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 University of California • Berkeley 
 
 A Gift of the Hearst Corporation 
 

 
 
LAYS 
 
 OF 
 
 ANCIENT ROME. 
 
 3BY 
 
 THOMAS BABINGTON MACAULAY. 
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS, ORIGINAL AND FROM THE ANTIQUE, 
 
 DRAWN ON WOOD 
 
 BY GEORGE SCHARF, JUN, 
 
 LONDON: 
 LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMANS, 
 
 PATERNOSTER-KOW. 
 1847. 
 
London : 
 
 Printed by A. Spottiswoode, 
 
 New-Street- Square. 
 
The device on the title side of the cover is in imitation of the ancient vases found in 
 Italy, at Vulci. On the reverse is an adaptation of a coin of Nero, representing Rome 
 seated on the seven hills, the river Tiber and the wolf and twins at her feet. 
 
PREFACE, 
 
 That what is called the history of the Kings and early- 
 Consuls of Rome is to a great extent fabulous, few scholars 
 have, since the time of Beaufort, ventured to deny. It is 
 certain that, more than three hundred and sixty years after 
 the date ordinarily assigned for the foundation of the city, 
 the public records were, with scarcely an exception, destroyed 
 by the Gauls. It is certain that the oldest annals of the 
 commonwealth were compiled more than a century and a half 
 after this destruction of the records. It is certain, therefore, 
 that the great Latin writers of the Augustan age did not 
 
6 PREFACE. 
 
 possess those materials, without which a trustworthy account 
 of the infancy of the repubhc could not possibly be framed. 
 Those writers own, indeed, that the chronicles to which they 
 had access were filled with battles that were never fought, 
 and Consuls that were never inaugurated ; and we have 
 abundant proof that, in these chronicles, events of the greatest 
 importance, such as the issue of the war with Porsena, and 
 the issue of the war with Brennus, were grossly misrepre- 
 sented. Under these circumstances a wise man will look 
 with great suspicion on the legend which has come down to 
 us. He will perhaps be inclined to regard the princes who 
 are said to have founded the civil and religious institutions 
 of Rome, the son of Mars, and the husband of Egeria, as 
 mere mythological personages, of the same class with Perseus 
 and Ixion. As he draws nearer and nearer to the confines 
 of authentic history, he will become less and less hard of 
 belief. He will admit that the most important parts of the 
 narrative have some foundation in truth. But he will dis- 
 trust almost all the details, not only because they seldom 
 rest on any solid evidence, but also because he will con- 
 stantly detect in them, even when they are within the limits 
 of physical possibility, that peculiar character, more easily 
 understood than defined, which distinguishes the creations 
 
PREFACE. 7 
 
 of the imagination from the realities of the world in which 
 we live. 
 
 The early history of Rome is indeed far more poetical than 
 any thing else in Latin literature. The loves of the Vestal 
 and the God of War, the cradle laid among the reeds of 
 Tiber, the fig-tree, the she- wolf, the shepherd's cabin, the 
 recognition, the fratricide, the rape of the Sabines, the death 
 of Tarpeia, the fall of Hostus Hostilius, the struggle of Mettus 
 Curtius through the marsh, the women rushing with torn 
 raiment and dishevelled hair between their fathers and their 
 husbands, the nightly meetings of Numa and the Nymph by 
 the well in the sacred grove, the fight of the three Eomans 
 and the three Albans, the purchase of the Sibylline books, the 
 crime of TuUia, the simulated madness of Brutus, the am- 
 biguous reply of the Delphian oracle to the Tarquins, the 
 wrongs of Lucretia, the heroic actions of Horatius Codes, 
 of Scaevola, and of Cloelia, the battle of Regillus won by the 
 aid of Castor and Pollux, the defence of Cremera, the touch- 
 ing story of Coriolanus, the still more touching story of 
 Virginia, the wild legend about the draining of the Alban 
 lake, the combat between Valerius Corvus and the gigantic 
 Gaul, are among the many instances which will at once 
 suggest themselves to every reader. 
 
b PREFACE. 
 
 In the narrative of Livy, who wa« a man of fine imagi- 
 nation, these stories retain much of their genuine character. 
 Nor could even the tasteless Dionysius distort and mutilate 
 them into mere prose. The poetry shines, in spite of him, 
 through the dreary pedantry of his eleven books. It is dis- 
 cernible in the most tedious and in the most superficial 
 modern works on the early times of Rome. It enlivens 
 the dulness of the Universal History, and gives a charm to 
 the most meagre abridgements of Goldsmith. 
 
 Even in the age of Plutarch there were discerning men 
 who rejected the popular account of the foundation of Rome, 
 because that account appeared to them to have the air, not 
 of a history, but of a romance or a drama. Plutarch, who 
 was displeased at their incredulity, had nothing better to say 
 in reply to their arguments than that chance sometimes turns 
 poet, and produces trains of events not to be distinguished 
 from the most elaborate plots which are constructed by art.* 
 
 * "Tttotttov fiev Ivioig sffTi to dpafxariKOV Kai TrXaajxariodeQ' oh dti di dTTiOTfiv, r^v 
 Tvxrtv opdjvraQf o'liov 7roir]naT<x)v Sijfiiovpyog kari. — Plut. Rom. viii. This remarkable 
 passage has been more grossly misinterpreted than any other in the Greek lan- 
 guage, where the sense was so obvious. The Latin version of Cruserius, the French 
 version of Amyot, the old English version by several hands, and the later English 
 version by Langhorne, are all equally destitute of every trace of the meaning of the 
 original. ]!^one of the translators saw even that iroirffjia is a poem. They all render 
 it an event. 
 
PREFACE. y 
 
 But though the existence of a poetical element in the early 
 history of the Great City was detected so many ages ago, 
 the first critic who distinctly saw from what source that 
 poetical element had been derived was James Perizonius, one 
 of the most acute and learned antiquaries of the seventeenth 
 century. His theory, which, in his own days, attracted 
 little or no notice, was revived in the present generation 
 by Mebuhr, a man who would have been the first writer 
 of his time, if his talent for communicating truths had 
 borne any proportion to his talent for investigating them. 
 That theory has been adopted by several eminent scholars of 
 our own country, particularly by the Bishop of St. David's, 
 by Professor Maiden, and by the lamented Arnold. It appears 
 to be now generally received by men conversant with classical 
 antiquity; and indeed it rests on such strong proofs, both 
 internal and external, that it will not be easily subverted. 
 A popular exposition of this theory, and of the evidence by 
 which it is supported, may not be without interest even for 
 readers who are unacquainted with the ancient languages. 
 
 The Latin literature which has come down to us is of later 
 date than the commencement of the second Punic war, and 
 consists almost exclusively of works fashioned on Greek models. 
 The Latin metres, heroic, elegiac, lyric, and dramatic, are 
 
10 PREFACE. 
 
 of Greek origin. The best Latin epic poetry is the feeble 
 echo of the Iliad and Odyssey. The best Latin eclogues 
 are imitations of Theocritus. The plan of the most finished 
 didactic poem in the Latin tongue was taken from Hesiod. 
 The Latin tragedies are bad copies of the master-pieces of 
 Sophocles and Euripides. The Latin comedies are free trans- 
 lations from Demophilus, Menander, and ApoUodorus. The 
 Latin philosophy was borrowed, without alteration, from the 
 Portico and the Academy; and the great Latin orators con- 
 stantly proposed to themselves as patterns the speeches of 
 Demosthenes and Lysias. 
 
 But there was an earlier Latin literature, a literature truly 
 Latin, which has wholly perished, which had, indeed, almost 
 wholly perished long before those whom we are in the habit 
 of regarding as the greatest Latin writers were born. That 
 literature abounded with metrical romances, such as are found 
 in every country where there is much curiosity and intel- 
 ligence, but little reading and writing. All human beings, 
 not utterly savage, long for some information about past 
 times, and are delighted by narratives which present pictures 
 to the eye of the mind. But it is only in very enlightened 
 communities that books are readily accessible. Metrical com- 
 position, therefore, which, in a highly civilised nation, is a 
 
PREFACE. 11 
 
 mere luxury, is, in nations imperfectly civilised, almost a 
 necessary of life, and is valued less on account of tlie pleasure 
 which it gives to the ear, than on account of the help which 
 it gives to the memory. A man who can invent or embellish 
 an interesting story, and put it into a form which others 
 may easily retain in their recollection, will always be highly 
 esteemed by a people eager for amusement and information, 
 but destitute of libraries. Such is the origin of ballad-poetry, 
 a species of composition which scarcely ever fails to spring up 
 and flourish in every society, at a certain point in the pro- 
 gress towards refinement. Tacitus informs us that songs 
 were the only memorials of the past which the ancient Ger- 
 mans possessed. We learn from Lucan and from Ammianus 
 Marcellinus that the brave actions of the ancient Gauls were 
 commemorated in the verses of Bards. During many ages, and 
 through many revolutions, minstrelsy retained its influence 
 over both the Teutonic and the Celtic race. The vengeance 
 exacted by the spouse of Attila for the murder of Siegfried 
 was celebrated in rhymes, of which Germany is still justly 
 proud. The exploits of Athelstane were commemorated by 
 the Anglo-Saxons, and those of Canute by the Danes, in 
 rude poems, of which a few fragments have come down to 
 us. The chants of the Welsh harpers preserved, through 
 
12 PKEFACE, 
 
 ages of darkness, a faint and doubtful memory of Arthur. In 
 the Highlands of Scotland may still be gleaned some relics of 
 the old songs about Cuthullin and Fingal. The long struggle 
 of the Servians against the Ottoman power was recorded in 
 lays full of martial spirit. We learn from Herrera that, 
 when a Peruvian Inca died, men of skill were appointed to 
 celebrate him in verses, which all the people learned by 
 heart, and sang in public on days of festival. The feats of 
 Kurroglou, the great freebooter of Turkistan, recounted in 
 ballads composed by himself, are known in every village of 
 Northern Persia. Captain Beechey heard the bards of the 
 Sandwich Islands recite the heroic achievements of Tame- 
 hameha, the most illustrious of their kings. Mungo Park 
 found in the heart of Africa a class of singing men, the 
 only annalists of their rude tribes, and heard them tell the 
 story of the victory which Damel, the negro prince of the 
 JalofFs, won over Abdulkader, the Mussulman tyrant of Foota 
 Torra. This species of poetry attained a high degree of 
 excellence among the Castilians, before they began to copy 
 Tuscan patterns. It attained a still higher degree of excel- 
 lence among the English and the Lowland Scotch, during 
 the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries. But it 
 reached its full perfection in ancient Greece; for there can 
 
PREFACE. 18 
 
 be no doubt that the great Homeric poems are generically 
 ballads, though widely distinguished from all other ballads, 
 and indeed from almost all other human compositions, by 
 transcendent sublimity and beauty. 
 
 As it is agreeable to general experience that, at a certain 
 stage in the progress of society, ballad-poetry should flourish, 
 so is it also agreeable to general experience that, at a sub- 
 sequent stage in the progress of society, ballad-poetry should 
 be undervalued and neglected. Knowledge advances : manners 
 change : great foreign models of composition are studied and 
 imitated. The phraseology of the old minstrels becomes ob- 
 solete. Their versification, which, having received its laws 
 only from the ear, abounds in irregularities, seems licentious 
 and uncouth. Their simplicity appears beggarly when com- 
 pared with the quaint forms and gaudy colouring of such 
 artists as Cowley and Gongora. The ancient lays, unjustly 
 despised by the learned and polite, linger for a time in the 
 memory of the vulgar, and are at length too often irretriev- 
 ably lost. We cannot wonder that the ballads of Eome 
 should have altogether disappeared, when we remember how 
 very narrowly, in spite of the invention of printing, those of 
 our own country and those of Spain escaped the same fate. 
 There is indeed little doubt that oblivion covers many Eng- 
 
14 PREFACE. 
 
 lish songs equal to any that were published by Bishop Percy, 
 and many Spanish songs as good as the best of those which 
 have been so happily translated by Mr. Lockhart. Eighty 
 years ago England possessed only one tattered copy of Childe 
 Waters and Sir Cauline, and Spain only one tattered copy 
 of the noble poem of the Cid. The snuiF of a candle, or a 
 mischievous dog, might in a moment have deprived the world 
 for ever of any of those fine compositions. Sir Walter Scott, 
 who united to the fire of a great poet the minute curiosity 
 and patient diligence of a great antiquary, was but just in 
 time to save the precious relics of the Minstrelsy of the 
 Border. In Germany, the lay of the Nibelungs had been 
 long utterly forgotten when, in the eighteenth century, it 
 was, for the first time, printed from a manuscript in the old 
 library of a noble family. In truth, the only people who, 
 through their whole passage from simplicity to the highest 
 civilisation, never for a moment ceased to love and admire 
 their old ballads, were the Greeks. 
 
 That the early Komans should have had ballad-poetry, 
 and that this poetry should have perished, is therefore not 
 strange. It would, on the contrary, have been strange if 
 these things had not come to pass ; and we should be justified 
 in pronouncing them highly probable, even if we had no 
 
PREFACE. 15 
 
 direct evidence on the subject. But we have direct evidence 
 of unquestionable authority. 
 
 Ennius, who flourished in the time of the Second Punic 
 War, was regarded in the Augustan age as the father of 
 Latin poetry. He was, in truth, the father of the second 
 school of Latin poetry, the only school of which the works 
 have descended to us. But from Ennius himself we learn 
 that there were poets who stood to him in the same relation 
 in which the author of the romance of Count Alarcos stood 
 to Garcilaso, or the author of the " Lytell Geste of Robyn 
 Hode" to Lord Surrey. Ennius speaks of verses which the 
 Fauns and the Bards were wont to chant in the old time, 
 when none had yet studied the graces of speech, when none 
 had yet climbed the peaks sacred to the Goddesses of Grecian 
 song. " Where," Cicero mournfully asks, '' are those old 
 verses now?"* 
 
 * " Quid ? Nostri veteres versus ubi sunt ? 
 
 ' Quos olim Fauni vatesque canebant, 
 
 Cum neque Musarum scopulos quisquam ?uperarat, 
 Nee dicti studiosus erat.' " 
 
 Brutus, xviii. 
 
 The Muses, it should be observed, are Greek divinities. The Italian Goddesses of 
 verse were the Camoense. At a later period, the appellations were used indiscri- 
 minately ; but in the age of Ennius there was probably a distinction. In the epitaph 
 
16 • PREFACE. 
 
