LXXXII.

Yet in decay thine exquisite remains Wondering we view, and silently revere, As traces left on earth’s forsaken plains By vanish’d beings of a nobler sphere! Not all the old magnificence of Rome, All that dominion there hath left to time-- Proud Coliseum, or commanding dome, Triumphal arch, or obelisk sublime, Can bid such reverence o’er the spirit steal, As aught by thee imprest with beauty’s plastic seal.