I, in the land of strangers, and deprest
With sad and certain presage for my own,
Exult at hope's fresh dayspring, tho afar,
There where my youth was not unexercised
By chiefs in willing war and faithful song:
Shades as they were, they were not empty shades,
Whose bodies haunt our world and blear our sun,
Obstruction worse than swamp and shapeless
sands.
Peace, praise, eternal gladness, to the souls
That, rising from the seas into the heavens,
Have ransom'd first their country with their
blood!
0 thou immortal Spartan! at whose name
The marble table sounds beneath my palms,
Leonidas! even thou wilt not disdain
To mingle names august as these with thine;
Nor thou, twin-star of glory, thou whose rays
Stream'd over Corinth on the double sca,
Achaian and Saronic; whom the sons
Of Syracuse, when Death removed thy light,
Wept more than slavery ever made them weep,
But shed (if gratitude is sweet) sweet tears..
The hand that then pour'd ashes o'er their heads
Was loosen'd from its desperate chain by thee.
What now can press mankind into one mass,
For Tyranny to tread the more secure?
From gold alone is drawn the guilty wire
That Adulation trills: she mocks the tone
Of Duty, Courage, Virtue, Piety,
And under her sits Hope. O how unlike
That graceful form in azure vest array'd,
With brow serene, and eyes on heaven alone
In patience fixt, in fondness unobscured!
What monsters coil beneath the spreading tree
Of Despotism! what wastes extend around!
What poison floats upon the distant breeze!
But who are those that cull and deal its fruit?
Creatures that shun the light and fear the shade,
Bloated and fierce, Sleep's mien and Famine's cry.
Rise up again, rise in thy dignity,
Dejected Man! and scare this brood away.
I SING the fates of Gebir. He had dwelt
Among those mountain-caverns which retain
His labours yet, vast halls and flowing wells,
Nor have forgotten their old master's name
Though sever'd from his people: here, incenst
By meditating on primeval wrongs,
He blew his battle-horn, at which uprose
The wonted buzz and bustle of the court
From far through sculptured galleries met her ear;
Then lifting up her head, the evening sun
Pour'd a fresh splendour on her burnisht throne:
The fair Charoba, the young queen, complied.
But Gebir, when he heard of her approach,
Laid by his orbed shield; his vizor-helm,
His buckler and his corset he laid by,
And bade that none attend him: at his side
Whole nations; here, ten thousand of most Two faithful dogs that urge the silent course,
He call'd aloud; and soon Charoba saw
His dark helm hover o'er the land of Nile.
Shaggy, deep-chested, croucht; the crocodile,
Crying, oft made them raise their flaccid ears
And push their heads within their master's
hand.
There was a brightening paleness in his face,
Such as Diana rising o'er the rocks
Shower'd on the lonely Latmian; on his brow
Sorrow there was, yet nought was there severe.
But when the royal damsel first he saw,
Faint, hanging on her handmaid, and her knees
Tottering, as from the motion of the car,
His eyes lookt earnest on her, and those eyes
20 Show'd, if they had not, that they might have,
lov'd,
What should the virgin do? should royal knees
Bend suppliant? or defenceless hands engage
Men of gigantic force, gigantic arms?
For 'twas reported that nor sword sufficed,
Nor shield immense nor coat of massive mail,
But that upon their towering heads they bore
Each a huge stone, refulgent as the stars.
This told she Dalica, then cried aloud,
"If on your bosom laying down my head
I sobb'd away the sorrows of a child,
If I have always, and Heav'n knows I have,
Next to a mother's held a nurse's name,
Succour this one distress, recall those days,
Love me, tho' twere because you lov'd me then."
But whether confident in magic rites
Or toucht with sexual pride to stand implor'd,
Dalica smiled, then spake: "Away those fears.
Though stronger than the strongest of his
kind,
He falls; on me devolve that charge; he falls.
Rather than fly him, stoop thou to allure;
Nay, journey to his tents. A city stood
Upon that coast, they say, by Sidad built,
Whose father Gad built Gadir; on this ground
Perhaps he sees an ample room for war.
Persuade him to restore the walls himself
In honour of his ancestors, persuade . .
But wherefore this advice? young, unespoused,
Charoba want persuasions! and a queen!"