 Contemporary with Ennius was Quintus Fabius Pictor, the 
 earliest of the Roman annalists. His account of the infancy 
 and youth of Romulus and Remus has been preserved by 
 Dionysius, and contains a very remarkable reference to the 
 ancient Latin poetry. Fabius says that, in his time, his 
 countrymen were still in the habit of singing ballads about 
 the Twins. "Even in the hut of Faustulus," — so these old 
 lays appear to have run, — "the children of Rhea and Mars 
 were, in port and in spirit, not like unto swineherds or 
 cowherds, but such that men might well guess them to be of 
 the blood of Kings and Gods."* 
 
 of NaBvius, who was the representative of the old Italian school of poetry, the Ca- 
 nioena^, not the Muses, are represented as grieving for the loss of their votary. The 
 " Musarum scopuli " are evidently the peaks of Parnassus. 
 
 Scaliger, in a note on Varro (De Lingua Latina^ lib. vi.), suggests, with great 
 ingenuity, that the Fauns, who were represented by the superstition of later ages as 
 a race of monsters, half gods and half brutes, may really have been a class of men 
 who exercised in Latium, at a very remote period, the same functions which belonged 
 to the Magians in Persia and to the Bards in Gaul. 
 
 * Oi ^e dvdpioOsvTfQ yivovrai, Kara re d^i(jj(nv fxap^iig Kai (ppovrjfiaTOQ ojkov, ov (Tvo<pop- 
 €o7g Kal j3ovK6\oig toiKorsgy aX\' o'lovg dp rig d^iojueie rovg tK (3acn\tiov rs (pvvrag ykvovgy 
 Kai dirb SaijXovMV aivopag yiv'taBai vofxi^Ofxevovg, wg Iv roTg rrarpioig vfivoig vTzb '^Mfiaion' 
 tri Kai vvv (ihrai. — Dion. Hal, i. 79. This passage has sometimes been cited as if 
 Dionysius had been speaking in his own person, and had, Greek as he was, been so 
 industrious or so fortunate as to discover some valuable remains of that early Latin 
 poetry which the greatest Latin writers of his age regretted as hopelessly lost. Such 
 a supposition is higlhy improbable ; and indeed it seems clear from the context that 
 Dionysius, as Reiske and other editors evidently thought, was merely quoting from 
 
PREFACE. 17 
 
 Cato the Censor, who also lived in the days of the Second 
 Punic War, mentioned this lost literature in his lost work on 
 
 Fabius Pictor. The whole passage has the air of an extract from an ancient chronicle, 
 and is introduced by the words, KoIvtoq fiev ^d€iog, 6 UiKTiop Xeyo^evog, r-^de ypd^ti. 
 
 Another argument may be urged which seems to deserve consideration. The 
 author of the passage in question mentions a thatched hut which, in his time, stood 
 between the summit of Mount Palatine and the Circus. This hut, he says, was built 
 by Romulus, and was constantly kept in repau* at the public charge, but never in any 
 respect embellished. Now, in the age of Dionysius there certainly was at Rome a 
 thatched hut, said to have been that of Romulus. But this hut, as we learn from 
 Vitruvius, stood, not near the Circus, but in the Capitol. (Vit.u. 1.) If, therefore, 
 we understand Dionysius to speak in his own person, we can reconcile his statement 
 with that of Vitruvius only by supposing that there were at Rome, in the Augustan 
 age, two thatched huts, both believed to have been built by Romulus, and both 
 carefully repaired, and held in high honour. The objections to such a supposition 
 seem to be strong. Neither Dionysius nor Vitruvius speaks of more than one such 
 hut. Dio Cassius informs us that twice, during the long administration of Augustus, 
 the hut of Romulus caught fire, (xlviii. 43. liv. 29.) Had there been two such huts, 
 would he not have told us of which he spoke ? An English historian would hardly 
 give an account of a fire at Queen's College without saying whether it was at Queen's 
 College, Oxford, or at Queen's College, Cambridge. Marcus Seneca, Macrobius, 
 and Conon, a Greek writer from whom Photius has made large extracts, mention 
 only one hut of Romulus, that in the Capitol. (M. Seneca^ Contr. i. 6. ; Mac7'obius, 
 Sat. i. 15. ; Photius, Bihl. 186.) Ovid, Livy, Petronius, Valerius Maximus, Lucius 
 Seneca, and St. Jerome, mention only one hut of Romulus, without specifying the 
 site. {Ovid. Fasti, iii. 183.; Liv.v.dS.; Petronius, Fragm.; Val. Max. iv. 4.; L. 
 Seneca, Consolatio ad Helviam ; D. Hieron. ad Paulinianum de Didymo.) 
 
 The whole difficulty is removed, if we suppose that Dionysius was merely quoting 
 Fabius Pictor. Nothing is more probable than that the cabin, which in the time 
 of Fabius stood near the Circus, might, long before the age of Augustus, have been 
 transported to the Capitol, as the place fittest, by reason both of its safety and of 
 its sanctity, to contain so precious a relic. 
 
 The language of Plutarch confirms this hypothesis. He describes, with great 
 
18 PREFACE. 
 
 the antiquities of his country. Many ages, he said, before his 
 time, there were ballads in praise of illustrious men ; and these 
 ballads it was the fashion for the guests at banquets to sing 
 in turn while the piper played. "• Would," exclaims Cicero, 
 " that we still had the old ballads of which Cato speaks!"* 
 
 Valerius Maximus gives us exactly similar information, 
 without mentioning his authority, and observes that the an- 
 cient Roman ballads were probably of more benefit to the 
 young than all the lectures of the Athenian schools, and that 
 to the influence of the national poetry were to be ascribed 
 the virtues of such men as Camillus and Fabricius. f 
 
 precision, the spot where Romulus dwelt, on the slope of Mount Palatine leading to 
 the Circus ; but he says not a word implying that the dwelling was still to be seen 
 there. Indeed, his expressions imply that it was no longer there. The evidence 
 of Solinus is still more to the point. He, like Plutarch, describes the spot where 
 Romulus had resided, and says expressly that the hut had been there, but that in 
 his time it was there no longer. The site, it is certain, was well remembered ; and 
 probably retained its old name, as Charing Cross and the Haymarket have done. 
 This is probably the explanation of the words, " casa Romuli," in Victor's description 
 of the Tenth Region of Rome, under Valentinian. 
 
 * Cicero refers twice to this important passage in Cato's Antiquities : — " Gravis- 
 simus auctor in Originibus dixit Cato, morem apud majores hunc epularum fuisse, 
 ut deinceps, qui accubarent, canerent ad tibiam clarorum virorum laudes atque 
 virtutes. Ex quo perspicuum est, et cantus tum fuisse rescriptos vocum sonis, et 
 carmina." — Tusc. Qucest. iv. 2. Again : " Utinam exstarent ilia carmina, quas, multis 
 saeculis ante suam aetatem, in epulis esse cantitata a singulis convivis de clarorum 
 virorum laudibus, in Originibus scriptum reliquit Cato." — Brutus, xix, 
 
 -j- " Majores natu in conviviis ad tibias egregia superiorum opera carmine com- 
 
PEEFACE. 19 
 
 Varro, whose authority on all questions connected with the 
 antiquities of his country is entitled to the greatest respect, 
 tells us that at banquets it was once the fashion for boys to 
 sing, sometimes with and sometimes without instrumental mu- 
 sic, ancient ballads in praise of men of former times. These 
 young ^performers, he observes, were of unblemished character, 
 a circumstance which he probably mentioned because, among 
 the Greeks, and indeed in his time among the Romans also, 
 the morals of singing boys were in no high repute. * 
 
 The testimony of Horace, though given incidentally, con- 
 firms the statements of Cato, Valerius Maximus, and Varro. 
 The poet predicts that, under the peaceful administration of 
 Augustus, the Romans will, over their full goblets, sing to 
 the pipe, after the fashion of their fathers, the deeds of brave 
 captains, and the ancient legends touching the origin of the 
 city.f 
 
 prehensa pangebant, quo ad ea imitanda juventutem alacriorem redder ent. . . . Quas 
 Athenas, quam scholam, quae alienlgena studia huic domesticae disciplinaa praetulerim ? 
 Inde oriebantur Camilli, Scipiones, Fabricii, Marcelli, Fabii." — Val. Max. ii. 1. 
 
 * " In conviviis pueri modesti ut cantarent carmina antiqua, in quibus laudes erant 
 majorum, et assa voce, et cum tibicine." Nonius, Assa voce pro sola. 
 f " Nosque et profestis lucibus et sacris, 
 
 Inter jocosi munera Liberi, 
 
 Cum prole matronisque nostris. 
 Rite Deos prius apprecati, 
 
20 PREFACE. 
 
 The proposition, then, that Rome had ballad-poetry is not 
 merely in itself highly probable, but is fully proved by direct 
 evidence of the greatest weight. 
 
 This proposition being established, it becomes easy to un- 
 derstand why the early history of the city is unlike almost 
 every thing else in Latin literature, native where almost every 
 thing else is borrowed, imaginative where almost every thing 
 else is prosaic. We can scarcely hesitate to pronounce that 
 the magnificent, pathetic, and truly national legends, which 
 present so striking a contrast to all that surrounds them, are 
 broken and defaced fragments of that early poetry which, 
 even in the age of Cato the Censor, had become antiquated, 
 and of which Tully had never heard a line. 
 
 That this poetry should have been suffered to perish will 
 not appear strange when we consider how complete was the 
 triumph of the Greek genius over the public mind of Italy. 
 It is probable that, at an early period. Homer and Hero- 
 dotus furnished some hints to the Latin minstrels*: but 
 
 Virtute functos, more patrum, duces, 
 Ljdis remixto carmine tibiis, 
 
 Trojamque, et Anchisen, et almae 
 Progeniera Veneris canemus." 
 
 Carm. iv. 15. 
 * See the Preface to the Lay of the Battle of Regillus. 
 
PREFACE. 21 
 
 it was not till after the war with Pyrrhus that the poetry 
 of Kome began to put off its old Ausonian character. The 
 transformation was soon consummated. The conquered, says 
 Horace, led captive the conquerors. It was precisely at the 
 time at which the Eoman people rose to unrivalled political 
 ascendency that they stooped to pass under the intellectual 
 yoke. It was precisely at the time at which the sceptre 
 departed from Greece that the empire of her language and 
 of her arts became universal and despotic. The revolution 
 indeed was not elFected without a struggle. Naevius seems 
 to have been the last of the ancient line of poets. Ennius 
 was the founder of a new dynasty. Naevius celebrated the 
 First Punic War in Saturnian verse, the old national verse 
 of Italy,* Ennius sang the Second Punic War in numbers 
 
 * Cicero speaks highly in more than one place of this poem of Naevius ; Ennius 
 sneered at it, and stole from it. 
 
 As to the Saturnian measure, see Hermann's Elementa Doctrince Metricce, iii. 9. 
 
 The Saturnian line, according to the grammarians, consisted of two parts. The 
 first was a catalectic dimeter iambic ; the second was composed of three trochees. 
 But the license taken by the early Latin poets seems to have been almost boundless. 
 The most perfect Saturnian line which has been preserved was the work, not of a 
 professional artist, but of an amateur : 
 
 " Dabunt malum Metelli Nsevio poetae." 
 
 There has been much difference of opinion among learned men respecting the his- 
 tory of this measure. That it is the same with a Greek measure used by Archilochus 
 is indisputable. (Bentley^ Phalaris, xi.) But in spite of the authority of Terentianus 
 
22 PREFACE. 
 
 borrowed from the Iliad. The elder poet, in the epitaph 
 which he wrote for himself, and which is a fine specimen of 
 
 Maurus, and of the still higher authority of Bentley, we may venture to doubt 
 whether the coincidence was not fortuitous. We constantly find the same rude and 
 simple numbers in different countries, under circumstances which make it impossible 
 to suspect that there has been imitation on either side. Bishop Heber heard the 
 children of a village in Bengal singing " Radha, Radha," to the tune of " My boy 
 Billy." Neither the Castilian nor the German minstrels of the middle ages owed 
 iinything to Paros or to ancient Rome. Yet both the poem of the Cid and the poem 
 of the Nibelungs contain many Saturnian verses ; as, — 
 
 " Estas nuevas a mio Cid eran venidas." 
 " A mi lo dicen ; a ti dan las orejadas." 
 
 " Man mohte michel wunder von Sifride sagen." 
 " Wa ich den Klinic vinde daz sol man mir sagen." 
 
 Indeed, there cannot be a more perfect Saturnian line than one which is sung in 
 every English nursery — 
 
 " The queen was in her parlour eating bread and honey ;" 
 
 yet the author of this line, we may be assured, borrowed nothing from either Naevius 
 or Archilochus. 
 
 On the other hand, it is by no means improbable that, two or three hundred years 
 before the time of Ennius, some Latin minstrel may have visited Sybaris or Crotona, 
 may have heard some verses of Archilochus sung, may have been pleased with the 
 metre, and may have introduced it at Rome. Thus much is certain, that the Saturnian 
 measure, if not a native of Italy, was at least so early and so completely naturalised 
 there that its foreign origin was forgotten. 
 
 Bentley says indeed that the Saturnian measure was first brought from Greece 
 into Italy by Nasvius. But this is merely ohiter dictum^ to use a phrase common in 
 our courts of law, and would not have been deliberately maintained by that incom- 
 parable critic, whose memory is held in reverence by all lovers of learning. The 
 arguments which might be brought against Bentley's assertion — for it is mere asser- 
 tion, supported by no evidence — are innumerable. A few will suflice. 
 
PEEFACE. 23 
 
 the early Roman diction and versification, plaintively boasted 
 that the Latin language had died with him.* Thus what to 
 Horace appeared to be the first faint dawn of Roman litera- 
 ture appeared to Naevius to be its hopeless setting. In truth, 
 one literature was setting, and another dawning. 
 
 The victory of the foreign taste was decisive: and indeed 
 
 1. Bentley's assertion is opposed to the testimony of Ennius. Ennius sneered at 
 Nsevius for writing on the First Punic War in verses such as the old Italian bards 
 used before Greek literature had been studied. Now the poem of Naevius was in 
 Saturnian verse. Is it possible that Ennius could have used such expressions, if 
 the Saturnian verse had been just imported from Greece for the first time ? 
 
 2. Bentley's assertion is opposed to the testimony of Horace. "When Greece," 
 says Horace, " introduced her arts into our uncivilised country, those rugged 
 Saturnian numbers passed away." Would Horace have said this, if the Saturnian 
 numbers had been imported from Greece just before the hexameter ? 
 
