Poems, dramatic and miscellaneous

Leo.
I come to hail the valiant friend of Rome,
Whose arm and prowess are her best support;
With the glad news of fierce Attila's death.

Ætius.
How did the monster fall?

Leo.
Hot from the riot of a barbarous feast;
Sent swiftly down to Pluto's gloomy shade,
By lewd debauch and great excess of joy
That his rough arm had humbled haughty Rome.

Ætius.
Humbled indeed! the world's proud mistress
Trembles at th' approach of Suevick valour;
The harden'd lance dip'd in the Wolga's stream;
Hurl'd in the face of her degenerate sons;
They start appall'd e'en at a distant foe;
The next invader seals Rome's heavy doom.

Leo.
Though weaken'd Rome by furious factions torn,
Imbitter'd by decline, sinks deep in vice—
Yet, was the empire held in bolder hands
The fierce barbarick rage might still be check'd:
Within Liguria all would be secure,
And sav'd from pillage all the Latian states;
Then let the world beyond the towering Alps
Be still possess'd by Goth, or Vandal tribes,
Ravag'd by wolves, or yet more savage Huns.

Ætius.
Where is the emperor? Does he not awake
From his soft slumbering lethargy of soul?

Leo.
Supinely sunk in dreams of wanton bliss,
Ignoble pleasures of a splendid court,
Or peace, or war, or truce, the same to him.

Ætius.
Yet, when he heard of the barbarian's death,
Did he not rouse, nor dread the ill omen'd birds
That late have brooded o'er the capitol,
And augur'd evils round the city walls,
That the twelve centuries were near complete,
Since Romulus the founder of the state
Had prophesied the measure of her guilt
Would tempt the destinies in wrath to rise
And shake the empire from its ancient base?

Leo.
The fair Ardelia fills the monarch's heart;
He secret sighs for Maximus's wife.

Ætius.
Ardelia!—the good—the chaste Ardelia—
The first and fairest matron left in Rome!

Leo.
To triumph over her superiour charms,
He cog'd the dye at Maximus's cost:
Long practis'd in the tercerarian art,
Petronius is play'd a double game;
The die was thrown while fortune turn'd the wheel
That makes him wretched as he has been bless'd.

Ætius.
'Mongst the long list of celebrated names,
Matrons of ancient or of modern fame,
None boasts a fairer claim to virtue's palm
Than the discreet, the excellent Ardelia;
Nor can she forfeit by a shameful fall

That modesty, and grace, and decent pride,
That dignifies, nor less adorns, the sex.

Leo.
Yet heavenly virtue, or angelick worth,
May fall the victim of a wanton wish,
When power lends its iron hand to guilt.

Ætius.
Petronius ador'd Ardelia's charms.

Leo.
As well he ought—though innocent as fair,
Pity's too weak her anguish to express—
Language too poor to speak one half her griefs:
But Maximus returns—Ah, hapless man!
I would not see him till he knows his fate,
And time has calm'd the tumults of his soul.

[Exeunt.

University of Virginia Library

SCENE II.