Note 036
Composed by Aeneas Sylvius, afterwards Pope
Pius II., and published by Mabillon, from a Ms. of the queen
of Sweden, (Musaeum Italicum, tom. i. p. 97.)
Oblectat me, Roma, tuas spectare ruinas:
Ex cujus lapsû gloria prisca patet.
Sed tuus hic populus muris defossa vetustis
Calcis in obsequium marmora dura coquit.
Impia tercentum si sic gens egerit annos
Nullum hinc indicium nobilitatis erit.
The History Of The Decline And
Fall Of The Roman Empire
—Fall In The East
—Chapter 71