PINKNEY’S WORKS
PROLOGUE
[This address was written to be spoken before some theatrical
entertainment for the benefit of the Greeks, then engaged in a
war for independence from Turkish rule, during which American
and English sentiment greatly favored the patriots. The prob-
lems raised by the date and motto have been discussed in the Life.]
PROLOGUE,
Delivered at the Greek Benefit, in Baltimore—1823
“Ille, non ego”
I
As one, who long upon his couch hath lain
Subdued by sickness to a slave of pain,
When time and sudden health his strength repair,
Springs jocund to his feet, and walks the air;
So Greece, through centuries a prostrate land, 5
At length starts up—forever may she stand—
II
Since smiling Liberty, the sun thrice blest,
That had its rising in our happy west,
Extends its radiance, eastward, to that shore,
The place of Gods whom yet our hearts adore; 10
And, hailed by loud acclaim of thousands, hath
Been worshipped with a more than Magian faith,
Motto [This may be translated “He, not I” or, if a parody on the phrase “Ille ego” with which Vergil began the cancelled opening of the Zneid, “I am not the man.” Neither the source nor the significance of the motto is perfectly known to us, however.]
12[The Magi were sun worshippers of ancient Persia.]
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