The Columbiad: A Poem Part 20

Tho in the times you trace he seems to gain A steadier movement and a path more plain, And tho experience will have taught him then To mark some dangers, some delusions ken, Yet who can tell what future shocks may spread New shades of darkness round his lofty head, Plunge him again in some broad gulph of woes, Where long and oft he struggled, wreck'd and rose?

What strides he took in those gigantic times That sow'd with cities all his orient climes!

When earth's proud floods he tamed, made many a sh.o.r.e, And talk'd with heaven from Babel's glittering tower!

Did not his Babylon exulting say, I sit a queen, for ever stands my sway?

Thebes, Memphis, Nineveh, a countless throng, Caught the same splendor and return'd the song; Each boasted, promised o'er the world to rise, Spouse of the sun, eternal as the skies.

Where shall we find them now? the very sh.o.r.e Where Ninus rear'd his empire is no more: The dikes decay'd, a putrid marsh regains The sunken walls, the tomb-enc.u.mber'd plains, Pursues the dwindling nations where they shrink, And skirts with slime its deleterious brink.

The fox himself has fled his gilded den, Nor holds the heritage he won from men; Lapwing and reptile shun the curst abode, And the foul dragon, now no more a G.o.d, Trails off his train; the sickly raven flies; A wide strong-stencht Avernus chokes the skies.

So pride and ignorance fall a certain prey To the stanch bloodhound of despotic sway.

Then past a long drear night, with here and there A doubtful glimmering from a single star; Tyre, Carthage, Syracuse the gleam increase, Till dawns at last the effulgent morn of Greece, Here all his Muses meet, all arts combine To nerve his genius and his works refine; Morals and laws and arms, and every grace That e'er adorn'd or could exalt the race, Wrought into science and arranged in rules, Swell the proud splendor of her cl.u.s.ter'd schools, Build and sustain the state with loud acclaim, And work those deathless miracles of fame That stand unrivall'd still; for who shall dare Another field with Marathon compare?

Who speaks of eloquence or sacred song, But calls on Greece to modulate his tongue?

And where has man's fine form so perfect shone In tint or mould, in canva.s.s or in stone?

Yet from that splendid height o'erturn'd once more, He dasht in dust the living lamp he bore.

Dazzled with her own glare, decoy'd and sold For homebred faction and barbaric gold, Greece treads on Greece, subduing and subdued, New crimes inventing, all the old renew'd, Canton o'er canton climbs; till, crush'd and broke, All yield the sceptre and resume the yoke.

Where shall we trace him next, the migrant man, To try once more his meliorating plan?

Shall not the Macedonian, where he strides O'er Asian worlds and Nile's neglected tides, Prepare new seats of glory, to repay The transient shadows with perpetual day?

His heirs erect their empires, and expand The beams of Greece thro each benighted land; Seleucia spreads o'er ten broad realms her sway, And turns on eastern climes the western ray; Palmyra brightens earth's commercial zone, And sits an emblem of her G.o.d the sun; While fond returning to that favorite sh.o.r.e Where Ammon ruled and Hermes taught of yore, All arts concentrate, force and grace combine To rear and blend the useful with the fine, Restore the Egyptian glories, and retain, Where science dawn'd, her great resurgent reign.

From Egypt chased again, he seeks his home, More firmly fixt in sage considerate Rome.

Here all the virtues long resplendent shone All that was Greek, barbarian and her own; She school'd him sound, and boasted to extend Thro time's long course and earth's remotest end His glorious reign of reason; soon to cease The clang of arms, and rule the world in peace.

Great was the sense he gain'd, and well defined The various functions of his tutor'd mind; Could but his sober sense have proved his guide, And kind experience pruned the shoots of pride.

A field magnificent before him lay; Land after land received the spreading ray; Franchise and friendship travell'd in his train, Bandits of earth and pirates of the main Rose into citizens, their rage resign'd.

And hail'd the great republic of mankind.

