XVI.
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e holds that, consenting or dissident,Nations must move with the time ;Assumes that crime with a precedentDoubles the guilt of the crime:—Denies that a slaver’s bondOr a treaty signed by knaves,(Quorum magna pars and beyondWas one of dan honest name)Gives an inexpugnable c!aimTo abolishing men into slaves.EmperorEvermore. XVII.He will not swagger nor boastOf hiscountry’s meeds, in a toneMissuiting a great man mostIf such should speak of his own?Nor will he act, on her side, THE DANCE, Fiem motives baser, indeed,Than a ynan of a noble prideCan avow for himself at need ;Never, for lucre or laurels,Or custom, though such should berife,Adapting the smaller morals‘Lo measure the larger life,He, though the merchants persuade,And the soldiers are eager for strife,Finds not his country in quarrelsOnly to find her in trade,—While still he accords her such honorAs never to flinch for her sakeWhere men put service upon her,Found heavy to undertakeAnd scarcely like to be paid :Believing a nation may actUnselfishly—shiver a lance(As the least of her sons may, in fact)And not fer a cause of finance,EmperorEvermore, XIX, Great is heWho uses his greatness for all,His name shall stand perpetuallyAs a name to applaud and cherish,Not only within the civic wallFor the Joyal, but also withoutFor the generous and free,Just is he,Who is just for the popular dueAs well as the private debt.The praise of nations ready to perishFall on him,—crown him in viewOf tyrants caught in the net,And statesmen dizzy with fear anddoubt !And though, because they are many,And he is merely one,And nations selfish and cruelHeap up the inquisitor’s fuelTo kill the body of high intents,And burn great deeds from their place,Till this, the greatest of any,May seem imperfectly done ;Courage, whoever circumvents |Courage, courage, whoever is base !The soul of a high intent, be it known,Can die no more than any soul 3°7 Which Goel keeps by him under thethrone ;And this, at whatever interim,Shall live, and be consummatedIn the being of deeds made whole.Courage, courage! happy is he,Of whom (himself among the deadAnd silent,) this word shall be said ;—That he might have had the worldwith him,But chose to side with suffering men,And had the world against him whenHe came to deliver Italy,EmperorEvermore, THE DANCE,
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