Page:Scotish Descriptive Poems - Leyden (1803).djvu/165
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OF ALBANIA.
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These arts, O goddess! brighten from thy ray,By thee they flourish, and with thee decay; 40To Athens, these her truest glory gaveTo Rome,—ere Romans conquered to enslave.But in their rushing states, when public powerPropt the lewd wretch, or swelled the private store;O'er patriot zeal, when rose ambition's lust,And jealous justice sunk to mean distrust;Dragged by vile lictors, where the forum raved,When heroes bled by villains whom they saved:Then, with the herd, the muse condemned, or praised,And courts destroyed those arts that senates raised. 50 Albania's sons, may these examples teach,How far the bounds of real freedom reach:Teach them with equal vigour to engageA faction's fury, as a tyrant's rage.And see, where bursting from a Gothic nightHalf her brave race emerges into light;By Thee! to better being waked, they hailTheir social life, and court the peopled vale;By Thee! her genius raised, with glad surpriseSees cultured groves, and cheerful villas rise. 60Pleased she beholds the golden harvests nod,And the bold arch controul the swelling flood;