That voice of GOD within the attentive mind,
Obeying, fearless, or in life or death:
Great moral teacher! Wisest of mankind!
Solon the next, who built his commonweal
On equity's wide base; by tender laws
A lively people curbing, yet undamp'd
Preserving still that quick peculiar fire,
Whence in the laurel'd field of finer arts,
And of bold freedom, they unequal'd shone,
The pride of smiling Greece and humankind.
Lycurgus then, who bow'd beneath the force
Of strictest discipline, severely wise,

All human passions. Following him, I see,
As at Thermopyla he glorious fell,

The firm devoted Chief*, who proved by deeds
The hardest lesson which the other taught.
Then Aristides lifts his honest front;

Spotless of heart, to whom the' unflattering voice
Of freedom gave the noblest name of Just;
In pure majestic poverty revered;

Who, e'en his glory to his country's weal
Submitting, swell'd a haughty Rival's † fame.
Rear'd by his care, of softer ray appears
Cimon sweet soul'd; whose genius, rising strong,
Shook off the load of young debauch; abroad
The Scourge of Persian pride, at home the friend

* Leonidast 2021+ Themistocles.

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Of every worth and every splendid artram Ban
Modest, and simple, in the pomp of wealth.
Then the last worthies of declining Greece,
Late call'd to glory, in unequal times,
Pensive, appear. The fair Corinthian boast,
Timoleon, temper'd happy! mild and firm,
Who wept the brother while the tyrant bled.
And, equal to the best, the Theban Pair
Whose virtues, in heroic concord join'd,,
Their country raised to freedom, empire, fame.
He too, with whom Athenian honour sunk,
And left a mass of sordid lees behind,
Phocion the Good; in public life severe,
To virtue still inexorably firm;

But when, beneath his low illustrious roof,
Sweet peace and happy wisdom smooth'd his brow,
Not friendship softer was, nor love more kind.
And he, the last of old Lycurgus' sons,
The generous victim to that vain attempt,
To save a rotten state, Agis, who saw
E'en Sparta's self to servile avarice sunk.
The two Achaian heroes close the train:
Aratus, who a while relumed the soul
Of fondly lingering liberty in Greece;
And he her darling as her latest hope,
The gallant Philopomen; who to arms

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* Pelopidas and Epaminondas.

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Or toiling in
e swain;
Or, bold and skilful, thundering in the field.

Of rougher front, a mighty people come!
A race of
of heroes in those virtuous times
Which knew no stain, save that with partial flame
Their dearest country they too fondly loved :
Her better founder first, the light of Rome,
Numa, who soften'd her rapacious sons:
Servius the king, who laid the solid base
On which o'er earth the vast republic spread.
Then the great consuls venerable rise.
The public Father* who the private quell'd,
As on the dread tribunal sternly sad.

He, whom his thankless country could not lose,
Camillus,
s, only vengeful to her foes.
Fabricius, scorner of all-conquering gold;
And Cincinnatus, awful from the plough.
Thy willing victimt, 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 soon the race of spotless glory ran,
And, warm in youth, to the poetic shade
With Friendship and Philosophy retired.
Tully, whose powerful eloquence a while
*sbonimagine

* Marcus Junius Brutus.

N

↑ Regulus.

T

Restrain'd the rapid fate of rushing Rome.
Unconquer'd Cato, virtuous in extreme:
And thou, unhappy Brutus, kind of heart,
Whose steady arm, by awful virtue urged,
Lifted the Roman steel against thy friend.
Thousands besides the tribute of a verse
Demand; but who can count the stars of heaven?
Who sing their influence on this lower world?

Behold, who yonder comes! in sober state
Fair, mild, and strong, as is a vernal sun:
'Tis Phoebus' self, or else the Mantuan Swain!
Great Homer too appears, of daring wing,
Parent of song! and equal by his side,

The British Muse: join'd hand in hand they walk,
Darkling, full up the middle steep to fame,

Nor absent are those shades, whose skilful touch
Pathetic drew the impassion'd heart, and charm'd
Transported Athens with the moral scene;
Nor those who, tuneful, waked the' enchanting lyre.
First of your kind! society divine!

Still visit thus my nights, for you reserved,

And mount my soaring soul to thoughts like yours.
Silence, thou lonely power! the door be thine;
See on the hallow'd hour that none intrude,
Save a few chosen friends, who sometimes deign
To bless my humble roof, with sense refined,
Learning digested well, exalted faith,
Unstudied wit, and humour ever gay.

Or from the Muses' hill will Pope descend,

To raise the sacred hour, to bid it smile,

And with the social spirit warm the heart?
For though not sweeter his own Homer sings,
Yet is his life the more endearing song.

Where art thou, Hammond? thou, the darling pride, The friend and lover of the tuneful throng!

Ah why, dear youth, in all the blooming prime
Of vernal genius, where disclosing fast

Each active worth, each manly virtue lay,
Why wert thou ravish'd from our hope so soon?
What now avails that noble thirst of fame,
Which stung thy fervent breast? that treasured store
Of knowledge, early gain'd? that eager zeal
To serve thy country, glowing in the band
Of youthful patriots, who sustain her name;
What now, alas! that life diffusing charm
Of sprightly wit? that rapture for the Muse,
That heart of friendship, and that soul of joy,
Which bade with softest light thy virtues smile?
Ah! only show'd, to check our fond pursuits,
And teach our humbled hopes that life is vain!

Thus in some deep retirement would I pass
The winter glooms, with friends of pliant soul,
Or blithe, or solemn, as the theme inspired:
With them would search, if Nature's boundless frame
Was call'd, late-rising from the void of night,

Or sprung eternal from the' Eternal Mind;
Its life, its laws, its progress, and its end.
Hence larger prospects of the beauteous whole