XXXIV.

Then foster’d genius lent each caliph’s throne Lustre barbaric pomp could ne’er attain; And stars unnumber’d o’er the orient shone, Bright as that Pleïad, sphered in Mecca’s fane.[24] From Bagdat’s palaces the choral strains Rose and re-echoed to the desert’s bound, And Science, woo’d on Egypt’s burning plains, Rear’d her majestic head with glory crown’d; And the wild Muses breathed romantic lore From Syria’s palmy groves to Andalusia’s shore.