Rome, Athens, Memphis, Tyre! had you butknown This glorious triad, now familiar grown, The Press, the Magnet faithful to its pole, And earth's own Movement round her steadfast goal, Ne'er had your science, from that splendid height, Sunk in her strength, nor seen succeeding night. Her own utility had forced her sway, All nations caught the fast-extending ray, Nature thro all her kingdoms oped the road, Resign'd her secrets and her wealth bestow'd; Her moral codes a like dominion rear'd, Freedom been born and folly disappear'd, War and his monsters sunk beneath her ban, And left the world to reason and to man. But now behold him bend his broader way, Lift keener eyes and drink diviner day, All systems scrutinize, their truths unfold, Prove well the recent, well revise the old, Reject all mystery, and define with force The point he aims at in his laboring course,-- To know these elements, learn how they wind Their wondrous webs of matter and of mind, What springs, what guides organic life requires, To move, rule, rein its ever-changing gyres, Improve and utilise each opening birth, And aid the labors of this nurturing earth. But chief their moral soul he learns to trace, That stronger chain which links and leads the race; Which forms and sanctions every social tie, And blinds or clears their intellectual eye. He strips that soul from every filmy shade That schools had caught, that oracles had made, Relumes her visual nerve, develops strong The rules of right, the subtle shifts of wrong; Of civil power draws clear the sacred line, Gives to just government its right divine, Forms, varies, fashions, as his lights increase, Till earth is fill'd with happiness and peace. Already taught, thou know'st the fame that waits His rising seat in thy confederate states. There stands the model, thence he long shall draw His forms of policy, his traits of law; Each land shall imitate, each nation join The well-based brotherhood, the league divine, Extend its empire with the circling sun, And band the peopled globe beneath its federal zone. As thus he spoke, returning tears of joy Suffused the Hero's cheek and pearl'd his eye: Unveil, said he, my friend, and stretch once more Beneath my view that heaven-illumined shore; Let me behold her silver beams expand, To lead all nations, lighten every land, Instruct the total race, and teach at last Their toils to lessen and their chains to cast, Trace and attain the purpose of their birth, And hold in peace this heritage of earth. The Seraph smiled consent, the Hero's eye Watch'd for the daybeam round the changing sky. Book X. Argument