Thrice blest Verona! since the holy three With their imperial presence shine on thee; Honoured by them, thy treacherous site forgets The vaunted tomb of all the Capulets; Thy Scaligers—for what was Dog the Great, Can Grande (which I venture to translate,) To these sublimer pugs? Thy poet too, Catullus, whose old laurels yield to new; Thine amphitheatre, where Romans sate; And Dante’s exile sheltered by thy gate; Thy good old man, whose world was all within Thy wall, nor knew the country held him in: Would that the royal guests it girds about Were so far like, as never to get out! Ay, shout! inscribe! rear monuments of shame, To tell Oppression that the world is tame; Crowd to the theatre with loyal rage, The comedy is not upon the stage; The show is rich in ribandry and stars, Then gaze upon it through thy dungeon bars; Clap thy permitted palms, kind Italy, For thus much still thy fettered hands are free!
What It Means
This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "Thrice blest Verona! since the holy three With their imperial presence shine on thee; Honoured by them, thy treacherous site forgets The vaunted tomb of all the Capulets; Thy Scaligers—for what was Dog the Great, Can Grande (which I venture to translate,) To these sublimer pugs? Thy poet too, Catullus, whose old laurels yield to new; Thine amphitheatre, where Romans sate; And Dante’s exile sheltered by thy gate; Thy good old man, whose world was all within Thy wall, nor knew the country held him in: Would that the royal guests it girds about Were so far like, as never to get out! Ay, shout! inscribe! rear monuments of shame, To tell Oppression that the world is tame; Crowd to the theatre with loyal rage, The comedy is not upon the stage; The show is rich in ribandry and stars, Then gaze upon it through thy dungeon bars; Clap thy permitted palms, kind Italy, For thus much still thy fettered hands are free!" in the context of "Lord Byron, The Age Of Bronze (1823), IX" to mean that wisdom is timeless.
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About Lord Byron