Page:Redemption, a Poem.djvu/178

 172 REDEMPTION.

To where the Var laves th' Adriatic shore.

Earth's martial valor ne'er such pageant gave,

None equal'd, from that day when Cyrus' troops

Return'd from Babylonian conquest grand;

Or he of Macedon from conquer'd world;

Or who, that later emperor rose of Gaul,

From plebian low to rank of proudest kings,

Made kingdoms toys, their princes hurl'd from thrones,

And to his people gave with slight regard;

So little valued he what men most prize,

Yet died at last on bleak St. Helen's isle.

Liguria swells the host, whom Genua crowns,

The Taurini, who proud Augusta claim,

And fleet Veneti, ancient friends of Rome,

By whom the Garni hold, and that bold tribe,

Which Isaeus fills, and fair Benacus' shore ;

Her muse sweet Mincius sends, to laud in verse,

The glory of that power which sways the world:

So Athesis, that claims Catullus' birth,

Ravenna, Mutina, with equal zeal,

Their cohorts lend to swell th' increasing tide,

And those whom Drusus led from Ticinus.

From Tiber south, and Anio's broad fields,

Where Rome's sev'n hills erect their stately heads,

Pour Latium's sons and daughters to the field.

Picenum next, for juicy apples famed,

Her rural population copious yields ;

Caieta thence, famed for the fun'ral pile,

By son of great Anchises ancient built,

But since for greater cause, illustrious more,

Who oped her gates, no victim to entomb,

But Rome's high Pontiff to secure from harm,

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