Break the fierce Goths with trumpet-blasts of doom;

And many a glorious shrine

Begins to flare and shine,

And many a palace flames up through the gloom,

Kindled like torches by relentless wrath

To light the Spoiler on destruction's path.

Yea, with Rome's ravished walls,

The old world tottering falls

And crumbles into ruin wide and vast;

[35]

The Empire seems to rock

As with an earthquake's shock,

And vassal provinces look on aghast;

As realms are split and nation rent from nation,

The globe seems drifting to annihilation.

[36]

"Peace on earth and good will unto Men!"

Came the tidings borne o'er wide dominions;

The glad tidings thrilled the world as when

Spring comes fluttering on the west wind's pinions,

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