The Columbiad: A Poem Part 5

Columbus heard; and curious to be taught What pious fraud such wondrous changes wrought, Ask'd by what mystic charm, in that dark age, They quell'd in savage souls the barbarous rage, By leagues of peace combined a wide domain, And taught the virtues in their laws to reign.

Long is the tale; but tho their labors rest By years obscured, in flowery fiction drest, My voice, said Hesper, shall revive their name, And give their merits to immortal fame.

Led by his father's wars, in early prime Young Capac left his native northern clime; The clime where Quito since hath rear'd her fanes, And now no more her barbarous rites maintains.

He saw these vales in richer blooms array'd, And tribes more numerous haunt the woodland shade, Saw rival clans their local G.o.ds adore, Their altars staining with their children's gore, Yet mark'd their reverence for the Sun, whose beam Proclaims his bounties and his power supreme; Who sails in happier skies, diffusing good, Demands no victim and receives no blood.

In peace return'd with his victorious sire, New charms of glory all his soul inspire; To conquer nations on a different plan, And build his greatness on the good of man.

By nature form'd for hardiest deeds of fame, Tall, bold and full-proportion'd rose his frame; Strong moved his limbs, a mild majestic grace Beam'd from his eyes and open'd in his face; O'er the dark world his mind superior shone, And seem'd the semblance of his parent Sun.

But tho fame's airy visions lift his eyes, And future empires from his labors rise; Yet softer fires his daring views control, And mixt emotions fill his changing soul.

Shall genius rare, that might the world improve, Bend to the milder voice of careless love, That bounds his glories, and forbids to part From bowers that woo'd his fluctuating heart?

Or shall the toils imperial heroes claim Fire his brave bosom with a patriot flame, Bid sceptres wait him on Peruvia's sh.o.r.e, And loved Oella meet his eyes no more?

Still unresolved he sought the lonely maid, Who plied her labors in the silvan shade; Her locks loose rolling mantle deep her breast, And wave luxuriant round her slender waist, Gay wreaths of flowers her pensive brows adorn, And her white raiment mocks the light of morn.

Her busy hand sustains a bending bough, Where cotton cl.u.s.ters spread their robes of snow, From opening pods unbinds the fleecy store, And culls her labors for the evening bower.

For she, the first in all Hesperia, fed The turning spindle with the twisting thread; The woof, the shuttle follow'd her command, Till various garments grew beneath her hand.

And now, while all her thoughts with Capac rove Thro former scenes of innocence and love, In distant fight his fancied dangers share, Or wait him glorious from the finish'd war; Blest with the ardent hope, her sprightly mind A vesture white had for the prince design'd; And here she seeks the wool to web the fleece, The sacred emblem of returning peace.

Sudden his near approach the maid alarms; He flew enraptured to her yielding arms, And lost, dissolving in a softer flame, His distant empire and the fire of fame.

At length, retiring thro the homeward field, Their glowing souls to cooler converse yield; O'er various scenes of blissful life they ran, When thus the warrior to the maid began:

Long have we mark'd the inauspicious reign That waits our sceptre in this rough domain; A soil ungrateful and a wayward race, Their game but scanty, and confined their s.p.a.ce.

Where late my steps the southern war pursued, The fertile plains grew boundless as I view'd; More numerous nations trod the gra.s.sy wild, And joyous nature more delightful smiled.

No changing seasons there the flowers deform, No dread volcano and no mountain storm; Rains ne'er invade, nor livid lightnings play, Nor clouds obscure the radiant King of day.

But while his...o...b.. in ceaseless glory bright, Rolls the rich day and fires his stars by night, Unbounded fulness flows beneath his reign, Seas yield their treasures, fruits adorn the plain; His melting mountains spread their annual flood, Night sheds her dews, the day-breeze fans the G.o.d.

Tis he inspires me with the vast design To form those nations to a sway divine; Destroy the rites of every demon Power, Whose altars smoke with sacrilegious gore; To laws and labor teach the tribes to yield, And richer fruits to grace the cultured field.

