 | Ode to General Kosciusko |  |
μητε δεσποτουμενον
αινεσης.
απαντι μεσω το χρατος
θεος ωπασεν.
Æschylus, Eum. 529.
Nor where no laws thy life restrain:
For perfect bliss, by Heaven's decree assign'd
In the midway, awaits mankind.
ODE TO GENERAL KOSCIUSKO.
Whatever clime the treasure bears,
The Muse exerts her guardian power,
And cheers the plant with vernal airs;
If Glory, of unfading hue,
Command his wreath aloft to burn,
She opens wide her breathing urn,
And feeds the root with heavenly dew:
His vigor, struggling with the storm
That o'er the ruin'd landscape strays,
She darts her own authentic rays,
And shews in light reveal'd the hallow'd form.
Clasps in her arms, with joyful boast
That Liberty's inviting smile
Has won thy steps to seek her coast;
Debarr'd to rove those hapless plains,
Where, pouring in the righteous cause
Of Freedom pure and equal laws,
Thy blood has left its lavish stains.
Tho' worn that brow with anxious care,
That toil'd to save thy land in vain,
Behold the Muse with awe prepare
To place her glowing chaplet there:
Nor may thy bosom sage the Muse's gift disdain.
The homage of the applausive string.
Such works his ardent spirit plann'd
As seraphs might delight to sing.
Long time the vassal peasants mourn'd,
In silent woe, their fruitless toil;
While ermin'd masters of the soil
Their unrequited merit spurn'd.
As oxen in the galling yoke,
They bent beneath Oppression's rod,
Till the mild King his sentence spoke,
That soon the bitter slavery broke,
And rais'd erect the image of his God .
To feel his neck from bondage free,
And follow, with unfetter'd choice,
At the blythe call of Liberty,
O'er piny plains and fir-clad hills,
And taste the honey's sweeter store,
That, gather'd from dictamnus' flower,
In every oaken cleft distils:
Returning clasp his blue-eyed dame
In their low hut, where round the board
By industry and plenty stor'd,
The babes are taught to lisp their Stanislaus' name.
Withers all good that blooms around.
Sudden the fiend beheld askance
The joys that grac'd the favor'd ground,
And call'd her regal minions forth,
Of Prussia's poor and upstart realm,
With the foul harpy of the North,
Whose talons, darting on her prey,
Marr'd all the blessings of the feast,
And bore it to her den away:
While more to stretch their greedy sway
They bound the captive limbs so late releas'd.
And beyond reach of mortal eye:
Nor may he hope to hit the mark,
Who shoots conjecture's shaft so high.
Vainly the dauntless hero strove
To stem Oppression's whelming tide,
To snatch the land from despot pride,
And guard the monarch of his love.
And prodigal of warrior blood,
Unwearied the keen falchion wield,
Till dragg'd reluctant from the field;
As if a lion fought to save his darling brood.
Of shame thy burning cheek o'erspread
Who dar'st with lordly foot to crush
The Indian's unoffending head.
No need of sanguine tides for thee
To cleanse the spot by guilt imprest;
Soon would it vanish from thy vest,
Touch'd by the Senate's just decree.
But while thy sable brothers groan,
The barter of an impious trade,
Mercy shall still thy suit disown,
Nor plead before the eternal throne,
If pale Distress thy helpless shores invade.
Thy backward course on wing sublime,
And call on Memory to rehearse
Deeds buried in the waste of time.
As old tradition's songs attest,
There Lechus first ordain'd his seat
Within the desolate retreat.
Auspicious sign! an eagle's nest
The name to Gnesna's turrets gave,
And thence the ample pinions spread
High on the Polish banners wave,
That oft the Turk and Russian slave
Have in the battle's storm beheld with crouching dread.
Of ages marks his mighty name:
Who breath'd out his indignant soul,
Long used to conquest's loud acclaim,
Stung with the pang of haughty grief
For guile, that work'd him one defeat.
