'Oh born to see what none can see awake! Behold the wonders of the oblivious lake. Thou, yet unborn, hast touch'd this sacred shore; The hand of Bavius drench'd thee o'er and o'er. But blind to former as to future fate, What mortal knows his pre-existent state? Who knows how long thy transmigrating soul Might from Boeotian to Boeotian roll? 50 How many Dutchmen she vouchsafed to thrid? How many stages through old monks she rid? And all who since, in mild benighted days, Mix'd the owl's ivy with the poet's bays. As man's meanders to the vital spring Roll all their tides, then back their circles bring; Or whirligigs, twirl'd round by skilful swain, Suck the thread in, then yield it out again: All nonsense thus, of old or modern date, Shall in thee centre, from thee circulate. 60 For this our queen unfolds to vision true Thy mental eye, for thou hast much to view: Old scenes of glory, times long cast behind, Shall, first recall'd, rush forward to thy mind: Then stretch thy sight o'er all thy rising reign, And let the past and future fire thy brain. 'Ascend this hill, whose cloudy point commands Her boundless empire over seas and lands. See, round the poles where keener spangles shine, Where spices smoke beneath the burning line, 70 (Earth's wide extremes), her sable flag display'd, And all the nations cover'd in her shade! 'Far eastward cast thine eye, from whence the sun And orient science their bright course begun; One god-like monarch[355] all that pride confounds, He whose long wall the wandering Tartar bounds; Heavens! what a pile! whole ages perish there, And one bright blaze turns learning into air. 'Thence to the south extend thy gladden'd eyes; There rival flames with equal glory rise, 80 From shelves to shelves see greedy Vulcan roll, And lick up all their physic of the soul.[356] 'How little, mark! that portion of the ball, Where, faint at best, the beams of science fall: Soon as they dawn, from Hyperborean skies Embodied dark, what clouds of Vandals rise! Lo! where Maeotis sleeps, and hardly flows The freezing Tanais through a waste of snows, The North by myriads pours her mighty sons, Great nurse of Goths, of Alans, and of Huns! 90 See Alaric's stern port! the martial frame Of Genseric! and Attila's dread name! See the bold Ostrogoths on Latium fall; See the fierce Visigoths on Spain and Gaul! See, where the morning gilds the palmy shore, (The soil that arts and infant letters bore,) His conquering tribes the Arabian prophet draws, And saving ignorance enthrones by laws. See Christians, Jews, one heavy sabbath keep, And all the western world believe and sleep. 100