290
THE FESTAL HOUR.
A sound of lyre and song,
In the still night, went floating o'er the Nile,
Whose waves, by many an old mysterious pile,
Swept with that voice along;
And lamps were shining o'er the red wine's foam,
Where a chief revell'd in a monarch's dome,
And fresh rose-garlands deck'd a glittering throng.
'Twas Antony that bade
The joyous chords ring out!—but strains arose
Of wilder omen at the banquet's close!
Sounds, by no mortal made*[1],
Shook Alexandria through her streets that night,
And pass'd—and with another sunset's light,
The kingly Roman on his bier was laid.
Bright midst its vineyards lay
The fair Campanian city†[2], with its towers
- ↑ * See the description given by Plutarch, in his life of Antony, of the supernatural sounds heard in the streets of Alexandria, the night before Antony's death.
- ↑ †Herculaneum, of which it is related, that all the inhabitants were assembled in the theatres, when the shower of ashes, which covered the city, descended.
