By Adeline Adams.
My Hans, you say, with self-applausive jest,
"When Albert gave his Belgians Caesar's name--
'Bravest of all the Gauls'--surely 'twere shame
The King, unthorough man, forgot the rest:
"'Bravest because most far from all the best
Provincial culture.'"[2] Friend, if now your aim
Be that fine thoroughness your people claim,
Read on: "Such culture's wares, it stands confest,
"Oft weaken minds." And Caesar's word was just.
If men, bedeviled under culture's star,
Have left Louvain a void where flames still hiss,
Speared babes, and stamped the world's own Rose to dust,
God grant that Belgium's soul may dwell afar
Forever, from a culture such as this!
[Footnote 2: "Propterea quod a cultu atque humanitute provinciae
longissime absunt."]