On topmost of Tarpeian burg the warden Manlius stood Before the house of God, and held the Capitol high-set; Whereon with straw of Romulus the roof was bristling yet. There fluttering mid the golden porch the silver goose was done, The seer that told of Gaulish feet unto the threshold won: Then through the brake the Gauls were come, and held the castle's height, Beneath the shielding of the mirk and gift of shadowy night. All golden are the locks of these, and golden is their gear, 659 And fair they shine in welted coats; their milk-white necks do bear The twisted gold; each one in hand two Alpine spears doth wield, And guarded are their bodies well with plenteous length of shield. The Salii in their dancing game; the naked Luperci, With crests that bore the tuft of wool and shields from out the sky, There had he wrought: the mothers chaste in softly-gliding car Bore holy things the city through. Yea, he had wrought afar The very house of Tartarus, and doors of Dis the deep, And dooms of evil: there wert thou hung on the beetling steep, O Catiline, and quaking sore 'neath many a fiendly face; While Cato gave the good their laws in happy hidden place. 670 The image of the swelling sea amidst of these there lay All golden, with the blue o'erfoamed with flecks of hoary spray, And dolphins shining silver-white with tail-stroke swept the wave, And gathered in an orbèd band the flowing waters clave. And in the midst were brazen fleets and show of Actium's wars And all Leucate set a-boil with ordered game of Mars There might ye see; and all the flood lit up with golden light. Augustus Cæsar, leading on Italian men to fight With Father-folk, and Household Gods, and Gods of greater name, Stood high on deck: his joyful brow flashed forth a twofold flame, 680 His father's star above his head is shining glory-clear. With wind to aid and God to aid, Agrippa otherwhere Leads on the host from high; whose brows with glorious battle-sign Are decked; for with the crown of beaks, the ship-host's prize, they shine. But Antony, with outland force and arms wrought diversely, Victorious from the morning-folks and ruddy-stranded sea, Bore Egypt and the Eastland might and Bactria's outer ends; And after him--O shame to tell!--a wife of Egypt wends.