. Songs without music, rhymes and recitations. MISCELLANEOUS. ^w^ 175 A ROMAN TOMB. ONE starlit night, upon the Appian wayI stood, amongst the tombs of ancient Rome,The nameless monuments of men who layGathered to their last home. Mighty in life, haply they here had raised Stones that should tell, when they were under-ground, Of the great names that flatterers had Poets lays had crowned. Ambition, Pride, all sensual delights That bind the soul in leaden chains to earth. Once filled the measure of their days and nights—What lives to show their worth ? How much to rouse our sympathy
. Songs without music, rhymes and recitations. MISCELLANEOUS. ^w^ 175 A ROMAN TOMB. ONE starlit night, upon the Appian wayI stood, amongst the tombs of ancient Rome,The nameless monuments of men who layGathered to their last home. Mighty in life, haply they here had raised Stones that should tell, when they were under-ground, Of the great names that flatterers had Poets lays had crowned. Ambition, Pride, all sensual delights That bind the soul in leaden chains to earth. Once filled the measure of their days and nights—What lives to show their worth ? How much to rouse our sympathy and what is left of those world-famous men, The conquerors in the field, or they who stroveTo conquer with the pen ? What, but the stinging verse of satires boughtAnd sold, to flay a friend with fatal 176 A ROMAN TOMB. The cirque, where men were slain by beasts forsport:What monuments but these ? What, in the name of all their gods of stone,But polished plinths of temples raised to lust, Triumphal arch or portico oerthrown ?D
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, bookpublisherlondonbell, bookyea