 3. Bentley's assertion is opposed to the testimony of Festus and of Aurelius Victor, 
 both of whom positively say that the most ancient prophecies attributed to the Fauns 
 were in Saturnian verse. 
 
 4. Bentley's assertion is opposed to the testimony of Terentianus Maurus, to whom 
 he has himself appealed. Terentianus Maurus does indeed say that the Saturnian 
 measure, though believed by the Romans from a very early period (" credidit 
 vetustas ") to be of Italian invention, was really borrowed from the Greeks. But 
 Terentianus Maurus does not say that it was first borrowed by Nasvius. Nay, the 
 expressions used by Terentianus Maurus clearly imply the contrary : for how could the 
 Romans have believed, from a very early period, that this measure was the indigenous 
 production of Latium, if it was really brought over from Greece in an age of in- 
 telligence and liberal curiosity, in the age which gave birth to Ennius, Plautus, 
 Cato the Censor, and other distinguished writers ? If Bentley's assertion were 
 correct, there could have been no more doubt at Rome about the Greek origin of 
 the Saturnian measure than about the Greek origin of hexameters or Sapphics. 
 
 * Aulus Gellius, Noctes Atticse, i. 24. 
 
24 PREFACE. 
 
 we can hardly blame the Romans for turning away with con- 
 tempt from the rude lays which had delighted their fathers, 
 and giving their whole admiration to the immortal productions 
 of Greece. The national romances, neglected by the great 
 and the refined whose education had been finished at Rhodes 
 or Athens, continued, it may be supposed, during some gener- 
 ations, to delight the vulgar. While Virgil, in hexameters of 
 exquisite modulation, described the sports of rustics, those 
 rustics were still singing their wild Saturnian ballads.* It is 
 not improbable that, at the time when Cicero lamented the 
 irreparable loss of the poems mentioned by Cato, a search 
 among the nooks of the Apennines, as active as the search 
 which Sir Walter Scott made among the descendants of the 
 mosstroopers of Liddesdale, might have brought to light many 
 fine remains of ancient minstrelsy. No such search was made. 
 The Latin ballads perished for ever. Yet discerning critics 
 have thought that they could still perceive in the early history 
 of Rome numerous fragments of this lost poetry, as the 
 traveller on classic ground sometimes finds, built into the 
 heavy wall of a fort or convent, a pillar rich with acanthus 
 leaves, or a frieze where the Amazons and Bacchanals seem 
 
 * See Servius, in Georg. ii. 385. 
 
PREFACE. 25 
 
 to live. The theatres and temples of the Greek and the 
 Roman were degraded into the quarries of the Turk and the 
 Goth. Even so did the ancient Saturnian poetry become the 
 quarry in which a crowd of orators and annalists found the 
 materials for their prose. 
 
 It is not difficult to trace the process by which the old 
 songs were transmuted into the form which they now wear. 
 Funeral panegyric and chronicle appear to have been the in- 
 termediate links which connected the lost ballads with the 
 histories now extant. From a very early period it was the 
 usage that an oration should be pronounced over the remains 
 of a noble Roman. The orator, as we learn from Polybius, 
 was expected, on such an occasion, to recapitulate all the 
 services which the ancestors of the deceased had, from the 
 earliest time, rendered to the commonwealth. There can be 
 little doubt that the speaker on whom this duty was imposed 
 would make use of all the stories suited to his purpose which 
 were to be found in the popular lays. There can be as little 
 doubt that the family of an eminent man would preserve a 
 copy of the speech which had been pronounced over his 
 corpse. The compilers of the early chronicles would have 
 recourse to these speeches ; and the great historians of a later 
 period would have recourse to the chronicles. 
 
26 PREFACE. 
 
 It may be worth while to select a particular story, and to 
 trace its probable progress through these stages. The de- 
 scription of the migration of the Fabian house to Cremera is 
 one of the finest of the many fine passages which lie thick 
 in the earlier books of Livy. The Consul, clad in his military 
 garb, stands in the vestibule of his house, marshalling his 
 clan, three hundred and six fighting men, all of the same 
 proud patrician blood, all worthy to be attended by the fasces, 
 and to command the legions. A sad and anxious retinue of 
 friends accompanies the adventurers through the streets; but 
 the voice of lamentation is drowned by the shouts of admiring 
 thousands. As the procession passes the Capitol, prayers and 
 vows are poured forth, but in vain. The devoted band, 
 leaving Janus on the right, marches to its doom through the 
 Gate of Evil Luck. After achieving high deeds of valour 
 against overwhelming numbers, all perish save one child, the 
 stock from which the great Fabian race was destined again to 
 spring, for the safety and glory of the commonwealth. That 
 this fine romance, the details of which are so full of poetical 
 truth, and so utterly destitute of all show of historical truth, 
 came originally from some lay which had often been sung 
 with great applause at banquets, is in the highest degree pro- 
 bable. Nor is it difiicult to imagine a mode in which the 
 
PEEFACE. 27 
 
 transmission might have taken place. The celebrated Quintus 
 Fabius Maximus, who died about twenty years before the 
 First Punic War, and more than forty years before Ennius 
 was born, is said to have been interred with extraordinary 
 pomp. In the eulogy pronounced over his body all the great 
 exploits of his ancestors were doubtless recounted and ex- 
 aggerated. If there were then extant songs which gave a 
 vivid and touching description of an event, the saddest and 
 the most glorious in the long history of the Fabian house, 
 nothing could be more natural than that the panegyrist should 
 borrow from such songs their finest touches, in order to adorn 
 his speech. A few generations later the songs would perhaps 
 be forgotten, or remembered only by shepherds and vine- 
 dressers. But the speech would certainly be preserved in 
 the archives of the Fabian nobles. Fabius Pictor would be 
 well acquainted with a document so interesting to his personal 
 feelings, and would insert large extracts from it in his rude 
 chronicle. That chronicle, as we know, was the oldest to 
 which Livy had access. Livy would at a glance distinguish 
 the bold strokes of the forgotten poet from the dull and feeble 
 narrative by which they were surrounded, would retouch 
 them with a delicate and powerful pencil, and would make 
 them immortal. 
 
28 PKEFACE. 
 
 That this might happen at Rome can scarcely be doubted; 
 for something very like this has happened in several countries, 
 and, among others, in our own. Perhaps the theory of 
 Perizonius cannot be better illustrated than by showing that 
 what he supposes to have taken place in ancient times has, 
 beyond all doubt, taken place in modern times. 
 
 " History," says Hume with the utmost gravity, " has pre- 
 served some instances of Edgar's amours, from which, as 
 from a specimen, we may form a conjecture of the rest." He 
 then tells very agreeably the stories of Elfleda and Elfrida, 
 two stories which have a most suspicious air of romance, 
 and which, indeed, greatly resemble, in their general character, 
 some of the legends of early Rome. He cites, as his authority 
 for these two tales, the chronicle of William of Malmesbury, 
 who lived in the time of King Stephen. The great majo- 
 rity of readers suppose that the device by which Elfleda was 
 substituted for her young mistress, the artifice by which 
 Athelwold obtained the hand of Elfrida, the detection of that 
 artifice, the hunting party, and the vengeance of the amorous 
 king, are things about which there is no more doubt than 
 about the execution of Anne Boleyn, or the slitting of Sir 
 John Coventry's nose. But when we turn to William of 
 Malmesbury, we find that Hume, in his eagerness to relate 
 
PREFACE. 29 
 
 these pleasant fables, has overlooked one very important cir- 
 cumstance. William does indeed tell both the stories; but 
 he gives us distinct notice that he does not warrant their 
 truth, and that they rest on no better authority than that 
 of ballads.* 
 
 Such is the way in which these two well known tales have 
 been handed down. They originally appeared in a poetical 
 form. They found their way from ballads into an old chro- 
 nicle. The ballads perished ; the chronicle remained. A great 
 historian, some centuries after the ballads had been altogether 
 forgotten, consulted the chronicle. He was struck by the 
 lively colouring of these ancient fictions : he transferred them 
 to his pages; and thus we find inserted, as unquestionable 
 facts, in a narrative which is likely to last as long as the 
 English tongue, the inventions of some minstrel whose works 
 were probably never committed to writing, whose name is 
 buried in oblivion, and whose dialect has become obsolete. It 
 must, then, be admitted to be possible, or rather highly pro- 
 bable, that the stories of Romulus and Remus, and of the 
 Horatii and Curiatii, may have had a similar origin. 
 
 * "Infamias quas post dicam magis resperserunt cantilenge." Edgar appears to 
 have been most mercilessly treated in the Anglo-Saxon ballads. He was the favourite 
 of the monks ; and the monks and minstrels were at deadly feud. 
 
30 PEEFACE. 
 
 Castilian literature will furnish us witli another parallel 
 case. Mariana, the classical historian of Spain, tells the story 
 of the ill-starred marriage which the King Don Alonso brought 
 about between the heirs of Carrion and the two daughters 
 of the Cid. The Cid bestowed a princely dower on his sons 
 in law. But the young men were base and proud, cowardly 
 and cruel. They were tried in danger, and found wanting. 
 They fled before the Moors, and once, when a lion broke 
 out of his den, they ran and crouched in an unseemly hiding 
 place. They knew that they were despised, and took counsel 
 how they might be avenged. They parted from their father 
 in law with many signs of love, and set forth on a journey 
 with Dona Elvira and Dona Sol. In a solitary place the 
 bridegrooms seized their brides, stripped them, scourged them, 
 and departed, leaving them for dead. But one of the house 
 of Bivar, suspecting foul play, had followed the travellers in 
 disguise. The ladies were brought back safe to the house 
 of their father. Complaint was made to the king. It was 
 adjudged by the Cortes that the dower given by the Cid should 
 be returned, and that the heirs of Carrion together with one 
 of their kindred should do battle against three knights of the 
 party of the Cid. The guilty youths would have declined 
 the combat; but all their shifts were vain. They were van- 
 
PREFACE. 31 
 
 quished in the lists, and for ever disgraced, while their injured 
 wives were sought in marriage by great princes.* 
 
 Some Spanish writers have laboured to show, by an ex- 
 amination of dates and circumstances, that this story is untrue. 
 Such confutation was surely not needed; for the narrative is 
 on the face of it a romance. How it found its way into 
 Mariana's history is quite clear. He acknowledges his ob- 
 ligations to the ancient chronicles; and had doubtless before 
 him the " Cronica del famoso Cavallero Cid Ruy Diez Cam- 
 peador," which had been printed as early as the year 1552. 
 He little suspected that all the most striking passages in this 
 chronicle were copied from a poem of the twelfth century, a 
 poem of which the language and versification had long been 
 obsolete, but which glowed with no common portion of the 
 fire of the Iliad. Yet such was the fact. More than a cen- 
 tury and a half after the death of Mariana, this venerable 
 ballad, of which one imperfect copy on parchment, four hun- 
 dred years old, had been preserved at Bivar, was for the first 
 time printed. Then it was found that every interesting cir- 
 cumstance of the story of the heirs of Carrion was derived 
 by the eloquent Jesuit from a song of which he had never 
 
 * Mariana, lib. x. cap. 4. 
 
32 PEEFACE. 
 
 heard, and which was composed by a minstrel whose very 
 name had long been forgotten.* 
 
 Such, or nearly such, appears to have been the process by 
 which the lost ballad-poetry of Rome was transformed into 
 history. To reverse that process, to transform some portions 
 of early Roman history back into the poetry out of which 
 they were made, is the object of this work. 
 
 In the following poems the author speaks, not in his own 
 person, but in the persons of ancient minstrels who know only 
 what a Roman citizen, born three or four hundred years before 
 the Christian sera, may be supposed to have known, and who 
 are in nowise above the passions and prejudices of their age 
 and nation. To these imaginary poets must be ascribed some 
 blunders which are so obvious that it is unnecessary to point 
 them out. The real blunder would have been to represent 
 these old poets as deeply versed in general history, and 
 studious of chronological accuracy. To them must also be 
 attributed the illiberal sneers at the Greeks, the furious party 
 spirit, the contempt for the arts of peace, the love of war 
 
 * See the account whicli Sanchez gives of the Bivar manuscript In the first volume 
 of the Coleccion de Poesias Castellanas anterior es al Siglo XV. Part of the story of 
 the lords of Carrion, in the poem of the Cid, has been translated by Mr. Frere in 
 a manner above all praise. 
 
PREFACE. 33 
 
 for its own sake, the ungenerous exultation over the van- 
 quished, which the reader will sometimes observe. To portray 
 a Roman of the age of Camillus or Curius as superior to 
 national antipathies, as mourning over the devastation and 
 slaughter by which empire and triumphs were to be won, as 
 looking on human suffering with the sympathy of Howard, 
 or as treating conquered enemies with the delicacy of the 
 Black Prince, would be to violate all dramatic propriety. 
 The old Eomans had some great virtues, fortitude, temper- 
 ance, veracity, spirit to resist oppression, respect for legitimate 
 authority, fidelity in the observing of contracts, disinterested- 
 ness, ardent patriotism; but Christian charity and chivalrous 
 generosity were alike unknown to them. 
 
 It would have been obviously improper to mimic the manner 
 of any particular age or country. Something has been bor- 
 rowed, however, from our own old ballads, and more from 
 Sir Walter Scott, the great restorer of our ballad-poetry. To 
 the Iliad still greater obligations are due ; and those obligations 
 have been contracted with the less hesitation, because there 
 is reason to believe that some of the old Latin minstrels reaUy 
 had recourse to that inexhaustible store of poetical images. 
 
 It would have been easy to swell this little volume to a very 
 considerable bulk, by appending notes fiUed with quotations ; 
 
34 PREFACE. 
 
 but to a learned reader such notes are not necessary ; for an 
 unlearned reader they would have little interest ; and the 
 judgment passed both by the learned and by the unlearned 
 on a work of the imagination will always depend much more 
 on the general character and spirit of such a work than on 
 minute details. 
 
HORATIUS. 
 
 There can be little doubt that among those parts of early- 
 Roman history which had a poetical origin was the legend 
 of Horatius Codes. We have several versions of the story, 
 and these versions differ from each other in points of no small 
 importance. Polybius, there is reason to believe, heard the 
 tale recited over the remains of some Consul or Praator de- 
 scended from the old Horatian patricians ; for he introduces 
 it as a specimen of the narratives with which the Romans 
 
38 LAYS OF ANCIENT EOME. 
 
 were in the habit of embellishiiig their funeral oratory. It 
 is remarkable that, according to him, Horatius defended the 
 bridge alone, and perished in the waters. According to the 
 chronicles which Livy and Dionysius followed, Horatius had 
 two companions, swam safe to shore, and was loaded with 
 honours and rewards. 
 
