Burning for blood! bony, and ghaunt, and grim!
Affembling wolves in raging troops descend;
And, pouring o'er the country, bear along,
Keen as the north-wind fweeps the gloffy fnow.
All is their prize: They faften on the steed,
Prefs him to earth, and pierce his mighty heart.
Nor can the bull his awful front defend,
Or fhake the murdering favages away.
Rapacious, at the mother's throat they fly,
And tear the screaming infant from her breast.
The godlike face of Man avails him nought.
Even beauty, force divine! at whofe bright glance
The generous lion stands in softened gaze,
Here bleeds, a haplefs undistinguish'd prey.
But if, appriz'd of the fevere attack,
The country be fhut up, lur'd by the scent,
On church-yards drear (inhuman to relate !)
The disappointed prowlers fall, and dig
The shrouded body from the grave; o'er which,
Mix'd with foul fhades, and frighted ghofts, they howl.
AMONG thofe hilly regions, where embrac'd
In peaceful vales the happy Grifons dwell;
Oft, rushing fudden from the loaded cliffs,
Mountains of fnow their gathering terrors roll.
From steep to steep, loud-thundering down they come,
A wintry waste in dire commotion all;
And herds, and flocks, and travellers, and fwains,
And fometimes whole brigades of marching troops, Or hamlets fleeping in the dead of night,
Are deep beneath the fmothering ruin whelm'd.
Now, all amid the rigours of the year,
In the wild depth of Winter, while without
The ceafelefs winds blow ice, be my retreat,
Between the groaning foreft and the shore,
Beat by the boundless multitude of waves,
A rural, fhelter'd, folitary, fcene;
Where ruddy fire and beaming tapers join,
To cheer the gloom. There ftudious let me fit,
And hold high converfe with the MIGHTY DEAD;
Sages of ancient time, as gods rever'd,
As gods beneficent, who bleft mankind
With arts, with arms, and humaniz'd a world. 435
Rous'd at th' infpiring thought, I throw afide.
The long-liv'd volume; and, deep-mufing, hail
The facred fhades, that flowly-rifing pafs
Before my wondering eyes. Firft SOCRATES,
Who firmly stood in a corrupted state,
Against the rage of tyrants fingle stood,
Invincible! calm Reafon's holy law,
That Voice of GOD within th' attentive mind,
Obeying, fearless, or in life, or death:
Great moral teacher! Wifeft of Mankind!
SOLON the next, who built his common-weal
On equity's wide b.de; by tender laws
A lively people curbing, yet und amp'd
Preferving ftill that quick peculiar fire,
Whence in the laurel'd field of finer arts,
And of bold freedom, they unequal'd fhone,
The pride of smiling GREECE, and human-kind.
LYCURGUS then, who bow'd beneath the force
Of ftrictest discipline, feverely wife,
All human paffions. Following him, I fee,
As at Thermopyle he glorious fell,
The firm DEVOTED CHIEF, who prov'd by deeds The hardeft leffon which the other taught.
Then ARISTIDES lifts his honest front;
Spotless of heart, to whom th' unflattering voice 460 Of freedom gave the nobleft name of Juft;
In pure majestic poverty rever'd ;
Who, even his glory to his country's weal
Submitting, fwell'd a haughty † Rival's fame.
Rear'd by his care, of fofter ray appears
CIMON fweet-foul'd; whofe genius, rifing ftrong,
Shook off the load of young debauch; abroad
The fcourge of Perfian pride, at home the friend
Of every worth and every splendid art;
Modeft, and fimple, in the pomp of wealth.
Then the laft worthies of declining GREECE,
Late-call'd to glory, in unequal times,
Penfive, appear. The fair Corinthian boaft,
TIMOLEON, temper'd happy, mild, and firm,
Who wept the Brother while the Tyrant bled.
And, equal to the beft, the THEBAN PAIR,
Whofe virtues, in heroic Concord join'd,
Their country rais'd to freedom, empire, fame.
He too, with whom Athenian honour funk,
And left a mass of fordid lees behind,
PHOCION the Good; in public life severe,
To virtue ftill inexorably firm;
But when, beneath his low illuftrious roof,
Sweet peace and happy wisdom smooth'd his brow,
Not friendship fofter was, nor love more kind. 485
And he, the last of old LYCURGUS' fons,
The generous victim to that vain attempt,
To fave a rotten State, AGIS, who faw
Even SPARTA's felf to fervile avarice funk.
The two Achaian heroes clofe the train.
ARATUS, who a while relum'd the foul
Of fondly lingering liberty in GREECE:
And he her darling as her latest hope,
The gallant PHILOPEMON; who to arms
Turn'd the luxurious pomp he could not cure;
Or toiling in his farm, a fimple fwain;
Or, bold and skilful, thundering in the field.
Of rougher front, a mighty people come ! A race of heroes! in thofe virtuous times
* PELOPIDAS, and EPAMINONDAS,
Which knew no ftain, fave that with partial flame
Their deareft country they too fondly lov'd.
Her better Founder firft, the light of ROME,
NUMA, who foften'd her rapacious fons.
SERVIUS the King, who laid the solid base
On which o'er earth the vast republic spread.
Then the great confuls venerable rise.
The* PUBLIC FATHER who the Private quell'd,
As on the dread tribunal sternly fad.
He, whom his thanklefs country could not lofe,
CAMILLUS, only vengeful to her foes.
FABRICIUS, fcorner of all-conquering gold;
And CINCINNATUS, awful from the plough.
Thy + WILLING VICTIM, Carthage, bursting loose
From all that pleading Nature could oppose,
From a whole city's tears, by rigid faith
Imperious call'd, and honour's dire command.
SCIPIO, the gentle chief, humanely brave,
Who foon the race of spotlefs glory ran,
And, warm in youth, to the Poetic Shade
With Friendship and Philofophy retir'd.
TULLY, whofe powerful eloquence a while
Reftrain'd the rapid fate of rufhing ROME.
Unconquer'd CATO, virtuous in Extreme.
And thou, unhappy BRUTUS, kind of heart,
Whose steady arm, by awful virtue urg'd,
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