Poems, Sacred and Moral/Consolation: a Lyric Poem

by Thomas Gisborne

CONSOLATION:

A

LYRIC POEM.

ARGUMENT.

The purport of the following Poem is to compare Christianity with the three leading systems of Antient Philosophy, namely, the system of Pyrrho, that of Epicurus, and that of Zeno, as to influence on human happiness. After some description preparatory to the introduction of the subject, the characteristical tenets and the practical effects of each of these philosophical systems are illustrated. Those of the Christian Religion are afterwards exemplified and appretiated in a similar manner.

CONSOLATION:

A

LYRIC POEM.

 

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I.The pausing tide scarce broke in foam:High on the cavern'd rock I stood;And view'd the quivering sunbeams roamIn boundless radiance o'er the flood.Beneath each isle, each headland gray,Unmoved the inverted picture lay.Hung in bright haze the distant mountains glow'd:Earth, sea, heaven smiled: my heart with joy o'erflow'd.

II.Short was the joy. With eddying hasteDun clouds combined their lengthening train.The blast in lurid purple tracedIts course athwart the roughen'd main.Wave after wave with deepening roarPlunged headlong on the sadden'd shore.Sea-mews with screams the rising tempest hail'd:Earth, ocean, heaven portentous darkness veil'd.་III."O fickle charms of Nature's form,"Fading while yet we gaze," I cried;"O turns of sunshine and of storm,"Too well ye paint life's changeful tide!"What though with transitory gleam"Health, Peace, Content, and Rapture beam?"Hovering full soon o'er man's devoted head,"Disease and woe their raven wings outspread.

IV."Sages! inured the arms to wield"Made proof by Wisdom's mystic spell,"Stand forth with philosophic shield"The shaft of sorrow to repel."Or teach, if human skill in vain"Toil to avert the stroke of pain,"At least to cool the wound, and draw the dart"Wrapt in the bleeding fibres of the heart!"

V.Mournful I spoke. A rushing sound,As Beings more than mortal past,(I heard and shudder'd,) swept the ground:An eager glance around I cast.Fled was the scene; nor low'ring skyNor darken'd ocean met mine eye.The Sun was throned in renovated might,And seem'd on classic realms to pour the light.

VI.A city^[1], form'd for sovereign sway,Sublime upon a rock appear'd:Her marble domes in close arrayClimbing the rugged steep she rear'd;Hid with gay roofs the circling plain;Stretch'd her long arms to reach the main;Saw at each mole the baffled surge decrease,And bade her anchor'd navies float in peace.

Illustration from 'Poems, Sacred and Moral' by Thomas Gisborne, third edition published in 1803

⟨"Cecropia calls thee; Mortal, rise!"⟩

VII.Its triple tier a rampart tallAround the craggy summit led:Long gleams of radiance crown'd the wallFrom shield and lance and helmed head.On the sharp peak, to grace the shrineRear'd to the guardian Power divine,A fane's majestic pile, o'er bulwarks raisedAnd towers' proud heads, with Parian lustre blazed.

VIII."Cecropia calls thee; Mortal, rise:"From lips unseen the accents flow'd:"Cecropia, tutress of the wise,"To blest Philosophy's abode"Bids all her sages guide thy way,"And cheer thy soul with mental day."I heard: in thought I scorn'd the frowns of fate;And rush'd impatient to the expanded gate.

IX.I past. With heaven-aspiring headA splendid Pile before me rose.Its valves the open portal spread:Above, more bright than Thracian snows^[2],A Goddess sat. Beneath her throneIn bold relief the sculptured stone,Proclaim'd; "Approach, and learn, ingenuous Youth,"The path of Wisdom from the lips of Truth."

X.Sounds, as though tongues innumerous viedA theme of choral praise to swell,Broke from within: in airy tideOn my charm'd sense the murmur fell;Then ceased. I enter'd. High uprear'dIn marble pomp a bust appear'd. Deep on its base engraved a mystic lineBade Pyrrho's name in golden lustre shine.

