 | The defence of Rome |  |
X.
So the glorious Defence was ended; the treacherous foe forsworn
Marched in thro' the deathlike gloom of the streets of the city forlorn.
Yet found he not there Garibaldi, for he with the last of his band
Was gone forth on a desperate venture, if haply the length of the land
They might traverse afar to the northward and reach unto Venice at last:
So on to their fate heroic, well knowing their peril, they past.
And the strangers marched thro' the town, but their triumph was poisoned with shame
For the lie-stained banner of France and their false republican name.
And they seemed in that silence sepulcral as men who outrage the dead,
And each felt gloom in his breast and the blood of the brave on his head.
Yet knew not they then how at last in the two-and-twentieth year
There should come unto Rome a redemption, to France strange anguish and fear,
Nor how France, made pure from her sin in a furnace of fiery pain,
Should hurl from her bosom the vampire and rise into honour again.
Marched in thro' the deathlike gloom of the streets of the city forlorn.
Yet found he not there Garibaldi, for he with the last of his band
Was gone forth on a desperate venture, if haply the length of the land
They might traverse afar to the northward and reach unto Venice at last:
43
And the strangers marched thro' the town, but their triumph was poisoned with shame
For the lie-stained banner of France and their false republican name.
And they seemed in that silence sepulcral as men who outrage the dead,
And each felt gloom in his breast and the blood of the brave on his head.
Yet knew not they then how at last in the two-and-twentieth year
There should come unto Rome a redemption, to France strange anguish and fear,
Nor how France, made pure from her sin in a furnace of fiery pain,
Should hurl from her bosom the vampire and rise into honour again.
They went up to the heart of Rome, the august Capitolian hill,
Where, awaiting the foe, the Assembly sat calm in their places and still,
Even they whom the people had chosen and laid its power in their hands;
But now breaking in on their council came Oudinot's armëd bands
And scattered them far into exile and barred behind them the door,
And deemed that the voices of freedom should speak from that hill no more.
Yet or ever that deed was done, on the eve of that lawless day,
Had a voice from that hill gone forth which should sound thro' the world alway.
All thro' the storm of the siege they had laboured early and late
To fulfil their charge from the people, to fashion the laws of the state,
And even as the feet of the foemen came in o'er the blood-stained ground,
They proclaimed to the city her statutes, unheeding the ruin around.
44
Even they whom the people had chosen and laid its power in their hands;
But now breaking in on their council came Oudinot's armëd bands
And scattered them far into exile and barred behind them the door,
And deemed that the voices of freedom should speak from that hill no more.
Yet or ever that deed was done, on the eve of that lawless day,
Had a voice from that hill gone forth which should sound thro' the world alway.
All thro' the storm of the siege they had laboured early and late
To fulfil their charge from the people, to fashion the laws of the state,
And even as the feet of the foemen came in o'er the blood-stained ground,
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Thus had the Romans wrought, as a deed of the Romans of yore,
That so, whether late or soon, when the tyranny all should be o'er,
Then Justice from exile returning, led back by a kindlier star,
Should know that her own did not doubt, had foreseen her return from afar,
That the transient had known her eternal, the homeless had wrought her a home,
Yea, a shrine for her Godhead to dwell in, the laws of republican Rome.
That so, whether late or soon, when the tyranny all should be o'er,
Then Justice from exile returning, led back by a kindlier star,
Should know that her own did not doubt, had foreseen her return from afar,
That the transient had known her eternal, the homeless had wrought her a home,
Yea, a shrine for her Godhead to dwell in, the laws of republican Rome.
| The defence of Rome | |