92
The ART of
B. III.
And easy vanquish'd, with triumphant sway
515O'erpow'rs your life. For want of timely care
Millions have died of medicable wounds.
Ah! in what perils is vain life engag'd!
What flight neglects, what trivial faults destroy
The hardiest frame! Of indolence, of toil,
520We die; of want, of superfluity.
The all-surrounding heaven, the vital air,
Is big with death. And, tho' the putrid South
Be shut; tho' no convulsive agony
Shake, from the deep foundations of the world,
525Th' imprisoned plagues; a secret venom oft
Corrupts the air, the water, and the land.
What livid deaths has sad Byzantium seen!
How oft has Cairo, with a mother's woe.
Wept o'er her slaughter'd sons, and lonely streets!
Even
