IX.

So were they roused. Th’ invading step had pass’d

Their cabin thresholds, and the lowly door,

Which well had stood against the Fohnwind’s blast,[229]

Could bar Oppression from their home no more.

Why, what had she to do where all things wore

Wild grandeur’s impress? In the storm’s free way,

How dared she lift her pageant crest before

Th’ enduring and magnificent array

Of sovereign Alps, that wing’d their eagles with the day?