And art thou then for ever set ! thy ray No more to rise and gild the front of day, Far-beaming Babylon ? Those massive gates, Through which to battle rush’d a hundredstates ; That cloud-crown’d wall along whose giddyheight Cars on with rival cars in fearless flight— What ! could not all protect thee ! Ah ! invain Thy bulwarks frown’d defiance o’er the plain : Fondly, in ancient majesty elate, Thou sat’st unconscious of impending fate, Nor brasen gates, nor adamantine wall, Can save a guilty people from their fall. Was it for this those wondrous turrets rose, Which taught thy feebled youth their scornof foes ? For this, that earth her mineral stores re-sign’d, And the wan artist in his dungeon pined : Destined, as death crept on with mortalstealth, And the flush’d hectic mimick’d rosy health, ’Mid gasping crowds to ply the incessantloom, While morbid vapours linger’d in the gloom ? Silent for seventy years, it’s frame unstrung, On Syrian bough Judæa’s harp had hung : Deaf to their despots’ voice, her tribes nomore Waked Sion’s music on a foreign shore ; But oft, his tide where broad Euphrates rolls, Felt the keen insult pierce their patriot souls ; And still, as homeward turn’d the longingeye, Gush’d many a tear, and issued many a sigh, Yet not for ever flows the fruitless grief ! Cyrus and Vengeance fly to their relief. Mark where he comes, th’ Anointed ofthe Lord ! And wields with mighty arm his hallow’dsword. Reluctant realms their sullen homage pay, As on the heaven-led hero bends his way Opposing myriads press the fatal plain, And Sardis bars her two-leaved brass in vain ; Her secret hoards the hostile bands unfold, And grasp with greedy joy the cavern’d gold. Then to new fields they urge their rapidcourse, And rebel states augment the swelling force : Firm to their end, mid scenes of rural love, Unsoften’d by those scenes the victors move : And, as in lengthening line their ranks ex-pand, Spread wider ruin through the ravaged land. But Babylon th’ approaching war derides, And shakes the harmless battle from hersides. In vain the ram it’s vigorous shock applies ; The mines descend, th’ assailing towers arise ’Till Treason comes the bafiled chief to aid : And briefer arts succeed the long blockade. With hardy sinew Persia’s labouring host Wrest the huge river from his native coast ; And bid his flood it’s wonted track forgo, ’Twixt other banks, through lands unknownto flow —The task is done; and with obsequioustides Euphrates follows, as a mortal guides. His surgeless channel, now a pervious vale, Invites the foot where navies spread the sail ; And soon no barrier but the eastern main Shall bound the conqueror’s progress, or hisreign. Thus, when from heaving Ætna’s restlesscaves Impetuous Fire precipitates his waves, The flaming ruin rushes on the plain, And art and nature rear their mounds in vain. Should some high-rampired town obstructhis course, The red invader rises in his force ; And scornful of the check, and proudly free, Extends his blazing triumph to the sea : With refluent stream the straiten’d billowsflow, And yield new regions to th’ insatiate foe. Yet naught devoted Babylon alarms ; Domestic treason, or a world in arms. ’Midst her gay palaces and festal bowers Flutter’d in sportive maze the rose crown’dhours : Loud burst the roar of merriment around, And wanton dance light tripp’d it o’er theground— When, bent the long-drawn revelry to spy, Hush’d in grim midnight Vengeance hover’dnigh. Nor vain her care; by wine’s soft powersubdued, The courtly troop, with gladden’d eye, sheview’d : The frantic mob in drunken tumult lost, The drowsy soldier nodding at his post, The gate unclosed, the desert wall survey’d ; And call’d her Cyrus to unsheath his blade, Quaff then, Belshazzar—quaff, imperialBoy, The luscious draught, and drain the mad-dening joy ; To equal riot rouse thy languid board, And bid the satrap emulate his lord. With pencill’d lids, the scandal of their race, Thy crowded halls a thousand princes grace. Ill on such legs the warrior-greaves appear, Ill by such hands is grasp’d the deathfulspear : Fitter ’mid Syria’s harlot train to move, And wage in safer fields the wars of love. Alternate ranged (with faces scarce more fair, Or hearts more soft) that virgin train is there : The virgin’s wish her half-closed eyes impart, And blushless matrons boast th’ adulterousheart. On ardent wing the rank contagion flies, Sigh heaves to sigh, and glance to glancereplies. Let these the achievements of thy