United, and one mighty realm from smiling sea to sea;
From Sicily’s smoke-crowned peak to Savoy’s Alpine chain
One flag met every rambling breeze that breathed o’er hill and plain;
And haughty Rome, in truth, the Cæsar’s city now once more,
The perilous reign of Peter passed for ever safely o’er.
“Io! triumphe! onward! All ye guarding eagles, come!
And with its ancient glory fill your old imperial home.”
I, sighing, closed the volume. Ah! for me how sadly dim
The poet’s glowing setting of pale Freedom’s Roman hymn,
Whose music, as I heard it, only direst discord made.