But small the bliss that sense alone bestows,
And sensual bliss is all the nation knows.[15]
In florid beauty groves and fields appear; 125
Man seems the only growth that dwindles here.
Contrasted faults through all his manners reign:
Though poor, luxurious; though submissive, vain;
Though grave, yet trifling; zealous, yet untrue;
And ev'n in penance planning sins anew. 130
All evils here contaminate the mind
That opulence departed leaves behind;
For wealth was theirs,[16] not far removed the date
When commerce proudly nourished through the state,
At her command the palace learnt to rise,[17] 135
Again the long-fallen column sought the skies,[18]
The canvas glowed, beyond e'en nature warm,[19]
The pregnant quarry teemed with human form;
Till, more unsteady than the southern gale,
Commerce on other shores displayed her sail;[20] 140
While nought remained of all that riches gave,
But towns unmanned, and lords without a slave:
And late the nation found with fruitless skill
Its former strength was but plethoric ill.[21]
Yet still the loss of wealth is here supplied 145
By arts, the splendid wrecks of former pride;
From these the feeble heart and long-fall'n mind
An easy compensation seem to find.
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