 These discrepancies are easily explained. Our own litera- 
 ture, indeed, will furnish an exact parallel to what may have 
 taken place at Rome. It is highly probable that the memory 
 of the war of Porsena was preserved by compositions much 
 resembling the two ballads which stand first in the Relics of 
 Ancient English Poetry. In both those ballads the English, 
 commanded by the Percy, fight with the Scots, commanded by 
 the Douglas. In one of the ballads the Douglas is killed by a 
 nameless English archer, and the Percy by a Scottish spear- 
 man: in the other, the Percy slays the Douglas in single 
 combat, and is himself made prisoner. In the former. Sir 
 Hugh Montgomery is shot through the heart by a Northum- 
 brian bowman: in the latter he is taken, and exchanged for 
 the Percy. Yet both the ballads relate to the same event, 
 and that an event which probably took place within the 
 memory of persons who were alive when both the ballads 
 were made. One of the minstrels says : 
 
HORATIUS. 
 
 39 
 
 " Old men that knowen the grounde well yenoughe 
 Call it the battell of Otterburn : 
 At Otterburn began this spurne 
 Upon a monnyn day. 
 Ther was the dougghte Doglas slean : 
 The Perse never went away." 
 
 The other poet sums up the event in the following lines : 
 
 " Thys fraye bygan at Otterborne 
 Bytwene the nyghte and the day : 
 Ther the Dowglas lost hys lyfe, 
 And the Percy was lede away." 
 
 It is by no means unlikely that there were two old Roman 
 lays about the defence of the bridge ; and that, while the story 
 which Livy has transmitted to us was preferred by the multi- 
 tude, the other, which ascribed the whole glory to Horatius 
 alone, may have been the favourite with the Horatian house. 
 
 The following ballad is supposed to have been made about a 
 hundred and twenty years after the war which it celebrates, 
 and just before the taking of Rome by the Gauls. The 
 author seems to have been an honest citizen, proud of the 
 military glory of his country, sick of the disputes of factions, 
 and much given to pining after good old times which had 
 never really existed. The allusion, however, to the partial 
 
40 LAYS OF ANCIENT ROME. 
 
 manner in wMcli the public lands were allotted could proceed 
 only from a plebeian ; and the allusion to the fraudulent sale 
 of spoils marks the date of the poem, and shows that the 
 poet shared in the general discontent with which the proceed- 
 ings of Camillus, after the taking of Veil, were regarded. 
 
 The penultimate syllable of the name Porsena has been 
 shortened in spite of the authority of Niebuhr, who pro- 
 nounces, without assigning any ground for his opinion, that 
 Martial was guilty of a decided blunder in the line, 
 
 " Hanc spectare manum Porsena non potuit." 
 
 It is not easy to understand how any modern scholar, 
 whatever his attainments may be, — and those of Niebuhr 
 were undoubtedly immense, — can venture to pronounce that 
 Martial did not know the quantity of a word which he must 
 have uttered and heard uttered a hundred times before he left 
 school. Niebuhr seems also to have forgotten that Martial 
 has fellow culprits to keep him in countenance. Horace has 
 committed the same decided blunder; for he gives us, as a 
 pure iambic line, 
 
 " Minacis aut Etrusca Porsense manus." 
 
 Silius Italicus has repeatedly offended in the same way, as 
 when he says. 
 
HORATIUS. 
 
 41 
 
 " Cernitur efFugiens ardentem Porsena dextram : " 
 and again, 
 
 " Clusinum vulgus, cum, Porsena magne, jubebas." 
 A modern writer may be content to err in such company. 
 
 Niebuhr's supposition that each of the three defenders of the 
 bridge was the representative of one of the three patrician 
 tribes is both ingenious and probable, and has been adopted 
 in the following poem. 
 
HORATIUS. 
 
 A LAY MADE ABOUT THE YEAR OF THE CITY CCCLX. 
 
 Lars Porsena of Clusium 
 
 By the Nine Gods he swore 
 That the great house of Tarquin 
 
 Should suffer wrong no more. 
 By the Nine Gods he swore it, 
 
 And named a try sting day, 
 And bade his messengers ride forth. 
 East and west and south and north. 
 
 To summon his array. 
 
44 LAYS OF ANCIENT ROME. 
 
 II. 
 East and west and south and north 
 
 The messengers ride fast. 
 And tower and town and cottage 
 
 Have heard the trumpet's blast. 
 Shame on the false Etruscan 
 
 Who lingers in his home, 
 When Porsena of Clusium 
 
 Is on the march for Rome. 
 
 III. 
 The horsemen and the footmen 
 
 Are pouring in amain 
 From many a stately market-place ; 
 
 From many a fruitful plain ; 
 From many a lonely hamlet. 
 
 Which, hid by beech and pine. 
 Like an eagle's nest, hangs on the crest 
 
 Of purple Apennine ; 
 
 IV. 
 
 From lordly Volaterras, 
 
 Where scowls the far-famed hold 
 
 Piled by the hands of giants 
 For godlike kings of old ; 
 
HORATIUS. 
 
 From seagirt Populonia, 
 Whose sentinels descry 
 
 Sardinia's snowy mountain-tops 
 Fringing the southern sky ; 
 
 45 
 
 From the proud mart of Pisae, 
 
 Queen of the western waves, 
 Where ride Massilia's triremes 
 
 Heavy with fair-haired slaves ; 
 From where sweet Clanis wanders 
 
 Through com and vines and flowers ; 
 From where Cortona lifts to heaven 
 
 Her diadem of towers. 
 
 VI. 
 
 Tall are the oaks whose acorns 
 
 Drop in dark Auser's rill ; 
 Fat are the stags that champ the boughs 
 
 Of the Ciminian hill ; 
 Beyond all streams Clitumnus 
 
 Is to the herdsman dear ; 
 Best of all pools the fowler loves 
 
 The great Volsinian mere. 
 
46 LAYS OF ANCIENT KOME. 
 
 VII. 
 
 But now no stroke of woodman 
 
 Is heard by Auser's rill ; 
 No hunter tracks the stag's green path 
 
 Up the Ciminian hill ; 
 Unwatched along Clitumnus 
 
 Grazes the milk-white steer ; 
 Unharmed the water fowl may dip 
 
 In the Volsinian mere. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 The harvests of Arretium, 
 
 This year, old men shall reap ; 
 This year, young boys in Umbro 
 
 Shall plunge the struggling sheep ; 
 And in the vats of Luna, 
 
 This year, the must shall foam 
 Round the white feet of laughing girls. 
 
 Whose sires have marched to Rome. 
 
 IX. 
 
 There be thirty chosen prophets. 
 The wisest of the land, 
 
 Who alway by Lars Porsena 
 Both morn and evening stand : 
 
HOEATIUS. 
 
 47 
 
 Evening and morn the Thirty 
 Have turned the verses o'er. 
 
 Traced from the right on linen white 
 By mighty seers of yore. 
 
 X. 
 
 And with one voice the Thirty 
 Have their glad answer given : 
 
 " Go forth, go forth, Lars Porsena ; 
 Go forth, beloved of Heaven ; 
 
48 LAYS OF ANCIENT ROME. 
 
 Go, and return in glory 
 To Clusium's royal dome ; 
 
 And hang round Nurscia's altars 
 The golden shields of Rome." 
 
 XI. 
 
 And now hath every city 
 
 Sent up her tale of men ; 
 The foot are fourscore thousand. 
 
 The horse are thousands ten. 
 Before the gates of Sutrium 
 
 Is met the great array. 
 A proud man was Lars Porsena 
 
 Upon the trysting day. 
 
 XII. 
 
 For all the Etruscan armies 
 
 Were ranged beneath his eye. 
 And many a banished Roman, 
 
 And many a stout ally ; 
 And with a mighty following 
 
 To join the muster came 
 The Tusculan Mamilius, 
 
 Prince of the Latian name. 
 
HORATIUS. 
 
 49 
 
 XIII. 
 
 But by the yellow Tiber 
 
 Was tumult and affright : 
 From all the spacious champaign 
 
 To Rome men took their flight. 
 A mile around the city, 
 
 The throng stopped up the ways ; 
 A fearful sight it was to see 
 
 Through two long nights and days. 
 
 
 ] \ a\ 
 
 
 
50 
 
 LAYS OF ANCIENT ROME. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 For aged folk on cratches. 
 
 And women great with child. 
 And mothers sobbing over babes 
 
 That clung to them and smiled. 
 And sick men borne in litters 
 
 High on the necks of slaves. 
 And troops of sun-burned husbandmen 
 
 With reaping-hooks and staves. 
 
 XV, 
 
 And droves of mules and asses 
 
 Laden with skins of wine. 
 And endless flocks of goats and sheep. 
 
 And endless herds of kine. 
 And endless trains of waggons 
 
 That creaked beneath the weight- 
 Of corn-sacks and of household goods. 
 
 Choked every roaring gate. 
 
52 LAYS OF ANCIENT KOME. 
 
 XVII. 
 To eastward and to westward 
 
 Have spread the Tuscan bands ; 
 Nor house, nor fence, nor dovecote 
 
 In Crustumerium stands. 
 Verbenna down to Ostia 
 
 Hath wasted all the plain ; 
 Astur hath stormed Janiculum, 
 
 And the stout guards are slain. 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 I wis, in all the Senate, 
 
 There was no heart so bold, 
 But sore it ached, and fast it beat. 
 
 When that ill news was told. 
 Forthwith up rose the Consul, 
 
 Up rose the Fathers all ; 
 In haste they girded up their gowns. 
 
 And hied them to the wall. 
 
 XIX. 
 
 They held a council standing 
 
 Before the River-Gate ; 
 Short time was there, ye well may guess. 
 
 For musing or debate. 
 
HORATIUS. 53 
 
 Out spake the Consul roundly : 
 
 " The bridge must straight go down ; 
 For, since Janiculum is lost, 
 
 Nought else can save the town." 
 
 XX, 
 
 Just then a scout came flying, 
 
 All wild with haste and fear : 
 " To arms ! to arms ! Sir Consul ; 
 
 Lars Porsena is here." 
 On the low hills to westward 
 
 The Consul fixed his eye, 
 And saw the swarthy storm of dust 
 
 Rise fast along the sky. 
 
 XXI. 
 
 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. 
 
54 LAYS OF ANCIENT ROME. 
 
 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. 
 
HORATIUS. 55 
 
 Tolumnius with the belt of gold, 
 And dark Yerbenna 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. 
 
56 LAYS OF ANCIENT EOME. 
 
 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 ? 
 
HORATIUS. 
 
 57 
 
 XXIX. 
 
 " Hew down the bridge, Sir Consul, 
 
 With all the speed ye may ; 
 I, with two more to help me. 
 
 Will hold the foe in play. 
 In yon strait path a thousand 
 
 May well be stopped by three. 
 Now who will stand on either hand. 
 
 And keep the bridge with me ? " 
 
58 
 
 LAYS OF ANCIENT ROME. 
 
 XXX. 
 
 Then out spake Spurius Lartius ; 
 
 A Ramnian proud was he : 
 " Lo, I will stand at thy right hand, 
 
 And keep the bridge with thee." 
 And out spake strong Herminius ; 
 
 Of Titian blood was he : 
 " I will abide on thy left side. 
 
 And keep the bridge with thee." 
 
 XXXI. 
 
 " Horatius," quoth the Consul, 
 " As thou say est, so let it be." 
 
 And straight against that great array 
 Forth went the dauntless Three. 
 
HORATIUS. 59 
 
 For Romans in Home's quarrel 
 
 Spared neither land nor gold, 
 Nor son nor wife, nor limb nor life, 
 
 In the brave days of old. 
 
 XXXII. 
 
 Then none was for a party ; 
 
 Then all were for the state ; 
 Then the great man helped the poor, 
 
 And the poor man loved the great : 
 Then lands were fairly portioned ; 
 
 Then spoils were fairly sold : 
 The Romans were like brothers 
 
 In the brave days of old. 
 
 XXXIII. 
 
 Now Roman is to Roman 
 
 More hateful than a foe, 
 And the Tribunes beard the high, 
 
 And the Fathers grind the low. 
 As we wax hot in faction, 
 
 In battle we wax cold : 
 Wherefore men fight not as they fought 
 
 In the brave days of old. 
 
60 
 
 LAYS OF ANCIENT ROME. 
 
 XXXIV. 
 
 Now while the Three were tightening 
 
 Their harness on their backs. 
 The Consul was the foremost man 
 
 To take in hand an axe : 
 And Fathers mixed with Commons 
 
 Seized hatchet, bar, and crow, 
 And smote upon the planks above. 
 
 And loosed the props below. 
 
HOKATIUS. 
 
 61 
 
 XXXV. 
 
 Meanwhile the Tuscan army, 
 
 Right glorious to behold, 
 Came flashing back the noonday light. 
 Rank behind rank, like surges bright 
 
 Of a broad sea of gold. 
 Four hundred trumpets sounded 
 
 A peal of warlike glee, 
 As that great host, with measured tread. 
 And spears advanced, and ensigns spread. 
 Rolled slowly towards the bridge's head. 
 
 Where stood the dauntless Three. 
 
62 
 
 LAYS OF ANCIENT ROME. 
 
 \a^V4' P", ^ 
 
 
 
 ■' \.j^^^- 
 
 The Three stood calm and silent 
 
 And looked upon the foes, 
 And a great shout of laughter 
 
 From all the vanguard rose : 
 And forth three chiefs came spurring 
 
 Before that deep array ; 
 To earth they sprang, their swords they drew. 
 And lifted high their shields, and flew 
 
 To win the narrow way ; 
 
HORATIUS. 63 
 
 XXXVII. 
 
 Aunus from green Tifernum, 
 
 Lord of the Hill of Vines ; 
 And Seius, whose eight hundred slaves 
 
 Sicken in Ilva's mines ; 
 And Picus, long to Clusium 
 
 Vassal in peace and war, 
 Who led to fight his Umbrian powers 
 From that grey crag where, girt with towers, 
 The fortress of Nequinum lowers 
 
 O'er the pale waves of Nar. 
 
 XXXVIII. 
 
