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Samuel Waddington, comp. The Sonnets of Europe. 1888.

To Italy

Vincenzo da Filicaja (1642–1707)

ITALIA, O Italia! hapless thou,

Who didst the fatal gift of beauty gain,

A dowry fraught with never-ending pain,—

A seal of sorrow stamped upon thy brow:

O, were thy bravery more, or less thy charms!

Then should thy foes, they whom thy loveliness

Now lures afar to conquer and possess,

Adore thy beauty less, or dread thine arms!

No longer then should hostile torrents pour

Adown the Alps; and Gallic troops be laved

In the red waters of the Po no more;

Nor longer then, by foreign courage saved,

Barbarian succour should thy sons implore,—

Vanquished or victors, still by Goths enslaved.