MARENGHI
561
VI
Was Florence the liberticide? that band
Of free and glorious brothers who had[1] planted,
Like a[2] green isle mid Aethiopian sand, 25
A nation amid slaveries, disenchanted
Of many impious faiths—wise, just—do they,[3]
Does[4] Florence, gorge the sated tyrants' prey?[4]
Was Florence the liberticide? that band
Of free and glorious brothers who had[1] planted,
Like a[2] green isle mid Aethiopian sand, 25
A nation amid slaveries, disenchanted
Of many impious faiths—wise, just—do they,[3]
Does[4] Florence, gorge the sated tyrants' prey?[4]
VII
O foster-nurse of man's abandoned glory,
Since Athens, its great mother, sunk in splendour; 30
Thou shadowest forth that mighty shape in story,
As ocean its wrecked fanes, severe yet tender:—
The light-invested angel[5] Poesy
Was drawn from the dim world to welcome thee.[6]
O foster-nurse of man's abandoned glory,
Since Athens, its great mother, sunk in splendour; 30
Thou shadowest forth that mighty shape in story,
As ocean its wrecked fanes, severe yet tender:—
The light-invested angel[5] Poesy
Was drawn from the dim world to welcome thee.[6]
VIII
And thou in painting didst transcribe all taught 35
By loftiest meditations; marble knew
The sculptor's fearless soul—and as he wrought,
The grace of his own power and freedom grew.
And more than all, heroic, just, sublime,
Thou wert among the false . . . was this thy crime? 40
And thou in painting didst transcribe all taught 35
By loftiest meditations; marble knew
The sculptor's fearless soul—and as he wrought,
The grace of his own power and freedom grew.
And more than all, heroic, just, sublime,
Thou wert among the false . . . was this thy crime? 40
IX
Yes; and on Pisa's marble walls the twine
Of direst[7] weeds hangs garlanded—the snake
Inhabits its wrecked palaces;—in thine
A beast of subtler venom now doth make
Its lair, and sits amid[8] their glories overthrown, 45
And thus thy victim's fate is as thine own.
Yes; and on Pisa's marble walls the twine
Of direst[7] weeds hangs garlanded—the snake
Inhabits its wrecked palaces;—in thine
A beast of subtler venom now doth make
Its lair, and sits amid[8] their glories overthrown, 45
And thus thy victim's fate is as thine own.
X
The sweetest flowers are ever frail and rare,
And love and freedom blossom but to wither;
And good and ill like vines entangled are,
So that their grapes may oft be plucked together;— 50
Divide the vintage ere thou drink, then make
Thy heart rejoice for dead Marenghi's sake.
The sweetest flowers are ever frail and rare,
And love and freedom blossom but to wither;
And good and ill like vines entangled are,
So that their grapes may oft be plucked together;— 50
Divide the vintage ere thou drink, then make
Thy heart rejoice for dead Marenghi's sake.
- ↑ 23, 24 that band Of free and glorious brothers who had 1870; omitted, B.
- ↑ 25 a 1870; one B.
- ↑ 27 wise, just—do they 1870; omitted, B.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 28 Does 1870; Doth B. prey 1870; spoil B.
- ↑ 33 angel 1824; Herald [?] B.
- ↑ 34 to welcome thee 1824; cancelled for . . . by thee B.
- ↑ 42 direst 1824; Desert B.
- ↑ 45 sits amid 1824; amid cancelled for soils (?) B.
- ↑ 53 Marenghi] Mazenghi B.
- ↑ 55 farm doubtful: perh. fame (Locock).
- ↑ 53-57 Albert . . . sent B.; omitted 1824, 1870. Albert cancelled B.: Pietro is the correct name.
