_"Now, at the feast they plan the fall of Troy; "The stern debate ATRIDES hears with joy"._ --_Hom. Odys._ Borne on the wings of time another year Sprung from the past, begins its proud career: From that bright spark which first illumed these lands, See Europe kindling, as the blaze expands, Each gloomy tyrant, sworn to chain the mind, Presumes no more to trample on mankind: Even potent Louis trembles on his throne, The generous prince who made our cause his own, More equal rights his injured subjects claim, No more a country's strength--that country's shame; Fame starts astonished at such prizes won, And rashness wonders how the work was done. Flushed with new life, and brightening at the view, Genius, triumphant, moulds the world anew; To these far climes in swift succession moves Each art that Reason owns and sense approves. What though his age is bounded to a span Time sheds a conscious dignity on man, Some happier breath his rising passion swells, Some kinder genius his bold arm impels, Dull superstition from the world retires, Disheartened zealots haste to quench their fires; One equal rule o'er twelve[A] vast States extends, Europe and Asia join to be our friends, Our active flag in every clime displayed Counts stars on colours that shall never fade; A far famed chief o'er this vast whole presides Whose motto Honor is--whom Virtue guides His walks forsaken in Virginia's groves Applauding thousands bow where'er He moves, Who laid the basis of this Empire sure Where public faith should public peace secure. Still may she rise, exalted in her aims, And boast to every age her patriot names, To distant climes extend her gentle sway, While choice--not force--bids every heart obey: Ne'er may she fail when Liberty implores, Nor want true valour to defend her shores, 'Till Europe, humbled, greets our western wave, And owns an equal--whom she wished a slave. [A] At this time, Rhode-Island was not a member of the general Confederation of the American States. [1788]--_Freneau's note._ [375] This appeared first in the _Daily Advertiser_ of New York, March 7, 1790. It is the first of Freneau's series of poems on the French Revolution and its message. Text from the edition of 1809. TO A DOG[376] Occasioned by putting him on shore at the Island of Sapola, for theft Since Nature taught you, Tray, to be a thief, What blame have you, for working at your trade? What if you stole a handsome round of beef; Theft, in your code of laws, no crime was made. The ten commandments you had never read, Nor did it ever enter in your head: But art and Nature, careful to conceal, Disclos'd not even the Eighth--_Thou shalt not steal_.