XI.Sages, in spotless white array'd,In long procession moved around.The foot, by conscious awe dismay'd,Scarce dared to press the hallow'd ground.Each, as the chissell'd form he past,A glance of homage upward cast;His hands submissive on his bosom spread;In silence paused, and bow'd his reverent head.^[3].

XII.At once in wide-extended ringThe listening band collected stood:Stillness aloft on moveless wingHung poised, and hush'd th' aërial flood. With heaving breast and eyes entrancedFrom the dense orb a Sage advanced:"Hail, festive day!" with raptured voice he cried;"Hail, festive day!" the echoing dome replied:

XIII."Hail, festive day! to Wisdom dear,"Hail to thy long expected beams!"Best offspring of the rolling year,"Again thy noontide glory streams!"Hail! for thou first, in mute delight"Stooping from thy meridian height,"Heard'st Pyrrho's tongue the path of bliss explore,"And these exulting walls return the lore.

XIV."Yes, mighty Sage, in circling band"Whom now we greet with wonted rite,"This day beheld thy potent hand"New streams from Wisdom's fount invite. "Lo! from these walls the current glides;"Now rolls through Greece its swelling tides;"Views parched nations bending o'er the brink,"And kindling life glow brighter as they drink.

XV."As travellers lost in midnight snows"When mortals roam'd, no succour nigh;"Thou bad'st Philosophy disclose"Her radiance to the mental eye:"Not burst in floods of cloudless light^[4],"With dazzling glare to scorch the sight;"But, veil'd in haze, with mitigated power"Shed the mild glimmerings of the twilight hour.

XVI."By thee the freeborn soul disdains"From System's mine base dross to heave;"By thee exalted breaks the chains,"That stern Conviction loves to weave."Why seek mysterious depths to know?"Knowledge is certainty of woe!"Rule Gods, or Fate, or Chance? Inflamed with bile"Let fools decide—Thou bid'st us doubt, and smile.

XVII."No rigid lore our Peace annoys;"Presiding Doubt each maxim weighs:"And still in fluctuating poise"The ever-trembling balance plays."Brethren, again this day revere,"Best offspring of the rolling year;"Through all her towers till Athens wake the song,"And Sunium's echoing cliffs the strain prolong^[5]!"

XVIII.The strain unnumber'd voices swell'd:"Hail to the day, whose beamy eye"Thy hand, illustrious Sage, beheld"New streams from Wisdom's fount supply!"Teacher of Placid Doubt———" I fledIn sorrow forth; each hope was dead:My heart within me sunk, as o'er the mainSad Icarus slapp'd his drooping wing in vain.

XIX."Is it for this thy form," I cried,"Yon portal crowns, degraded Truth?"To Doubt's black cavern dost thou guide"The step of inexperienced Youth?"Better to drain from Error's bowl"The draught that stupifies the soul;"Than with strain'd eyes on Doubt's pale phantoms gaze,"And hopeless tread the inextricable maze!

XX."Powers of the sky—for chance or fate"Prescribed not earth's well-order'd course,"Nor throned the Sun's imperial state,"Nor wing'd with flame the Comet's force———"Powers of the sky, with pitying aid"Befriend the world your fiat made!"O cheer the comfortless, O guide the blind;"Dispel the gloom that clouds the wilder'd mind."

XXI.A Sage^[6] appear'd: I mark'd his handUplifted, his preceptive mein;Mark'd, as he spoke, a youthful bandForward in dumb attention lean.The rose entwined with myrtle sprayIn fragrant piles before him lay. Aloft, the goblet shone, the sculptured lyre;And torches hung their emblematic fire.

XXII."O ye," he cried, "whose vernal bloom"Foretells the golden fruits of joy,"O let not care with chilling gloom"And blighting storm your hopes destroy!"Bid festive dance and choral song"From year to year your bliss prolong;"Bid laughter-breathing Mirth dilate the soul,"Point the gay jest, and ply the enlivening bowl.

