'Twas then-O Shame! O Truft, how ill repaid!
O Latium, oft by faithlefs fons betray'd!-
'Twas then -What frenzy on thy reafon ftole ?
What spells unfinew'd thy determin'd foul?
-Is this the man in Freedom's cause approv'd?
The man fo great, fo honour'd, fo belov'd?
This patient flave by tinfel chains allur'd?
This wretched fuitor for a boon abjur'd?
This CURIO, hated and despis'd by all?
Who fell himself, to work his country'd fall?
O, loft alike to action and repofe !
Unknown, unpitied in the worst of woes!
With all that confcious, undiffembled pride,
Sold to the infults of a foe defy'd!
With all that habit of familiar fame,
Doom'd to exhauft the dregs of life in shame!
The fole fad refuge of thy baffled art,
To act a statesman's dull, exploded part,
Renounce the praise no longer in thy pow'r,
Display thy virtue, though without a dow'r,
Contemn the giddy crowd, the vulgar wind,
And shut thy eyes that others may be blind.
-Forgive me, Romans, that I bear to smile
When fhameless mouths your majesty defile,
Paint you a thoughtlefs, frantic, headlong crew,
And caft their own impieties on you..
For witness, Freedom, to whose sacred pow'r
My foul was vow'd from reafon's earliest hour,
How have I flood exulting to furvey
My country's virtues opening in thy ray!
How, with the fons of every foreign fhore
The more I match'd them, honour'd her's the more!
O race erect! whose native strength of foul,
Which kings, nor priefts, nor fordid laws controul,
Bursts the tame round of animal affairs,
And feeks a nobler center for its cares;
Intent the laws of life to comprehend,
And fix dominion's limits by its end.
Who bold and equal in their love or hate,
By conscious reafon judging every state,
The Man forget not, tho' in rags he lies,
And know the mortal thro' a crown's disguise:
Thence prompt alike with witty scorn to view
Faftidious graudeur lift his folemn brow,
Or all awake at Pity's foft command,
Bend the mild ear, and stretch the gracious hand:
Thence large of heart, from envy far remov'd,
When public toils to virtue ftand approv'd,
Not the young lover fonder to admire,
Nor more indulgent the delighted fire;
Yet high and jealous of their freeborn name,
Fierce as the flight of Jove's deftroying flame,
Where'er oppreffion works her wanton sway,
Proud to confront and dreadful to repay.
But if to purchase CURIO's fage applause,
My country muft with him renounce her cause,
Quit with a flave the path a patriot trod,
Bow the meek knee, and kiís the regal rod;
Then ftill, ye pow'rs, inftruct his tongue to rail,
Nor let his zeal, nor let his fubject fail:
Elfe, ere he change the ftyle, bear me away
To where the Gracchi, where the Bruti stay!
O long rever'd, and late refign'd to fhame!
If this uncourtly page thy notice claim
When the loud cares of bus'nefs are withdrawn,
Nor well-dreft beggars round thy footsteps fawn;
In that ftill, thoughtful, folitary hour,
When Truth exerts her unrefifted pow'r,
Breaks the falfe optics ting'd with fortune's glare,
Unlocks the breaft, and lays the paffions bare:
Then turn thy eyes on that important scene,
And ask thyfelf-if all be well within.
Where is the heart-felt worth and weight of foul,
Which labour cou'd not stop, nor fear controul?
Where the known dignity, the ftamp of awe,
Which, half abafh'd, the proud and venal faw?
Where the calm triumphs of an honest cause ?
Where the delightful taste of juft applaufe?
Where the ftrong reafon, the commanding tongue,
On which the fenate fir'd or trembling hung?
i The two brothers, Tiberius and Caius Gracchus loft their lives in attempting to introduce the only regulation that could give ftability and good order to the Roman Republic. L. Jun. Brutus founded the commonwealth, and died in its defence.
All vanish'd, all are fold
Couch'd in thy bofom's deep, diftracted gloom,
See the pale form of barb'rous grandeur dwell,
Like some grim idol in a forcʼrer's cell!
To her in chains thy dignity was led;
At her polluted shrine thy honour bled;
With blasted weeds thy awful brow fhe crown'd,
Thy pow'rful tongue with poifon'd philters bound,
That baffled reafon ftraight indignant flew,
And fair perfuafion from her feat withdrew:
For now no longer truth fupports thy caufe;
No longer glory prompts thee to applaufe;
No longer virtue breathing in thy breast,
With all her confcious majefty confeft,
Still bright and brighter wakes th' almighty flame,
To roufe the feeble, and the wilful tame,
And where fhe fees the catching glimpfes roll,
Spreads the strong blaze, and all involves the foul;
But cold restraints thy confcious fancy chill,
And formal paffions mock thy struggling will;
Or if thy Genius e'er forget his chain,
And reach impatient at a nobler strain,
Soon the fad bodings of contemptuous mirth
Shoot thro' thy breaft, and ftab the generous birth,
Till blind with fmart, from truth to frenzy toft,
And all the tenor of thy reafon lost,
Perhaps thy anguifh drains a real tear;
While fome with pity, fome with laughter hear.
-Can art, alas! or genius guide the head,
Where truth and freedom from the heart are fled?
Can leffer wheels repeat their native stroke,
When the prime function of the foul is broke?
But come, unhappy man! thy fates impend;
Come, quit thy friends, if yet thou haft a friend;
Turn from the poor rewards of guilt like thine,
Renounce thy titles, and thy robes refign;
For fee the hand of deftiny difplay'd
To fhut thee from the joys thou haft betray'd!
See the dire fane of Infamy arife!
Dark as the grave, and fpacious as the skies;
Where from the firft of time, thy kindred train,
The chiefs and princes of th' unjust remain.
Eternal barriers guard the pathless road
To warn the wand'rer of the curst abode ;
But prone as whirlwinds fcour the paffive sky,
The heights furmounted, down the steep they fly.
There, black with frowns, relentless Time awaits,
And goads their footsteps to the guilty gates;
And ftill he asks them of their unknown aims,
Evolves their fecrets, and their guilt proclaims;
And still his hands defpoil them on the road
Of each vain wreath, by lying bards bestow'd,
Break their proud marbles, crush their feftal cars,
And rend the lawless trophies of their wars.
At laft the gates his potent voice obey;
Fierce to their dark abode he drives his prey,
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