Ode IX. To Curio

Thrice hath the spring beheld thy faded fame   
          Since I exulting grasp'd the tuneful shell:   
     Eager through endless years to sound thy name,   
          Proud that my memory with thine should dwell.   
     How hast thou stain'd the splendor of my choice!   
     Those godlike forms which hover'd round thy voice,   
     Laws, freedom, glory, whither are they flown?   
     What can I now of thee to time report,   
     Save thy fond country made thy impious sport,   
Her fortune and her hope the victims of thy own?
        There are with eyes unmov'd and reckless heart   
          Who saw thee from thy summit fall thus low,   
     Who deem'd thy arm extended but to dart   
          The public vengeance on thy private foe.   
     But, spite of every gloss of envious minds,   
     The owl-ey'd race whom Virtue's lustre blinds,
     Who sagely prove that each man hath his price,   
     I still believ'd thy aim from blemish free,   
     I yet, even yet, believe it, spite of thee   
And all thy painted pleas to greatness and to vice.
             ``Thou didst not dream of Liberty decay'd,   
          Nor wish to make her guardian laws more strong:   
     But the rash many, first by thee misled,   
          Bore thee at length unwillingly along.''   
     Rise from your sad abodes, ye curst of old,   
     For faith deserted or for cities sold,   
     Own here one untry'd, unexampled, deed;   
     One mystery of shame from Curio, learn,   
     To beg the infamy he did not earn,   
And scape in Guilt's disguise from Virtue's offer'd meed.
        For saw we not that dangerous power avow'd   
          Whom freedom oft hath found her mortal bane,
     Whom public Wisdom ever strove to exclude,   
          And but with blushes suffereth in her train?   
     Corruption vaunted her bewitching spoils,   
     O'er court, o'er senate, spread in pomp her toils,   
     And call'd herself the states directing soul:   
     Till Curio, like a good magician, try'd   
     With Eloquence and Reason at his side,   
By strength of holier spells the inchantress to control.
       Soon with thy country's hope thy fame extends;   
          The rescued merchant oft thy words resounds:   
     Thee and thy cause the rural hearth defends;   
          His bowl to thee the grateful sailor crowns:   
     The learn'd recluse, with awful zeal who read   
     Of Grecian heroes, Roman patriots dead,   
     Now with like awe doth living merit scan:   
     While he, whom virtue in his blest retreat   
     Bade social ease and public passions meet,   
Ascends the civil scene, and knows to be a man.
       At length in view the glorious end appear'd:   
          We saw thy spirit through the senate reign;   
     And Freedom's friends thy instant omen heard   
          Of laws for which their fathers bled in vain.   
     Wak'd in the strife the public Genius rose   
     More keen, more ardent from his long repose:   
     Deep through her bounds the city felt his call:   
     Each crowded haunt was stirr'd beneath his power,   
     And murmuring challeng'd the deciding hour   
Of that too vast event, the hope and dread of all.
       O, ye good powers! who look on human kind,   
          Instruct the mighty moments as they roll;   
     And watch the fleeting shapes in Curio's mind,   
          And steer his passions steady to the goal.
     O Alfred, father of the English name,   
     O valiant Edward, first in civil fame,   
     O William, height of public virtue pure,   
     Bend from your radiant seats a joyful eye   
     Behold the sum of all your labours nigh,   
Your plans of law complete, your ends of rule secure.
      'Twas then -- O shame! O soul from faith estrang'd!   
          O Albion, oft to flattering vows a prey!   
     'Twas then -- Thy thought what sudden frenzy chang'd?   
          What rushing palsy took thy strength away?   
     Is this the man in Freedom's cause approv'd?   
     The man so great, so honour'd, so belov'd?   
     Whom the dead envy'd, and the living bless'd?   
     This patient slave by tinsel bonds allur'd?   
     This wretched suitor for a boon abjur'd?   
Whom those that fear'd him, scorn; that trusted him, detest?
       O lost alike to action and repose!   
          With all that habit of familiar fame,   
     Sold to the mockery of relentless foes,   
          And doom'd to exhaust the dregs of life in shame,   
     To act with burning brow and throbbing heart   
     A poor deserter's dull exploded part,