A fair sarcophagus of marble white
Amid the ruins stood, unmutilated;
And in the coffin lay a corpse in sight,
Of features mild, with sadness penetrated.
The power supporting it appear’d supplied
By Caryatides, with necks extended;
And many a bas-relief on either side
Was seen, of chisell’d figures strangely blended.
The glories of Olympus there saw I,
With all its heathen deities misguided;
Adam and Eve were there, decorously
With figleaf aprons round their loins provided.
Troy’s taking and Troy’s burning here were seen,
Hector and Helen, Paris (that wild gay man);
Moses and Aaron also stood between,
With Esther, Judith, Holofernes, Haman.
God Amor also had his place hard by,
Phœbus, Apollo, Vulcan, Madam Venus,
Pluto, Proserpina, and Mercury,
God Bacchus, and Priapus, and Silenus.
Likewise was Balaam’s ass omitted not,—
(The ass for speaking seem’d, in fact, created),
And Abraham’s temptation too, and Lot,
Who by his daughters was intoxicated.
Herodias’ daughter’s dance was shown as well,
The Baptist’s head was in the charger given;
The monster Satan too was there, and hell,
And Peter, with the heavy keys of heaven.
And next in order saw I sculptured there
The loves of Jove, with his vile actions blending;
How as a swan he ravish’d Leda fair,
And Danaë, in golden shower descending.
The wild hunt of Diana was display’d,
With her fleet dogs, and nymphs attired so trimly;
And Hercules, in woman’s clothes array’d,
Distaff on arm, the spindle whirling nimbly.
And next was Sinai’s mountain to be view’d,
And Israel near it, with his oxen lowing;
The Lord a child within the temple stood,
Disputing with the doctors proud and knowing.