If ever then state slaughter was to pause, And man from nature learn to frame his laws.

This was the moment; here the sunbeam rose To hush the human storm and let the world repose.

But drunk with pomp and sickening at the light, He stagger d wild on this delirious height; Forgot the plainest truths he learnt before, And barter'd moral for material power.

From Calpe's rock to India's ardent skies, O'er shuddering earth his talon'd Eagle flies, To justice blind, and heedless where she drove, As when she bore the brandisht bolt of Jove.

Rome loads herself with chains, seals fast her eyes, And tells the insulted nations when to rise; And rise they do, like sweeping tempests driven, Swarm following swarm, o'ershading earth and heaven, Roll back her outrage, and indignant shed The world's wide vengeance on her sevenfold head.

Then dwindling back to littleness and shade Man soon forgets the gorgeous glare he made, Sinks to a savage serf or monkish drone, Roves in rude hordes or counts his beads alone, Wars with his arts, obliterates his lore, And burns the books that rear'd his race before.

Shrouded in deeper darkness now he veers The vast gyration of a thousand years, Strikes out each lamp that would illume his way, Disputes his food with every beast of prey; Imbands his force to fence his trist abodes, A wretched robber with his feudal codes.

At length, it seems, some parsimonious rays Collect from each far heaven a feeble blaze, Dance o'er his Europe, and again excite His numerous nations to receive the light.

But faint and slow the n.i.g.g.ard dawn expands, Diffused o'er various far dissunder'd lands, Dreading, as well it may, to prove once more The same sad chance so often proved before.

And why not lapse again? Celestial Seer, Forgive my doubts, and ah remove my fear!

Man is my brother; strong I feel the ties, From strong solicitude my doubts arise; My heart, while opening with the boundless scope That swells before him and expands his hope, Forebodes another fall; and tho at last Thy world is planted and with light o'ercast, Tho two broad continents their beams combine Round his whole globe to stream his day divine, Perchance some folly, yet uncured, may spread A storm proportion'd to the lights they shed, Veil both his continents, and leave again Between them stretch'd the impermeable main; All science buried, sails and cities lost, Their lands uncultured, as their seas uncrost.

Till on thy coast, some thousand ages hence, New pilots rise, bold enterprise commence, Some new Columbus (happier let him be, More wise and great and virtuous far than me) Launch on the wave, and tow'rd the rising day Like a strong eaglet steer his untaught way, Gird half the globe, and to his age unfold A strange new world, the world we call the old.

From Finland's glade to Calpe's storm-beat head He'll find some tribes of scattering wildmen spread; But one vast wilderness will shade the soil, No wreck of art, no sign of ancient toil Tell where a city stood; nor leave one trace Of all that honors now, and all that shames the race.

If such the round we run, what hope, my friend, To see our madness and our miseries end?-- Here paused the Patriarch: mild the Saint return'd, And as he spoke, fresh glories round him burn'd: My son, I blame not but applaud thy grief; Inquiries deep should lead to slow belief.

So small the portion of the range of man His written stories reach or views can span, That wild confusion seems to clog his march, And the dull progress made illudes thy search.

But broad beyond compare, with steadier hand Traced o'er his earth, his present paths expand.

In sober majesty and matron grace Sage Science now conducts her filial race; And if, while all their arts around them shine, They culture more the solid than the fine, Tis to correct their fatal faults of old, When, caught by tinsel, they forgot the gold; When their strong brilliant imitative lines Traced nature only in her gay designs, Rear'd the proud column, toned her chanting lyre, Warm'd the full senate with her words of fire, Pour'd on the canva.s.s every pulse of life, And bade the marble rage with human strife.

These were the arts that nursed unequal sway, That priests would pamper and that kings would pay, That spoke to vulgar sense, and often stole The sense of right and freedom from the soul.

While, circ.u.mscribed in some concentred clime, They reach'd but one small nation at a time, Dazzled that nation, pufft her local pride, Proclaim'd her hatred to the world beside, Drew back returning hatred from afar, And sunk themselves beneath the storms of war.

