"What steel'd the heart of Brutus, sternly good, / To save fall'n Rome, redeem'd by Cæsar's blood?"
— Colvill, Robert (d. 1788)
Author
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Sold by J. Wilkie and J. Dodsley [etc.]
Date
1771
Metaphor
"What steel'd the heart of Brutus, sternly good, / To save fall'n Rome, redeem'd by Cæsar's blood?"
Metaphor in Context
What roused the Maccabean race to arms,
Who shook the Syrian tyrant with alarms?
What steel'd the heart of Brutus, sternly good,
To save fall'n Rome, redeem'd by Cæsar's blood?
What led the Great, whose pinion'd fame does soar,
Thee Tamerlane! distain'd with eastern gore?
The toiling Muscovite, Gustavus bold,
To face each danger, when in arms grown old?
'Twas the big hope still bounding in their breast
To save mankind, by tyrant pow'r opprest.
The harvest reap'd in iron fields, to see
Bless'd peace establish'd, and their country free.
Who shook the Syrian tyrant with alarms?
What steel'd the heart of Brutus, sternly good,
To save fall'n Rome, redeem'd by Cæsar's blood?
What led the Great, whose pinion'd fame does soar,
Thee Tamerlane! distain'd with eastern gore?
The toiling Muscovite, Gustavus bold,
To face each danger, when in arms grown old?
'Twas the big hope still bounding in their breast
To save mankind, by tyrant pow'r opprest.
The harvest reap'd in iron fields, to see
Bless'd peace establish'd, and their country free.
Categories
Provenance
Searching "heart" and "steel" in HDIS (Poetry)
Citation
Occasional Poems; by Mr Colvill, 2nd edition (London: J. Wilkie and J. Dodsley, 1771). <Link to ECCO>
Date of Entry
06/09/2005
