Part I

The fatal morning dawn'd that brought againThe sad memorial of my ancient pain;That day, the source of long-protracted woe,When I began the plagues of Love to know,Hyperion's throne, along the azure field,Between the splendid horns of Taurus wheel'd;And from her spouse the Queen of Morn withdrewHer sandals, gemm'd with frost-bespangled dew.Sad recollection, rising with the morn,Of my disastrous love, repaid with scorn,Oppressed my sense; till welcome soft reposeGave a short respite from my swelling woes.Then seem'd I in a vision borne away,Where a deep winding vale sequester'd lay;Nor long I rested on the flowery greenEre a soft radiance dawn'd along the scene.--Fallacious sign of hope! for, close behind,Dark shades of coming woe were seen combined.There, on his car, a conqu'ring chief I spied,Like Rome's proud sons, that led the living tideOf vanquished foes, in long triumphal state,To Capitolian Jove's disclosing gate.With little joy I saw the splendid show,Spent and dejected by my lengthen'd woe;Sick of the world, and all its worthless train,That world, where all the hateful passions reign;And yet intent the mystic cause to find,(For knowledge is the banquet of the mind)Languid and slow I turn'd my cheerless eyesOn the proud warrior, and his uncouth guise.High on his seat an archer youth was seen,With loaded quiver, and malicious mienNor plate, nor mail, his cruel shaft can ward,Nor polish'd burganet the temples guard;His burning chariot seem'd by coursers drawn;While, like the snows that clothe the wintry lawnHis waving wings with rainbow colour gayOn either naked shoulder seem'd to play;And, filing far behind, a countless trainIn sad procession hid the groaning plain:Some, captive, seem'd in long disastrous strife,Some, in the deadly fray, bereft of life;And freshly wounded some. A viewless handLed me to mingle with the mornful band,And learn the fortunes of the sentenced crew,Who, pierced by Love, had bid the world adieu.With keen survey I mark'd the ghostly show,To find a shade among the sons of woeTo memory known: but every trace was lostIn the dim features of the moving host:Oblivion's hand had drawn a dark disguiseO'er their wan lineaments and beamless eyes.At length, a pallid face I seem'd to know;Which wore, methought, a lighter mask of woe;He call'd me by my name.--"Behold!" he cried,"What plagues the hapless thralls of Love abide!"--"How am I known by thee?" with new surpriseI cried; "no mark recalls thee to my eyes."--"Oh, heavy is my load!" he seem'd to say;"Through this dark medium no detecting rayAssists thy sight; but I, like thee, can boastMy birth on famed Etruria's ancient coast."--The secret which his murky mask conceal'd,His well-known voice and Tuscan tongue reveal'd;Thence to a lighter station we repair'd,And thus the phantom spoke, with mild regard:--"We thought to see thy name with ours enroll'dLong since; for oft thy looks this fate foretold."--"True," I replied; "but I survived the strife:His arrows reach'd me, but were short of life."--Pausing, he spoke:--"A spark to flame will rise,And bear thy name in glory to the skies."--His meaning was obscure, but in my breastI felt the substance of his words impress'd,As sculptured stone, or monumental brass,Keeps the firm record, or heroic face.With youthful ardour new, and hope inspired,Quick from my grave companion I requiredThe name and fortunes of the passing train.And why in mournful pomp they trod the plain--"Time," he return'd, "the secret then will show,When thou shalt join the retinue of woe:But years shall sprinkle o'er thy locks with gray,And alter'd looks the signs of age betray,Ere at his powerful touch the fetters fall,Which many a moon thy captive limbs shall gall:Yet will I grant thy suit, and give to viewThe various fortunes of the captive crew:But mark their leader first, that chief renown'd--The Power of Love! by every nation own'd.His sway thou soon, as well as we, shalt know,Stung to the heart by goads of dulcet woe.In him unthinking youth's misgovern'd rage,Join'd with the cool malignity of age,Is known to mingle with insidious guile,Deep, deep conceal'd beneath an infant's smile.The child of slothful ease, and sensual heat--By sweet delirious thoughts, in