Classic Poem

WRITTEN AT OXFORD MDCCXXV

I.

As the wing'd minister of thund'ring Jove,
To whom he gave his dreadful bolts to bear,
Faithful assistant of his master;s love,
King of the wand'ring nations of the air,

II.

When balmy breezes fann'd the vernal sky
On doubtful pinions left his parent nest,
In slight essays his growing force to try,
While inborn courage fir'd his gen'rous breast;

III.

Then darting with impetuous fury down
The flocks he slaughter'd, an unpractis'd foe,
Now his ripe valour to perfection grown
The scaly snake and crested dragon know;

IV.

Or as a lion's youthful progeny,
Wean'd from his savage dam and milky food,
The grazing kid beholds with fearful eye,
Doom'd first to stain his tender fangs in blood;

V.

Such Drusus young in arms his foes beheld,
The Alpine Rhaeti, long unmatch'd in fight,
So were their hearts with abject terrour quell'd,
So suük their haughty spirit at the sight.

VI.

Tam'd by a boy the fierce Barbarians find.
How guardian Prudence guides the youthful flame,
And how great Caesar's fond paternal mind
Each gen'rous Nero forms to early fame.

VII.

A valiant son springs from a valiant sire;
Their race by mettle sprightly coursers prove;
Nor can the warlike eagle's active fire
Degenerate to form the tim'rous dove.

VIII.

But education can the genius raise,
And wise instructions native virtue aid;
Nobility without them is disgrace,
And Honour is by vice to shame betray'd.

IX.

Let red Metaurus stain'd with Punick blood,
Let mighty Asdrubal subdu'd, confess
How much of empire and of fame is ow'd
By thee, O Rome! to the Neronian race.

X.

Of this be witness that auspicious day
Which after a long black tempestuous night.
First smil'd on Latium with a milder ray,
And cheer'd our drooping hearts with dawning light.

XI.

Since the dife African with wasteful ire
Rode o'er the ravag'd towns of Italy,
As thro' the pinetrees flies the raging fire,
Or Eurus o'er the vext Sicilian sea,

XII.

From this bright era, from this prosp'rous field,
The Roman glory dates her rising pow'r;
From hence it was giv'n her conq'rings word to wield,
Raise her fall'n gods and ruin'd shrines restore.

XIII.

Thus Hannibal at length despairing spoke:
" Like stags to rav'nous wolves an easy prey
" Our feeble arms a valiant foe provoke,
" Whom to elude and 'scape were victory;

XIV.

" A dauntless nation, that from Trojan fires
" Hostile Ausonia, to thy destin'd shore
" Her gods, her infant sons, and aged sires,
" Thro' angry seas and adverse tempests bore.

XV.

" As on high Algidus the sturdy oak,
" Whose spreading boughs the axe's sharpness feel,
" Improves by loss, and thriving with the stroke
" Draws health and vigour from the wounding steel,

XVI.

" Not Hydra sprouting from her mangled head
" So tir'd the baffled force of Hercules,
" Nor Thebes nor Colchis such a monster bred,
" Pregnant of ills, and fam'd for prodigies.

XVII.

" Plunge her in ocean, like the morning sun
" Brighter she rises from the depths below;
" To earth with unavailing ruin thrown
" Recruits her strength and foils the wond'ring foe.

XVIII.

" No more of Victory the joyful fame
" Shall from my camp to haughty Carthage fly;
" Lost, lost, are all the glories of her name!
" With Afdrubal her hopes and fortune die!

XIX.

" What shall the Clandian valour not perform
" Which pow'r divine guards with propitious care,
" Which Wisdom steers thro' all the dang'rous storm,
" Thro' all the rocks and shoals of doubtful war! "