ON THE INVASION OF ROME BY THE FRENCH.
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ON THE INVASION OF ROME BY THE FRENCH.
[1849.]
Where wert thou, Freedom, that thou didst not stay The coward arm that dared to strike at Rome?Could not, her woe-worn face bring back the day When her Eternal City was thy home?Inglorious siege! and France, too, struck the blow! Welding the chains herself had just cast offTo bind the limbs that struggled to o'erthrow The foe she vanquished!—France! the wide world's scoffShalt thou become for this: the laurel-crown Shall wither on thy brow; and Italy, Groaning beneath thy heel, will yet be free,For in the ashes of her old renown The fire yet lives, though smothered, whose clear flame Shall light her glory and reveal thy shame.