XXIII."So live the Gods. On seas of bliss"Reclined, they sip each passing wave;"Leave fate to rule the sphere, nor miss"The stars that to their destined grave"Sink from their shuddering orbits hurl'd,"Nor mark the crash that shakes the world. "Hence, Trouble, to the winds! Blest youths, be wise;"Bring down to earth the raptures of the skies!

XXIV."Nor cease, when Time with snow shall spread"Your locks, in Pleasure's paths to stray."Behold, Cithæron's^[7] icy head"Relents before the fervid ray!"Let genial mirth each pang assuage:"Cheer we with flowers the snow of age!"He spoke, and with a wreath his temples crown'd;Then on each youthful brow a chaplet bound.

XXV.Instant in visionary scenePleasure's bright mansions met my view:From joy to joy, no pause between,The maddening crowd unsated flew. If chance, his gray head bending low,Some beggar urged his tale of woe;Swifter they past, and with averted eyeSmote the loud harp, and drown'd th' unwelcome cry.

XXVI.The feast was spread; the spicy wineWith gleaming blush the silver dyed:Here Wit with flowers his darts would twine:His ruder shafts there Humour plied;From rank to rank he bade them roam:Convulsive laughter shook the dome.Here lyre and voice in rapturous conflict strove:There the brisk dance its changeful mazes wove.

XXVII.Yet soon repeated pleasure cloy'd:The ear scarce heard the jocund strain:The dance was toil no more enjoy'd:The spicy goblet breathed in vain Its odours: on the palled tongueLingering the tasteless morsel hung:The heartless smile betray'd its mimic air;And languor sicken'd in the vacant stare.

XXVIII.Foul passions oft would strip the veil;Their sway the alter'd look proclaim'd:Here, hollow cheeks with envy pale;There, eyes with hate and rage inflamed.With savage shout and uproar wildDiscord the banquet oft embroil'd.Guest frown'd on guest, with hostile arms opposed:And wounds and groans the frantic orgies closed.

XXIX.Oft would some wretch with tiger's glareIn murderous ambush take his stand:The setting Sun discern'd the snare;The Moon beheld his blood-stain'd hand. Then farewel joy in song or feast!Ideal horrors rack his breast:The lyre's gay voice ideal shrieks control;And fancied poisons mantle in the bowl.

XXX.Triumphant o'er the sensual race,Disease ere long her woes combined;The bloated form, the ghastly face,The palsied limb, th' enervate mind.Each on his couch of anguish laid,On Death they call'd for instant aid:Then shriek'd in terror, when advancing nearThe Phantom scowl'd, and shook his lifted spear.

XXXI."Avaunt, vain joys!" I cried, "avaunt!"With Siren face and Scorpion sting;"Powerless to quell the cares that haunt"Man's happiest hours, life's bloomy spring "Powerless to stay th' approach of Age———"With scornful voice abrupt a SageRaised in his Portico^[8] my plaint reproved:Its marble gloom grew deeper as he moved.

XXXII."Would'st thou defy the shaft of Pain,"And mental peace unbroken know?"Thy bosom arm with stern disdain"Of human joy, of human woe."Behold that Youth: my lips his breast"Betimes with Wisdom's lore imprest."His steps attend: and own this truth reveal'd:"Fate wars in vain, when Wisdom takes the field."

XXXIII.Glad I obey'd. Ere long we view'dA scene of bliss domestic rise.Their Sire an infant train pursuedDisporting; and with sparkling eyesLook'd up, while round his knees they clung,Or on his vest in rapture hung.Their sports a female form with smiles survey'd;A wife's, a mother's love each smile betray'd.

XXXIV.My heart dilated at the sight.I turn'd with eager glance to traceCongenial ardour of delightFlushing my youthful guardian's face.In vain; no sympathetic glowRelax'd the rigour of his brow."Be Wisdom thine: let Folly fools employ—"He spoke, and frown'd contemptuous on their joy.

