Where towers are crushed, and unforbidden weeds O'er mutilated arches shed their seeds; And temples, doomed to milder change, unfold A new magnificence that vies with old; Firm in its pristine majesty hath stood 5 A votive Column, spared by fire and flood:-- And, though the passions of man's fretful race Have never ceased to eddy round its base, Not injured more by touch of meddling hands Than a lone obelisk, 'mid Nubian sands, 10 Or aught in Syrian deserts left to save From death the memory of the good and brave. Historic figures round the shaft embost Ascend, with lineaments in air not lost: Still as he turns, the charmed spectator sees 15 Group winding after group with dream-like ease; Triumphs in sunbright gratitude displayed,[411] Or softly stealing into modest shade. --So, pleased with purple clusters to entwine Some lofty elm-tree, mounts the daring vine; 20 The woodbine so, with spiral grace, and breathes Wide-spreading odours from her flowery wreaths. Borne by the Muse from rills in shepherds' ears Murmuring but one smooth story for all years, I gladly commune with the mind and heart 25 Of him who thus survives by classic art, His actions witness, venerate his mien, And study Trajan as by Pliny seen; Behold how fought the Chief whose conquering sword Stretched far as earth might own a single lord; 30 In the delight of moral prudence schooled, How feelingly at home the Sovereign ruled; Best of the good--in pagan faith allied To more than Man, by virtue deified.