There sunk the greatest, nor the worst of men,

Whose Spirit, antithetically mixed,

One moment of the mightiest, and again

On little objects with like firmness fixed;[ht]

Extreme in all things! hadst thou been betwixt,

Thy throne had still been thine, or never been;

For Daring made thy rise as fall: thou seek'st[hu] [298]

Even now to re-assume the imperial mien,[299]

And shake again the world, the Thunderer of the scene!