C. GLORIA. R. RUBINA. SERENA, L. ATTENDANTS. ATTENDANTS. _Gloria._ Yes, mine, all mine, this bounteous land, So rich in varied blessings that command Homage from all. The mighty of the earth Must stoop to thee, O land of lowly birth! Thy mountains rise in majesty and pride; In royal state thy valleys open wide; Thy broad, expansive waters, spreading free, Embrace the bosom of the mother sea; Out of a fruitful earth thy harvests rise; Out leaps the golden ore with glad surprise; Over thy broad domains, with ceaseless hum, Labor's grand armies ever conquering come; While rare Invention opes its secret heart, And Genius rears its monumental art. O land of promise! Gloria's inmost prayer Could ask no more than thy fair fate to share. Sweet counsellors, let Wisdom quick contrive Some plan this happy state to keep alive. _Rubina._ A nation's life, fair mistress, action craves; Cold, sluggish apathy the blood enslaves. Renown's the rock on which to rear a state; Rubina's counsel is for conquest straight. _Gloria._ Conquest, Rubina! Thine's a sorry jest. We have no quarrels: friends with all we rest. _Rubina._ Ay: but to win renown, with fair excuse, Strike at the shadow of some old abuse Among our neighbors; or, with slight parade Of justice, boldly on their borders raid. Quick to revenge, their warlike hearts upspring: "To arms! to arms!" they cry. Their weapons ring; On us they march, a fast-increasing band, Till in the confines of our realm they stand. "Quick! to repel invasion!" then our cry; Alarming signals flash out fierce and high; From east and west, from north and south, outpour The sons of Freedom, in their strength secure; Drive back the foe, in turn invade their fold, Until their fate victoriously we hold. _Gloria._ And then— _Rubina._ And then boldly for ransom claim A portion of their realm in Freedom's name. _Gloria._ What says Serena? _Serena._ 'Tis a crafty plot, And full of wickedness. I like it not. Freedom's a name too sacred to infold A hungering appetite for greed and gold. What conquest gains is ne'er enriched by toil; Ensanguined earth is but a sterile soil. Rubina's counsel, and her bold device, Would purchase glory at a bloody price. _Rubina._ Serena, pause! thou hast no right to frown, With thy cold-hearted words, my counsel down. No crafty plot I weave to bring disgrace, But lofty plans to glorify the race. Let War once set his standard in the field, With strength and valor blazoned on his shield, The roar of cannon, and the clash of steel, Shall glad the nation with triumphant peal, And strong and mighty conquerers enroll Heroic deeds on her historic scroll.