And censers wav'd around;
And lyres were strung, and bright libations pour'd,
When, through the streets, flash'd out th' avenging sword,
Fearless and free, the sword with myrtles bound*[1]!
Through Rome a triumph pass'd;
Rich in her sun-god's mantling beams went by
That long array of glorious pageantry,
With shout and trumpet-blast.
An empire's gems their starry splendour shed
O'er the proud march; a king in chains was led,
A victor, crown'd and rob'd, came stately last †[2].
And many a Dryad's bow'r
Had lent the laurels, which, in waving play,
Stirr'd the warm air, and gisten’d round his way,
As a quick-flashing show’r.
O'er his own porch, meantime, the cypress hung;
Through his fair halls a cry of anguish rung—
Woe for the dead!—the father's broken flow’r!
A sound of lyre and song,
In the still night, went floating o'er the Nile,
Whose waves by many an old mysterious pile,
Swept with that voice along;
And lamps were shining o'er the red wine's foam,
Where a chief revell'd in a monarch's dome,
And fresh rose-garlands deck'd a glittering throng.
'Twas Anthony that bade
The joyous chords ring out!—but strains arose
Of wilder omen at the banquet's close
Sounds by no mortal made‡[3],
Shook Alexandria through her streets that night,
And pass'd—and with another sunset's light
The kingly Roman on his bier was laid.
Bright midst its vineyards lay
The fair Campanian city§[4], with its tow'rs
And temples gleaming through dark olive bow'rs,
Clear in the golden day;
Joy was around it as the glowing sky,
And crowds had fill'd its halls of revelry,
And all the sunny air was music's way.
- ↑ * The sword of Harmodius.
- ↑ † Paulius Æmilius, one of whose sons died a few days before, and another after his triumph upon the conquest of Macedon, when Perseus, the king of that country, was led in chains.
- ↑ ‡ See the description given by Plutarch, in his life of Anthony, of the supernatural sounds heard in the streets of Alexandria the night before Anthony's death.
- ↑ § Herculaneum, of which it is related, that all the inhabitants were assembled in the theatres, when the shower of ashes which covered the city, descended.
