28.10.2007, 10:33
GARIBALDI'S RETIREMENT.
NOT that three armies thou did'st overthrow ;
Not that three cities oped their gates to thee,
I praise thee, Chief; not for this royalty
Decked with new crowns, that utterly laid low ;
For nothing of all thou did'st forsake, to go
And tend thy vines amid the Etrurian Sea ;
Not even that thou did'st this though History
Retread two thousand selfish years to show
Another Cincinnatus ! Rather for this,
The having lived such life, that even this deed
Of stress heroic natural seems as is
Calm night, when glorious day it doth succeed ;
And we, forewarned by surest auguries,
The amazing act with no amazement read.
NOT that three armies thou did'st overthrow ;
Not that three cities oped their gates to thee,
I praise thee, Chief; not for this royalty
Decked with new crowns, that utterly laid low ;
For nothing of all thou did'st forsake, to go
And tend thy vines amid the Etrurian Sea ;
Not even that thou did'st this though History
Retread two thousand selfish years to show
Another Cincinnatus ! Rather for this,
The having lived such life, that even this deed
Of stress heroic natural seems as is
Calm night, when glorious day it doth succeed ;
And we, forewarned by surest auguries,
The amazing act with no amazement read.