As, when the sun moves o'er the flaming zone, Collecting clouds attend his fervid throne, Superior splendors, in his morn display'd, Prepare for noontide but a heavier shade; Thus where the brilliant arts alone prevail'd, Their shining course succeeding storms a.s.sail'd; Pride, wrong and insult hemm'd their scanty reign, A Nile their stream, a h.e.l.lespont their main, Content with Tiber's narrow sh.o.r.es to wind, They fledged their Eagle but to fang mankind; Ere great inventions found a tardy birth, And with their new creations blest the earth.

Now sober'd man a steadier gait a.s.sumes, Broad is the beam that breaks the Gothic glooms.

At once consenting nations lift their eyes, And hail the holy dawn that streaks the skies; Arabian caliphs rear the spires of Spain, The Lombards keel their Adriatic main, Great Charles, invading and reviving all, Plants o'er with schools his numerous states of Gaul; And Alfred opes the mines whence Albion draws The ore of all her wealth,--her liberty and laws.

Ausonian cities interchange and spread The lights of learning on the wings of trade; Bologna's student walls arise to fame, Germania, thine their rival honors claim; Halle, Gottinge, Upsal, Kiel and Leyden smile, Oxonia, Cambridge cheer Britannia's isle; Where, like her lark, gay Chaucer leads the lay, The matin carol of his country's day.

Blind War himself, that erst opposed all good, And whelm'd meek Science in her votaries' blood, Now smooths, by means unseen, her modest way, Extends her limits and secures her sway.

From Europe's world his mad crusaders pour Their banded myriads on the Asian sh.o.r.e; The mystic Cross, thro famine toil and blood, Leads their long marches to the tomb of G.o.d.

Thro realms of industry their pa.s.sage lies, And labor'd affluence feasts their curious eyes; Till fields of slaughter whelm the broken host, Their pride appall'd, their warmest zealots lost, The wise remains to their own sh.o.r.es return, Transplant all arts that Hagar's race adorn, Learn from long intercourse their mutual ties, And find in commerce where their interest lies.

From Drave's long course to Biscay's bending sh.o.r.es, Where Adria sleeps, to where the Bothnian roars, In one great Hanse, for earth's whole trafic known, Free cities rise, and in their golden zone Bind all the interior states; nor princes dare Infringe their franchise with voracious war.

All shield them safe, and joy to share the gain That spreads o'er land from each surrounding main, Makes Indian stuffs, Arabian gums their own, Plants Persian gems on every Celtic crown, Pours thro their opening woodlands milder day, And gives to genius his expansive play.

This blessed moment, from the towers of Thorn New splendor rises; there the sage is born!

The sage who starts these planetary spheres, Deals out their task to wind their own bright years, Restores his station to the parent Sun, And leads his duteous daughters round his throne.

Each mounts obedient on her wheels of fire, Whirls round her sisters, and salutes the sire, Guides her new car, her youthful coursers tries, Curves careful paths along her alter'd skies, Learns all her mazes thro the host of even, And hails and joins the harmony of heaven.

--Fear not, Copernicus! let loose the rein, Launch from their goals, and mark the moving train; Fix at their sun thy calculating eye, Compare and count their courses round their sky.

Fear no disaster from the slanting force That warps them staggering in elliptic course; Thy sons with steadier ken shall aid the search, And firm and fashion their majestic march, Kepler prescribe the laws no stars can shun, And Newton tie them to the eternal sun.

By thee inspired, his tube the Tuscan plies, And sends new colonies to stock the skies, Gives Jove his satellites, and first adorns Effulgent Phosphor with his silver horns.

Herschel ascends himself with venturous wain, And joins and flanks thy planetary train, Perceives his distance from their elder spheres, And guards with numerous moons the lonely round he steers.

Yes, bright Copernicus, thy beams, far hurl'd, Shall startle well this intellectual world, Break the delusive dreams of ancient lore, New floods of light on every subject pour, Thro Physic Nature many a winding trace, And seat the Moral on her sister's base.