"O Dalica!" the shuddering maid exclaim'd, 40
"Could I encounter that fierce frightful man?
Could I speak? no, nor sigh.” “And canst thou
reign?"
Cried Dalica; " yield empire or comply."
Unfixt, though seeming fixt, her eyes down-
For there was pity in them at that hour.
With gentle speech, and more with gentle looks,
He sooth'd her; but lest Pity go beyond
And crost Ambition lose her lofty aim,
Bending, he kist her garment, and retired.
He went, nor slumber'd in the sultry noon,
When viands, couches, generous wines, persuade,
And slumber most refreshes; nor at night,
When heavy dews are laden with disease;
And blindness waits not there for lingering age.
Ere morning dawn'd behind him, he arrived
At those rich meadows where young Tamar fed
The royal flocks entrusted to his care.
Now," said he to himself, "will I repose
At least this burthen on a brother's breast."
His brother stood before him: he, amazed,
Rear'd suddenly his head, and thus began.
"Is it thou, brother! Tamar, is it thou!
Why, standing on the valley's utmost verge,
Lookest thou on that dull and dreary shore
Where beyond sight Nile blackens all the sand?
And why that sadness? When I past our sheep
The dew-drops were not shaken off the bar,
Therefore if one be wanting, 'tis untold."
"Yes, one is wanting, nor is that untold,"
Said Tamar; " and this dull and dreary shore
Is neither dull nor dreary at all hours."
Whereon the tear stole silent down his cheek,
Silent, but not by Gebir unobserv'd:
Wondering he gazed awhile, and pitying spake.
"Let me approach thee; does the morning light
Scatter this wan suffusion o'er thy brow,
This faint blue lustre under both thine eyes?"
"O brother, is this pity or reproach ?"
Cried Tamar, "cruel if it be reproach,
If pity, O how vain !" "Whate'er it be
That grieves thee, I will pity, thou but speak,
And I can tell thee, Tamar, pang for pang."
"Gebir! then more than brothers are we now!
Everything (take my hand) will I confess.
I neither feed the flock nor watch the fold;
How can I, lost in love? But, Gebir, why
That anger which has risen to your cheek?
Can other men? could you? what, no reply!
And still more anger, and still worse conceal'd! 110
Are these your promises? your pity this?"
"Tamar, I well may pity what I feel
Mark me aright.. I feel for thee. . proceed. .
Relate me all." "Then will I all relate,"
Said the young shepherd, gladden'd from his
Twas evening, though not sunset, and the tide Level with these green meadows, seem'd yet higher:
Twas pleasant; and I loosen'd from my neck
The pipe you gave me, and began to play.
O that I ne'er had learnt the tuneful art!
It always brings us enemies or love.
I am not daunted; no; I will engage.'
'But first,' said she, 'what wager will you lay?'
'A sheep,' I answered: 'add whate'er you will.'
'I can not,' she replied, 'make that return:
Our hided vessels in their pitchy round
Seldom, unless from rapine, hold a sheep.
But I have sinuous shells of pearly hue
Within, and they that lustre have imbibed
In the sun's palace-porch, where when unyoked
His chariot-wheel stands midway in the wave :
Shake one and it awakens, then apply
Its polisht lips to your attentive ear,
And it remembers its august abodes,
And murmurs as the ocean murmurs there.
And I have others given me by the nymphs,
Of sweeter sound than any pipe you have;
But we, by Neptune ! for no pipe contend,
This time a sheep I win, a pipe the next.'
Now came she forward eager to engage,
But first her dress, her bosom then survey'd,
And heav'd it, doubting if she could deceive.
Her bosom seem'd, inclos'd in haze like heav'n,
To baffle touch, and rose forth undefined:
Above her knee she drew the robe succinct,
Above her breast, and just below her arms.
