"It was not by vile loitering in ease That Greece obtained the brighter palm of art; That soft, yet ardent Athens learned to please, To keen the wit, and to sublime the heart, In all supreme, complete in every part! It was not thence majestic Rome arose, And o'er the nations shook her conquering dart: For sluggard's brow the laurel never grows: Renown is not the child of indolent repose. "Had unambitious mortals minded naught But in loose joy their time to wear away; Had they alone the lap of dalliance sought, Pleased on her pillow their dull heads to lay; Rude Nature's state had been our state to-day; No cities here their towery fronts had raised, No arts had made us opulent and gay; With brother brutes the human race had grazed; None e'er had soared to fame, none honored been, none praised. "Great Homer's song had never fired the breast To thirst of glory and heroic deeds; Sweet Maro's Muse, sunk in inglorious rest, Had silent slept amid the Mincian reeds; The wits of modern times had told their beads, And monkish legends been their only strains; Our Milton's Eden had lain wrapped in weeds; Our Shakspeare strolled and laughed with Warwick swains; Ne had my master, Spenser, charmed his Mulla's plains. "Dumb, too, had been the sage historic Muse, And perished all the sons of ancient fame; Those starry lights of virtue that diffuse Through the dark depths of time their vivid flame, Had all been lost with such as have no name. Who then had scorned his care for others' good? Who then had toiled rapacious men to tame? Who in the public breach devoted stood, And for his country's cause been prodigal of blood? *...*...*...* "Heavens! can you then thus waste in shameful wise Your few important days of trial here? Heirs of eternity! yborn to rise Through endless states of being, still more near To bliss approaching and perfection clear; Can you renounce a fortune so sublime-- Such glorious hopes, your backward steps to steer, And roll with vilest brutes through mud and slime? No! no! your heaven-touched hearts disdain the sordid crime!"