Gods re-hearse, Raise the loud hymn, and pour the unholyverse ; Proceed ! with sacrilege enhance thy wine ! Bid the vase circle, torn from Salem’s shrine. Empire and wealth for thee unite theircharms ; For thee bright beauty spreads her willingarms : Who shall control thy raptures, or destroy ? Give then the night, the poignant night, tojoy. —Ha ! why that start ! those horror-gleam-ing eyes ! That frozen cheek, whence life’s warm crim-son flies ! That lip, on which the unfinish’d accentsbreak ! Those hairs erect with life! those joints thatshake ! The wondrous hand, which stamps yon wallwith flame, Speaks the fear just, that labours in thyframe ; As round it sheds self-mov’d the living ray, Which mocks the lustre of thy mimic day. Haste ! call thy seers ; or, if their skill bevain, Let Daniel’s art the blazing lines explain. Haste ! for the prophet bring the scarlet vest ; If so, seduced, his words may sooth thybreast. Ah ! no : that phantom with the stile of fate Inscribes the doom of thee, thy race, thy state. In curses then, rash Youth, the hour upbraid, When first by pleasure’s meteor-beam be-tray’d From virtue’s path thy heedless foot declined, And whelm’d in sordid sense the deviousmind. In vain ! Even now is wrought the deed ofdeath : This moment ends thy glories, and thybreath ! Above, beneath thee feasts th’ insatiate worm, Completes the murtherer’s rage, and dissi-pates thy form. See where, twin sons of Vengeance andDespair, March Gobryas and Gadatas. Hold, rashpair : ’Tis parricide ! Can nothing then atone Your private wrongs, save Babylon undone ? As monarchs smile, or frown, shall patriotfire With selfish fervor flourish, or expire ? No : when th’ insulting Mede is at yourgates, And your pale country shakes through allher states, For her your cherish’d enmity forego, To wreak its fury on the public foe : Renounce the hoarded malice of your breast, And only struggle, who shall serve her best. Hark ! ’Tis the cry of Conquest : fulland clear, Her giant voice invades the startled ear. With death’s deep groans the shouts of tri-umph rise ; The mingled clamour mounts the reddeningskies. From street to street the flames infuriatepour, Climb the tall fane, and gild the totteringtower : In cumbrous ruin sink patrician piles, And strew amid the dust their massive spoils ; While, with stern forms dilating in the blaze, Danger and Terror swell the dire amaze. Now yield those Gods, whom prostraterealms adored ! Though Gods, unequal to a mortal sword ! In aweless state the unworshipp’d idols stand, And tempt with sacred gold the plunderer’shand. Now bend those groves, whose sloping bow-ers among The Attic warbler thrill’d her changeful song : Their varied green where pensile gardensspread, And Median foliage lent it’s grateful shade. There oft, of courts and courtly splendortired, The fragrant gale Assyria’s Queen respired ; With blameless foot through glades exoticroved, And hail’d the scenes her happier prime hadloved. Now stoops that tower, from whose broadtop the eye Of infant Science pierced the midnight sky : First dared ’mid worlds before unknown tostray. Scann’d the bright wonders of the milky way ; And, as in endless round they whirl’d along, In groups arranged, and named the lucidthrong : Nay, in their glittering aspect seem’d to spy The hidden page of human destiny ! Vain all her study ! in that comet’s glare, Which shook destruction from it’s horridhair, Of her sage train, deep-versed in stellar law, Not one his country’s hastening fate foresaw ; Not one observed the tempest’s gatheringgloom, Or with prophetic tongue foretold her doom. Vocal no more with pleasure’s sprightly lay Her fretted roofs shall Babylon display ; No more her nymphs in graceful band shalljoin, Or trace with flitting step the mazy line. But here shall Fancy heave the pensive sigh, And moral drops shall gather in her eye. As ’midst her day-dreams distant ages rise, Glowing with nature’s many-coloured dies ; Resound the rattling car, th’ innumerousfeet, And all the tumult of the breathing street ; The murmur of the busy, idle throng ; The flow of converse, and the ofsong :— Starting she wakes, and weeps as naughtshe sees, Save trackless marshes and entangled trees : As naught she hears, save where amid thebrake Uncoils his monstrous length the crestedsnake ; Save, of the casual traveller afraid, Where the owl shrieking seeks a dunnershade ; Save where, as o’er th’ unsteadfast fen sheroves, The mournful bittern shakes th’ encirclinggroves.