This will preserve my breath when tightly
bound,
If struggle and equal strength should so con
Thus, pulling hard to fasten it, she spake, And, rushing at me, closed: I thrill'd throughout And seem'd to lessen and shrink up with cold. Again with violent impulse gusht my blood, And hearing nought external, thus absorb'd, I heard it, rushing through each turbid vein, Shake my unsteady swimming sight in air. Yet with unyielding though uncertain arms I clung around her neck; the vest beneath Rustled against our slippery limbs entwined: Often mine springing with eluded force 130 Started aside and trembled till replaced :
And when I most succeeded, as I thought, My bosom and my throat felt so comprest That life was almost quivering on my lips, Yet nothing was there painful these are signs Of secret arts and not of human might; What arts I can not tell; I only know My eyes grew dizzy and my strength decay'd; I was indeed o'ercome. . with what regret, And more, with what confusion, when I reacht 200 The fold, and yielding up the sheep, she cried, 140This pays a shepherd to a conquering maid.' She smiled, and more of pleasure than disdain Was in her dimpled chin and liberal lip, And eyes that languisht, lengthening, just like love.
Well, I was playing, when above the waves Some swimmer's head methought I saw ascend; , sitting still, survey'd it, with my pipe Awkwardly held before my lips half-closed, Gebir! it was a Nymph! a Nymph divine! ean not wait describing how she came, How I was sitting, how she first assum'd The sailor; of what happen'd there remains Enough to say, and too much to forget. The sweet deceiver stept upon this bank Before I was aware; for with surprise Moments fly rapid as with love itself. stooping to tune afresh the hoarsen'd reed, heard a rustling, and where that arose y glance first lighted on her nimble feet. ler feet resembled those long shells explored by him who to befriend his steed's dim sight Would blow the pungent powder in the eye. Her eyes too! O immortal Gods! her eyes esembled. . what could they resemble? what Ever resemble those? Even her attire Was not of wonted woof nor vulgar art: fer mantle show'd the yellow samphire-pod, der girdle the dove-colour'd wave serene. Shepherd,' said she, and will you wrestle now, And with the sailor's hardier race engage?' was rejoiced to hear it, and contrived How to keep up contention: could I fail By pressing not too strongly, yet to press ? Whether a shepherd, as indeed you seem, Or whether of the hardier race you boast,
Restless then ran I to the highest ground
To watch her; she was gone; gone down the tide';
And the long moon-beam on the hard wet sand
Lay like a jasper column half up-rear'd."
"But, Tamar! tell me, will she not return?"
"She will return, yet not before the moon
Again is at the full she promist this,
Tho' when she promist I could not reply."
"By all the Gods I pity thee! go on,
Fear not my anger, look not on my shame,
For when a lover only hears of love
He finds his folly out, and is ashamed.
Away with watchful nights and lonely days,
Contempt of earth and aspect up to heaven,
With contemplation, with humility,
See his throat thicken and the crisped scales
Rise ruffled, while upon the middle fold
He keeps his wary head and blinking eye,
Curling more close and crouching ere he strike.
Go, mighty men, invade far cities, go,
And be such treasure portions to your heirs.
Six days they labour'd: on the seventh day
Returning, all their labours were destroy'd.
'Twas not by mortal hand, or from their tents
"Twere visible; for these were now removed
Above, where neither noxious mist ascends
Nor the way wearies ere the work begin.
There Gebir, pierced with sorrow,spake these words:
"Ye men of Gades, arm'd with brazen shields,
And ye of near Tartessus, where the shore
Stoops to receive the tribute which all owe
To Boetis and his banks for their attire,
Ye too whom Durius bore on level meads,
Inherent in your hearts is bravery,
For earth contains no nation where abounds
The generous horse and not the warlike man.
But neither soldier now nor steed avails,
Nor steed nor soldier can oppose the Gods,
Nor is there aught above like Jove himself,
Nor weighs against his purpose, when once fixt,
Aught but, with supplicating knee, the Prayers.
240 Swifter than light are they, and every face,
Tho' different, glows with beauty; at the throne
Of Mercy, when clouds shut it from mankind,
They fall bare-bosom'd, and indignant Jove
Drops at the soothing sweetness of their voice
The thunder from his hand. Let us arise
On these high places daily, beat our breast,
Prostrate ourselves and deprecate his wrath."
A tatter'd cloak that pride wears when deform'd,
Away with all that hides me from myself,
Parts me from others, whispers I am wise:
From our own wisdom less is to be reapt
Than from the barest folly of our friend.
Tamar! thy pastures, large and rich, afford
Flowers to thy bees and herbage to thy sheep,
But, battened on too much, the poorest croft
Of thy poor neighbour yields what thine denies."
