Yet in the interim, what mighty shocks. Have buffetted mankind-whole nations razed- Cities made desolate the polished sunk To barbarism, and once barbaric states Swaying the wand of science and of arts; Illustrious deeds and memorable names Blotted from record, and upon the tongue Of grey tradition, voluble no more.
3. Where are the heroes of the ages past; Where the brave chieftains-where the mighty ones Who flourish'd in the infancy of days?
All to the grave gone down!-On their fall'n fame Exultant, mocking at the pride of man,
Sits grim Forgetfulness. The warrior's arm Lies nerveless on the pillow of its shame;
Hush'd is his stormy voice, and quenched the blaze Of his red eye-ball.
Yesterday his name Was mighty on the earth-To-day-'tis what? The meteor of the night of distant years, That flash'd unnotic'd, save by wrinkled eld Musing at midnight upon prophecies, Who at her lonely lattice saw the gleam Point to the mist-pois'd shroud, then quietly Clos'd her pale lips, and lock'd the secret up Safe in the charnel's treasures.
5. O how weak Is mortal man! How trifling-how confin'd His scope of vision!-Puff'd with confidence, His phrase grows big with immortality; And he, poor insect of a summer's day, Dreams of eternal honors to his name; Of endless glory, and perennial bays. He idly reasons of Eternity,
As of the train of ages,-when, alas! Ten thousand thousand of his centuries Are, in comparison, a little point, Too trivial for account.-
6. Tis passing strange, to mark his fallacies; Behold him proudly view some pompous pile, Whose high dome swells to emulate the skies, And smile and say, my name shall live with this, "Till Time shall be no more; while at his feet,
Yea, at his very feet, the crumbling dust
Of the fall'n fabric of the other day,
Preaches the solemn lesson.-He should know, That time must conquer
That ever fill'd Renown's obstrep'rous trump,
Fades in the lapse of ages, and expires. Who lies inhum'd in the terrific gloom Of the gigantic pyramid? Or who
Rear'd its huge wall?-Oblivion laughs and says, The prey is mine. They sleep, and never more Their names shall strike upon the ear of man, Their mem'ry burst its fetters.
She lives but in the tale of other times; Her proud pavilions are the hermits' home. And her long colonnades, her public walks, Now faintly echo to the pilgrim's feet,
Who comes to muse in solitude, and trace, Through the rank moss reveal'd, her honored dust. 8. But not to Rome alone has fate confin'd The doom of ruin; cities numberless, Tyre, Sidon, Carthage, Babylon, and Troy, And rich Phoenicia-they are blotted out, Half-raz'd from memory; and their very name And being in dispute !
LESSON CLXXIII.
Jugurtha in Prison.--REV. C. WOLFE.
1. WELL-is the rack prepared-the pincers heated? Where is the scourge?-How?—not employed in Rome? Jugurtha was the son of Mastanabal and grand-son of the famous Massinissa, king of Numidia. His father having died while he was yet a child, he was taken by his uncle Micipsa and educated with his two sons, Hiemp sal and Adherbal. At the death of Micipsa, the kingdom of Numidia was divided equally between Jugurtha and his two cousins. Jugurtha, greatly in favor with the people, and ambitious to possess the kingdom alone, murdered Hiempsal, and sought to do the same by Adherbal, who fled to Rome for succor. The Roman senate, being highly bribed, not only declared Jugurtha innocent, but decreed him the sovereignty of half the kingdom. Soon after this, he besieged Adherbal in Cirta, the capital of the kingdom, took him, and cruelly put him to death. This drew on him the vengeance of the Romans. Being defeated several times by the army under the consul Marius, he applied to Bocchus, his father-in-law, king of Mauritania, for assistance, by whom he was betrayed into the hands of the Romans. He was led in chains to Rome to grace the triumph of Marius. The senate condemned him to be starved to death in a dungeon, where he died, B. C. 103.
We have them in Numidia. Not in Rome? I'm sorry for it ;-I could enjoy it now; I might have felt them yesterday; but now,- Now, I have seen my funeral procession; The chariot-wheels of Marius* have roll'd o'er me; His horses' hoofs have trampled me in triumph;
I have attain'd that terrible consummation, My soul could stand aloof, and from on high Look down upon the ruins of my body Smiling in apathy;-I feel no longer; I challenge Rome to give another pang. Oh! how he smiled, when he beheld me pause Before his car, and scowl upon the mob; The curse of Rome was burning on my lips, And I had gnaw'd my chain, and hurl'd it at them But that I knew he would have smiled again.
