TEMPTATIONS FROM ROMAN REFINEMENTS

Watch, and be firm! for, soul-subduing vice,

Heart-killing luxury, on your steps await.

Fair houses, baths, and banquets delicate,

And temples flashing, bright as polar ice,

Their radiance through the woods — may yet suffice

To sap your hardy virtue, and abate

Your love of Him upon whose forehead sate

The crown of thorns; whose life-blood flowed, the price

Of your redemption. Shun the insidious arts

That Rome provides, less dreading from her frown

Than from her wily praise, her peaceful gown,

Language, and letters;— these, though fondly viewed

As humanising graces, are but parts

And instruments of deadliest servitude!