And wise beyond the manner of his youth,

With wit and art and learning, and that sense

Of policy which still is most intense

Among the fertile brains of Italy,

A craft inherited from days gone by.

As scholar he was known the pupil apt

Of Mezzofanti, in whose learning lapped

And prized and tutored as a wondrous child,

He had sucked the milk of knowledge undefiled

35

While yet a boy, and brilliantly anon

Had pushed his reputation thus begun

Through half a score of tongues. In art his place

Was as chief patron of the rising race,

Which dreamed new conquests on the glorious womb

Of ancient beauty laid asleep in Rome.

The glories of the past he fain would see

Wrought to new life in this new century,

By that continuous instinct of her sons,

Which had survived Goths, Vandals, Lombards, Huns,

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