There was their Dacian mother-he, their sire All this rush'd with his blood — Shall he expire And unavenged? - Arise! ye Goths, and glut your ire! CXLII. But here, where Murder breathed her bloody steam; Here, where the Roman million's blame or praise My voice sounds much-and fall the stars' faint rays On the arena void-seats crush'd-walls bow'dAnd galleries, where my steps seem echoes strangely loud. CXLIII. A ruin-yet what ruin! from its mass Walls, palaces, half-cities, have been rear'd; And marvel where the spoil could have appear'd. When the colossal fabric's form is near'd: It will not bear the brightness of the day, Which streams too much on all years, man, have reft away. CXLIV. But when the rising moon begins to climb 1,2 See Appendix, "Historical Notes," Nos. XXIX, XXX. Like laurels on the bald first Cæsar's head; ' Heroes have trod this spot-'t is on their dust ye tread. CXLV. "While stands the Coliseum, Rome shall stand; 2 "When falls the Coliseum, Rome shall fall; [land "And when Rome falls. the World." From our own Thus spake the pilgrims o'er this mighty wall In Saxon times, which we are wont to call Ancient; and these three mortal things are still [will. The World, the same wide den-of thieves, or what ye CXLVI. Simple, erect, severe, austere, sublime Shrine of all saints and temple of all gods, From Jove to Jesus-spared and blest by time; 3 Arch, empire, each thing round thee, and man plods 1 Suetonius informs us that Julius Cæsar was particularly gratified by that decree of the senate which enabled him to wear a wreath of laurel on all occasions. He was anxious, not to show that he was the conqueror of the world, but to hide that he was bald. A stranger at Rome would hardly have guessed at the motive, nor should we without the help of the historian. 2 This is quoted in the "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire," as a proof that the Coliseum was entire, when seen by the Anglo-Saxon pilgrims at the end of the seventh, or the beginning of the eighth, century. A notice on the Coliseum may be seen in the" Historical Illustrations," p. 263. 3 "Though plundered of all its brass, except the ring which was necessary to preserve the aperture above; though exposed to repeated fires; though sometimes flooded by the river, and always open to the rain, no monument of equal antiquity is so well pre served as this rotundo. It passed with little alteration from the Pagan into the present worship; and so convenient were its niches for the Christian altar, that Michael Angelo, ever studious of ancient beauty, introduced their design as a model in the Catholic church."- Forsyth's Italy, p. 137. 2d edit. His way through thorns to ashes-glorious dome! Shalt thou not last? Time's scythe and tyrants' rods Shiver upon thee-sanctuary and home Of art and piety-Pantheon!-pride of Rome! CXLVII. Relic of nobler days, and noblest arts! Their eyes on honour'd forms, whose busts around them close. I CXLVIII. There is a dungeon, in whose dim drear light? What do I gaze on? Nothing: Look again! Two forms are slowly shadow'd on my sightTwo insulated phantoms of the brain: It is not so; I see them full and plain An old man, and a female young and fair, Fresh as a nursing mother, in whose vein The blood is nectar: - but what doth she there, With her unmantled neck, and bosom white and bare? 1 The Pantheon has been made a receptacle for the busts of modern great, or, at least, distinguished, men. The flood of light which once fell through the large orb above on the whole circle of divinities, now shines on a numerous assemblage of mortals, some one or two of whom have been almost deified by the veneration of their countrymen. For a notice of the Pantheon, see "Historical Illustrations," p. 287. This and the three next stanzas allude to the story of the Roman daughter, which is recalled to the traveller by the site, or pretended site, of that adventure, now shown at the church of St. Nicholas in Carcere. The difficulties attending the full belief of the tale are stated in "Historical Illustrations," p. 295. CXLIX. Full swells the deep pure fountain of young life, CL. - Cain was But here youth offers to old age the food, Great Nature's Nile, whose deep stream rises higher CLI. The starry fable of the milky way And sacred Nature triumphs more in this Where sparkle distant worlds: - Oh, holiest nurse! With life as our freed souls rejoin the universe. CLII. Turn to the Mole which Hadrian rear'd on high, 1 Whose travell❜d phantasy from the far Nile's To build for giants, and for his vain earth, His shrunken ashes, raise this dome: How smiles To view the huge design which sprung from such a birth! CLIII. But lo! the dome- the vast and wondrous dome, 2 Christ's mighty shrine above his martyr's tomb! Its columns strew the wilderness, and dwell I have beheld Sophia's bright roofs swell Their glittering mass i' the sun, and have survey'd Its sanctuary the while the usurping Moslem pray'd; CLIV. But thou, of temples old, or altars new, Standest alone- with nothing like to thee— 1 The castle of St. Angelo. See "Historical Illustrations." 2 This and the six next stanzas have a reference to the church of St. Peter's. For a measurement of the comparative length of this basilica and the other great churches of Europe, see the pavement of St. Peter's, and the Classical Tour through Italy, vol. ii. p. 125. et seq. ch. iv. |