'd a new measure: Like the rallying storm, Which midst two mountains eddies on the plain, They doubled on their foes. Their trembling foes Over the long vales fled in loose array, Or left their lives behind. Anon the Of triumph rises, but the Pæan soon
Was dash'd with discontented murmurs, breath'd From mingled voices round. "Why o'er those hills "Delightless roam, or with repeated toil,
"Force the delusive glebe to render up
"Her scanty boon, ambiguous, hard to gain, "And easy lost? Why not, with better hopes "And better omens, while security
"With night and peace combin'd, have wrapt our
"In deep Elysian charm, with close intent "And stealthy pace fall on them, and expell "(As late expell'd) the ruffians from our homes, "And to our homes return ?"-But now began A louder strain, as from no mortal voice, Deep as the thunder's prelude heard afar,
And solemn as her tones. "Be those bleak hills "Your home for ever! Here the sweeping storms "Will bring you health and vigour, high resolves, "Aspiring thoughts, and mental energy,
Upon their frory pinions. Court no more "TANAGRA's bowers of bliss, the green retreats "Thro' which ISMENOS wanders to the main "Enchanted, ling'ring on with sweet delay; "There live the SYRENS, there the Loros grows, "Of which, whoever tastes, renounces straight "The glorious image of the gods in man, "His mem'ry and his worth. Be that revenge, "To see your foes in these Circæan toils "Entangled more, as each revolving moon "Marks their embarrassment, till time itself "Without your toil destroys them, or presents "An easy prey."-They listen'd and obey'd.
Soon rose their hamlets on the breezy hills, The Mother city by the toiling main In rustic pomp ascends, unknown to fame: For yet the length of the Piræan walls Slept in the quarry, and the Attic name
No startling panic to the neighb'ring tribes Brought in the sound. The long Hymettian vales, Each held her band of harmless villagers, Whose sole ambition was to turn the glebe, To prune their olives, or their flocks attend, Or on a festive morn, in ruftic glee, To foot the green sward morrice, or to share The smoking victim by the simple Fane. These future arbiters of nations, doom'd To bear the freighted thunders of the state From old Pelorus to the Caspian bound, Nurst by content, with unambitious aim, Follow'd their task inglorious, nor perceiv'd That unextinguishable spark within With horrible displosion doom'd to shake The thrones of Elam, * to their basis deep. Oft with mute rapture, on the Ægean wave, Its fluid mirrour to the purple dawn, Unfolding wide, they gaz'd, unconscious then Of their own dawning triumphs, yet involv'd In Time's prolific womb, o'er these blue waves, And mid those cloud-cap'd isles, to break away, In glory like the springing morn. But now
Ægides' + mind, the glowing thought inspires To raise his people o'er the neighb'ring tribes, To bid them taste the deep enchanting cup Of liberty, and feel their powers expand、 From the nectareous draught. From woody haunts The valley's deep recess, the sunny hill And river's brim, much wondering at the call, They reach the city; here the mountain tribes Salute their brethren of the shore, and learn
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