“To live by wholesome laws you now begin,
Buildings to raise, and fence your cities in,
To plough the earth, to plough the very main,
And traffic with the universe maintain.
Defensive arms, and ornaments of dress,
All implements of life, you now possess.
To you the arts of war and peace are known,
And whole Minerva is become your own.
Our Muses, to your sires an unknown band,
Already have got footing in your land.
…
“Long rolling years shall late bring on the times,
When, with your gold debauched and ripened crimes,
Europe, the world’s most noble part, shall fall,
Upon her banished gods and virtue call
In vain, while foreign and domestic war
At once shall her distracted bosom tear,--
Forlorn, and to be pitied even by you.
_Meanwhile your rising glory you shall view;_
_Wit, learning, virtue, discipline of war,_
_Shall for protection to your world repair,_
_And fix a long illustrious empire there._
…
“Late Destiny shall high exalt your reign,
Whose pomp no crowds of slaves, a needless train,
Nor gold, the rabble’s idol, shall support,
Like Motezume’s or Guanapaci’s court,
But such true grandeur as old Rome maintained,
Where Fortune was a slave, and Virtue reigned.”[271]
This prophecy, though appearing in English tardily, may be dated from
1667, when the Latin poem was already written.