Lays of Ancient Rome

Name: Lays of Ancient Rome
Author: Macaulay, Thomas Babington Macaulay, Baron

Macaulay, Thomas Babington Macaulay, Baron

Rome -- History -- Poetry

And nearer fast and nearer
          Doth the red whirlwind come;
     And louder still and still more loud,
     From underneath that rolling cloud,
     Is heard the trumpet's war-note proud,
          The trampling, and the hum.
     And plainly and more plainly
          Now through the gloom appears,
     Far to left and far to right,
     In broken gleams of dark-blue light,
     The long array of helmets bright,
          The long array of spears.

               XXII

     And plainly and more plainly,
          Above that glimmering line,
     Now might ye see the banners
          Of twelve fair cities shine;
     But the banner of proud Clusium
          Was highest of them all,
     The terror of the Umbrian,
          The terror of the Gaul.

               XXIII

     And plainly and more plainly
          Now might the burghers know,
     By port and vest, by horse and crest,
          Each warlike Lucumo.
     There Cilnius of Arretium
          On his fleet roan was seen;
     And Astur of the four-fold shield,
     Girt with the brand none else may wield,
     Tolumnius with the belt of gold,
     And dark Verbenna from the hold
          By reedy Thrasymene.

               XXIV

     Fast by the royal standard,
          O'erlooking all the war,
     Lars Porsena of Clusium
          Sat in his ivory car.
     By the right wheel rode Mamilius,
          Prince of the Latian name;
     And by the left false Sextus,
          That wrought the deed of shame.

               XXV

     But when the face of Sextus
          Was seen among the foes,
     A yell that rent the firmament
          From all the town arose.
     On the house-tops was no woman
          But spat towards him and hissed,
     No child but screamed out curses,
          And shook its little fist.

               XXVI

     But the Consul's brow was sad,
          And the Consul's speech was low,
     And darkly looked he at the wall,
          And darkly at the foe.
     "Their van will be upon us
          Before the bridge goes down;
     And if they once may win the bridge,
          What hope to save the town?"

               XXVII

     Then out spake brave Horatius,
          The Captain of the Gate:
     "To every man upon this earth
          Death cometh soon or late.
     And how can man die better
          Than facing fearful odds,
     For the ashes of his fathers,
          And the temples of his gods,

               XXVIII

     "And for the tender mother
          Who dandled him to rest,
     And for the wife who nurses
          His baby at her breast,
     And for the holy maidens
          Who feed the eternal flame,
     To save them from false Sextus
          That wrought the deed of shame?

               XXIX

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Lays of Ancient Rome

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