Page:The poetical works of Matthew Arnold, 1897.djvu/480

442 "In his cool hall, with haggard eyes,

The Roman noble lay;

He drove abroad, in furious guise,

Along the Appian Way.

"He made a feast, drank fierce and fast,

And crowned his hair with flowers;

No easier nor no quicker passed

The impracticable hours.

"The brooding East with awe beheld

Her impious younger world.

The Roman tempest swelled and swelled,

And on her head was hurled.

"The East bowed low before the blast

In patient, deep disdain;

She let the legions thunder past,

And plunged in thought again.

"So well she mused, a morning broke

Across her spirit gray;

A conquering, new-born joy awoke,

And filled her life with day.

"'Poor world!' she cried, 'so deep accurst,

That runn'st from pole to pole

To seek a draught to slake thy thirst.—

Go, seek it in thy soul!'

"She heard it, the victorious West,

In crown and sword arrayed;

She felt the void which mined her breast,

She shivered and obeyed.

"She vailed her eagles, snapped her sword,

And laid her sceptre down;