Page:The Poems of John Dyer (1903).djvu/81

With prosperous return. The myrtle shores,
And glassy mirror of Iolcos' lake,
With loud acclaim receiv'd them. Every vale,
And every hillock, touch'd the tuneful stops 300
Of pipes unnumber'd, for the Ram regain'd.
Thus Phasis lost his pride : his slighted nymphs
Along the withering dales and pastures mourn'd ;
The trade-ship left his streams : the merchant shunn'd
His desert borders ; each ingenious art, 305
Trade, Liberty, and Affluence, all retir'd,
And left to Want and Servitude their seats ;
Vile successors ! and gloomy Ignorance,
Following like dreary Night, whose sable hand
Hangs on the purple skirts of flying day. 310
Sithence the Fleeces of Arcadian plains,
And Attic and Thessalian, bore esteem ;
And those in Grecian colonies dispers'd,
Caria and Doris, and Ionia's coast,
And fam'd Tarentum, where Galesus' tide, 315
Rolling by ruins hoar of ancient towns,
Thro' solitary vallies seeks the sea :
Or green Altinum, by an hundred Alps
High-crown'd, whose woods and snowy peaks aloft
Shield her low plains from the rough northern blast. 320
Those too of Boetica's delicious fields,
With golden fruitage bless'd of highest taste,
What need I name ? the Turdetanian track,
Or rich Coraxus, whose wide looms unroll'd
The finest webs ? where scarce a talent weigh'd 325
A ram's equivalent. Then only tin
To late-improv'd Britannia gave renown.
Lo ! the revolving course of mighty Time,
Who loftiness abases, tumbles down
Olympus' brow, and lifts the lowly vale. 330
Where is the majesty of ancient Rome,