 Stout Lartius hurled down Aunus 
 
 Into the stream beneath : 
 Herminius struck at Seius, 
 
 And clove him to the teeth : 
 At Picus brave Horatius 
 
 Darted one fiery thrust ; 
 And the proud Umbrian's gilded arms 
 
 Clashed in the bloody dust. 
 
 XXXIX. 
 
 Then Ocnus of Falerii 
 
 Rushed on the Roman Three ; 
 
64 LAYS OF ANCIENT ROME. 
 
 And Lausulus of Urgo, 
 
 The rover of the sea ; 
 And Aruns of Volsinium, 
 
 Who slew the great wild boar, 
 The great wild boar that had his den 
 Amidst the reeds of Cosa's fen, 
 And wasted fields, and slaughtered men. 
 
 Along Albinia's shore. 
 
 XL. 
 
 Herminius smote down Aruns : 
 
 Lartius laid Ocnus low : 
 Right to the heart of Lausulus 
 
 Horatius sent a blow. 
 " Lie there," he cried, " fell pirate ! 
 
 No more, aghast and pale, 
 From Ostia's walls the crowd shall mark 
 The track of thy destroying bark. 
 No more Campania's hinds shall fly 
 To woods and caverns when they spy 
 
 Thy thrice accursed sail." 
 
 XLI. 
 
 But now no sound of laughter 
 Was heard among the foes. 
 
HORATIUS. 65 
 
 A wild and wrathful clamour 
 From all the vanguard rose. 
 
 Six spears' lengths from the entrance 
 Halted that deep array, 
 
 And for a space no man came forth 
 To win the narrow way. 
 
 XLII. 
 
 But hark ! the cry is Astur : 
 
 And lo ! the ranks divide ; 
 And the great Lord of Luna 
 
 Comes with his stately stride. 
 Upon his ample shoulders 
 
 Clangs loud the four -fold shield. 
 And in his hand he shakes the brand 
 
 Which none but he can wield. 
 
 XLIII 
 
 He smiled on those bold Romans 
 
 A smile serene and high ; 
 He eyed the flinching Tuscans, 
 
 And scorn was in his eye. 
 Quoth he, " The she-wolf's litter 
 
 Stand savagely at bay : 
 But will ye dare to follow. 
 
 If Astur clears the way ? " 
 
66 LAYS OF ANCIENT ROME. 
 
 XLIV. 
 
 Then, whirling up his broadsword 
 With both hands to the height, 
 
 He rushed against Horatius, 
 And smote with all his might. 
 
 With shield and blade Horatius 
 Right deftly turned the blow. 
 
 The blow, though turned, came yet too nigh ; 
 
 It missed his helm, but gashed his thigh : 
 
 The Tuscans raised a joyful cry- 
 To see the red blood flow. 
 
 XLV. 
 
 He reeled, and on Herminius 
 
 He leaned one breathing-space ; 
 Then, like a wild cat mad with wounds. 
 
 Sprang right at Astur's face. 
 Through teeth, and skull, and helmet, 
 
 So fierce a thrust he sped. 
 The good sword stood a hand-breadth out 
 
 Behind the Tuscan's head. 
 
 XL VI. 
 
 And the great Lord of Luna 
 Fell at that deadly stroke. 
 
 
HORATIUS. 67 
 
 As falls on Mount Alvernus 
 
 A thunder-smitten oak. 
 Far o'er the crashing forest 
 
 The giant arms lie spread ; 
 And the pale augurs, muttering low. 
 
 Gaze on the blasted head. 
 
 XL VII. 
 
 On Astur's throat Horatius 
 
 Right firmly pressed his heel. 
 And thrice and four times tugged amain, 
 
 Ere he wrenched out the steel. 
 " And see," he cried, " the welcome. 
 
 Fair guests, that waits you here ! 
 What noble Lucumo comes next 
 
 To taste our Roman cheer ? " 
 
 XL VIII. 
 
 But at his haughty challenge 
 
 A sullen murmur ran. 
 Mingled of wrath, and shame, and dread, 
 
 Along that glittering van. 
 There lacked not men of prowess, 
 
 Nor men of lordly race ; 
 For all Etruria's noblest 
 
 Were round the fatal place. 
 
68 LAYS OF ANCIENT KOME. 
 
 XLIX. 
 But all Etruria's noblest 
 
 Felt their hearts sink to see 
 On the earth the bloody corpses. 
 
 In the path the dauntless Three : 
 And, from the ghastly entrance 
 
 "Where those bold Romans stood. 
 All shrank, like boys who unaware, 
 Ranging the woods to start a hare. 
 Come to the mouth of the dark lair 
 Where, growling low, a fierce old bear 
 
 Lies amidst bones and blood. 
 
 L. 
 
 Was none who would be foremost 
 
 To lead such dire attack ; 
 But those behind cried " Forward ! " 
 
 And those before cried " Back ! " 
 And backward now and forward 
 
 Wavers the deep array ; 
 And on the tossing sea of steel. 
 To and fro the standards reel ; 
 And the victorious trumpet-peal 
 
 Dies fitfully away. 
 
LI. 
 
 Yet one man for one moment 
 
 Strode out before the crowd ; 
 Well known w^as he to all the Three, 
 
 And they gave him greeting loud. 
 " Now welcome, welcome, Sextus ! 
 
 Now welcome to thy home ! 
 Why dost thou stay, and turn away ? 
 
 Here lies the road to Rome." 
 
 LII. 
 
 Thrice looked he at the city ; 
 Thrice looked he at the dead ; 
 
70 LAYS OF ANCIENT EOME. 
 
 And thrice came on in fury. 
 
 And thrice turned back in dread : 
 
 And, white with fear and hatred, 
 Scowled at the narrow way 
 
 Where, wallowing in a pool of blood. 
 The bravest Tuscans lay. 
 
 LIII. 
 
 But meanwhile axe and lever 
 
 Have manfully been plied ; 
 And now the bridge hangs tottering 
 
 Above the boiling tide. 
 " Come back, come back, Horatius ! " 
 
 Loud cried the Fathers all. 
 " Back, Lartius ! back, Herminius ! 
 
 Back, ere the ruin fall ! " 
 
 LIV. 
 
 Back darted Spurius Lartius ; 
 
 Herminius darted back : 
 And, as they passed, beneath their feet 
 
 They felt the timbers crack. 
 But when they turned their faces. 
 
 And on the farther shore 
 Saw brave Horatius stand alone. 
 
 They would have crossed once more. 
 
IIORATIUS. 71 
 
 LV. 
 
 But with a crash like thunder 
 
 Fell every loosened beam. 
 And, like a dam, the mighty wreck 
 
 Lay right athwart the stream : 
 And a long shout of triumph 
 
 Rose from the walls of Rome, 
 As to the highest turret-tops 
 
 Was splashed the yellow foam. 
 
 LVI. 
 
 And, like a horse unbroken 
 
 When first he feels the rein. 
 The furious river struggled hard. 
 
 And tossed his tawny mane. 
 And burst the curb, and bounded, 
 
 Rejoicing to be free. 
 And whirling down, in fierce career, 
 Battlement, and plank, and pier. 
 
 Rushed headlong to the sea. 
 
 LVII. 
 
 Alone stood brave Horatius, 
 But constant still in mind ; 
 
 Thrice thirty thousand foes before, 
 And the broad flood behind. 
 
72 LAYS OF ANCIENT ROME. 
 
 " Down with him ! " cried false Sextus, 
 With a smile on his pale face. 
 
 " Now yield thee," cried Lars Porsena, 
 " Now yield thee to our grace." 
 
 LVIII. 
 
 Round turned he, as not deigning 
 
 Those craven ranks to see ; 
 Nought spake he to Lars Porsena, 
 
 To Sextus nought spake he ; 
 But he saw on Palatinus 
 
 The white porch of his home ; 
 And he spake to the noble river 
 
 That rolls by the towers of Rome. 
 
 LIX. 
 
 " Oh, Tiber ! father Tiber ! 
 
 To whom the Romans pray, 
 A Roman's life, a Roman's arms, 
 
 Take thou in charge this day ! " 
 So he spake, and speaking sheathed 
 
 The good sword by his side. 
 And with his harness on his back. 
 
 Plunged headlong in the tide. 
 
HORATIUS. 
 
 73 
 
 vW ) . . ft" 
 
 i> '5^N^ %■ i^ut friends and foes in dumb surprise, W \ 
 
 t,/^^4: With parted lips and straining eyes. 
 
 Stood gazing where he sank ; 
 
 1 
 
74 LAYS OF ANCIENT ROME. 
 
 And when above the surges 
 
 They saw his crest appear, 
 All Rome sent forth a rapturous cry. 
 And even the ranks of Tuscany 
 Could scarce forbear to cheer. 
 
 LXI. 
 
 But fiercely ran the current, 
 
 Swollen high by months of rain : 
 And fast his blood was flowing ; 
 
 And he was sore in pain. 
 And heavy with his armour. 
 
 And spent with changing blows : 
 And oft they thought him sinking. 
 
 But still again he rose. 
 
 LXII. 
 
 Never, I ween, did swimmer. 
 
 In such an evil case. 
 Struggle through such a raging flood 
 
 Safe to the landing place : 
 But his limbs were borne up bravely 
 
 By the brave heart within. 
 And our good father Tiber 
 
 Bare bravely up his chin.^ 
 
HORATIUS. 75 
 
 LXIII. 
 
 " Curse on him I " quoth false Sextus ; 
 
 " Will not the villain drown ? 
 But for this stay, ere close of day 
 
 We should have sacked the town ! " 
 " Heaven help him ! " quoth Lars Porsena, 
 
 " And bring him safe to shore ; 
 For such a gallant feat of arms 
 
 Was never seen before." 
 
 LXIV. 
 
 And now he feels the bottom ; 
 
 Now on dry earth he stands ; 
 Now round him throng the Fathers 
 
 To press his gory hands ; 
 
 * " Our ladye bare upp her chinne." 
 
 Ballad of Childe Waters. 
 
 " Never heavier man and horse 
 Stemmed ;i midnight torrent's force ; 
 ****** 
 
 Yet, through good heart and our Lady's grace, 
 At length he gained the landing place." 
 
 Lay of the Lad Minstrel^ I. 
 
76 
 
 LAYS OF ANCIENT ROME. 
 
 
 And now, with shouts and clapping, 
 
 
 And noise of weeping loud, 
 
 
 He enters through the Eiver-Gate, 
 
 
 Borne by the joyous crowd. 
 
 
 LXV. 
 
 
 They gave him of the corn-land 
 
 
 That was of public right 
 
 
 As much as two strong oxen 
 
 
 Could plough from morn till night ; 
 
 
 And they made a molten image. 
 
 
 And set it up on high. 
 
 
 And there it stands unto this day 
 
 
 To witness if I lie. 
 
 
 LXVI. 
 
 
 It stands in the Comitium, 
 
 
 Plain for all folk to see ; 
 
 
 Horatius in his harness. 
 
 
 Halting upon one knee : 
 
 
 And underneath is written. 
 
 
 In letters all of gold, 
 
 
 How valiantly he kept the bridge i 
 
 
 . In the brave days of old. 
 
HORATIUS. 77 
 
 LXVII. 
 And still his name sounds stirring 
 
 Unto the men of Eome, 
 As the trumpet-blast that cries to them 
 
 To charge the Volscian home ; 
 And wives still pray to Juno 
 
 For boys with hearts as bold 
 As his who kept the bridge so well 
 
 In the brave days of old. 
 
 LXVIII. 
 
 And in the nights of winter, 
 
 When the cold north winds blow, 
 And the long howling of the wolves 
 
 Is heard amidst the snow ; 
 When round the lonely cottage 
 
 Koars loud the tempest's din. 
 And the good logs of Algidus 
 
 Roar louder yet within ; 
 
 LXIX. 
 
 When the oldest cask is opened. 
 
 And the largest lamp is lit ; 
 When the chestnuts glow in the embers. 
 
 And the kid turns on the spit ; 
 
78 
 
 LAYS OF ANCIENT ROME. 
 
 When young and old in circle 
 Around the firebrands close ; 
 
 When the girls are weaving baskets. 
 And the lads are shaping bows ; 
 
 LXX. 
 
 When the goodman mends his armour. 
 
 And trims his helmet's plume ; 
 When the goodwife's shuttle merrily 
 
 Goes flashing through the loom ; 
 With weeping and with laughter 
 
 Still is the story told, 
 How well Horatius kept the bridge 
 
 In the brave days of old. 
 

 THE 
 
 BATTLE OF THE LAKE REGILLUS. 
 
 The following poem is supposed to have been produced about 
 ninety years after the lay of Horatius. Some persons men- 
 tioned in the lay of Horatius make their appearance again, 
 and some appellations and epithets used in the lay of Horatius 
 have been purposely repeated : for, in an age of ballad-poetry, 
 it scarcely ever fails to happen, that certain phrases come to 
 be appropriated to certain men and things, and are regular^ 
 applied to those men and things by every minstrel. Thus 
 we find, both in the Homeric poems and in Hesiod, 3/73 
 'H^axXTjff/vj, TTspixT^Orog 'A^(^iytjrisig^ hdHTopog ^ApysKpovTrig^ stttol- 
 
82 LAYS OF ANCIENT ROME. 
 
 TTuT^og 075^73, 'EXsvTj^ svsK YjiJxofxoio, Thus, too, in our own 
 national songs, Douglas is almost always the doughty Douglas : 
 England is merry England: all the gold is red; and all the 
 ladies are gay. 
 
 The principal distinction between the lay of Horatius and 
 the lay of the Lake Regillus is that the former is meant to 
 be purely Roman, while the latter, though national in its 
 general spirit, has a slight tincture of Greek learning and of 
 Greek superstition. The story of the Tarquins, as it has come 
 down to us, appears to have been compiled from the works 
 of several popular poets; and one, at least, of those poets 
 appears to have visited the Greek colonies in Italy, if not 
 Greece itself, and to have had some acquaintance with the 
 works of Homer and Herodotus. Many of the most striking 
 adventures of the house of Tarquin, before Lucretia makes 
 her appearance, have a Greek character. The Tarquins them- 
 selves are represented as Corinthian nobles of the great house 
 of the BacchiadaB, driven from their country by the tyranny 
 of that Cypselus, the tale of whose strange escape Herodotus 
 has related with incomparable simplicity and liveliness.* Livy 
 and Dionysius tell us that, when Tarquin the Proud was asked 
 
 * Herodotus, v. 92. Livy, i. 34. Dionysius, iii. 46. 
 
