S this Part contains a defcription of the establishment
of LIBERTY in ROME, it begins with a view
of the Grecian colonies fettled in the uthern parts of
Italy, which with Sicily conftituted the Great Greece of
the Ancients. With thefe colonies the Spirit of LIBERTY,
and of Republics, Spreads over Italy; to Ver. 32.
Tranfition to PYTHAGORAS and his philofopby, which
be taught thro' thofe free ftates and cities; to Ver. 71.
Amidst the many Small Republics in Italy, ROME the
defined feat of LIBERTY. Her establishment there dated
from the expulfion of the Tarquins. How differing from
that in GREECE; to Ver. 88. Reference to a view of
the ROMAN REPUBLIC given in the First Part of this
Poem: to mark its Rife and Fall the peculiar purport of
This. During its firft ages, the gre teft force of Li-
BERTY, and Virtue, exerted; to Ver. 103. The
Source whence derived the Heroic Virtues of the Ro-
MANS. Enumeration of thefe Virtues. Thence their
fecurity at home; their glory, fuccefs, and empire,
abroad; to Ver. 226. Bunds of the Roman empi e
geographically defcribed; to Ver. 257. The faces of
GREECE restored to LIBERTY, by TITUS QUINTUS
FLAMINIUS, the highest inftance of public generofity and
beneficence; to Ver. 328. The loss of LIBERTY in
ROME. Its caufes, progrefs, and completion in the death
of BRUTUS; to Ver. 485. ROME under the emperors;
to Ver. 513.
From ROME the GODDESS of LIBERTY
goes among the NORTHERN NATIONS; where, by
infufing into them her Spirit and general princi, les, SHE
lays the ground-work of her future establishments; lends
them in vengeance on the Roman empire, now to ally en-
flaved; and then, with Arts and Sciences in her train,
quits earth during the dark ages; to Ver. 550. The
celestial regions, to which LIBERTY retired, not profer
to be opened to the view of mortals.
ERE melting mix'd with air th' ideal forms,
That painted ftill whate'er the GODDESS fung.
Then I, impatient." From extinguish'd GREECE,
"To what new region ftream'd the Human Day?”
She foftly fighing, as when Zehir leaves,
Refign'd to Boreas, the declining year,
Refum'd. Indignant, these * last scenes I fled;
And long ere then, Leucadid's cloudy cliff,
And the Ceraunian hills behind me thrown,
All LATIUM ftood arous'd. Ages before,
Great mother of republics! GREECE had pour'd,
Swarm after swarm, her ardent youth around.
On Afia, Afric, Sicily, they ftoop'd,
But chief on fair HESPERIA'S winding shore ;
* The last struggles of Liberty in GREECE.
Lacinium to Etrurian vales,
They roll'd increafing colonies along,
And lent materials for my ROMAN REIGN.
With them my Spirit spread; and numerous states,
And cities rose, on Grecian models form'd;
As its parental policy, and arts,
Each had imbib'd. Befides, to eath affign'd
A Guardian Genius, o'er the public weal,
Kept an unclofing eye; try'd to fuftain,
Or more fublime, the soul infus'd by Mɛ :
And strong the battle rofe, with various wave,
Against the Tyrant Demons of the land.
Thus they their little wars and triumphs knew ;
Their flows of fortune, and receding times,
But almost all below the proud regard
Of story vow'd to ROME, on deeds intent.
That Truth beyond the flight of Fable bore.
NOT fo the +SAMIAN SAGE; to him belongs
The brighteft witness of recording Fame.
For these free states his native § isle forfook,
And a vain tyrant's tranfitory smile,
He fought Crotona's pure falubrious air,
And thro' Great Greece his gentle wisdom taught;
* A promontory in Calabria.
PYTHAGORAS.
§ Samos, over which then reigned the tyrant POLYCRATES. ‡ The southern parts of Italy and Sicily, so called because of the Grecian colonies there fettled.
Wisdom that calm'd for * listening years the mind,
Nor ever heard amid the storm of zeal.
His mental eye first launch'd into the deeps
Of boundless æther; where unnumber'd orbs,
Myriads on myriads, thro' the pathless sky
Unerring roll, and wind their steady way.
There he the full confenting choir beheld;
There firft difcern'd the fecret band of love
The kind attraction, that to central funs
Binds eircling earths, and world with world unites.
Inftru&ted thence, he great ideas form'd
Of the whole-moving, all-informing GOD,
The Sun of beings! beaming unconfin'd
Light, life, and love, and ever-active power:
Whom nought can image, and who best approves
The filent worship of the moral heart,
That joys in bounteous heaven, and spreads the joy.
Nor fcorn'd the foaring fage to stoop to life,
And bound his reason to the sphere of Man.
He gave the four yet + reigning virtues name;
Infpir'd the study of the finer arts,
That civilize mankind, and laws devis'd
Where with enlighten'd justice mercy mix'd.
He even, into his tender fyftem, took
Whatever shares the brotherhood of life :
He taught that life's indiffoluble flame,
From brute to man, and man to brute again,
* His fcholars were enjoined filence for five years.
+ The four cardinal virtues.
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