When Greece, in arts and arms supreme,
Rose sovereign o'er her darkened age,
And lent its old, immortal theme
To grateful History's burning page:
When words, like arrows winged with fire,
Touched hearts that kindled at the flame,
And Song, reëchoing to her lyre,
Heard the far voice of coming Fame:
Then Freedom kept, a guarded mound,
That fortressed rock, where Athens sate,
And Wisdom's soul, divinely crowned,
Its sheltering genius, held the State.
Resistless Thought its vital beam
To bard and sage and hero gave,
That long has lit Time's upward stream,
And shines eternal on the wave.
This was her boast, and is her pride,
The old Republic's stern behest:
That mind to answering mind replied,
And they who swayed her were her Best.
This wrote her story with the stars.
She perished! how, her annals tell;
Hate, envy, meanness, all that mars;
And Folly ruled, as Greatness fell.
Then Force, and Fraud's barbarian will
Rose o'er the nobler mind's decay,
And sank on tower and templed hill
The twilight shades, that closed her day.
This golden moral Eld unrolls,
O proud Republic! to thine eyes;
Bids thee love most thy noblest souls,
For Freedom sinks, when Honor dies!