Herman Melville

“ Cried Rolfe; "and yet," in altered tone,
"Even these fair things--ah, change goes on!"
"Change? yes, but not with us. In rout ⁠60
Sword-hilts rap at the Vatican,
And, lo, an old, old man comes out:
'What would ye?' 'Change!' 'I never change.' "
"Things changing not when all things change
Need perish then, one might retort, ⁠65
Nor err."
"Ay, things of human sort."
"Rome superhuman?"
"As ye will.
Brave schemes these boyish times instill; ⁠70
But Rome has lived a thousand years:
Shall not a thousand years know more
Than nonage may?" ”

“ From Christian spire--Turk minaret:
Consider the indifference there.
'Tis so throughout. Shall Science then
Which solely dealeth with this thing
Named Nature, shall she ever bring ⁠160
One solitary hope to men? ”

“ But one:--Rome being fixed in form,
Unyielding there, how may she keep ⁠135
Adjustment with new times? But deep
Below rigidities of form
The invisible nerves and tissues change
Adaptively. As men that range
From clime to clime, from zone to zone ⁠140
(Say Russian hosts that menace Ind)
Through all vicissitudes still find
The body acclimate itself
While form and function hold their own--
Again they call:--Well, you are wise; ⁠145
Enough--you can analogize
And take my meaning: I have done.
No, one more point:--Science but deals
With Nature; Nature is not God ”