Such antique tales my rhimes repeat
To swell thy glory, mighty chief:
Nor he who rears the temper'd laws,
Nor who has tam'd the frequent foe,
Is noble, as the hand that draws
The sword in Freedom's sacred cause,
Tho' fickle Fortune has not sped the blow.
May gild thy latest eve of life;
And teach thy spirit, firm and bold,
To pass the cloud of human strife.
Ambition's phantom, dark and wild,
That leads to headlong deep despair,
Before thine eye-sight fades to air,
A shadow's dream to mock a child.
For thou, with pure and purged mind,
Canst scorn her threats nor heed her toys;
And calmly to his will resign'd,
Who in his wisdom sways mankind,
May'st dwell, immortal chief! in Virtue's secret joys.
The blessings proposed to Poland by the Revolution in that country, are detailed by Burke in his Appeal from the New to the Old Whigs. The voice of poetry would found but weakly if heard at the same time with the more impressive strains of his eloquence. I will quote only the close of the noble panegyric: “Happy people, if they know to proceed as they have begun! Happy prince, worthy to begin with splendor, or to close with glory a race of patriots and of kings, and to leave
Which men to speak and angels joy to hear.
Sunt autem sylvæ pleræque piccæ, quernæ, faginæ et abiegnæ; ac piccæ quidem fere in planis et arenosis locis, abiegnæ et faginæ in montanis, quernæ fere in utrisque sed uberiore glebâ præditis. Martini Cromeri Poloniæ Descriptio. l. 1.
Mel quoque itidem cum lupulo aqua decoctum in frequenti usu est. Russis præsertim et Podoliis apud quos permagna est apum et mellis optimi ex dictamno et aliis bene olentibus herbis et floribus collecti copia. Martini Cromeri Poloniæ Descrip. l. 1.
Mel nusquam melius nobiliusve quodque minus ceræ habeat albumque fit, quam in Samogitiâ repertur sylvæque illic summas divitias ferunt: stipitibus enim cavatis mella passim promuntur. Alex. Guagnini Descr. Polon.
Apes mellificant partim in sylvis ubi arbores aut carie, aut hominum industriâ excavatas reperiunt; aut in alveariis, quæ rustici in campis posuerunt aut in terræ puteolis omnique in loco ubi vel minimam opportunitatem reperiunt. Joannis Boteri Descr. Polon.
In allusion to the subsidies by which the arms of Prussia are purchased by other states, and to the short time that it has been erected into a kingdom.
Il semble aussi que la Pologne aiant eté abandonné des venediens ses anciens habitans servit de retraite à d'autres nations nouvellement arrivées, qui y formerent un etat sous la conduite de Lechus environ l'an 550 aprés la naissance de Christ. On pretend que ce Lechus choisit la ville de Gnisen (Gnesne) pour le lieu de sa residence a cause de I'heureux presage qu'il faisoit d'un nid d'aigle quil avoit trouvé là. Et ce fut pour cette raison qu'il fit mettre un aigle dans les armes de cette republique, & qu'il appella la ville Gniesen (Gnesne) du nom Gnesne, qui veut dire nid en langue Polonoise. Puffndorf Intro. de la Pologne.
Boleslaus III. Jamais les Polonois n'ont eu de Prince on de Seigneur qui ait fait plus de guerres que ce Roi-ci. Car on pretend qu'il se trouva en vingt sept batailles rangées, on il remporta toujours l'avantage, si ce n'est contre les Russes, on il fut batu par la lâcheté du Woywode de Cracovie, auquel il envoia pour cet effet une peau de lievre un habit de femme & un rouet à filer. Ce qui facha tellement ce gouverneur qu'il se pendit lui-meme de chagrin. Et cette deroute causa tant de douleur au Roi meme, qu'il mourut de deplaisir en l'an 1139. Puffendorf Intr. de la Pologne.
| Ode to General Kosciusko | |