"One breast alone against his rage was steel'd, / Secure in spotless Truth's celestial shield"
— Mickle, William Julius [formerly William Meikle] (1734-1788)
Date
1776
Metaphor
"One breast alone against his rage was steel'd, / Secure in spotless Truth's celestial shield"
Metaphor in Context
Ah, why the voice of ire and bitter woe
O'er Tago's banks, ye nymphs of Tagus, shew;
The flowery garlands from your ringlets torn,
Why wandering wild with trembling steps forlorn!
The Dæmon's rage you saw, and markt his flight
To the dark mansions of eternal night:
You saw how howling through the shades beneath
He waked new horrors in the realms of death.
What trembling tempests shook the thrones of hell,
And groan'd along her caves, ye Muses, tell.
The rage of baffled fraud, and all the fire
Of powerless hate, with tenfold flames conspire;
From every eye the tawney lightnings glare,
And hell, illumined by the ghastly flare,
A drear blue gleam, in tenfold horror shews
Her darkling caverns; from his dungeon rose
Stern Mahomet, pale was his earthy hue,
And from his eye-balls flash'd the lightnings blue;
Convulsed with rage the dreadful Shade demands
The last assistance of th' infernal bands.
As when the whirlwinds, sudden bursting, bear
Th' autumnal leaves high floating through the air;
So rose the legions of th' infernal state,
Dark Fraud, base Art, fierce Rage, and burning Hate:
Wing'd by the Furies to the Indian strand
They bend; the Dæmon leads the dreadful band,
And in the bosoms of the raging Moors
All their collected living strength he pours.
One breast alone against his rage was steel'd,
Secure in spotless Truth's celestial shield.
O'er Tago's banks, ye nymphs of Tagus, shew;
The flowery garlands from your ringlets torn,
Why wandering wild with trembling steps forlorn!
The Dæmon's rage you saw, and markt his flight
To the dark mansions of eternal night:
You saw how howling through the shades beneath
He waked new horrors in the realms of death.
What trembling tempests shook the thrones of hell,
And groan'd along her caves, ye Muses, tell.
The rage of baffled fraud, and all the fire
Of powerless hate, with tenfold flames conspire;
From every eye the tawney lightnings glare,
And hell, illumined by the ghastly flare,
A drear blue gleam, in tenfold horror shews
Her darkling caverns; from his dungeon rose
Stern Mahomet, pale was his earthy hue,
And from his eye-balls flash'd the lightnings blue;
Convulsed with rage the dreadful Shade demands
The last assistance of th' infernal bands.
As when the whirlwinds, sudden bursting, bear
Th' autumnal leaves high floating through the air;
So rose the legions of th' infernal state,
Dark Fraud, base Art, fierce Rage, and burning Hate:
Wing'd by the Furies to the Indian strand
They bend; the Dæmon leads the dreadful band,
And in the bosoms of the raging Moors
All their collected living strength he pours.
One breast alone against his rage was steel'd,
Secure in spotless Truth's celestial shield.
Categories
Provenance
Searching "breast" and "steel" in HDIS (Poetry)
Citation
At least 6 entries in ECCO and ESTC (1770, 1776, 1777, 1794, 1798).
Text from The Lusiad; or, the Discovery of India. An Epic Poem. Translated from The Original Portuguese of Luís de Camões (Oxford: Printed by Jackson and Lister, and sold by Cadell, 1776). <Link to LION>
See also The First Book of the Lusiad, Published As a Specimen of a Translation of That Celebrated Epic Poem. By William Julius Mickle, Author of the Concubine, &c. (Oxford: printed by W. Jackson; and sold by Mess. Fletcher, Prince, and Bliss; T. and J. Merril in Cambridge; Cadell, Pearch, &c. London; and by Kincaid and Bell in Edinburgh, [1770?]).
Text from The Lusiad; or, the Discovery of India. An Epic Poem. Translated from The Original Portuguese of Luís de Camões (Oxford: Printed by Jackson and Lister, and sold by Cadell, 1776). <Link to LION>
See also The First Book of the Lusiad, Published As a Specimen of a Translation of That Celebrated Epic Poem. By William Julius Mickle, Author of the Concubine, &c. (Oxford: printed by W. Jackson; and sold by Mess. Fletcher, Prince, and Bliss; T. and J. Merril in Cambridge; Cadell, Pearch, &c. London; and by Kincaid and Bell in Edinburgh, [1770?]).
Date of Entry
06/13/2005
