This hive of Science, fhedding fweets divine,
Or active arts and animated arms.
There, paffionate for Me, an easy-mov'd,
A quick, refin'd, a delicate, humane,
Enlightened people, reign'd. Oft' on the brink
Of ruin, hurry'd by the charm of speech,
Inforcing hafty counfel immature,
Totter'd the rash Democracy, unpois'd,
And by the rage devour'd that ever tears
A populace unequal; part too rich,
And part or fierce with want or abject grown.
Solon, at laft, their mild restorer, rofe,
Allay'd the tempeft, to the calm of laws
Reduc'd the fettling whole, and, with the weight
Which the two Senates to the public lent,
As with an anchor, fix'd the driving state.
Nor was My forming care to these confin'd;
For emulation thro' the Whole I pour'd;
Noble contention! who fhould moft excel
In government well-pois'd, adjusted best
To public weal; in countries cultur'd high,
In ornamented towns, where Order reigns,
Free focial life, and polish'd manners fair;
In exercife and arms, arms only drawn
The Areopagus, or fupreme court of judicature, which Solon reformed and improved; and the council of Four Handred by him inftituted. In this council all affairs of ftate were deliberated, before they came to be voted in the affembly of the people.
For common Greece, to quell the Perfian pride;
In moral science, and in graceful arts.
Hence, as for glory peacefully they ftrove,
The prize grew greater, and the prize of all. 170
By contest brighten'd, hence the radiant youth
Pour'd every beam; by generous pride inflam'd,
Felt every ardour burn; their great reward
The verdant wreath which founding Pifa* gave.
Hence flourish'd Greece, and hence a race of men,
As gods by conscious future times ador'd,
In whom each virtue wore a fmiling air,
Each science shed o'er life a friendly light,
Each art was nature. Spartan valour, hence,
At the fam'd pass + firm as an isthmus food,
And the whole eastern ocean, waving far
As eye could dart its vision, nobly check'd.
While in extended battle at the field
Of Marathon, My keen Athenians drove
Before their ardent band an host of slaves.
Hence thro' the continent ten thousand Greeks
Urg'd a retreat, whose glory not the prime
Of victories can reach. Deferts, in vain,
Oppos'd their course, and hoftile lands, unknown,
And deep rapacious floods, dire-bank'd with death,
And mountains, in whose jaws Destruction grinn'd,
Hunger and toil, Armenian fnows and storms, 192
* Or Olympia, the city where the Olympic games were
celebrated.
The ftraits of Thermopyla.
And circling myriads ftill of barbarous foes.
Greece in their view, and glory yet untouch'd,
Their fteady column pierc'd the fcattering herds 195
Which a whole empire pour'd, and held its way
Triumphant, by the fage-exalted Chief *
Oh! light and force of mind
Almost almighty, in fevere extremes!
The fea at laft from Colchian mountains feen,
Kind-hearted transport round their captains threw
The foldiers' fond embrace; o'erflow'd their eyes
With tender floods, and loos'd the general voice
To cries refounding loud-The fea! The fea!
In Attic bounds hence heroes, fages, wits,
Shone thick as ftars the Milky Way of Greece!
And tho' gay Wit and pleasing Grace was theirs,
All the foft Modes of elegance and ease,
Yet was not Courage lefs, the patient touch
Of toiling Art, and Difquifition deep.
My fpirit pours a vigour thro' the soul,
Th' unfetter'd thought with energy inspires,
Invincible in arts, in the bright field
Of nobler Science, as in that of Arms.
Athenians thus not lefs intrepid burst
The bonds of tyrant darkness, than they spurn'd
The Perfian chains; while thro' the city, full
Of mirthful quarrel and of witty war,
Inceffant ftruggled tafte refining taste,
And friendly free difcuffion, calling forth
From the fair jewel Truth its latent ray.
O'er all fhone out the great Athenian Sage*,
And Father of Philofophy; the fun
From whose white blaze, emerg'd, each various fect Took various teints, but with diminish'd beam. 225 Tutor of Athens! he in every ftreet
Dealt priceless treasure; goodness his delight,
Wisdom his wealth, and glory his reward.
Deep thro' the human heart, with playful art,
His fimple queftion ftole, as into truth
And ferious deeds he smil'd the laughing race;
Taught moral happy life whate'er can bless
Or grace mankind; and what he taught he was.
Compounded high, tho' plain, his doctrine broke
In different Schools. The bold poetic phrafe 235
Of figur'd Plato, Xenophon's pure ftrain,
Like the clear brook that steals along the vale,
Diffecting truth, the Stagyrite's keen eye,
Th' exalted Stoic pride, the Cynic fneer,
The flow-confenting Academic doubt;
And, joining blifs to virtue, the glad cafe
Of Epicurus, feldom understood.
They, ever-candid, reason ftill oppos'd
To reafon, and, fince virtue was their aim,
Each by fure practice try'd to prove his way
The best. Then ftood untouch'd the folid bafe
Of Liberty, the liberty of mind;
For fyftems yet, and foul-enflaving creeds,
Slept with the monsters of fucceeding times.
From priestly darkness fprung th' enlightening arts
Of fire, and fword, and rage, and horrid names.251
O Greece! thou fapient nurse of finer Arts!
Which to bright Science blooming Fancy bore,
Be this thy praife, that thou, and thou alone,
In these haft led the way, in thefe excell'd,
Crown'd with the laurel of affenting Time.
In thy full language, fpeaking mighty things,
Like a clear torrent clofe, or elfe diffus'd
A broad majestic ftream, and rolling on
Thro' all the winding harmony of found,
In it the power of Eloquence, at large,
Breath'd the persuasive or pathetic foul,
Still'd by degrees the democratic storm,
Or bade it threatening rife, and tyrants shook,
Flufh'd at the head of their victorious troops.
In it the Mufe, her fury never quench'd
By mean unyielding phrase, or jarring found,
Her unconfin'd divinity difplay'd,
And, ftill harmonious, form'd it to her will,
Or foft deprefs'd it to the fhepherd's moan,
Or rais'd it fwelling to the tongue of gods.
Heroic Song was thine, the fountain-bard *,
Whence each poetic stream derives its course.
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