O noblest, happiest age! When Aristides ruled, and Cimon fought; When all the generous fruits of Homer's page Exulting Pindar saw to full perfection brought. O Pindar, oft shalt thou be hail'd of me: Not that Apollo fed thee from his shrine; Not that thy lips drank sweetness from the bee; Nor yet that, studious of thy notes divine, Pan danced their measure with the sylvan throng: But that thy song Was proud to unfold What thy base rulers trembled to behold; Amid corrupted Thebes was proud to tell The deeds of Athens and the Persian shame: Hence on thy head their impious vengeance fell. But thou, O faithful to thy fame, The Muse's law didst rightly know; That who would animate his lays, And other minds to virtue raise, Must feel his own with all her spirit glow. III.--1. Are there, approved of later times, Whose verse adorn'd a tyrant's [1] crimes? Who saw majestic Rome betray'd, And lent the imperial ruffian aid? Alas! not one polluted bard, No, not the strains that Mincius heard, Or Tibur's hills replied, Dare to the Muse's ear aspire; Save that, instructed by the Grecian lyre, With Freedom's ancient notes their shameful task they hide. III.--2. Mark, how the dread Pantheon stands, Amid the domes of modern hands: Amid the toys of idle state, How simply, how severely great! Then turn, and, while each western clime Presents her tuneful sons to Time, So mark thou Milton's name; And add, 'Thus differs from the throng The spirit which inform'd thy awful song, Which bade thy potent voice protect thy country's fame.' III.--3. Yet hence barbaric zeal His memory with unholy rage pursues; While from these arduous cares of public weal She bids each bard begone, and rest him with his Muse. O fool! to think the man, whose ample mind Must grasp at all that yonder stars survey; Must join the noblest forms of every kind, The world's most perfect image to display, Can e'er his country's majesty behold, Unmoved or cold! O fool! to deem That he, whose thought must visit every theme, Whose heart must every strong emotion know Inspired by Nature, or by Fortune taught; That he, if haply some presumptuous foe, With false ignoble science fraught, Shall spurn at Freedom's faithful band: That he their dear defence will shun, Or hide their glories from the sun, Or deal their vengeance with a woman's hand! IV.--1.