But great, my charmer, is the task of fame, Their faith to fas.h.i.+on and their lives to tame; Full many a s.p.a.cious wild these eyes must see Spread dreary bounds between my love and me; And yon bright G.o.dhead circle thrice the year, Each lonely evening number'd with a tear.

Long robes of white my shoulders must embrace, To speak my lineage of ethereal race; That simple men may reverence and obey The radiant offspring of the Power of day.

When these my deeds the faith of nations gain, And happy millions bless thy Capac's reign, Then shall he feign a journey to the Sun, To bring the partner of his well-earn'd throne; So shall descending kings the line sustain, Till earth's whole regions join the vast domain.

Will then my fair, at my returning hour, Forsake these wilds and hail a happier bower?

Will she consenting now resume her smiles, Send forth her warrior to his glorious toils; And, sweetly patient, wait the flight of days, That crown our labors with immortal praise?

Silent the damsel heard; her moistening eye Spoke the full soul, nor could her voice reply; Till softer accents sooth'd her wounded ear, Composed her tumult and allay'd her fear: Think not, heroic maid, my steps would part While silent sorrows heave that tender heart.

Oella's peace more dear shall prove to me Than all the realms that bound the raging sea; Nor thou, bright Sun, shalt bribe my soul to rest, And leave one struggle in her lovely breast.

Yet think in tribes so vast, my gentle fair, What millions merit our instructive care; How age to age leads on their joyless gloom, Habitual slaughter their poor piteous doom; No social ties their wayward pa.s.sions prove, Nor peace nor pleasure treads the howling grove; Mid thousand heroes and a thousand fair No fond Oella meets her Capac there.

Yet, taught by thee domestic joys to prize, With softer charms the virgin race shall rise, Awake new virtues, every grace improve, And form their minds for happiness and love.

Ah think, as future years thro time descend, What wide creations on thy voice depend; And, like the Sun, whose all-delighting ray To those mild regions gives his purest day, Diffuse thy bounties, let me instant fly; In three short moons the generous task I'll try; Then swift returning, I'll conduct my fair Where realms submissive wait her fostering care.

And will my prince, my Capac, borne away, Thro those dark wilds in quest of empire stray, Where tigers fierce command the shuddering wood, And men like tigers thirst for human blood?

Think'st thou no dangerous deed the course attends, Alone, unaided by thy sire and friends?

Even chains and death may meet my hero there, Nor his last groan could reach Oella's ear.

But no! nor death nor chains shall Capac prove Unknown to her, while she has power to rove.

Close by thy side, where'er thy wanderings stray, My equal steps shall measure all the way; With borrow'd soul each chance of fate I'll dare, Thy toils to lessen and thy dangers share.

Quick shall my ready hand two garments weave, Whose sunny whiteness shall the tribes deceive; Thus clad, their homage shall secure our sway.

And hail us children of the G.o.d of day.

The lovely counsel pleased. The smiling chief Approved her courage and dispell'd her grief; Then to their homely bower in haste they move.

Begin their labors and prepare to rove.

Soon grow the robes beneath her forming care, And the fond parents wed the wondrous pair; But whelm'd in grief beheld the following dawn, Their joys all vanish'd and their children gone.

Nine days they march'd; the tenth effulgent morn Saw their white forms that sacred isle adorn.

The work begins; they preach to every band The well-form'd fiction, and their faith demand; With various miracles their powers display, To prove their lineage and confirm their sway.

They form to different arts the hand of toil, To whirl the spindle and to spade the soil, The Sun's bright march with pious finger trace, And his pale sister with her changing face; Show how their bounties clothe the labor'd plain, The green maize shooting from its golden grain, How the white cotton tree's expanding lobes File into threads, and swell to fleecy robes; While the tamed Llama aids the wondrous plan, And lends his garment to the loins of man.

The astonish'd tribes believe, with glad surprise, The G.o.ds descended from the favoring skies, Adore their persons robed in s.h.i.+ning white.

