DION
(SEE PLUTARCH)
DION
I SERENE, and fitted to embrace, Where’er he turned, a swan-like grace Of haughtiness without pretence, And to unfold a still magnificence, Was princely Dion, in the power And beauty of his happier hour. And what pure homage ‘then’ did wait On Dion’s virtues, while the lunar beam Of Plato’s genius, from its lofty sphere, Fell round him in the grove of Academe, Softening their inbred dignity austere– That he, not too elate With self-sufficing solitude, But with majestic lowliness endued, Might in the universal bosom reign, And from affectionate observance gain Help, under every change of adverse fate. II Five thousand warriors–O the rapturous day! Each crowned with flowers, and armed with spear and shield, Or ruder weapon which their course might yield, To Syracuse advance in bright array. Who leads them on?–The anxious people see Long-exiled Dion marching at their head, He also crowned with flowers of Sicily, And in a white, far-beaming, corselet clad! Pure transport undisturbed by doubt or fear The gazers feel; and, rushing to the plain, Salute those strangers as a holy train Or blest procession (to the Immortals dear) That brought their precious liberty again. Lo! when the gates are entered, on each hand, Down the long street, rich goblets filled with wine In seemly order stand, On tables set, as if for rites divine;– And, as the great Deliverer marches by, He looks on festal ground with fruits bestrown; And flowers are on his person thrown In boundless prodigality; Nor doth the general voice abstain from prayer, Invoking Dion’s tutelary care, As if a very Deity he were! III Mourn, hills and groves of Attica! and mourn Ilisses, bending o’er thy classic urn! Mourn, and lament for him whose spirit dreads Your once sweet memory, studious walks and shades! For him who to divinity aspired, Not on the breath of popular applause, But through dependence on the sacred laws Framed in the schools where Wisdom dwelt retired, Intent to trace the ideal path of right (More fair than heaven’s broad causeway paved with stars) Which Dion learned to measure with sublime delight;– But He hath overleaped the eternal bars; And, following guides whose craft holds no consent With aught that breathes the ethereal element, Hath stained the robes of civil power with blood, Unjustly shed, though for the public good. Whence doubts that came too late, and wishes vain, Hollow excuses, and triumphant pain; And oft his cogitations sink as low As, through the abysses of a joyless heart, The heaviest plummet of despair can go– But whence that sudden check? that fearful start! He hears an uncouth sound– Anon his lifted eyes Saw, at a long-drawn gallery’s dusky bound. A Shape of more than mortal size And hideous aspect, stalking round and round! A woman’s garb the Phantom wore, And fiercely swept the marble floor,– Like Auster whirling to and fro, His force on Caspian foam to try; Or Boreas when he scours the snow That skins the plains of Thessaly, Or when aloft on Maenalus he stops His flight, ‘mid eddying pine-tree tops! IV So, but from toil less sign of profit reaping, The sullen Spectre to her purpose bowed, Sweeping–vehemently sweeping– No pause admitted, no design avowed! “Avaunt, inexplicable Guest!–avaunt,” Exclaimed the Chieftain–“let me rather see The coronal that coiling vipers make; The torch that flames with many a lurid flake, And the long train of doleful pageantry Which they behold, whom vengeful Furies haunt; Who, while they struggle from the scourge to flee, Move where the blasted soil is not unworn, And, in their anguish, bear what other minds have borne!” V But Shapes that come not at an earthly call, Will not depart when mortal voices bid; Lords of the visionary eye whose lid, Once raised, remains aghast, and will not fall! Ye Gods, thought He, that servile Implement Obeys a mystical intent! Your Minister would brush away The spots that to my soul adhere; But should she labour night and day, They will not, cannot disappear; Whence angry perturbations,–and that look Which no Philosophy can brook! VI Ill-fated Chief! there are whose hopes are built Upon the ruins of thy glorious name; Who, through the portal of one moment’s guilt, Pursue thee with their deadly aim! O matchless perfidy! portentous lust Of monstrous crime!–that horror-striking blade, Drawn in defiance of the Gods, hath laid The noble Syracusan low in dust! Shuddered the walls–the marble city wept– And sylvan places heaved a pensive sigh; But in calm peace the appointed Victim slept, As he had fallen in magnanimity; Of spirit too capacious to require That Destiny her course should change; too just To his own native greatness to desire That wretched boon, days lengthened by mistrust. So were the hopeless troubles, that involved The soul of Dion, instantly dissolved. Released from life and cares of princely state, He left this moral grafted on his Fate; “Him only pleasure leads, and peace attends, Him, only him, the shield of Jove defends, Whose means are fair and spotless as his ends.” 1814.