dark retreat,Mature in mischief grown--he springs away,A winged god, and thousands own his sway.Some, as thou seest, are number'd with the dead,And some the bitter drops of sorrow shedThrough lingering life, by viewless tangles bound,That link the soul, and chain it to the ground.There Caesar walks! of Celtic laurels proud.Nor feels himself in sensual bondage bow'd:He treads the flowery path, nor sees the snareLaid for his honour by the Egyptian fair.Here Love his triumph shows, and leads alongThe world's great owner in the captive throng;And o'er the master of unscepter'd kingsExulting soars, and claps his purple wings.See his adopted son! he knew her guile,And nobly scorn'd the siren of the Nile;Yet fell by Roman charms and from her spouseThe pregnant consort bore, regardless of her vowsThere, cruel Nero feels his iron heartLanced by imperious Love's resistless dart;Replete with rage, and scorning human ties,He falls the victim of two conquering eyes;Deep ambush'd there in philosophic spoils,The little tyrant tries his artful wiles:E'en in that hallow'd breast, where, deep enshrined,Lay all the varied treasures of the mind,He lodged his venom'd shaft. The hoary sage,Like meaner mortals, felt the passion rageIn boundless fury for a strumpet's charms,And clasp'd the shining mischief in his arms.--See Dionysius link'd with Pherae's lord,Pale doubt and dread on either front abhorr'd.Scowl terrible! yet Love assign'd their doom;A wife and mistress mark'd them for the tomb!--The next is he that on Antandros' coastHis fair Creusa mourn'd, for ever lost;Yet cut the bonds of Love on Tyber's shore,And bought a bride with young Evander's gore.Here droop'd the victim of a lawless flame:The amorous frenzy of the Cretan dameHe fled abhorrent, and contemn'd her tears,And to the dire suggestion closed his ears.But nought, alas! his purity avail'd--Fate in his flight the hapless youth assail'd,By interdicted Love to Vengeance fired;And by his father's curse the son expired.The stepdame shared his fate, and dearly paidA spouse, a sister, and a son betray'd:Her conscience, by the false impeachment stung,Upon herself return'd the deadly wrong;And he, that broke before his plighted vows,Met his deserts in an adulterous spouse.See! where he droops between the sister dames,And fondly melts--the other scorns his flames,--The mighty slave of Omphale behindIs seen, and he whom Love and fraud combinedSent to the shades of everlasting night;And still he seems to weep his wretched plight.--There, Phyllis mourns Demophoon's broken vows,And fell Medea there pursues her spouse;With impious boast, and shrill upbraiding cries,She tells him how she broke the holy tiesOf kindred for his sake; the guilty shoreThat from her poignard drank a brother's gore;The deep affliction of her royal sire.Who heard her flight with imprecations dire.--See! beauteous Helen, with her Trojan swain--The royal youth that fed his amorous pain,With ardent gaze, on those destructive charmsThat waken'd half the warring world to arms--Yonder, behold Oenone's wild despair,Who mourns the triumphs of the Spartan fair!The injured husband answers groan for groan,And young Hermione with piteous moanOrestes calls; while Laodamia nearBewails her valiant consort's fate severe.--Adrastus' daughter there laments her spouseSincere and constant to her nuptial vows;Yet, lured by her, with gold's seductive aid,Her lord, Eriphile, to death betray'd."

And now, the baleful anthem, loud and long,Rose in full chorus from the passing throng;And Love's sad name, the cause of all their woes,In execrations seem'd the dirge to close.--But who the number and the names can tellOf those that seem'd the deadly strain to swell!--Not men alone, but gods my dream display'd--Celestial wailings fill'd the myrtle shade:Soft Venus, with her lover, mourn'd the snare,The King of Shades, and Proserpine the fair;Juno, whose frown disclosed her jealous spite;Nor, less enthrall'd by Love, the god of light,Who held in scorn the winged warrior's dartTill in his breast he felt the fatal smart.--Each god, whose name the learned Roman told,In Cupid's numerous levy seem'd enroll'd;And, bound before his car in fetters strong,In sullen state the Thunderer march'd along.