2. A king! and led before the gaudy Marius, Before those shouting masters of the world, As if I had been conquered: while each street, Each peopled wall, and each insulting window, Peal'd forth their brawling triumphs o'er my head Oh! for a lion from thy woods, Ñumidia !— Or had I, in that moment of disgrace, Enjoy'd the freedom but of yonder slave, I would have made my monument in Rome. Yet I am not that fool, that Roman fool, To think disgrace entombs the hero's soul,- Forever damps his fires, and dims his glories; That no bright laurel can adorn the brow That once has bow'd; no victory's trumpet-sound Can drown in joy the rattling of his chains. 3. What avails it now, That my proud views despised the narrow limits, Which minds that span and measure out ambition Had fixed to mine; and, while I seemed intent On savage subjects and Numidian forests,
My soul had pass'd the bounds of Africa !—
* Caius Marius, a distinguished Roman general. He was seven times consul. Dissensions having arisen between him and Sylla, Marius and his party were defeated, and he was obliged to flee from Italy. After various disasters, he landed in Africa, and went in a melancholy manner and seated himself among the RUINS OF CARTHAGE. His party, headed by Cinna, gaining the ascendency, he returned to Rome, and put to death all whom he considered his enemies. Marius assumed the consulship, but died about one month after, in a fit of debauch, aged 70-B. C. 86.
Defeated!-overthrown!-yet to the last
Ambition taught me hope; and still my mind, Through danger, flight, and carnage, grasp'd dominion; And had not Bocchus-curses, curses on him!- What Rome has done, she did it for ambition; What Rome has done, I might—I would have done; What thou hast done, thou wretch !-Oh had she proved Nobly deceitful: had she seized the traitor, And joined him with the fate of the betrayed, I had forgiven her all; for he had been The consolation of my prison hours; I could forget my woes in stinging him; And if, before this day, his little soul Had not in bondage wept itself away,
Rome and Jugurtha should have triumphed o'er him. 4. Look here, thou caitiff,* if thou canst, and see The fragments of Jugurtha;-view him wrapt In the last shred he borrow'd from Numidia; 'Tis cover'd with the.dust of Rome;-behold His rooted gaze upon the chains he wears, And on the channels they have wrought upon him ; Then look around upon his dungeon walls, And view yon scanty mat, on which his frame He flings, and rushes from his thoughts to sleep. 5. Sleep! I'll sleep no more, until I sleep forever:
When I slept last, I heard Adherbal scream. I'll sleep no more! I'll think until I die: My eyes shall pore upon my miseries, Until my miseries shall be no more.
Yet wherefore did he scream? Why, I have heard
His living scream,-it was not half so frightful.
Whence comes the difference? When the man was living, Why, I did gaze upon his couch of torments With placid vengeance, and each anguish'd cry Gave me stern satisfaction; now he's dead, And his lips move not-yet his voice's image Flash'd such a dreadful darkness o'er my soul, I would not hear that fearful cry again
For the high glory of Numidia's throne.
6. But ah! 'twas I that caused that living scream, And therefore did its echo seem so frightful:
If 'twere to do again, I would not kill thee;
* Pronounced ca-tif, a base villain—meaning Bocchus.
Wilt thou not be contented?-But thou say'st, "My father was to thee a father also ;
He watch'd thy infant years, and gave thee all That youth could ask, and scarcely manhood came, Than came a kingdom also; yet didst thou❞— Oh I am faint!-they have not brought me food- How did I not perceive it until now?
Hold, my Numidian cruse is still about me- No drop within-Oh, faithful friend, companion Of many a weary march and thirsty day; "Tis the first time that thou hast fail'd my lips.—
7. Gods! I'm in tears!--I did not think of weeping. Oh Marius, wilt thou ever feel like this?
Ha! I behold the ruin of a city;
And on a craggy fragment sits a form
That seems in ruins also; how unmoved,
How stern he looks! Amazement! it is Marius. Ha! Marius, think'st thou now upon Jugurtha? He turns! he's caught my eye!—I see no more!
Rienzi's* Address to the Romans.-Miss MITFORD. 1. FRIENDS,
I come not here to talk. Ye know too well The story of our thraldom. We are slaves! The bright sun rises to his course, and lights A race of slaves! He sets, and his last beam Falls on a slave; not such as, swept along By the full tide of power, the conqueror To crimson glory and undying fame; But base, ignoble slaves-slaves to a horde Of petty tyrants, feudal despots! lords Rich in some dozen paltry villages-
Strong in some hundred spearmen-only great In that strange spell-a name.
Each hour, dark fraud, Or open rapine, or protected murder,
Nicolas Gabrini de Rienzi, a remarkable character of the 14th century. He was the son of an obscure miller, yet by his zeal in opposing the existing vices, and by persuading his friends that he was able to restore the ancient glory of his country, he gained the supreme power; and was declared sovereign of Rome, with the approbation of the Pope. This excited the jealousy of the nobles, and he was murdered in 1354.
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