Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Africa: Vol. XXIV. 1876–79. | | | | Egypt, Nubia, and Abyssinia: Heliopolis (Mataria) | | Heliopolis | | Joseph Ellis (1815–1891) |
| | (From Caesar in Egypt)
NEXT Heliopolis, City of the Sun,— | |
| A shattered sepulchre, a wreck of shrines! | |
| Here Cæsar, zealous, “This must we survey; | |
| The hallowed spot where Plato and Eudoxus | |
| Conceived new thoughts,—where Moses, legislator, | 5 |
| Derived his wisdom to instruct mankind,— | |
| Moses, prime leader of a tribe heroic, | |
| Who told of heaven and earth, in godlike words. | |
| This city first-named On, whence Joseph took, | |
| For wife, the high-priest’s daughter, Asenath; | 10 |
| Whence later Baruch, Jeremiah sang. | |
| This seat of learning where sage Manetho wrote, | |
| Which fostered Solon and Pythagoras, | |
| Where somewhile dwelt sublime Euripides.” | |
| So saw he vestiges of those grand temples | 15 |
| Built to the Sun-god Re; and obelisks, | |
| Ancient when seen by Moses and by Plato,— | |
| Transported now to European shores. | | | | |
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