shelter, and their wealth their wandering flocks.
To the proud Macedon, whose conquering car
Rolled terrible through the ranks of armed war; 150
Whose banners chilled the plain with fearful shade;
Whose sovereignty a thousand trumpets brayed,
The Scythian chiefs spoke nobly: What have we,
King of the world, to do with thine or thee?
Far o'er the snowy solitudes we roam,
Or by wild rivers fix our casual home.
O'er the green champagne let thy cities shine;
We ne'er invaded fields or seats of thine;
Nor will we bow, proud lord, at thy decree;
Hence, hence, and leave us to our forests free! 160
But the stern soldier, with war's banners spread,
Through thy still vales his glittering squadrons led;
And wild despair, and unrelenting hate. 163
Stalk o'er thine inmost valleys desolate;
And she, that like the nimble mountain roe,
With step scarce heard, went bounding o'er the snow;
She whose green buskins swept the frosts of morn,
Who walked the high wood with her bugle horn;
She who once called these hills her own, and found
Her loveliest sojourn 'mid the hallowed ground, 170
Blessing the spot where, shaded with high wood,
And decked with simple flowers, her altar stood;
Freedom insulted sees, as pale she flies,
A monster phantom in her name arise!
On weltering carcases it seems to stand,
Waving a dim-seen dagger in its hand;
Its look is unrelenting as the grave,
Around its brow the muttering whirlwinds rave;
Its spreading shadow chills the scene beneath,
Ah! fly--it onward moves, and murmurs, Death! 180
Earth fades beneath its footstep, and around
Long sighs and distant dying shrieks resound![190]
Could arms alone o'er thy brave sons prevail,
Helvetia? No, it was the fraudful tale
Of this false phantom which the heart misled;
That spoke of peace, peace to the poor man's shed,
Then left him, houseless, to the tempest's gloom
That swept his hopes and comforts to the tomb!
High towered the grisly spectre, half concealed,
And gathering clouds its dismal forests veiled; 190
The clouds disperse, and lo! 'mid murderous bands,
Dark in its might the hideous phantom stands!
Now see the triumph of its reign complete!
Behold it throned in its own sovereign seat!
The orgies