Page:Modern poets and poetry of Spain.djvu/94

I only ask of you, as you may read,
How in Avernus, destined to succeed,
Anchises show'd Æneas, in long line,
The illustrious shades of those, who were to shine
One day the glory of the Italian shore,
Now you, more favour'd than the Trojan chief,
Not in vain prophecy, but tried belief,
From what you see, by aid of history's lore,
To admire the lofty state which Rome possess'd,
The which her ruins and remains attest.

From our Hispanian clime I cannot scan
With you the column of the Antonine,
The fane or obelisk of the Vatican,
Or the Capitol, and Mount Palatine;
I cannot see the churches, or the walls,
The bridges, arches, mausoleums, gates,
The aqueducts, palaces, and waterfalls,
The baths, the plazas, porticos, and halls,
The Coliseum's, or the Circus' fates;
But still the immortal writings 'tis for me,
Of Livy, Tacitus, Cicero, to see;
I see Lucretius, Pliny, Juvenal,
Augustus, Maro and Maecenas all;
With their names is the soul exalted high,
Heroic worth and honour to descry;