Poems (Wordsworth, 1815)/Volume 2/On a celebrated Event in Ancient History
SONNETS
DEDICATED
TO LIBERTY.
PART SECOND.
I.
ON A
CELEBRATED EVENT IN ANCIENT HISTORY.
A Roman Master stands on Grecian ground,
And to the Concourse of the Isthmian Games
He, by his Herald's voice, aloud proclaims
The Liberty of Greece:—the words rebound
Until all voices in one voice are drowned;
Glad acclamation by which air was rent!
And birds, high-flying in the element,
Dropped to the earth, astonished at the sound!
—A melancholy Echo of that noise
Doth sometimes hang on musing Fancy's ear:
Ah! that a Conqueror's words should be so dear;
Ah! that a boon could shed such rapturous joys!
A gift of that which is not to be given
By all the blended powers of Earth and Heaven.