SELECTIONS IN ENGLISH POETRY
That led them to adore 25
Those Pagod things of sabre sway
With fronts of brass, and feet of clay.
IV
The triumph and the vanity,
The rapture of the strife—
The earthquake voice of Victory, 30
To thee the breath of life;
The sword, the sceptre, and that sway
Which man seemed made but to obey,
Wherewith renown was rife—
All quelled !—Dark Spirit I what must be 35
The madness of thy memory !
V
The Desolator desolate!
The Victor overthrown !
The Arbiter of other's fate
A Suppliant for his own ! 40
Is it some yet imperial hope
That with such change can calmly cope ?
Or dread of death alone?
To die a prince—or live a slave—
The choice is most ignobly brave ! 45
VI
He who of old would rend the oak,
Dreamed not of the rebound :
Chained by the trunk he vainly broke—
Alone—how looked he round?
Thou, in the sternness of thy strength, 50
An equal deed hast done at length,
112