COLUMBUS' CHAINS HIS CROWN.
I sing the mariner who first unfurl'd
An eastern banner o'er the western world,
And taught mankind where future empires lay
In these fair confines of descending day;
Who swayed a moment, with vicarious power,
Iberia's scepter on the new-found shore;
Then saw the paths his virtuous steps had trod
Pursued by avarice and defiled with blood;
The tribes he fostered with paternal toil
Snatched from his hand and slaughtered for their spoil.
Slaves, kings, adventurers, envious of his name,
Enjoyed his labors and purloined his fame,
And gave the viceroy, from his high seat hurl'd,
Chains for a crown, a prison for a world.
—Barlow, The "Columbiad," Book I; lines 1-14.