And late at night in swallowing earthquake sunk,
Or hideous wrapt in fierce ascending flame;
Of sallow famine, inundation, storm;
Of pestilence, and every great distress;
Empires subversed, when ruling fate has struck
The unalterable hour: even nature’s self
Is deemed to totter on the brink of time.
Not so the man of philosophic eye,
And aspect sage; the waving brightness he
Curious surveys, inquisitive to know