XXXV.Soon a dire change that joy dispell'd.The Sire with agonising startShook each distorted muscle swell'd;With pangs convulsive throbb'd his heart.He fell. I mark'd each blacken'd vein,I mark'd each labouring eye-ball strain.With outspread arms he lay, and gasp'd for breath:His chill brow glisten'd with the damps of death.

XXXVI.The widow's shriek, as prone she bow'dO'er the deaf corse in frantic woe,The orphans' wail, the flocking crowd,The sad procession parting slow,Changed they, stern Youth, thy mien severe?Forced they one sigh, one pitying tear?———With steady gaze he view'd the mournful throng;Scorn'd their vain grief, and careless stalk'd along.

XXXVII.His course reluctant I pursued:A Hand unseen my step controll'd.A plain we cross'd, where lakes of bloodThe deeds of recent warfare told.There senseless many a Warrior lay,Or breathed in groans his soul away:While ravening fowl hung poised aloft in air;And scream'd, and call'd their broods the feast to share^[9].

XXXVIII.Unmoved he eyed the stagnant gore,Heard the long groan, the parting sigh.Her living prey the vulture tore,Nor paused: he past unheeding byO'er piles of slain. Beneath his treadThe hollow bosom of the dead Creak'd horrid^[10]: my blood curdled at the sound:Again each spouting gash distain'd the ground.

XXXIX.Sudden in long succession pastWith wounds unclosed a captive train:Their sinewy arms, now backward cast,Shook, as they moved, the clanking chain.From row to row, from man to man,The links in firm connection ran.With aspect stern the guards and lifted spearScowl'd in the front, and menaced in the rear.

XL.A captive, bow'd by lengthen'd days,With tottering steps apart was driven.He mark'd us; with impassion'd gazeThe Youth he view'd—"Yes, bounteous Heaven! "'Tis he," he cried in accent wild,"Yes, 'tis himself, my child, my child!"Now am I freed; the Gods my joys inspire!"Thou, Thou, my Son, art sent to save thy Sire.

XLI."No foe was I: by chance or fate"Opprest, in bonds thou seest me led—"Lo, thy reply the victors wait—"Small price redeems the hoary head:"They note my limbs unfit for toil,"And scarce detain their useless spoil.—"Mercy, my child! Bid thy freed Sire depart;"And calm thy aged Mother's bursting heart!"

XLII."Old man," the obdurate Youth rejoin'd,"Think'st thou with worse than woman's moan"And holy saws to shake the mind,"That Wisdom arms, and stamps her own? "She bids my stedfast heart disdain"Thy coward soul that shrinks from pain."He is the slave who knows not ills to bear."Go, drag the chain thou well deserv'st to wear."

XLIII.In every joint with fiercest ireI shook—"O wretch, to brute debased,"Tiger in human shape, more dire"Than ever prowl'd on Indian waste!"Perish the lore, from Stygian den"By fiends and furies taught to men;"Lore in the depths of Erebus abhorr'd;"For fiends aid fiends, and own their gloomy Lord:

XLIV."The lore that bids relentless Pride"Usurp degraded Reason's throne;"Bids Man the frown of Heaven deride,"Nor count another's weal his own; "Proscribes each sympathetic fear;"Dries in its source the pitying tear;"Forbids the child to act a filial part,"And turns to adamant the blasted heart."

XLV.A burst of thunder rent the skies;Then all was hush'd. A solemn voiceSounded—"Enough of treacherous lies,"Wisdom misnamed, hath sought thy choice."Learn then the yet unfathom'd cause,"Whence life perennial comfort draws,"The tear of joy from Misery's eyelid breaks,"And Sorrow's bosom triumphs while it aches."

