Page:Poems - Southey (1799) volume 1.djvu/220

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Divulging spread; before your ^[1]idol forms
By every hearth the blinded Pagan knelt,
Pouring his prayers to these, and offering there
Vain sacrifice or impious, and sometimes
With human blood your sanctuary defil'd:
Till the first Brutus, tyrant-conquering chief,
Arose; he first the impious rites put down,
He fithest, who for Freedom lived and died,
The friend of humankind. Then did your feasts
Frequent recur and blameless; and when came
The solemn ^[2]festival, whose happiest rites
Emblem'd Equality, the holiest truth!
Crown'd with gay garlands were your statues seen,
To you the fragrant censer smok'd, to you
The rich libation flow'd: vain sacrifice!

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1. It is not certainly known under what form the Penates were worshipped. Some assert, as wooden or brazen rods shaped like trumpets: others, that they were represented as young men.
2. The Saturnalia.