Receive their laws and leave each horrid rite, Build with a.s.sisting hands the golden throne, And hail and bless the sceptre of the Sun.

Book III.

Argument.

Actions of the Inca Capac. A general invasion of his dominions threatened by the mountain savages. Rocha, the Inca's son, sent with a few companions to offer terms of peace. His emba.s.sy. His adventure with the wors.h.i.+ppers of the volcano. With those of the storm, on the Andes.

Falls in with the savage armies. Character and speech of Zamor, their chief. Capture of Rocha and his companions. Sacrifice of the latter.

Death song of Azonto. War dance. March of the savage armies down the mountains to Peru. Incan army meets them. Battle joins. Peruvians terrified by an eclipse of the sun, and routed. They fly to Cusco.

Grief of Oella, supposing the darkness to be occasioned by the death of Rocha. Sun appears. Peruvians from the city wall discover Roch an altar in the savage camp. They march in haste out of the city and engage the savages. Exploits of Capac. Death of Zamor. Recovery of Rocha, and submission of the enemy.

Now twenty years these children of the skies Beheld their gradual growing empire rise.

They ruled with rigid but with generous care, Diffused their arts and sooth'd the rage of war, Bade yon tall temple grace their favorite isle, The mines unfold, the cultured valleys smile, Those broad foundations bend their arches high, And rear imperial Cusco to the sky; Wealth, wisdom, force consolidate the reign From the rude Andes to the western main.

But frequent inroads from the savage bands Lead fire and slaughter o'er the labor'd lands; They sack the temples, the gay fields deface, And vow destruction to the Incan race.

The king, undaunted in defensive war, Repels their hordes, and speeds their flight afar; Stung with defeat, they range a wider wood, And rouse fresh tribes for future fields of blood.

Where yon blue ridges hang their cliffs on high, And suns infulminate the stormful sky, The nations, temper'd to the turbid air, Breathe deadly strife, and sigh for battle's blare; Tis here they meditate, with one vast blow, To crush the race that rules the plains below.

Capac with caution views the dark design, Learns from all points what hostile myriads join.

And seeks in time by proffer'd leagues to gain A bloodless victory, and enlarge his reign.

His eldest hope, young Rocha, at his call, Resigns his charge within the temple wall; In whom began, with reverend forms of awe, The functions grave of priesthood and of law,

In early youth, ere yet the ripening sun Had three short l.u.s.tres o'er his childhood run, The prince had learnt, beneath his father's hand, The well-framed code that sway'd the sacred land; With rites mysterious served the Power divine, Prepared the altar and adorn'd the shrine, Responsive hail'd, with still returning praise, Each circling season that the G.o.d displays, Sooth'd with funereal hymns the parting dead, At nuptial feasts the joyful chorus led; While evening incense and the morning song Rose from his hand or trembled on his tongue.

Thus form'd for empire ere he gain'd the sway, To rule with reverence and with power obey, Reflect the glories of the parent Sun, And s.h.i.+ne the Capac of his future throne, Employed his docile years; till now from far The rumor'd leagues proclaim approaching war; Matured for active scenes he quits the shrine, To aid in council or in arms to s.h.i.+ne.

Amid the chieftains that the court compose, In modest mien the stripling pontiff rose, With reverence bow'd, conspicuous o'er the rest, Approach'd the throne, and thus the sire addrest: Great king of nations, heaven-descended sage, Thy second heir has reach'd the destined age To take these priestly robes; to his pure hand I yield them pure, and wait thy kind command.

Should foes invade, permit this arm to share The toils, the triumphs, every chance of war; For this dread conflict all our force demands, In one wide field to whelm the brutal bands, Pour to the mountain G.o.ds their wonted food, And save thy realms from future leagues of blood.

Yet oh, may sovereign mercy first ordain Propounded compact to the savage train!

I'll go with terms of peace to spread thy sway, And teach the blessings of the G.o.d of day.