They hasten'd to the camp, and Gebir there
Resolved his native country to forego,
And order'd from those ruins to the right
They forthwith raise a city. Tamar heard
With wonder, tho' in passing 'twas half-told,
His brother's love, and sigh'd upon his own.
THE Gadite men the royal charge obey.
Now fragments weigh'd up from the uneven streets
Leave the ground black beneath; again the sun
Shines into what were porches, and on steps
Once warm with frequentation; clients, friends,
All morning, satchel'd idlers all mid-day,
Lying half-up and languid tho' at games.
Some raise the painted pavement, some on
wheels
Draw slow its laminous length, some intersperse
Salt water thro' the sordid heaps, and seize
The flowers and figures starting fresh to view;
Others rub hard large masses, and essay
To polish into white what they misdeem
The growing green of many trackless years.*
Far off at intervals the axe resounds
With regular strong stroke, and nearer home
Dull falls the mallet with long labour fringed.
Here arches are discover'd; there huge beams
Resist the hatchet, but in fresher air
Soon drop away: there spreads a marble squared 20
And smoothen'd; some high pillar for its base
Chose it, which now lies ruin'd in the dust.
Clearing the soil at bottom, they espy
A crevice, and, intent on treasure, strive
Strenuous and groan to move it: one exclaims,
"I hear the rusty metal grate; it moves!"
Now, overturning it, backward they start,
And stop again, and see a serpent pant,
*Verde Antico is found here.
The people bow'd their bodies and obey'd.
Nine mornings with white ashes on their heads
Lamented they their toibeach night o'erthrown,
And now the largest orbit of the year,
Leaning o'er black Mocattam's rubied brow,*
Proceeded slow, majestic, and serene,
Now seem'd not further than the nearest cliff,
And crimson light struck soft the phosphor wave."
Then Gebir spake to Tamar in these words:
"Tamar! I am thy elder and thy king,
But am thy brother too, nor ever said
Give me thy secret and become my slave:
But haste thee not away; I will myself
Await the nymph, disguised in thy attire."
Then, starting from attention, Tamar cried,
"Brother! in sacred truth it can not be.
My life is yours, my love must be my own.
O surely he who seeks a second love
Never felt one, or 'tis not one I feel."
But Gebir with complacent smile replied,
"Go then, fond Tamar, go in happy hour,
But, ere thou partest, ponder in thy breast
And well bethink thee, lest thou part deceived,
Will she disclose to thee the mysteries
Of our calamity? and unconstrain'd ?
When even her love thy strength had to disclose.
My heart indeed is full, but, witness heaven!
My people, not my passion, fill my heart."
*The summits are of a deep red.
"Then let me kiss thy garment," said the She lookt up wildly, and could now descry
youth,
"And heaven be with thee, and on me thy grace."
Him then the monarch thus once more addrest:
"Be of good courage: hast thou yet forgot
What chaplets languisht round thy unburnt hair,
In colour like some tall smooth beech's leaves
Curl'd by autumnal suns?" How flattery
Excites a pleasant, soothes a painful shame!
"These," amid stifled blushes Tamar said,
"Were of the flowering raspberry and vine:
But ah! the seasons will not wait for love,
Seek out some other now." They parted here:
And Gebir, bending through the woodland, cull'd
The creeping vine and viscous raspberry,
Less green and less compliant than they were,
And twisted in those mossy tufts that grow
On brakes of roses when the roses fade:
And as he passes on, the little hinds
That shake for bristly herds the foodful bough,
Wonder, stand still, gaze, and trip satisfied;
Pleas'd more if chesnut, out of prickly husk
Shot from the sandal, roll along the glade.
And thus unnoticed went he, and untired
Stept up the acclivity; and as he stept,
And as the garlands nodded o'er his brow,
Sudden from under a close alder sprang
Th' expectant nymph, and seiz'd him unaware.
He stagger'd at the shock; his feet at first
Slipt backward from the wither'd grass short-
grazed,
The kingly brow archt lofty for command.
"Traitor!" said she undaunted, tho' amaze
Threw o'er her varying cheek the air of fear,
"Thinkest thou thus that with impunity
Thou hast forsooth deceived me? dar'st thou deem
Those eyes not hateful that have seen me fall?
