ODE TO NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. 66 Expende Annibalem :-quot libras in duce summo JUVENAL, Sat. X. (1) (1) ["Produce the urn that Hannibal contains, And weigh the mighty dust which yet remains: I know not that this was ever done in the old world; at least, with regard to Hannibal; but, in the Statistical Account of Scotland, I find that Sir John Paterson had the curiosity to collect, and weigh, the ashes of a person discovered a few years since in the parish of Eccies; which he was happily enabled to do with great facility, as "the inside of the coffin was smooth, and the whole body visible." Wonderful to relate, he found the whole did not exceed in weight one ounce and a half! AND IS THIS ALL! Alas! the quot libras itself is a satirical exaggeration. — GIFFORD.] "The Emperor Nepos was acknowledged by the Senate, by the Italians, and by the Provincials of Gaul; his moral virtues, and military talents, were loudly celebrated; and those who derived any private benefit from his government announced in prophetic strains the restoration of public felicity. By this shameful abdication, he protracted his life a few years, in a very ambiguous state, between an Emperor and an Exile, till GIBBON'S Decline and Fall, vol. vi. p. 220. (1) (1) ["I send you an additional motto from Gibbon, which you will find singularly appropriate."-Lord B. to Mr. M. April 12. 1814.] |