Descartes with force gigantic toils alone, Unshrines old errors and propounds his own; Like a blind Samson, gropes their strong abodes, Whelms deep in dust their temples and their G.o.ds, Buries himself with those false codes they drew, And makes his followers frame and fix the true.

Bacon, with every power of genius fraught, Spreads over worlds his mantling wings of thought, Draws in firm lines, and tells in nervous tone All that is yet and all that shall be known, Withes Proteus Matter in his arms of might, And drags her tortuous secrets forth to light, Bids men their unproved systems all forgo, Informs them what to learn, and how to know, Waves the first flambeau thro the night that veils Egyptian fables and Phenician tales, Strips from all-plundering Greece the cloak she wore, And shows the blunders of her borrow'd lore.

One vast creation, lately borne abroad, Cheers the young nations like a nurturing G.o.d, Breathes thro them all the same wide-searching soul.

Forms, feeds, refines and animates the whole, Guards every ground they gain, and forward brings Glad Science soaring on cerulean wings, Trims her gay plumes, directs her upward course, Props her light pinions and sustains her force, Instructs all men her golden gifts to prize, And catch new glories from her beamful eyes,-- Tis the prolific Press; whose tablet, fraught By graphic Genius with his painted thought, Flings forth by millions the prodigious birth, And in a moment stocks the astonish'd earth.

Genius, enamor'd of his fruitful bride, a.s.sumes new force and elevates his pride.

No more, rec.u.mbent o'er his finger'd style, He plods whole years each copy to compile, Leaves to ludibrious winds the priceless page, Or to chance fires the treasure of an age; But bold and buoyant, with his sister Fame, He strides o'er earth, holds high his ardent flame, Calls up Discovery with her tube and scroll, And points the trembling magnet to the pole.

Hence the brave Lusitanians stretch the sail, Scorn guiding stars, and tame the midsea gale; And hence thy prow deprest the boreal wain, Rear'd adverse heavens, a second earth to gain, Ran down old Night, her western curtain thirl'd, And s.n.a.t.c.h'd from swaddling shades an infant world.

Rome, Athens, Memphis, Tyre! had you butknown This glorious triad, now familiar grown, The Press, the Magnet faithful to its pole, And earth's own Movement round her steadfast goal, Ne'er had your science, from that splendid height, Sunk in her strength, nor seen succeeding night.

Her own utility had forced her sway, All nations caught the fast-extending ray, Nature thro all her kingdoms oped the road, Resign'd her secrets and her wealth bestow'd; Her moral codes a like dominion rear'd, Freedom been born and folly disappear'd, War and his monsters sunk beneath her ban, And left the world to reason and to man.

But now behold him bend his broader way, Lift keener eyes and drink diviner day, All systems scrutinize, their truths unfold, Prove well the recent, well revise the old, Reject all mystery, and define with force The point he aims at in his laboring course,-- To know these elements, learn how they wind Their wondrous webs of matter and of mind, What springs, what guides organic life requires, To move, rule, rein its ever-changing gyres, Improve and utilise each opening birth, And aid the labors of this nurturing earth.

But chief their moral soul he learns to trace, That stronger chain which links and leads the race; Which forms and sanctions every social tie, And blinds or clears their intellectual eye.

He strips that soul from every filmy shade That schools had caught, that oracles had made, Relumes her visual nerve, develops strong The rules of right, the subtle shifts of wrong; Of civil power draws clear the sacred line, Gives to just government its right divine, Forms, varies, fashions, as his lights increase, Till earth is fill'd with happiness and peace.

Already taught, thou know'st the fame that waits His rising seat in thy confederate states.

There stands the model, thence he long shall draw His forms of policy, his traits of law; Each land shall imitate, each nation join The well-based brotherhood, the league divine, Extend its empire with the circling sun, And band the peopled globe beneath its federal zone.