O heaven! soon may they close on my disgrace.160
Merciless man! what! for one sheep estranged
Hast thou thrown into dungeons and of day
Amerced thy shepherd? hast thou, while the iron
Pierced thro' his tender limbs into his soul,
By threats, by tortures, torn out that offence,
And heard him (0 could I) avow his love?
Say, hast thou? cruel, hateful! ah my fears!
I feel them true! speak, tell me, are they true?"
She, blending thus entreaty with reproach,
Bent forward, as tho' falling on her knee
Whence she had hardly risen, and at this pause
Shed from her large dark eyes a shower of tears.
The Iberian King her sorrow thus consoled.
'Weep no more, heavenly maiden, weep no more:
Neither by force withheld nor choice estranged,
Thy Tamar lives, and only lives for thee.
Happy, thrice happy, you! 'tis me alone
Whom heaven and earth and ocean with one hate
Conspire on, and throughout each path pursue.
Whether in waves beneath or skies above
Thou hast thy habitation, 'tis from heaven,
From heaven alone, such power, such charms
![[ocr errors]](http://google.cat/books/content?id=ji4LAAAAYAAJ&output=html_text&pg=PA491&img=1&zoom=3&hl=en&q=editions:OCLC946744145&cds=1&sig=ACfU3U1SIcxgl3Uec6YVZSWvfV1wTVlteA&edge=0&edge=stretch&ci=464,622,13,9)
120 Then O! discover whence that ruin comes
But striking out one arm, tho' without aim,
Then grasping with his other, he enclosed
The struggler; she gain'd not one step's retreat,
Urging with open hands against his throat
Intense, now holding in her breath constrain'd,
Now pushing with quick impulse and by starts,
Till the dust blacken'd upon every pore.
Nearer he drew her and yet nearer, claspt
Above the knees midway, and now one arm
Fell, and her other lapsing o'er the neck
Of Gebir, swung against his back incurved,
The swoln veins glowing deep, and with a groan
On his broad shoulder fell her face reclined.
But ah! she knew not whom that roseate face
Cool'd with its breath ambrosial; for she stood
Higher on the bank, and often swept and broke
His chaplets mingled with her loosen'd hair.
Whether, while Tamar tarried, came desire,
And she, grown languid, loost the wings of Love
Which she before held proudly at her will,
And, nought but Tamar in her soul, and nought
(Where Tamar was) that seem'd or fear'd deceit,
To fraud she yielded what no force had gain'd;
Or whether Jove in pity to mankind,
When from his crystal fount the visual orbs
He fill'd with piercing ether, and endued
With somewhat of omnipotence, ordain'd
That never two fair forms at once torment
The human heart and draw it different ways,
And thus, in prowess like a god, the chief
Subdued her strength nor softened at her charms, 150
The nymph divine, the magic mistress, fail'd.
Recovering, still half-resting on the turf,
Each night upon our city; whence are heard
Those yells of rapture round our fallen walls:
In our affliction can the Gods delight,
Or meet oblation for the Nymphs are tears?"
He spake, and indignation sank in woe.
Which she perceiving, pride refresht her heart,
Hope wreath'd her mouth with smiles, and she
exclaim'd:
"Neither the Gods afflict you, nor the Nymphs.
Return me him who won my heart, return
Him whom my bosom pants for, as the steeds
In the sun's chariot for the western wave.
The Gods will prosper thee, and Tamar prove
How Nymphs, the torments that they cause,
assuage.
Promise me this; indeed I think thou hast,
But 'tis so pleasing, promise it once more."
"Once more I promise,” cried the gladden'd
king,
"By my right-hand and by myself I swear,
And ocean's Gods and heaven's Gods I adjure,
Thou shalt be Tamar's, Tamar shall be thine."
Then she, regarding him long fixt, replied:
"I have thy promise, take thou my advice.
Gebir! this land of Egypt is a land
Of incantation, demons rule these waves;
These are against thee, these thy works destroy.
Where thou hast built thy palace, and hast left
The seven pillars to remain in front,
Sacrifice there, and all these rites observe.
Go, but go early, ere the gladsome Hours
Strew saffron in the path of rising Morn,
|