I 
 
 BATTLE OF THE LAKE REGILLUS. 
 
 83 
 
 what was the best mode of governing a conquered city, he 
 replied only by beating down with his staiF all the tallest 
 poppies in his garden. * This is exactly what Herodotus, in 
 the passage to which reference has already been made, relates 
 of the counsel given to Periander, the son of Cypselus. The 
 stratagem by which the town of Gabii is brought under the 
 power of the Tarquins is, again, obviously copied from Hero- 
 dotus, f The embassy of the young Tarquins to the oracle at 
 
 Delphi is just such a story as would be told by a poet whose 
 head was full of the Greek mythology; and the ambiguous 
 
 * Livy, i. 54. Dionysius, iv. 56. 
 
 t Herodotus, iii. 154. Livy, i. 53. 
 
84 
 
 LAYS OF ANCIENT ROME. 
 
 answer returned by Apollo is in the exact style of the pro- 
 phecies which, according to Herodotus, lured Croesus to de- 
 struction. Then the character of the narrative changes. 
 From the first mention of Lucretia to the retreat of Porsena 
 nothing seems to be borrowed from foreign sources. The 
 villany of Sextus, the suicide of his victim, the revolution, the 
 death of the sons of Brutus, the defence of the bridge. Mucins 
 
 burning his hand*, Cloelia swimming through Tiber, seem 
 
 * M. de Pouilly attempted, a hundred and twenty years ago, to prove that the story 
 of Mucins was of Greek origin ; but he was signally confuted by the Abbe Sallier. 
 See the Memoires de TAcademie des Inscriptions, vi. 27. 66. 
 
BATTLE OF THE LAKE REGILLUS. 
 
 85 
 
 to be all strictly Roman. But when we have done with the 
 Tuscan war, and enter upon the war with the Latines, we 
 are again struck by the Greek air of the story. The Battle 
 of the Lake Regillus is in all respects a Homeric battle, ex- 
 cept that the combatants ride astride on their horses, instead 
 of driving chariots. The mass of fighting men is hardly 
 mentioned. The leaders single each other out, and engage 
 hand to hand. The great object of the warriors on both 
 sides is, as in the Iliad, to obtain possession of the spoils 
 and bodies of the slain; and several circumstances are re- 
 lated which forcibly remind us of the great slaughter round 
 the corpses of Sarpedon and Patroclus. 
 
86 
 
 LAYS OF ANCIENT ROME. 
 
 But there is one circumstance which deserves especial notice. 
 Both the war of Troy and the war of Regillus were caused 
 by the licentious passions of young princes, who were there- 
 fore peculiarly bound not to be sparing of their own persons 
 in the day of battle. Now the conduct of Sextus at Regillus, 
 as described by Livy, so exactly resembles that of Paris, as 
 described at the beginning of the third book of the Iliad, that 
 it is difficult to believe the resemblance accidental. Paris 
 appears before the Trojan ranks, defying the bravest Greek 
 to encounter him : 
 
BATTLE OF THE LAKE REGILLUS. 87 
 
 Tpwalv /jLsv 7rpo/uLd')(^b^sv 'AXs^avBpos dsosiBrjs, 
 
 'ApysLcov irpoKoXl^STO irdvra^ dplarovs, 
 
 dvTi^tov iJba')(£o-aa6at sv alvfj BrjloTrjrc. 
 
 Livy introduces Sextus in a similar manner; '' Ferocem 
 juvenem Tarquinium, ostentantem se in prima exsulum acie." 
 Menelaus rushes to meet Paris. A Roman noble, eager for 
 vengeance, spurs his horse towards Sextus. Both the guilty 
 princes are instantly terror-stricken : 
 
 Tov S' 0)9 ovv svorjasv ' AXs^avBp09 6eo£iBr]9 
 
 sv 7rpofid')(^oLat (f)avsvTa, KarsTrXijyr) (biXov rjTop' 
 
 a^fr S' krdpwv ais sdvos £')(a^£TO fcrfp oKsslvcov. 
 
 " Tarquinius," says Livy, " retro in agmen suorum infenso 
 cessit hosti." If this be a fortuitous coincidence, it is one of 
 the most extraordinary in literature. 
 
 In the following poem, therefore, images and incidents have 
 been borrowed, not merely without scruple, but on principle, 
 from the incomparable battle-pieces of Homer. 
 
 The popular belief at Rome, from an early period, seems 
 to have been that the event of the great day of Regillus was 
 decided by supernatural agency. Castor and Pollux, it was 
 said, had fought, armed and mounted, at the head of the 
 legions of the commonwealth, and had afterwards carried the 
 
88 LAYS OF ANCIENT ROME. 
 
 news of the victory with incredible speed to the city. The 
 well in the Forum at which they had alighted was pointed 
 out. Near the well rose their ancient temple. A great 
 festival was kept to their honour on the Ides of Quintilis, 
 supposed to be the anniversary of the battle; and on that 
 day sumptuous sacrifices were offered to them at the public 
 charge. One spot on the margin of Lake Regillus was 
 regarded during many ages with superstitious awe. A mark, 
 resembling in shape a horse's hoof, was discernible in the 
 volcanic rock; and this mark was believed to have been 
 made by one of the celestial chargers. 
 
 How the legend originated cannot now be ascertained: 
 but we may easily imagine several ways in which it might 
 have originated : nor is it at all necessary to suppose, Avith 
 Julius Frontinus, that two young men were dressed up by 
 the Dictator to personate the sons of Leda. It is probable 
 that Livy is correct when he says that the Roman general, 
 in the hour of peril, vowed a temple to Castor. If so, 
 nothing; could be more natural than that the multitude should 
 ascribe the victory to the favour of the Twin Gods. When 
 such was the prevailing sentiment, any man who chose to 
 declare that, in the midst of the confusion and slaughter, he 
 had seen two godlike forms on white horses scattering the 
 
BATTLE OF THE LAKE REGILLUS. b\J 
 
 Latines, would find ready credence. We know, indeed, that, 
 in modern times, a very similar story actually found credence 
 among a people much more civilised than the Romans of the 
 fifth century before Christ. A chaplain of Cortes, writing 
 about thirty years after the conquest of Mexico, in an age 
 of printing-presses, libraries, universities, scholars, logicians, 
 jurists, and statesmen, had the face to assert that, in one 
 engagement against the Indians, Saint James had appeared on 
 a grey horse at the head of the Castilian adventurers. Many 
 of those adventurers were living when this lie was printed. 
 One of them, honest Bernal Diaz, wrote an account of the 
 expedition. He had the evidence of his own senses against 
 the legend; but he seems to have distrusted even the evidence 
 of his own senses. He says that he was in the battle, and 
 that he saw a grey horse with a man on his back, but that the 
 man was, to his thinking, Francesco de Morla, and not the 
 ever-blessed apostle Saint James. "Nevertheless," Bernal 
 adds, " it may be that the person on the grey horse was the 
 glorious apostle Saint James, and that I, sinner that I am, 
 was unworthy to see him." The Romans of the age of Cincin- 
 natus were probably quite as credulous as the Spanish sub- 
 jects of Charles the Fifth. It is therefore conceivable that the 
 appearance of Castor and Pollux may have become an article 
 
90 LAYS OF ANCIENT EOME. 
 
 of faith before the generation which had fought at Regillus 
 had passed away. Nor could any thing be more natural than 
 that the poets of the next age should embellish this story, and 
 make the celestial horsemen bear the tidings of victory to Rome. 
 
 Many years after the temple of the Twin Gods had been 
 built in the Forum, an important addition was made to the 
 ceremonial by which the state annually testified its gratitude 
 for their protection. Quintus Fabius and Publius Decius 
 were elected Censors at a momentous crisis. It had become 
 absolutely necessary that the classification of the citizens 
 should be revised. On that classification depended the dis- 
 tribution of political power. Party-spirit ran high; and the 
 republic seemed to be in danger of falling under the dominion 
 either of a narrow oligarchy or of an ignorant and head- 
 strong rabble. Under such circumstances, the most illus- 
 trious patrician and the most illustrious plebeian of the age 
 were intrusted with the office of arbitrating between the 
 angry factions; and they performed their arduous task to 
 the satisfaction of all honest and reasonable men. 
 
 One of their reforms was a remodelling of the equestrian 
 order; and, having efi*ected this reform, they determined to 
 give to their work a sanction derived from religion. In the 
 chivalrous societies of modern times, societies which have 
 
BATTLE OF THE LAKE REGILLUS. 91 
 
 much more than may at first sight appear in common with 
 the equestrian order of Eome, it has been usual to invoke 
 the special protection of some Saint, and to observe his day 
 with peculiar solemnity. Thus the Companions of the Garter 
 wear the image of Saint George depending from their collars, 
 and meet, on great occasions, in Saint George's Chapel. Thus, 
 when Lewis the Fourteenth instituted a new order of chivalry 
 for the rewarding of military merit, he commended it to the 
 favour of his own glorified ancestor and patron, and decreed 
 that all the members of the fraternity should meet at the 
 royal palace on the Feast of Saint Lewis, should attend the 
 king to chapel, should hear mass, and should subsequently hold 
 their great annual assembly. There is a considerable resem- 
 blance between this rule of the order of Saint Lewis and the 
 rule which Fabius and Decius made respecting the Koman 
 knights. It was ordained that a grand muster and inspection 
 of the equestrian body should be part of the ceremonial per- 
 formed, on the anniversary of the battle of Regillus, in honour 
 of Castor and Pollux, the two equestrian Gods. All the 
 knights, clad in purple and crowned with olive, were to meet 
 at a temple of Mars in the suburbs. Thence they were to 
 ride in state to the Forum, where the temple of the Twins 
 stood. This pageant was, during several centuries, considered 
 
92 LAYS OF ANCIENT ROME. 
 
 as one of the most splendid sights of Rome. In the time of 
 Dionysius the cavalcade sometimes consisted of five thousand 
 horsemen, all persons of fair repute and easy fortune.* 
 
 There can be no doubt that the Censors who instituted 
 this august ceremony acted in concert with the Pontiffs to 
 whom, by the constitution of Eome, the superintendence of the 
 public worship belonged; and it is probable that those high 
 religious functionaries were, as usual, fortunate enough to find 
 in their books or traditions some warrant for the innovation. 
 
 The following poem is supposed to have been made for this 
 great occasion. Songs, we know, were chanted at the reli- 
 gious festivals of Rome from an early period, indeed from so 
 early a period that some of the sacred verses were popularly 
 ascribed to Numa, and were utterly unintelligible in the age 
 of Augustus. In the Second Punic War a great feast was 
 held in honour of Juno, and a song was sung in her praise. 
 This song was extant when Livy wrote ; and, though ex- 
 ceedingly rugged and uncouth, seemed to him not wholly 
 destitute of merit. f A song, as we learn from Horace J, was 
 
 * See Livy, ix. 46. Val. Max. il. 2. Aurel. Vict. De Viris Tllustribus, 32. Diony- 
 sius, vi. 13. Plin. Hist. Nat. xv. 5. See also the singularly ingenious chapter in 
 Niebuhr's posthumous volume, Die Censur des Q. Fdbius und P. Decius. 
 
 t Livy, xxvii. 37. J Hor. Carmen Seculare. 
 
BATTLE or THE LAKE REGILLUS. 93 
 
 part of the established ritual at the great Secular Jubilee. 
 It is therefore likely that the Censors and Pontiffs, when 
 they had resolved to add a grand procession of knights to 
 the other solemnities annually performed on the Ides of Quin- 
 tilis, would call in the aid of a poet. Such a poet would 
 naturally take for his subject the battle of Regillus, the 
 appearance of the Twin Gods, and the institution of their 
 festival. He would find abundant materials in the ballads 
 of his predecessors ; and he would make free use of the scanty 
 stock of Greek learning which he had himself acquired. He 
 would probably introduce some mse and holy Pontiif en- 
 joining the magnificent ceremonial which, after a long interval, 
 had at length been adopted. If the poem succeeded, many 
 persons would commit it to memory. Parts of it would be 
 sung to the pipe at banquets. It would be peculiarly in- 
 teresting to the great Posthumian House, which numbered 
 among its many images that of the Dictator Aulus, the hero 
 of Regillus. The orator who, in the following generation, 
 pronounced the funeral panegyric over the remains of Lucius 
 Posthumius Megellus, thrice Consul, would borrow largely 
 from the lay; and thus some passages, much disfigured, 
 would probably find their way into the chronicles which were 
 afterwards in the hands of Dionysius and Livy. 
 
94 
 
 LAYS OF ANCIENT ROME. 
 
 Antiquaries differ widely as to the situation of tlie field 
 of battle. The opinion of those who suppose that the armies 
 met near Cornufelle, between Frascati and the Monte Porzio, 
 is at least plausible, and has been followed in the poem. 
 
 As to the details of the battle, it has not been thought 
 desirable to adhere minutely to the accounts which have 
 come down to us. Those accounts, indeed, differ widely 
 from each other, and, in all probability, differ as widely from 
 the ancient poem from which they were originally derived. 
 
 It is unnecessary to point out the ob^dous imitations of 
 the Iliad, which have been purposely introduced. 
 

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 THE 
 
 
 BATTLE OF THE LAKE REGILLUS. 
 
 
 A LAY SUNG AT THE FEAST OF CASTOR AND POLLUX ON THE IDES OF QUINTILIS, 
 
 
 IN THE TEAR OF THE CITY CCCCLI. 
 
 
 I. 
 
 Ho, trumpets, sound a war-note ! 
 
 
 Ho, lictors, clear the way ! 
 
 
 The Knights will ride, in all their pride, 
 
 
 Along the streets to-day. 
 
 
 To-day the doors and windows 
 
 
 Are hung with garlands all, 
 
 
 From Castor in the Forum, 
 
 
 To Mars without the wall. 
 
96 LAYS OF ANCIENT ROME. 
 
 Each Knight is robed in purple, 
 
 With olive each is crown'd ; 
 A gallant war-horse under each 
 
 Paws haughtily the ground. 
 While flows the Yellow River, 
 
 While stands the Sacred Hill, 
 The proud Ides of Quintilis 
 
 Shall have such honour still. 
 Gay are the Martian Kalends : 
 
 December's Nones are gay : 
 But the proud Ides, when the squadron rides, 
 
 ShaU be Rome's whitest day. 
 
 II. 
 Unto the Great Twin Brethren 
 
 We keep this solemn feast. 
 Swift, swift, the Great Twin Brethren 
 
 Came spurring from the east. 
 They came o'er wild Parthenius 
 
 Tossing in waves of pine. 
 O'er Cirrha's dome, o'er Adria's foam. 
 
