Arches on arches![506] as it were that Rome, Collecting the chief trophies of her line, Would build up all her triumphs in one dome, Her Coliseum stands;[507] the moonbeams shine As "twere its natural torches--for divine Should be the light which streams here,--to illume This long-explored but still exhaustless mine Of Contemplation; and the azure gloom Of an Italian night, where the deep skies a.s.sume
CXXIX.
Hues which have words, and speak to ye of Heaven, Floats o"er this vast and wondrous monument, And shadows forth its glory. There is given Unto the things of earth, which Time hath bent, A Spirit"s feeling, and where he hath leant His hand, but broke his scythe, there is a power And magic in the ruined battlement, For which the Palace of the present hour Must yield its pomp, and wait till Ages are its dower.
Cx.x.x.
Oh, Time! the Beautifier of the dead, Adorner of the ruin[508]--Comforter And only Healer when the heart hath bled; Time! the Corrector where our judgments err, The test of Truth, Love--sole philosopher, For all beside are sophists--from thy thrift, Which never loses though it doth defer-- Time, the Avenger! unto thee I lift My hands, and eyes, and heart, and crave of thee a gift:
Cx.x.xI.
Amidst this wreck, where thou hast made a shrine And temple more divinely desolate-- Among thy mightier offerings here are mine, Ruins of years--though few, yet full of fate:-- If thou hast ever seen me too elate, Hear me not; but if calmly I have borne Good, and reserved my pride against the hate Which shall not whelm me, let me not have worn This iron in my soul in vain--shall _they_ not mourn?
Cx.x.xII.
And Thou, who never yet of human wrong Left the unbalanced scale, great Nemesis![509][28.H.]
Here, where the ancient paid thee homage long-- Thou, who didst call the Furies from the abyss, And round Orestes bade them howl and hiss For that unnatural retribution--just, Had it but been from hands less near--in this Thy former realm, I call thee from the dust!
Dost thou not hear my heart?--Awake! thou shalt, and must.
Cx.x.xIII.
It is not that I may not have incurred, For my ancestral faults or mine, the wound[op]
I bleed withal; and, had it been conferred With a just weapon, it had flowed unbound; But now my blood shall not sink in the ground-- To thee I do devote it--_Thou_ shalt take The vengeance, which shall yet be sought and found-- Which if _I_ have not taken for the sake-- But let that pa.s.s--I sleep--but Thou shalt yet awake.
Cx.x.xIV.
And if my voice break forth, "tis not that now[oq]
I shrink from what is suffered: let him speak Who hath beheld decline upon my brow, Or seen my mind"s convulsion leave it weak; But in this page a record will I seek.
Not in the air shall these my words disperse, Though I be ashes; a far hour shall wreak The deep prophetic fulness of this verse, And pile on human heads the mountain of my curse!
Cx.x.xV.
That curse shall be Forgiveness.--Have I not-- Hear me, my mother Earth! behold it, Heaven!-- Have I not had to wrestle with my lot?
Have I not suffered things to be forgiven?
Have I not had my brain seared, my heart riven, Hopes sapped, name blighted, Life"s life lied away?
And only not to desperation driven, Because not altogether of such clay As rots into the souls of those whom I survey.
Cx.x.xVI.[or]
From mighty wrongs to petty perfidy Have I not seen what human things could do?
From the loud roar of foaming calumny To the small whisper of the as paltry few-- And subtler venom of the reptile crew, The Ja.n.u.s glance[510] of whose significant eye, Learning to lie with silence, would _seem_ true-- And without utterance, save the shrug or sigh, Deal round to happy fools its speechless obloquy.
Cx.x.xVII.
But I have lived, and have not lived in vain: My mind may lose its force, my blood its fire, And my frame perish even in conquering pain; But there is that within me which shall tire Torture and Time, and breathe when I expire; Something unearthly, which they deem not of, Like the remembered tone of a mute lyre, Shall on their softened spirits sink, and move In hearts all rocky now the late remorse of Love.
Cx.x.xVIII.
The seal is set.--Now welcome, thou dread Power!
Nameless, yet thus omnipotent, which here Walk"st in the shadow of the midnight hour With a deep awe, yet all distinct from fear; Thy haunts are ever where the dead walls rear Their ivy mantles, and the solemn scene Derives from thee a sense so deep and clear That we become a part of what has been, And grow upon the spot--all-seeing but unseen.
Cx.x.xIX.
And here the buzz of eager nations ran, In murmured pity, or loud-roared applause, As man was slaughtered by his fellow man.
And wherefore slaughtered? wherefore, but because Such were the b.l.o.o.d.y Circus" genial laws, And the imperial pleasure.--Wherefore not?
What matters where we fall to fill the maws Of worms--on battle-plains or listed spot?
Both are but theatres--where the chief actors rot.
CXL.
I see before me the Gladiator[511] lie: He leans upon his hand--his manly brow[os]
Consents to death, but conquers agony, And his drooped head sinks gradually low-- And through his side the last drops, ebbing slow From the red gash, fall heavy, one by one,[ot]
Like the first of a thunder-shower; and now[ou]
The arena swims around him--he is gone,[ov]
Ere ceased the inhuman shout which hailed the wretch who won.
CXLI.
He heard it, but he heeded not--his eyes Were with his heart--and that was far away; He recked not of the life he lost nor prize, But where his rude hut by the Danube lay-- _There_ were his young barbarians all at play, _There_ was their Dacian mother--he, their sire, Butchered to make a Roman holiday--[ow][29.H.]
All this rushed with his blood--Shall he expire And unavenged?--Arise! ye Goths, and glut your ire!
CXLII.
But here, where Murder breathed her b.l.o.o.d.y steam;-- And here, where buzzing nations choked the ways, And roared or murmured like a mountain stream Dashing or winding as its torrent strays; Here, where the Roman million"s blame or praise Was Death or Life--the playthings of a crowd--[ox][30.H.]
My voice sounds much--and fall the stars" faint rays[oy]
On the arena void--seats crushed--walls bowed-- And galleries, where my steps seem echoes strangely loud.
CXLIII.
A Ruin--yet what Ruin! from its ma.s.s Walls--palaces--half-cities, have been reared; Yet oft the enormous skeleton ye pa.s.s,[oz]
And marvel where the spoil could have appeared.
Hath it indeed been plundered, or but cleared?
Alas! developed, opens the decay, When the colossal fabric"s form is neared: It will not bear the brightness of the day, Which streams too much on all--years--man--have reft away.
CXLIV.
But when the rising moon begins to climb Its topmost arch, and gently pauses there-- When the stars twinkle through the loops of Time, And the low night-breeze waves along the air The garland-forest, which the gray walls wear,[pa]
Like laurels on the bald first Caesar"s head--[512]
When the light shines serene but doth not glare-- Then in this magic circle raise the dead;-- Heroes have trod this spot--"tis on their dust ye tread.[pb]
CXLV.
"While stands the Coliseum, Rome shall stand:[513]
When falls the Coliseum, Rome shall fall; And when Rome falls--the World." From our own land Thus spake the pilgrims o"er this mighty wall In Saxon times, which we are wont to call Ancient; and these three mortal things are still On their foundations, and unaltered all-- Rome and her Ruin past Redemption"s skill-- The World--the same wide den--of thieves, or what ye will.
CXLVI.
Simple, erect, severe, austere, sublime--[514]