The Alliance of Education and Government. A Fragment

The Alliance of Education and Government . A Fragment Essay I.

... πόταγ᾽ , ὦ ᾽γαθέ· τὰν γὰρ ἀοιδάν οὔτι πω εἰς Ἀΐδαν γε τὸν ἐκλελάθοντα ϕυλαξεῖς .

Theoc [ ritus , Idyll i. 62-63 ] . As sickly plants betray a niggard earth , Whose barren bosom starves her generous birth , Nor genial warmth nor genial juice retains Their roots to feed and fill their verdant veins ; And as in climes , where winter holds his reign , The soil , though fertile , will not teem in vain , Forbids her gems to swell , her shades to rise , Nor trusts her blossoms to the churlish skies : So draw mankind in vain the vital airs , Unformed , unfriended , by those kindly cares That health and vigour to the soul impart , Spread the young thought and warm the opening heart . So fond Instruction on the growing powers Of nature idly lavishes her stores , If equal Justice with unclouded face Smile not indulgent on the rising race , And scatter with a free though frugal hand Light golden showers of plenty o'er the land : But Tyranny has fixed her empire there , To check their tender hopes with chilling fear , And blast the blooming promise of the year . This spacious animated scene survey From where the rolling orb , that gives the day , His sable sons with nearer course surrounds , To either pole and life's remotest bounds . How rude so e'er the exterior form we find , Howe'er opinion tinge the varied mind , Alike to all the kind impartial heaven The sparks of truth and happiness has given : With sense to feel , with memory to retain , They follow pleasure and they fly from pain ; Their judgement mends the plan their fancy draws , The event presages and explores the cause . The soft returns of gratitude they know , By fraud elude , by force repel the foe ; While mutual wishes , mutual woes , endear The social smile and sympathetic tear . Say then , through ages by what fate confined To different climes seem different souls assigned ? Here measured laws and philosophic ease Fix and improve the polished arts of peace . There Industry and Gain their vigils keep , Command the winds and tame the unwilling deep . Here force and hardy deeds of blood prevail ; There languid pleasure sighs in every gale . Oft o'er the trembling nations from afar Has Scythia breathed the living cloud of war ; And , where the deluge burst , with sweepy sway Their arms , their kings , their gods were rolled away . As oft have issued , host impelling host , The blue-eyed myriads from the Baltic coast . The prostrate south to the destroyer yields Her boasted titles and her golden fields : With grim delight the brood of winter view A brighter day and heavens of azure hue , Scent the new fragrance of the breathing rose , And quaff the pendent vintage , as it grows . Proud of the yoke and pliant to the rod , Why yet does Asia dread a monarch's nod , While European freedom still withstands The encroaching tide , that drowns her lessening lands , And sees far off with an indignant groan Her native plains and empires once her own ? Can opener skies and suns of fiercer flame O'erpower the fire that animates our frame , As lamps , that shed at even a cheerful ray , Fade and expire beneath the eye of day ? Need we the influence of the northern star To string our nerves and steel our hearts to war ? And , where the face of nature laughs around , Must sickening Virtue fly the tainted ground ? Unmanly thought ! what seasons can control , What fancied zone can circumscribe the Soul , Who , conscious of the source from whence she springs , By Reason's light on Resolution's wings , Spite of her frail companion , dauntless goes O'er Libya's deserts and through Zembla's snows ? She bids each slumbering energy awake , Another touch , another temper take , Suspends the inferior laws that rule our clay : The stubborn elements confess her sway ; Their little wants , their low desires , refine , And raise the mortal to a height divine . Not but the human fabric from the birth Imbibes a flavour of its parent earth : As various tracts enforce a various toil , The manners speak the idiom of their soil . An iron-race the mountain-cliffs maintain , Foes to the gentler genius of the plain : For where unwearied sinews must be found With sidelong plough to quell the flinty ground , To turn the torrent's swift-descending flood , To brave the savage rushing from the wood , What wonder if , to patient valour trained , They guard with spirit what by strength they gained ; And while their rocky ramparts round they see , The rough abode of want and liberty , ( As lawless force from confidence will grow ) Insult the plenty of the vales below ? What wonder in the sultry climes , that spread Where Nile redundant o'er his summer-bed From his broad bosom life and verdure flings , And broods o'er Egypt with his watery wings , If with adventurous oar and ready sail , The dusky people drive before the gale , Or on frail floats to distant cities ride , That rise and glitter o'er the ambient tide .