 O'er purple Apennine, 
 From where with flutes and dances 
 
 Their ancient mansion rings, 
 
BATTLE OF THE LAKE REGILLUS. 97 
 
 In lordly Lacedaemon, 
 
 The City of two kings, 
 To where, by Lake RegiUus, 
 
 Under the Porcian height, 
 All in the lands of Tusculum, 
 
 Was fought the glorious fight. 
 
 III. 
 Now on the place of slaughter 
 
 Are cots and sheepfolds seen. 
 And rows of vines, and fields of wheat, ] 
 
 And apple-orchards green : 
 The swine crush the big acorns 
 
 That fall from Corne's oaks. 
 Upon the turf by the Fair Fount 
 
 The reaper's pottage smokes. 
 The fisher baits his angle ; 
 
 The hunter twangs his bow ; 
 Little they think on those strong limbs 
 
 That moulder deep below. 
 Little they think how sternly 
 
 That day the trumpets pealed ; 
 How in the slippery swamp of blood 
 
 Warrior and war-horse reeled ; 
 
98 LAYS OF ANCIENT ROME. 
 
 How wolves came with fierce gallop. 
 
 And crows on eager wings, 
 To tear the flesh of captains, 
 
 And peck the eyes of kings ; 
 How thick the dead lay scattered 
 
 Under the Porcian height ; 
 How through the gates of Tusculum 
 
 Raved the wild stream of flight ; 
 And how the Lake Regillus 
 
 Bubbled with crimson foam. 
 What time the Thirty Cities 
 
 Came forth to war with Rome. 
 
 IV. 
 
 But, Roman, when thou standest 
 
 Upon that holy ground. 
 Look thou with heed on the dark rock 
 
 That girds the dark lake round. 
 So shalt thou see a hoof-mark 
 
 Stamped deep into the flint : 
 It was no hoof of mortal steed 
 
 That made so strange a dint : 
 There to the Great Twin Brethren 
 
 Yow thou thy vows, and pray 
 
BATTLE OF THE LAKE REGILLUS. 99 
 
 That they, in tempest and in fight, 
 Will keep thy head alway. 
 
 V. 
 
 Since last the Great Twin Brethren 
 
 Of mortal eyes were seen. 
 Have years gone by an hundred 
 
 And fourscore and thirteen. 
 That summer a Virginius 
 
 Was Consul first in place ; 
 The second was stout Aulus, 
 
 Of the Posthumian race. 
 The Herald of the Latines 
 
 From Gabii came in state : 
 The Herald of the Latines 
 
 Passed through Rome's Eastern Gate : 
 The Herald of the Latines 
 
 Did in our Forum stand ; 
 And there he did his office, 
 
 A sceptre in his hand. 
 
 VI. 
 
 " Hear, Senators and people 
 Of the good town of Rome : 
 
100 
 
 I. AYS OF ANCIENT ROME. 
 
 isa-^^^^^>-r^ 
 
 The Thirty Cities charge you 
 To bring the Tarquins home : 
 
 And if ye still be stubborn. 
 To work the Tarquins wrong, 
 
 The Thirty Cities warn you. 
 
 Look that your walls be strong." 
 
BATTLE OF THE LAKE REGILLUS. 
 
 101 
 
 VII. 
 
 Then spake the Consul Aulus, 
 
 He spake a bitter jest : 
 " Once the jays sent a message 
 
 Unto the eagle's nest : — 
 Now yield thou up thine eyrie 
 
 Unto the carrion-kite, 
 Or come forth valiantly, and face 
 
 The jays in deadly fight. — 
 Forth looked in wrath the eagle ; 
 
 And carrion-kite and jay. 
 Soon as they saw his beak and claw. 
 
 Fled screaming far away." 
 
102 LAYS OF ANCIENT ROME. 
 
 VIII. 
 The Herald of the Latines 
 
 Hath hied him back in state : 
 The Fathers of the City 
 
 Are met in high debate. 
 Then spake the elder Consul, 
 
 An ancient man and wise : 
 " Now hearken. Conscript Fathers, 
 
 To that which I advise. 
 In seasons of great peril 
 
 'Tis good that one bear sway ; 
 Then choose we a Dictator, 
 
 Whom all men shall obey. 
 Camerium knows how deeply 
 
 The sword of Aulus bites ; 
 And all our city calls him 
 
 The man of seventy fights. 
 Then let him be Dictator 
 
 For six months and no more. 
 And have a Master of the Knights, 
 
 And axes twenty-four." 
 
 IX. 
 
 So Aulus was Dictator, 
 The man of seventy fights ; 
 
BATTLE OF THE LAKE REGILLUS. 103 
 
 He made JEbutius Elva 
 
 His Master of the Knights. 
 On the third morn thereafter, 
 
 At dawning of the day, 
 Did Aulus and ^butius 
 
 Set forth with their array. 
 Sempronius Atratinus 
 
 Was left in charge at home 
 With boys, and with grey-headed men, 
 
 To keep the walls of Rome. 
 Hard by the Lake Regillus 
 
 Our camp was pitched at night : 
 Eastward a mile the Latines lay. 
 
 Under the Porcian height. 
 Far over hill and valley 
 
 Their mighty host was spread ; 
 And with their thousand watch-fires 
 
 The midnight sky was red. 
 
 X. 
 
 Up rose the golden morning 
 
 Over the Porcian height. 
 The proud Ides of Quintilis 
 
 Marked evermore with white. 
 
104 LAYS OF ANCIENT ROME. 
 
 Not without secret trouble 
 
 Our bravest saw the foes ; 
 For girt by threescore thousand spears. 
 
 The thirty standards rose. 
 From every warlike city 
 
 That boasts the Latian name. 
 Foredoomed to dogs and vultures. 
 
 That gallant army came ; 
 From Setia's purple vineyards. 
 
 From Norba's ancient wall, 
 From the white streets of Tusculum, 
 
 The proudest town of all ; 
 From where the Witches Fortress 
 
 O'erhangs the dark-blue seas ; 
 From the still glassy lake that sleeps 
 
 Beneath Aricia's trees — 
 Those trees in whose dim shadow 
 
 The ghastly priest doth reign. 
 The priest who slew the slayer. 
 
 And shall himself be slain ; 
 From the drear banks of Ufens, 
 
 Where flights of marsh-fowl play. 
 And buflfaloes lie wallowing 
 
 Through the hot summer's day ; 
 
BATTLE OF THE LAKE REGILLUS. 105 
 
 From the gigantic watch-towers, 
 
 No work of earthly men, 
 Whence Cora's sentinels o'erlook 
 
 The never-ending fen ; 
 From the Laurentian jungle, 
 
 The wild hog's reedy home ; 
 From the green steeps whence Anio leaps 
 
 In floods of snow-white foam. 
 
 XI. 
 
 Aricia, Cora, Norba, 
 
 Yelitrae, with the might 
 Of Setia and of Tusculum, 
 
 Were marshalled on the right : 
 Their leader was Mamilius, 
 
 Prince of the Latian name ; 
 Upon his head a helmet 
 
 Of red gold shone like flame ; 
 High on a gallant charger 
 
 Of dark-grey hue he rode ; 
 Over his gilded armour 
 
 A vest of purple flowed. 
 Woven in the land of sunrise 
 
 By Syria's dark-browed daughters. 
 
106 LAYS OF ANCIENT ROME. 
 
 And by the sails of Carthage brought 
 Far o'er the southern waters. 
 
 XII. 
 
 Lavinium and Laurentum 
 
 Had on the left their post, 
 With all the banners of the marsh, 
 
 And banners of the coast. 
 Their leader was false Sextus, 
 
 That wrought the deed of shame : 
 With restless pace and haggard face 
 
 To his last field he came. 
 Men said he saw strange visions 
 
 Which none beside might see ; 
 And that strange sounds were in his ears 
 
 Which none might hear but he. 
 A woman fair and stately, 
 
 But pale as are the dead. 
 Oft through the watches of the night 
 
 Sate spinning by his bed. 
 And as she plied the distaff, 
 
 In a sweet voice and low, 
 She sang of great old houses. 
 
 And fights fought long ago. 
 
BATTLE OF THE LAKE REGILLUS. 
 
 107 
 
 So spun she, and so sang she, 
 
 Until the east was grey, 
 Then pointed to her bleeding breast 
 
 And shrieked, and fled away. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 But in the centre thickest 
 
 Were ranged the shields of foes, 
 And from the centre loudest 
 
 The cry of battle rose. 
 There Tibur marched and Pedum 
 
 Beneath proud Tarquin's rule, 
 And Ferentinum of the rock. 
 
 And Gabii of the pool. 
 
 IH 
 
 ^^"■'•i'?iiiii!!t 
 
108 LAYS OF ANCIENT ROME. 
 
 There rode the Volscian succours : 
 
 There, in a dark stem ring, 
 The Roman exiles gathered close 
 
 Around the ancient king. 
 Though white as Mount Soracte, 
 
 When winter nights are long. 
 His beard flowed down o'er mail and belt, 
 
 His heart and hand were strong : 
 Under his hoary eyebrows 
 
 Still flashed forth quenchless rage ; 
 And, if the lance shook in his gripe, 
 
 'Twas more with hate than age. 
 Close at his side w^as Titus 
 
 On an Apulian steed, 
 Titus, the youngest Tarquin, 
 
 Too good for such a breed. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 Now on each side the leaders 
 Gave signal for the charge ; 
 
 And on each side the footmen 
 Strode on with lance and targe ; 
 
 And on each side the horsemen 
 Struck their spurs deep in gore ; 
 
BATTLE OF THE LAI^ REGILLUS. 109 
 
 And front to front the armies 
 
 Met with a mighty roar : 
 And under that great battle 
 
 The earth with blood was red ; 
 And, like the Pomptine fog at morn. 
 
 The dust hung overhead ; 
 And louder still and louder 
 
 Rose from the darkened field 
 The braying of the war-horns. 
 
 The clang of sword and shield. 
 The rush of squadrons sweeping 
 
 Like whirlwinds o'er the plain, 
 The shouting of the slayers. 
 
 And screeching of the slain. 
 
 XV. 
 
 False Sextus rode out foremost ; 
 
 His look was high and bold ; 
 His corslet was of bison's hide. 
 
 Plated with steel and gold. 
 As glares the famished eagle 
 
 From the Digentian rock 
 On a choice lamb that bounds alone 
 
 Before Bandusia's flock, 
 
110 LAYS OF ANCIENT ROME. 
 
 Herminius glared on Sextus, 
 
 And came with eagle speed, 
 Herminius on black Auster, 
 
 Brave champion on brave steed ; 
 In his right hand the broadsword 
 
 That kept the bridge so well, 
 And on his helm the crown he won 
 
 When proud Fidense fell. 
 Woe to the maid whose lover 
 
 Shall cross his path to-day ! 
 False Sextus saw, and trembled. 
 
 And turned, and fled away. 
 As turns, as flies, the woodman 
 
 In the Calabrian brake. 
 When through the reeds gleams the round eye 
 
 Of that fell speckled snake ; 
 So turned, so fled, false Sextus, 
 
 And hid him in the rear. 
 Behind the dark Lavinian ranks. 
 
 Bristling with crest and spear. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 But far to north ^butius, 
 The Master of the Knights, 
 
BATTLE OF THE LAKE REGILLUS. Ill 
 
 Gave Tubero of Norba 
 
 To feed the Porcian kites. 
 Next under those red horse-hoofs 
 
 Flaccus of Setia lay ; 
 Better had he been pruning 
 
 Among his elms that day. 
 Mamilius saw the slaughter, 
 
 And tossed his golden crest, 
 And towards the Master of the Knights 
 
 Through the thick battle pressed, 
 -^butius smote Mamilius 
 
 So fiercely on the shield 
 That the great lord of Tusculum 
 
 Well nigh rolled on the field. 
 Mamilius smote ^butius. 
 
 With a good aim and true, 
 Just where the neck and shoulder join, 
 
 And pierced him through and through ; 
 And brave ^butius Elva 
 
 Fell swooning to the ground : 
 But a thick wall of bucklers 
 
 Encompassed him around. 
 His clients from the battle 
 
 Bare him some little space. 
 
112 LAYS OF ANCIENT ROME. 
 
 And filled a helm from the dark lake. 
 And bathed his brow and face ; 
 
 And when at last he opened 
 His swimming eyes to light. 
 
 Men say, the earliest word he spake 
 Was, " Friends, how goes the fight ? " 
 
 XVII. 
 
 But meanwhile in the centre 
 
 Great deeds of arms were wrousrht : 
 There Aulus the Dictator 
 
 And there Valerius fought. 
 Aulus with his good broadsword 
 
 A bloody passage cleared 
 To where, amidst the thickest foes. 
 
 He saw the long white beard. 
 Flat lighted that good broadsword 
 
 Upon proud Tarquin's head. 
 He dropped the lance : he dropped the reins 
 
 He fell as fall the dead. 
 Down Aulus springs to slay him. 
 
 With eyes like coals of fire ; 
 But faster Titus hath sprung down. 
 
 And hath bestrode his sire. 
 
BATTLE OF THE LAKE REGILLUS. 
 
 113 
 
 Latian captains, Roman knights, 
 Fast down to earth they spring. 
 
 And hand to hand they fight on foot 
 Around the ancient king. 
 
 First Titus gave tall Caeso 
 A death wound in the face ; 
 
114 LAYS OF ANCIENT ROME. 
 
 Tall Caeso was the bravest man 
 
 Of the brave Fabian race : 
 Aulus slew Rex of Gabii, 
 
 The priest of Juno's shrine : 
 Valerius smote down Julius, 
 
 Of Rome's great Julian line ; 
 Julius^ who left his mansion 
 
 High on the Velian hill. 
 And through all turns of weal and woe 
 
 Followed proud Tarquin still. 
 Now right across proud Tarquin 
 
 A corpse was Julius laid ; 
 And Titus groaned with rage and grief. 
 
 And at Valerius made. 
 Valerius struck at Titus, 
 
 And lopped oiF half his crest ; 
 But Titus stabbed Valerius 
 
 A span deep in the breast. 
 Like a mast snapped by the tempest, 
 
 Valerius reeled and fell. 
 Ah ! woe is me for the good house 
 
 That loves the people well ! 
 Then shouted loud the Latines ; 
 
 And with one rush they bore 
 
BATTLE OF THE LAKE REGILLUS. 
 
