Constantine republican. [volume] (Constantine, Mich.) 1836-1838, 1838-01-24
From the Coldwater Observer.
GREECE-A FRAGMENT.


"Land of tho pencil and the Tyre,
The marble and the dome,
Whose name is, to the muse fire,
Whose temples are home.
Climo of wealth unbought,
Where Genius long enshrincd
Her treasury of thought,
The Peru of the mind"
Lovely amidst desolation--great, in the
proud wreck Of vanished splendor-bright
in the halo shed around the memory of thy
fallen heroes--who Gun behold thee as thou
art? rich in scenes of pristine beauty-thy
glowing skies--thy gorgeous sun-sets-thy
vales-thy rocks and mountains, whose
names are associated with renowned deeds
and lofty thoughts, and not dream, that
peace and joy and liberty, are still the rich
inheritance Of thy SONS! Where blue trans
parent heavens glow-where zephyrs play
-citrons bloom, and almost one perpetual
summer smiles, life too should be cloudless
as the sky-misery should not be near
and yet the lone cemetery has flowers and
verdure, mantling woodbines Irvine around
the sod, and green luxuriant ivy hangs its
graceful foliage over dark dwellings Of the
dead. Thus fair cline, with thee thy light
and lcveliness are but as the SUMS warm
radiance on the tomb, or as tho canker worm
concealed by thy blushing rose. Thy morn.
ing has dawned--thy meridian has gone
once proud in freedom, still fair in ruin, thy
fate has been unoqualed. For thee, has
flowed the best blood of heroes--around
thee has glowed me light Of inspiring &C.
nius--for thee, tho proud the firm, the high
in soul have lived and died. But those
days have passed-passed as "sinks the day
star in the tropic main," and of ancient fame
and science there is left scarce trace
Regions of intellect have become wild, a
evidences without fount or flower" Am.
bition's mighty works---the rich remains of
art, grandeur, and beauty, blend alike in
deep decay. Mingled with dust, lie her
graceful columns, the forgotten bust and
the warriors urn. Thy trophies have van.
ished--thy splendid domes have mouldered
from the earth. and there remains but the
laintest trace Of ancient greatness, or ifper-
chance ruined pile or messy stone retains
a warriors name, It's but to say, "for you
my blood flowed, for you died In vain. "
Such, alas the ruin, such the change, Time
and Fate have wrought. Where now are
proud Sparta fanes and monuments-where
tho patriots, who, in the days Of yore, led
forth the sons of victory? Where the mar
tyrs, the devoted fen, that nobly fell in the
mountain pass They slumber with their
swords. In vain do olive shades whisper
their immortal tale--thoso deeds of fierce
daring are numbered with the forgotten
their history is but tale Of vanished days
yet fearful memory sheds deeper sha-
dow on the hill--throws a wilder aspect
DER the frowning clif-and lends to the
rustling pine deeper moan, for the stiffness
OF death now wraps the scene OF that dire
conflict.
Such were thy sons--they stood alone,
the bold the firm--"their life battle day."
But they too have passed away--gone is
that martyr spirit Of resolve, and the uncon-
qucrod soul'e high buoyancy, and on thy
battle plains--by the groves Of thy warri.
ors, thy sons have knclt, ignobly knclt, to
wear a Turkish or an Austrian CHAIN
Greece, inglorious Greece hod'st thou bu,
persisted with the fev, persisted before sec.
ond and degenerate race was known--ihen
had thy name too, shone in brightness, been
through succeeding ages, the 'catchvord Of
Liberty; but now, Freedoms bright morn
has fled, and slavery's twilight cloud is a.
round thee. Elcusis' shrines are no more
Tho halls of Lconidas are low. There, un.
marked, the beams Of Gorning fade or glow
and wild Howers untouched by human tread
wave over thom. Tygetus in stern sub
Unity rises over tho Wondering city Of the
dead, and Euroiss leads bis ripping stream
through plains thick with tombs and ruins
The rose laurel alone fourishcs in beauty
and a frail shrub survives, 10 bloom owe
Sparta's grave.