University of Virginia Library

XI.

Then would we muse on the Etruscan shade,
—So like this wild and melancholy spot!—

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Where Numa listen'd to Egeria's lore.
Numa! who gave a savage people laws,
And lull'd their warlike appetites to rest.
Oh! I could pause on Numa's sacred name,
From the first dawning of Aurora's ray,
Till Venus, glowing in the vault of eve,
Reluctant bids the darkening world adieu.
Then would we woo Simplicity, the maid
Whom wisdom loves, and innocence adores.
—No more by wild and angry passions tost;
No more by ill-placed confidence betray'd;
No more by envy's low bred cunning crost;
We'd hail the hour when truth and love shall rule,
And bland affection bind the willing world.