Love is the spur to noble deeds, To him its worth who knows; And beauty still to lofty love inspires. Love never in his spirit glows, Whose heart exults not in his breast, When angry winds in fight descend, And heaven gathers all its clouds, And mountain crests the lightnings rend. O wives, O maidens, he Who shrinks from danger, turns his back upon His country in her need, and only seeks His base desires and appetites to feed, Excites your hatred and your scorn; If ye for men, and not for milk-sops, feel The glow of love o’er your soft bosoms steal.
The mothers of unwarlike sons O may ye ne’er be called! Your children still inure For virtue’s sake all trials to endure; To scorn the vices of this wretched age; To cherish loyal thoughts, and high desires; And learn how much they owe unto their sires. The sons of Sparta thus became, Amid the memories of heroes old, Deserving of the Grecian name; While the young spouse the trusty sword Upon the loved one’s side would gird, And, afterwards, with her black locks, The bloodless, naked corpse concealed, When homeward borne upon the faithful shield.
Virginia, thy soft cheek In Beauty’s finest mould was framed; But thy disdain Rome’s haughty lord inflamed. How lovely wast thou, in thy youth’s sweet prime, When the rough dagger of thy sire Thy snowy breast did smite, And thou, a willing victim, didst descend Into realms of night! “May old age wither and consume my frame, O father,”—thus she said; “And may they now for me the tomb prepare, E’er I the impious bed Of that foul tyrant share: And if my blood new life and liberty May give to Rome, by thy hand let me die!”
Ah, in those better days When more propitious shone the sun than now, Thy tomb, dear child, was not left comfortless, But honored with the tears of all. Behold, around thy lovely corpse, the sons Of Romulus with holy wrath inflamed; Behold the tyrants locks with dust besmeared; In sluggish breasts once more The sacred name of Liberty revered; Behold o’er all the subjugated earth, The troops of Latium march triumphant forth, From torrid desert to the gloomy pole. And thus eternal Rome, That had so long in sloth oblivious lain, A daughter’s sacrifice revives again.
TO A VICTOR IN THE GAME OF PALLONE.
The face of glory and her pleasant voice, O fortunate youth, now recognize, And how much nobler than effeminate sloth Are manhood’s tested energies. Take heed, O generous champion, take heed, If thou thy name by worthy thought or deed, From Time’s all-sweeping current couldst redeem; Take heed, and lift thy heart to high desires! The amphitheatre’s applause, the public voice, Now summon thee to deeds illustrious; Exulting in thy lusty youth. In thee, to-day, thy country dear Beholds her heroes old again appear.
His hand was ne’er with blood barbaric stained, At Marathon, Who on the plain of Elis could behold The naked athletes, and the wrestlers bold, And feel no glow of emulous zeal within, The laurel wreath of victory to win. And he, who in Alphēus stream did wash The dusty manes and foaming flanks Of his victorious mares, he best could lead The Grecian banners and the Grecian swords Against the flying, panic-stricken ranks Of Medes, who, dying, Asia’s shore And great Euphrates will behold no more.
And will you call that vain, which seeks The latent sparks of virtue to evolve, Or animate anew to high resolve, The drooping fervor of our weary souls? What but a game have mortal works e’er been, Since Phœbus first his weary wheels did urge? And is not truth, no less than falsehood, vain? And yet, with pleasing phantoms, fleeting shows, Nature herself to our relief has come; And custom, aiding nature, still must strive These strong illusions to revive; Or else all thirst for noble deeds is gone, Is lost in sloth, and blind oblivion.
The time may come, perchance, when midst The ruins of Italian palaces, Will herds of cattle graze, And all the seven hills the plough will feel; Not many years will have elapsed, perchance, E’er all the towns of Italy Will the abode of foxes be, And dark groves murmur ’mid the lofty walls; Unless the Fates from our perverted minds Remove this sad oblivion of the Past; And heaven by grateful memories appeased, Relenting, in the hour of our despair, The abject nations, ripe for slaughter, spare.
But thou, O worthy youth, wouldst grieve, Thy wretched country to survive. Thou once through her mightst have acquired renown, When on her brow she wore the glittering crown, Now lost! Our fault, and Fate’s! That time is o’er; Ah, such a mother who could honor, more? But for thyself, O lift thy thoughts on high! What is our life? A thing to be despised: Least wretched, when with perils so beset, It must, perforce, its wretched self forget, Nor heed the flight of slow-paced, worthless hours; Or, when, to Lethe’s dismal shore impelled, It hath once more the light of day beheld.