English Poetry II: From Collins to Fitzgerald.
The Harvard Classics. 1909–14.
William Wordsworth
403. On the Extinction of the Venetian Republic
O
And was the safeguard of the West; the worth
Of Venice did not fall below her birth,
Venice, the eldest child of liberty.
No guile seduced, no force could violate;
And when she took unto herself a mate,
She must espouse the everlasting Sea.
Those titles vanish, and that strength decay,—
Yet shall some tribute of regret be paid
Men are we, and must grieve when even the shade
Of that which once was great has pass’d away.