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Poems on Several Occasions

by Samuel Wesley. The Second Edition, with Additions
 
 

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On the Siege of Saguntum.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


308

On the Siege of Saguntum.

I

Ah, poor Saguntum! evil star'd,
Twice miserable City!
By Punic Foes and English Bard
Subjected to our Pity.

II

Thy Sons drop dead for want of Food
Nor War its heat assuages:
Yet rampant Lust in midst of Blood
And spight of Famine rages.

III

What tho' by Rome's neglect they dye,
They perish unrepining;
Praise Roman vertue to the sky,
And fall like Lover's whining.

IV

No pains on earth to bring 'em to 't
Has Sicoris i'th' Story.
He bids them burn themselves—they do't
And there's an exit for ye.

V

To leave one's Friends in such extremes
Is Roman Faith befitting,
Tho' basest treachery, it seems,
In any Queen of Britain.

309

VI

To these the Bard prophetic shows
A prospect but unpleasant,
Gives them for comfort future Woes
When sinking with the present.

VII

A New Saguntum shall, he saith,
Rise in the self-same Nation,
Not near the first in Fall or Faith
Or Cause or Situation.

VIII

Like in Misfortunes and Renown,
Or Theron is mistaken;
Tho' ne'er forsook before, the Town
Again shall be forsaken.

IX

Thy Glory, Phil, shall never fail
As Poet or as Prophet,
For Truth in telling of thy Tale
And Wit in timing of it.