'Afra tuas tellus, intactæ que ante Columnæ
Obstupuere rates; tibi dura Britannia merces
Barbaricas misit, plumbique ærisque metalla.
Excepitque vices, Tyriis habitata colonis,
Carthago locuples, tua non indigna propago.
Ast ego quid dicam formosas Palladis arces,
Edomitoque mari Persas, Xerxemque fugacem,
"Consilium et Periclis sapiens, et classis honorem,
Quæ procul infensas pepulit Lacedæmonis hastas ?
Quidve potens referam longos ut Roma per annos,
Altera Carthago, crebris celebranda triumphis,
Nomen et imperium cunctis æquaverit oris,
Quascunque unda lavat; non terrarum ultima Thule,
Non loca, qua pandit septemfluus ostia Nilus,
Non Indi latuere diu, non Serica tellus.
Quidve urbis celebrem laudes, quæ prima vocari
Gaudebat 'Regina maris,' posuitque superbis
Turribus excelsas super ipsis fluctibus arces?
Fugerat annorum series; consurgere sæcla
Multa virum tellus mortique aspexerat atræ
Cedere; nec quisquam veteres extenderat audax
Orbis adhuc noti fines, ignarus ut auro
Littora flaverent alio porrecta sub axe,
Utque alias idem gentes Sol luce foveret
3 Herodotus iv. 42. tells us that some Phoenician ships, by the command of Necho king of Egypt, circumnavigated Africa, and returned by the straits of Gibraltar.
4 The Phoenicians are said to have traded with Britain, on account of the richness of its tin and copper mines.
5 It was the constant policy of Pericles to obtain for Athens supremacy by sea.
6 "Where Venice sate in state, throned on her hundred isles."
BYRON. Child Harold. Canto IV.
Hesperium properans per fluctum pronus.
Emicuit tandem, facies quem nulla pericli
Terrebat, nec vox sapientum prava, nec ora
Aversi regis; parvâ sed classe profectus
Semper in occasum vertit per cærula proram.
Multos ille dies egit noctesque secundo
Flamine provectus; cupidis, nisi pontus et aer,
Nil oculis aderat; jam spes languescit, at ipse,
Ipse gerens fortem forti dux pectore vultum
Continuo stimulatque animos lenitque timores,
Semper in occasum tendens. Ast ecce! repente
Advehitur navi baccis pulcherrimus oræ
Nuntius admotæ, palmes; jam clarior aura
Perflat aquas et vela replet, crudæque feruntur
Huc illuc algæ, miræ et volitâre volucres.
Nec mora; de malo mox exoptata videntur
Littora; gaudentes fulvâ potiuntur arenâ
Et mittunt curas atque ægræ somnia mentis.
Nec vero patriæ laudes et facta silebo
Quam neque Carthago locupleti pacis honore
Jactabit superasse, ferox neque Roma severis
Aut belli studiis clarâ aut virtute suorum.
Nempe tuus triplici circumdatus ære rotundum
Navita reginæ mandatis ambiit orbem,
Emulus invicti Solis, potuitque volenti
Jura dare Oceano, qui te, carissima tellus,
Accipit uxorem, mollique amplectitur undâ.
Cuncta tuas gremio vexerunt æquora naves,
7 Christopher Columbus set out on his first voyage of discovery, A.D. 1492. His plans were opposed by the king, Ferdinand, and by almost all the men of learning in the kingdom.
8 Sir Francis Drake, sent out under the sanction of Queen Elizabeth, was the first Englishman who circumnavigated the globe.
Cuncta triumphali reboârunt littora voce,
Tristior infesto rubefactas sanguine Nilus
Volvit aquas; iterum classes sensere 10 Columnæ
Herculeæ, tonitrusque novos, pugnæque furorem,
Victoresque ducis lugubria fata dolentes.
Quin ubi concretâ Boreali vasta sub axe
Arva rigent glacie procul extremosque tuetur
Oceanus regni fines; et plurima, "prolis
Mirum opus æquoreæ, moles ubi saxea fluctu
Conditur Australi varios induta colores;
Illuc pervenit nomenque et fama, carinas
Illuc impavidas victriciaque arma tulisti.
9 The battle of the Nile, fought A.D. 1798.
10 The battle of Trafalgar was fought not far from the Straits of Gibraltar.
11 The coral reefs and islands, which abound in the South Pacific Ocean.
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