Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Italy: Vols. XI–XIII. 1876–79. | | | | Venice | | Venice | | Giovanni della Casa (1503–1556) |
| | Translated by Felicia Hemans
THESE marble domes, by wealth and genius graced, | |
| With sculptured forms, bright hues, and Parian stone, | |
| Were once rude cabins midst a lonely waste, | |
| Wild shores of solitude, and isles unknown. | |
| Pure from each vice, ’t was here a venturous train | 5 |
| Fearless in fragile barks explored the sea; | |
| Not theirs a wish to conquer or to reign, | |
| They sought these island precincts—to be free. | |
| Ne’er in their souls ambition’s flame arose, | |
| No dream of avarice broke their calm repose; | 10 |
| Fraud, more than death, abhorred each artless breast: | |
| O, now, since fortune gilds their brightening day, | |
| Let not those virtues languish and decay, | |
| O’erwhelmed by luxury, and by wealth oppressed! | | | | |
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