Now solitude and silence from the shores
Retreat on pathless mountains to reside,
Barbarity is polish'd, infant arts
Bloom in the desart, and benignant peace
With hospitality begin to sooth
Unsocial rapine, and the thirst of blood;
As from his tumid urn when Nilus spreads
His genial tides abroad, the favour'd soil
That joins his fruitful border, first imbibes
The kindly stream; anon the bounteous God
His waves extends, embracing Egypt round,
Dwells on the teeming champain, and endows
The sleeping grain with vigour to attire
In one bright harvest all the Pharian plains:
Thus, when Pygmalion from Phoenician Tyre
Had banish'd freedom, with disdainful steps
Indignant Commerce, turning from the walls
Herself had rais'd, her welcome sway enlarg'd
Among the nations, spreading round the globe
The fruits of all its climes; Cecropian oil,
The Thracian vintage, and Panchaian gums,
Arabia's spices, and the golden grain,
Which old Osiris to his Aegypt gave,
And Ceres to Sicania. Thou didst raise
Th' Ionian name, O Commerce, thou the domes
Of sumptuous Corinth, and the ample round
Of Syracuse didst people. — All the wealth
Now thou assemblest from Iberia's mines,
And golden-channel'd Tagus, all the spoils
From fair Trinacria wasted, all the powers
Of conquer'd Afric's tributary realms
To fix thy empire on the Lybian verge,
Thy native tract; the nymphs of Nysa hail
Thy glad return, and echoing joy resounds
O'er Triton's sacred waters, but in vain:
The irreversible decrees of heaven
To far more northern regions had ordain'd
Thy lasting seat; in vain th' imperial port
Receives the gather'd riches of the world;
In vain whole climates bow beneath its rule;
Behold the toil of centuries to Rome
Its glories yields, and mould'ring leaves no trace
Of its deep-rooted greatness; thou with tears
From thy extinguish'd Carthage didst retire,
And these thy perish'd honours long deplore.
What though rich Gades, what though polish'd Rhodes,
With Alexandria, Aegypt's splendid mart,
The learn'd Massylians, and Ligurian towers,
What though the potent Hanseatic league,
And Venice, mistress of the Grecian isles,
With all th' Aegean floods, awhile might sooth
The sad remembrance; what though, led through climes
And seas unknown, with thee th' advent'rous sons
Of Tagus pass'd the stormy cape, which braves
The huge Atlanic; what though Antwerp grew
Beneath thy smiles, and thou propitious there
Didst shower thy blessings with unsparing hands:
Still on thy grief-indented heart impress'd
The great Amilcar's valour, still the deeds
Of Asdrubal and Mago, still the loss
Of thy unequal Annibal remain'd:
Till from the sandy mouths of echoing Rhine,
And sounding margin of the Scheld and Maese,
With sudden roar the angry voice of war
Alarm'd thy languor; wonder turn'd thy eye.
Lo! in bright arms a bold militia stood,
Arrang'd for battle: from afar thou saw'st
The snowy ridge of Apennine, the fields
Of wild Calabria, and Pyrene's hills,
The Guadiana, and the Duro's banks,
And rapid Ebro gath'ring all their powers
To crush this daring populace. The pride
Of fiercest kings with more inflam'd revenge
Ne'er menac'd freedom; nor since dauntless Greece,
And Rome's stern offspring none hath e'er surpass'd
The bold Batavian in his glorious toil
For liberty, or death. At once the thought
Of long-lamented Carthage flies thy breast,
And ardent, Goddess, thou dost speed to save
The generous people. Not the vernal showers,
Distilling copious from the morning clouds,
Descend more kindly on the tender flower,
New-born and opening on the lap of Spring,
Than on this rising state thy cheering smile,
And animating presence; while on Spain,
Prophetic thus, thy indignation broke.