Nor died he when his ebbing fame went less, But when fresh laurels courted him to live: He seemed but to prevent some new success, As if above what triumphs earth could give. XXXIV. His latest victories still thickest came, As near the centre motion doth increase; 'Till he, pressed down by his own weighty name, Did, like the vestal, under spoils decease.[27] XXXV. But first the ocean as a tribute sent The giant prince of all her watry herd; And the isle, when her protecting Genius went, Upon his obsequies loud sighs conferred.[28] XXXVI. No civil broils have since his death arose, But faction now by habit does obey; And wars have that respect for his repose, As winds for halcyons when they breed at sea. XXXVII. His ashes in a peaceful urn shall rest;[29] His name a great example stands, to show, How strangely high endeavours may be blessed, Where piety and valour jointly go. FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 9: Note I.] [Footnote 10: Note II.] [Footnote 11: Note III.] [Footnote 12: Note IV.] [Footnote 13: Note V.] [Footnote 14: Note VI.] [Footnote 15: Note VII.] [Footnote 16: Note VIII.] [Footnote 17: Note IX.] [Footnote 18: Note X.] [Footnote 19: To which deity the Romans usually sacrificed before marching to war, according to an ancient institution of Romulus.] [Footnote 20: Note XI.] [Footnote 21: Note XII.] [Footnote 22: Note XIII.] [Footnote 23: The author seems to allude to the old proverb, "_Sapiens dominabitur astris_." The influence of the stars yielded reluctantly to Cromwell's heroic virtues, as the commons submit sullenly to be taxed.] [Footnote 24: Note XIV.] [Footnote 25: Note XV.] [Footnote 26: Note XVI.] [Footnote 27: Note XVII.] [Footnote 28: Note XVIII.] [Footnote 29: Note XIX.] NOTES ON HEROIC STANZAS. Note I. _And now 'tis time; for their officious haste, Who would before have borne him to the sky, Like eager Romans, ere all rites were past, Did let too soon the sacred eagle fly._--St. I. p. 8. Cromwell's disease, a fever and tertian ague, was accompanied by fits of swooning, which occasioned, more than once, a premature report of his death. It was probably this circumstance, which made some of his fanatical chaplains doubt the fact, after it had actually taken place. "Say not he is dead," exclaimed one of them, like Omar over the corpse of Mahomet; "for, if ever the Lord heard my prayers, he has assured me of the life of the Protector." The two last lines of the stanza allude to the Roman custom of letting an eagle fly from the funeral pile of a deceased emperor, which represented his spirit soaring to the regions of bliss, or his guardian genius convoying it thither. It is described at length in the fourth book of Herodian, who says, that, after this ceremony of consecration, the deceased emperor was enrolled among the Roman deities. Note II.