 | The defence of Rome |  |
9
[I.]
Rome, thou art named as of Strength, and thy glory is sprung of the sword,
From thy birth in the ancient tale the War-God was thy father and lord;
All feebler birds of the air were amazed and folded their wings
When thine eagles swooped on their prey, overshadowing peoples and kings.
Eastward and westward they flew, and many a battle of old
Famous and fierce they led; yet ne'er might thine eagles behold—
Nay not among all the battles that ring thro' the roll of the years
With clanging of shield and broadsword and hurtling of close-hurled spears—
More stern and sacred a fight than was fought by thy walls that year,
Whereof men yet living were part, when the rulers were stricken with fear.
Stricken with fear were the rulers, their faces and hearts grew wan
As they thought of the dread beginning, nigh three-score winters agone,
When the strength of the prisoned giant had stirred in his mountain tomb,
And the mountain was shaken and sundered, the high heavens rolled in gloom,
And up thro' the cloudy pillar there leapt forth a pillar of fire,
The wrath of the tortured giant, the flame of his deadly desire.
Three and thirty years were gone by since the waste and the warfare were stayed,
Cooled were the lava-fires, but the tyrants still were afraid.
For of all those crowns that had fallen some dead in the dust lay still,
And some were shorn by the powers that make righteous against men's will.
And two hands ever hath Fear when she stands by the tyrant's throne;
With one she plucketh him back, with the other she urgeth him on
To cruelties fiercer and fouler than when his soul was at ease,
And the dark land darkens around him, the last of the sunlight flees.
From thy birth in the ancient tale the War-God was thy father and lord;
All feebler birds of the air were amazed and folded their wings
When thine eagles swooped on their prey, overshadowing peoples and kings.
Eastward and westward they flew, and many a battle of old
Famous and fierce they led; yet ne'er might thine eagles behold—
Nay not among all the battles that ring thro' the roll of the years
With clanging of shield and broadsword and hurtling of close-hurled spears—
10
Whereof men yet living were part, when the rulers were stricken with fear.
Stricken with fear were the rulers, their faces and hearts grew wan
As they thought of the dread beginning, nigh three-score winters agone,
When the strength of the prisoned giant had stirred in his mountain tomb,
And the mountain was shaken and sundered, the high heavens rolled in gloom,
And up thro' the cloudy pillar there leapt forth a pillar of fire,
The wrath of the tortured giant, the flame of his deadly desire.
Three and thirty years were gone by since the waste and the warfare were stayed,
Cooled were the lava-fires, but the tyrants still were afraid.
11
And some were shorn by the powers that make righteous against men's will.
And two hands ever hath Fear when she stands by the tyrant's throne;
With one she plucketh him back, with the other she urgeth him on
To cruelties fiercer and fouler than when his soul was at ease,
And the dark land darkens around him, the last of the sunlight flees.
But of all those lands in darkness, none knew so grievous a night
As the land that is lady of summer, the child of the sun and the light.
To the south and the sun she leans, and around her delicately,
As the arms of a nurse round her nursling, the streams of the Midland Sea,
Guarding their midmost gem, flow softly, and softly enfold
Italy, Europe's darling, the light of her peoples of old.
Twice in the tale of mankind out of Italy came there a word,
That spake with power to the peoples, and turned their hearts as they heard.
But each word failed in its day, and past when its work was sped
To the underworld of the ghosts, Aïdonean realms of the dead:
And she that had been Earth's eye became darkness, a cavern of gloom,
And she that had been Earth's life as the charnel load of the tomb.
Long had the spoilers torn her, and now when their work was done
Sevenwise rent she lay, and knew not as yet she was One.
As the land that is lady of summer, the child of the sun and the light.
To the south and the sun she leans, and around her delicately,
As the arms of a nurse round her nursling, the streams of the Midland Sea,
12
Italy, Europe's darling, the light of her peoples of old.
Twice in the tale of mankind out of Italy came there a word,
That spake with power to the peoples, and turned their hearts as they heard.
But each word failed in its day, and past when its work was sped
To the underworld of the ghosts, Aïdonean realms of the dead:
And she that had been Earth's eye became darkness, a cavern of gloom,
And she that had been Earth's life as the charnel load of the tomb.
Long had the spoilers torn her, and now when their work was done
Sevenwise rent she lay, and knew not as yet she was One.
| The defence of Rome | |