XLVI.Mine eyes I rais'd: a dungeon frown'd;Green damps the mildew'd wall had stain'd: Shewn by pale lights that gleam'd around,Two mangled forms^[11] to earth were chain'd.Beneath their blood-entangled hairDark crusts o'erspread their shoulders bare,Where from new stripes the sanguine stream had flow'd;And each torn limb with festering anguish glow'd.

XLVII.Yet on their brow no sadness lours;Their breasts with transport seem to swell:Hark! from their lips what rapture pours!Ecstatic praises shake the cell. Echo, long stunn'd with Sorrow's moan,Starts as she hears the song unknown;Bids through each vault the pealing joy rebound:And Night and Misery wonder at the sound.

XLVIII.'Twas past. In alter'd garb array'dGrief to my gaze her visions spread;The glare of funeral lamps display'd,The sable throng, th' uplifted dead.The parent, while that death-bell's tollSmites from yon tower her inmost soul,Groans at each stroke, as o'er the corse she bends;And Sorrow's flood in larger stream descends.

XLIX.In youth's gay prime her darling died:To Nature true the parent grieves.But lo! even now her pangs subside;Now less and less her bosom heaves. Hope's kindling dawn her cheeks disclose;Resign'd she stills her plaintive woes;Unclasps her hands, the gushing sorrow dries,And kneels, and points exulting to the skies.

L.The scene was chang'd.—Bellowing with ragePlebeian crowds athirst for blood,Prince, Consul, Senatorian age,Circling a vast arena stood.There^[12], flung to ravening beasts a prey,Still gasping many a sufferer lay; Or, smear'd with pitch, on sulphurous piles was raised,And vengeful myriads shouted as he blazed.

LI.Three victims from a platform's heightWitness the pangs they soon must share.Their eyes with holy ardour brightTo heaven they lift in secret prayer:A Power by Faith beheld adore;Hear unappall'd yon monster's roar;Unmoved behold yon myriad hands conspireTo rear the mighty pyramid of fire.

LII.Fate calls them next. The imprison'd beastBounding impatient o'er the sandCalm they await; the pitchy vestThey clasp with unreluctant hand: Nor quake, nor shrink, nor breathe a sigh,Nor turn aside the stedfast eye,When crouching to his spring the tiger glares,Or death's red torch the approaching Lictor bears.

LIII.Again the echoing vault of HeavenWith thunder shakes; the western sunGlows; to the darkening zenith drivenThe clouds his arrowy fervour shun.Behold, their central depths divide!Bright chinks foretel the golden tide^[13].It comes! a flood of glory bursts its way,And pours a blaze of more than mortal day.

LIV.Lo, Angel hosts, whose lucid trainSeems half absorb'd to melt in light,Orb within orb, a Cross sustain,A Cross than Angel Hosts more bright. Pourtray'd in characters of flameAloft it bears a mystic Name.Beneath is sculptured; "Overcome by This^[14]:"Lo, here the sign of conquest and of bliss.

LV."Lo, here the sign," a Seraph cries—Cherubic legions catch the sound:Loud as when polar billows riseIn storms, to ether's utmost boundThe Hosanna rolls:—"Lo, here the sign"Of rescued man, of Love divine,"Of human crimes by guiltless blood effaced,"And Eden raised from earth's degenerate waste.

LVI."By This with praise mid festering smart"The captives shook the midnight cell: "By This, the childless parent's heart"With throbs of woe forgot to swell."By This, from earth-born fears released,"The Martyr on the infuriate beast"And men more savage fix'd the dauntless eye,"Or rose in flames triumphant to the sky.

LVII."Mortal! whose breast in hopeless fear"Pants with the quivering shaft of Sin;"While the flush'd cheek, the starting tear,"Confess the wound that burns within:"Lo, here the sign that heals Despair;"On wings of penitence and prayer"Bids the soul rise to Jesus strong to save,"Bids Youth immortal trample on the grave.

