ITALY.
Am I in Italy ? Is this the Mincius ?
Are those the distant turrets of Verona ?
And shall I sup where Juliet at the masque
First saw and loved, and now by him who came
That night a stranger, sleeps from age to age ? Such questions hourly do I ask myself;
And not a stone, in a cross-way, inscribed
"To Mantua "—" To Ferrara —but excites Surprise, and doubt, and self-congratulation. 0 Italy, how beautiful thou art ! Yet I coulfi weep—for thou art lying, alas, Low in the dust ; and we admire thee now, As we admire the beautiful in death.
Thine was a dangerous gift, when thou wast born, The gift of Beauty. Would thou had'st it not; Or welt as once, awing the caitiffs vile That now beset thee, making thee their slave I Would they had loved thee less, or fear'd thee more ! —But why despair ? Twice hast thou lived already ; Twice shone among the nations of the world, As the sun shines among the lesser lights Of heaven ; and shalt again. The hour shall come, When they who think to bind the ethereal spirit, Who like the eagle coweriog o'er his prey Watch with quick eye, and strike and strike again If but a sinew vibrate, shall confess Their wisdom folly. Even now the flame Bursts forth where once it burnt so gloriously, And dying left a splendour like the day, That like the day diffused itself, and still Blesses the earth—the light of genius, virtue, Greatness in thought and act, contempt of death, God-like example. Echoes, that have slept
Since Athens, Lacediemon were themselves—
Since men invoked "By those in Marathon I" Awake along the Mgean; and the dead, They of that sacred shore, have heard the call, And through the ranks from wing to wing are seen Moving as once they were—instead of rage, ITALIA.
Teneone ego farina tandem littora ? Elk Mincius it ? Elk remote longiiis Verona cernitur ; metongife erit hodic Ccenare,flammil Juliette infaustii ubi Subite arsit, adeeneeque (forte primian Viso) sepulta perpetim claudit lotus? Me scepe sic inter nagandran interrogo- Ad Mantuam twee, at ista Ferraram via Ducit, lapis si forte guis &Mum monet ; Et stupeo, et &nit°, et mihi congratulor. "Italic quern wniesta," nix alacrymis, Dian clamo, temper° : lieu jaws in pulvere- Tali attamen Inman& pidentudine, Quali renew exstincta pallescit Tilt, ah ! periculosa nascenti fait
Ea puleritudo. (jab: careres peruchas, Tel plus timoris efferis nictoribus
Ineutere posses ; at catenis qui premit Aletuisset wit magis to, amtisset ant minus!
Nee occidit spin omnis : est Its jam tibi Concessa Vita ; veer minores sot uti Ignes nitet, micuisse lie tilt datum est- .Micabis et rursian—citatis axibus Mon aderit horn, spiritum guando levees Darts ligarc VilICUTIS qui percupit, Cadaverigue steal aquae desuper Impendet, acri guastione examinat An partel girdfibra nondum eniart.a, Rcpetito at into conjiciat, amentiam Sapientiam swim ease eonjitebitur. .Ardescit, en qumitamma quondam eau dies, Eitore terras ciun repleverat suo, Rutiluta aides; per seecla diguditjubar ; Relucet unite qutcquid aut virtutis est, "Jut dinitis men, aYtt querque et sent at Agatque,.contemptrix sects daturaque Exempla Dieis diyna, mess. Audin' Fremunt Qum siluerant races per 1Egeettm whoa, Ex,quo suique oblita Lacedeemonlitit Suique "Rheum, ultra nee invocant viros lifaratlante qui stetere contra Garbaros. Exepipus cot a mortals statim stows, Sacra tsta qui dudum incolellant tattoo; Jamque instruunt se rite turmatim ordines, Jam more prism tetnperata vis edged, Viernque brake :astute: ferocity.
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