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(From Caesar in Egypt)
ONWARD to Ombi,—there to note, as chief, | |
| Its Ptolemaic fane, in pride columnar, | |
| On mound conspicuous at those level shores; | |
| And then to Ultima Thule of Egyptus, | |
| Where commerce, checked by rocky, foaming falls, | 5 |
| In much suspends its course. Syéne this, | |
| Of bold, romantic aspect, rearing up | |
| Amid the waters,—shaggy cliffs around; | |
| With greenest groves of palm and lebbek tree; | |
| Where Nubian girls are seen, unheedfully | 10 |
| Cooling their slender limbs in Nilus’ wave. | |
| Syéne—school of science most remote | |
| Of first observatory, temple eke, | |
| Where learned hierophants, star-gazing, dwelt, | |
| Or, at the Solstice, watched their sacred well, | 15 |
| One day illumined by the vertic sun, | |
| Its circled marge by classic foot impressed | |
| Of king and priest, and ancient traveller, | |
| Herodotus, Eudoxus, Manetho sage. | |
| And here the gnomon on that day marks not | 20 |
| At noon the looked-for shadow on the dial. | |
| Here too the quarry from whose womb have sprung, | |
| In tinctured granite, carved and polishéd, | |
| Obelisk, and temple, and colossal form | |
| Spread o’er the face of Egypt’s mystic land. | 25 |
| Near, the twin island Elephantiné,— | |
| A sylvan nook one time the seat of kingdom; | |
| With temples and green gardens interspersed, | |
| “Islet of flowers,” so named, and then again, | |
| On, to the rocky isle of Philæ, placed | 30 |
| Below the rushing rapids, in a lake | |
| Serene, translucent, of the river’s bend,— | |
| A swan upon its bosom! and environed | |
| By granite bluffs fantastic,—where is found | |
| Shaded by palm-groves, that most affluent temple— | 35 |
| To Isis dedicate, in earliest time,— | |
| Joined by the later fane, of triune worship, | |
| To God Osiris, Isis, and their son. | |
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