LVIII.Mortal! on Life's rude Ocean tost,"By whirlwinds driven, by storms opprest,Shatter'd thy bark, thy compass lost,"Lo, here the sign of endless rest: "Rest that no troublous dreams annoy;"Rest bathed in living floods of joy;"Rest freed from pangs Probation's child must share;"Rest crown'd with wreaths the Sons of God shall wear!

LIX."Though Grief her shadowy curtain spreads,"And dims thy short terrestrial day:"The Cross its holy lustre sheds;"Each fancied horror melts away."Erewhile in Sorrow's garb conceal'd,"The secret blessing stands reveal'd;"Bears fruits of comfort from the Eternal's throne,"And tells of brighter in a world unknown.

LX."What though yon cloud, while earth and heaven"The Sun's descending fires illume,"Athwart the glowing brow of even"Obtrude its inharmonious gloom? "Even now it owns the potent blaze;"Even now 'tis edged with golden rays:"The kindling mass resigns its murky dye,"And adds new glories to the splendid sky."

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1. Athens, originally denominated Cecropia from its founder Cecrops, was built on a high rock situated on a large plain near the middle of Attica. The citadel, in the centre of which was the vast Temple of Minerva, constructed wholly with Parian marble and still subsisting, occupied the summit. In process of time the whole plain was covered with buildings. The city was joined to the harbour of Piræeus by the walls called Μακρα Τειχη, the Long Walls, being about five miles in length; whence they are styled by Propertius, "Long Arms."
   Inde ubi Piræei capient me littora portus,Scandam ego Theseæ brachia longa viæ.Lib. iii. Eleg.
   
   The road from the harbour was named Οδος Θησεια, the road of Theseus.—See Potter's Antiquities of Greece, 3d edit. vol. i. ch. 8.
2. Among the Grecians, Truth was represented as a Goddess clothed in white robes.
3. From the present stanza to the nineteenth inclusive, the leading tenets of the Pyrrhonic Philosophers are under consideration.
4. In allusion to the characteristical principle of the Pyrrhonic school, which was, to consider every thing as a matter of doubt and uncertainty.
5. Sunium, a promontory of Attica.
6. One of the Epicurean sect of Philosophers. The present stanza and those that follow, to the thirtieth inclusive, are intended to characterise the system of that sect.
7. A high mountain on the confines of Attica.
8. From this place to the end of the forty-fourth Stanza the tenets and the natural effects of the system of the Stoics are characterised.
9. "And calls her crawling brood, and bids them share the feast."Mason.
10. ———Infixum stridet sub pectore vulnus.Virg.
11. "They drew Paul and Silas into the market-place unto the "Rulers;—and rent off their clothes, and laid many stripes upon them; and thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks. And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God; and the prisoners heard them." Acts, chap. xvi. ver. 19, &c. The state in which they were thus confined may be collected from a subsequent verse of the same chapter; in which it is related that afterwards the jailor "took them, and washed their stripes." Ver. 33.
12. To be thrown to wild beasts in the arena of the Circus as a spectacle to the people, is well known to have been one of the early modes of Christian martyrdom. To be wrapt in vestments overspread with pitch, and thus burned, was another mode. "Pereuntibus addita ludibria; ut crucibus affixi, aut flammandi, atque, ubi defecisset dies, in usum nocturni luminis urerentur." Tacitus, Annal. lib. xv. To this barbarous spectacle Juvenal appears to allude in the following lines:
    ——— tædâ lucebis in illâQuâ stantes ardent, qui fixo gutture fumant;Et latum mediâ sulcum deducit arenâ.Sat. i. l. 155.
    
    Which passage the Scholiast thus explains: "Nero maleficos homines tædâ & papyro & cerâ supervestiebat, & sic ad ignem admoveri jubeat." Martial also speaks of the "tunica molesta," in which the Christian was burnt, "Matutinà spectatus arenâ."
13. Aurea rima micans percurrit lumine nimbos.Virg.
14. In allusion to the inscription on the Cross reported to have appeared to Constantine: "Εν τουτω νικα."