 115 
 
 The struggling Romans backward 
 Three lances' length and more : 
 
 And up they took proud Tarquin, 
 And laid him on a shield, 
 
 And four strong yeomen bare him. 
 Still senseless, from the field. 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 But fiercer grew the fighting 
 
 Around Valerius dead ; 
 For Titus dragged him by the foot. 
 
 And Aulus by the head. 
 
116 LAYS OF ANCIENT ROME. 
 
 " On, Latines, on ! " quoth Titus, 
 
 " See how the rebels fly ! " 
 " Komans, stand firm ! " quoth Aulus, 
 
 " And win this fight or die ! 
 They must not give Valerius 
 
 To raven and to kite ; 
 For aye Valerius loathed the wrong. 
 
 And aye upheld the right : 
 And for your wives and babies 
 
 In the front rank he fell. 
 Now play the men for the good house 
 
 That loves the people well ! " 
 
 XIX. 
 
 Then tenfold round the body 
 
 The roar of battle rose. 
 Like the roar of a burning forest. 
 
 When a strong northwind blows. 
 Now backward, and now forward. 
 
 Rocked furiously the fray. 
 Till none could see Valerius, 
 
 And none wist where he lay. 
 For shivered arms and ensigns 
 
 Were heaped there in a mound. 
 
BATTLE OF THE LAKE KEGILLUS. 117 
 
 And corpses stiff, and dying men 
 
 That writhed and gnawed the ground ; 
 
 And wounded horses kicking. 
 And snorting purple foam : 
 
 Right well did such a couch befit 
 A Consular of Rome. 
 
 XX. 
 
 But north looked the Dictator ; 
 
 North looked he long and hard ; 
 And spake to Caius Cossus, 
 
 The Captain of his Guard : 
 " Caius, of all the Romans 
 
 Thou hast the keenest sight ; 
 Say, what through yonder storm of dust 
 
 Comes from the Latian right ? " 
 
 XXI. 
 
 Then answered Caius Cossus : 
 
 " I see an evil sight ; 
 The banner of proud Tusculum 
 
 Comes from the Latian right ; 
 I see the plumed horsemen ; 
 
 And far before the rest 
 
118 LAYS OF ANCIENT ROME. 
 
 I see the dark-grey charger, 
 I see the purple vest ; 
 
 I see the golden helmet 
 
 That shines far off like flame ; 
 
 So ever rides Mamilius, 
 
 Prince of the Latian name." 
 
 XXII. 
 
 " Now hearken, Caius Cossus : 
 
 Spring on thy horse's back ; 
 Ride as the wolves of Apennine 
 
 Were all upon thy track ! 
 Haste to our southward battle ; 
 
 And never draw thy rein 
 Until thou find Herminius, 
 
 And bid him come amain." 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 So Aulus spake, and turned him 
 Again to that fierce strife ; 
 
 And Caius Cossus mounted. 
 And rode for death and life. 
 
 Loud clanged beneath his horse-hoofs 
 The helmets of the dead. 
 
BATTLE OF THE LAKE REGILLUS. 119 
 
 And many a curdling pool of blood 
 
 Splashed him from heel to head. 
 So came he far to southward. 
 
 Where fought the Roman host. 
 Against the banners of the marsh 
 
 And banners of the coast. 
 Like com before the sickle 
 
 The stout Lavinians fell. 
 Beneath the edge of the true sword 
 
 That kept the bridge so weU. 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 " Herminius ! Aulus greets thee ; 
 
 He bids thee come with speed, 
 To help our central battle ; 
 
 For sore is there our need. 
 There wars the youngest Tarquin, 
 
 And there the Crest of Flame, 
 The Tusculan Mamilius, 
 
 Prince of the Latian name. 
 Valerius hath fallen fighting 
 
 In front of our array ; 
 And Aulus of the seventy fields 
 
 Alone upholds the day." 
 
120 LAYS or ANCIENT EOME. 
 
 XXV. 
 
 Herminius beat his bosom ; 
 
 But never a word he spake. 
 He clapped his hand on Auster's mane ; 
 
 He gave the reins a shake, 
 Away, away, went Auster, 
 
 Like an arrow from the bow : 
 Black Auster was the fleetest steed 
 
 From Aufidus to Po. 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 Right glad were all the Romans 
 
 Who, in that hour of dread. 
 Against great odds bare up the war 
 
 Around Valerius dead. 
 When from the south the cheering 
 
 Rose with a mighty swell ; 
 " Herminius comes, Herminius, 
 
 Who kept the bridge so well ! " 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 Mamilius spied Herminius, 
 And dashed across the way. 
 
BATTLE OF THE LAKE EEGILLUS. 
 
 121 
 
 " Herminius ! I have sought thee 
 Through many a bloody day. 
 
 One of us two, Herminius, 
 Shall never more go home. 
 
 I will lay on for Tusculum, 
 And lay thou on for Eome ! " 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 All round them paused the battle. 
 While met in mortal fray 
 
122 LAYS OF ANCIENT KOME. 
 
 The Eoman and the Tusculan, 
 
 The horses black and grey. 
 Herminius smote Mamilius 
 
 Through breast-plate and through breast ; 
 And fast flowed out the purple blood 
 
 Over the purple vest. 
 IMamilius smote Herminius 
 
 Through head-piece and through head ; 
 And side by side those chiefs of pride 
 
 Together fell down dead. 
 Down fell they dead together 
 
 In a great lake of gore ; 
 And still stood all who saw them fall 
 
 While men might count a score. 
 
 XXIX. 
 
 Fast, fast, with heels wild spurning, 
 
 The dark-grey charger fled : 
 He burst through ranks of fighting men ; 
 
 He sprang o'er heaps of dead. 
 His bridle far out-streaming. 
 
 His flanks all blood and foam, 
 
BATTLE OF THE LAKE REGILLUS. 
 
 123 
 
 _:^.-^ 
 
 He sought the southern mountains, 
 
 The mountains of his home. 
 The pass was steep and rugged. 
 
 The wolves they howled and whined ; 
 But he ran like a whirlwind up the pass, 
 
 And he left the wolves behind. 
 Through many a startled hamlet 
 
 Thundered his flying feet : 
 He rushed through the gate of Tusculum, 
 
 He rushed up the long white street ; 
 He rushed by tower and temple, 
 
 And paused not from his race 
 Till he stood before his master's door 
 
 In the stately market-place. 
 
Iljif 
 
 And straightway round him gathered 
 
 A pale and trembling crowd, 
 And when they knew him, cries of rag 
 
 Brake forth, and wailing loud : 
 And women rent their tresses 
 
 For their great prince's fall ; 
 And old men girt on their old swords. 
 
 And went to man the wall. 
 
BATTLE OF THE LAKE EEGILLUS. 
 
 125 
 
 '"T^^^^ 
 
 XXX. 
 
 But, like a graven image, 
 
 Black Auster kept his place. 
 And ever wistfully he looked 
 
 Into his master's face. 
 The raven-mane that daily. 
 
 With pats and fond caresses. 
 The young Herminia washed and combed. 
 
 And twined in even tresses. 
 
126 LAYS OF ANCIENT HOME. 
 
 And decked with coloured ribands 
 
 From her own gay attire, 
 Hung sadly o'er her father's corpse 
 
 In carnage and in mire. 
 Forth with a shout sprang Titus, 
 
 And seized black Auster's rein. 
 Then Aulus sware a fearful oath. 
 
 And ran at him amain. 
 " The furies of thy brother 
 
 With me and mine abide. 
 If one of your accursed house 
 
 Upon black Auster ride ! " 
 As on an Alpine watch-tower 
 
 From heaven comes down the flame. 
 Full on the neck of Titus 
 
 The blade of Aulus came : 
 And out the red blood spouted, ' 
 
 In a wide arch and tall. 
 As spouts a fountain in the court 
 
 Of some rich Capuan's hall. 
 The knees of all the Latines 
 
 "Were loosened with dismay. 
 When dead, on dead Herminius, 
 
 The bravest Tarquin lay. 
 
BATTLE OF THE LAKE REGILLUS. 127 
 
 XXXI. 
 
 And Aulus the Dictator 
 
 Stroked Auster's raven mane. 
 With heed he looked unto the girths. 
 
 With heed unto the rein. 
 " Now bear me well, black Auster, 
 
 Into yon thick array ; 
 And thou and I will have revenge 
 
 For thy good lord this day." 
 
 XXXII. 
 
 So spake he ; and was buckling 
 
 Tighter black Auster's band, 
 When he was aware of a princely pair 
 
 That rode at his right hand. 
 So like they were, no mortal 
 
 Might one from other know : 
 White as snow their armour was : 
 
 Their steeds were white as snow. 
 Never on earthly anvil 
 
 Did such rare armour gleam ; 
 And never did such gallant steeds 
 
 Drink of an earthly stream. 
 
128 LAYS OF ANCIENT KOME. 
 
 XXXIII. 
 
 And all who saw them trembled. 
 
 And pale grew every cheek ; 
 And Aulus the Dictator 
 
 Scarce gathered voice to speak. 
 " Say by what name men call you ? 
 
 What city is your home ? 
 And wherefore ride ye in such guise 
 
 Before the ranks of Rome ? " 
 
 XXXIV. 
 
 " By many names men call us ; 
 
 In many lands we dwell : 
 Well Samothracia knows us ; 
 
 Gyrene knows us well. 
 Our house in gay Tarentum 
 
 Is hung each morn with flowers : 
 High o'er the masts of Syracuse 
 
 Our marble portal towers ; 
 But by the proud Eurotas 
 
 Is our dear native home ; 
 And for the right we come to fight 
 
 Before the ranks of Rome." 
 
BATTLE OF THE LAKE REGILLUS. 
 
 129 
 
 XXXV. 
 
 So answered those strange horsemen. 
 
 And each couched low his spear ; 
 And forthwith all the ranks of Eome 
 
 Were bold, and of good cheer : 
 And on the thirty armies 
 
 Came wonder and affright. 
 And Ardea wavered on the left. 
 
 And Cora on the right. 
 " Eome to the charge ! " cried Aulus ; 
 
 " The foe begins to yield ! 
 
130 LAYS OF ANCIENT ROME. 
 
 Charge for the hearth of Vesta ! 
 
 Charge for the Golden Shield ! 
 Let no man stop to plunder. 
 
 But slay, and slay, and slay ; 
 The Gods who live for ever 
 
 Are on our side to-day." 
 
 XXXVI. 
 
 Then the fierce trumpet-flourish 
 
 From earth to heaven arose, 
 The kites know well the long stern swell 
 
 That bids the Romans close. 
 Then the good sword of Aulus 
 
 Was lifted up to slay : 
 Then, like a crag down Apennine, 
 
 Rushed Auster through the fray. 
 But under those strange horsemen 
 
 Still thicker lay the slain ; 
 And after those strange horses 
 
 Black Auster toiled in vain. 
 Behind them Rome's long battle 
 
 Came rolling on the foe. 
 Ensigns dancing wild above. 
 
 Blades all in line below. 
 
BATTLE OF THE LAKE REGILLUS. 131 
 
 So comes the Po in flood-time 
 
 Upon the Celtic plain : 
 So comes the squall, blacker than night, 
 
 Upon the Adrian main. 
 Now, by our Sire Quirinus, 
 
 It was a goodly sight 
 To see the thirty standards 
 
 Swept down the tide of flight. 
 So flies the spray of Adria 
 
 When the black squall doth blow ; 
 So corn-sheaves in the flood-time 
 
 Spin down the whirling Po. 
 False Sextus to the mountains 
 
 Turned first his horse's head ; 
 And fast fled Ferentinum, 
 
 And fast Lanuvium fled. 
 The horsemen of Momentum 
 
 Spurred hard out of the fray ; 
 The footmen of Yelitr^e 
 
 Threw shield and spear away. 
 And underfoot was trampled, 
 
 Amidst the mud and gore, 
 The banner of proud Tusculum, 
 
 That never stooped before ; 
 
132 
 
 LAYS OF ANCIENT EOME. 
 
 And down went Flavins Faustus, 
 
 Who led his stately ranks 
 From where the apple blossoms wave 
 
 On Anio's echoing banks. 
 And Tullus of Arpinum, 
 
 Chief of the Volscian aids, 
 And Metius with the long fair curls. 
 
 The love of Anxur's maids, 
 And the white head of Vulso, 
 
 The great Arician seer, 
 
BATTLE OF THE LAKE REGILLUS. 133 
 
 And Nepos of Laurentum, 
 
 The hunter of the deer ; 
 And in the back false Sextus 
 
 Felt the good Koman steel, 
 And wriggling in the dust he died, 
 
 Like a worm beneath the wheel : 
 And fliers and pursuers 
 
 Were mingled in a mass ; 
 And far away the battle 
 
 Went roaring through the pass. 
 
 XXXVII. 
 
 Sempronius Atratinus 
 
 Sate in the Eastern Gate, 
 Beside him were three Fathers, 
 
 Each in his chair of state ; 
 Fabius, whose nine stout grandsons 
 
 That day were in the field. 
 And Manlius, eldest of the Twelve 
 
 Who keep the Golden Shield ; 
 And Sergius, the High Pontiff, 
 
 For wisdom far renowned ; 
 In all Etruria's colleges 
 
 Was no such Pontiff found. 
 
134 LAYS OF ANCIENT ROME. 
 
 And all around the portal. 
 
 And high above the wall, 
 Stood a great throng of people, 
 
 But sad and silent all ; 
 Young lads, and stooping elders 
 
 That might not bear the mail, 
 Matrons with lips that quivered. 
 
 And maids with faces pale. 
 Since the first gleam of daylight, 
 
 Sempronius had not ceased 
 To listen for the rushing 
 
 Of horse-hoofs from the east. 
 The mist of eve was rising, 
 
 The sun was hastening down. 
 When he was aware of a princely pair 
 
 Fast pricking towards the town. 
 So like they were, man never 
 
 Saw twins so like before ; 
 Red with gore their armour was, 
 
 Their steeds were red with gore. 
 
 XXXVIII. 
 
 " Hail to the great Asylum ! 
 Hail to the hill-tops seven ! 
 
BATTLE OF THE LAKE REGILLUS. 
 
 135 
 
 Hail to the fire that burns for aye. 
 And the shield that fell from heaven ! 
 
 This day, by Lake Regillus, 
 Under the Porcian height. 
 
 All in the lands of Tusculum 
 Was fought a glorious fight. 
 
136 LAYS OF ANCIENT EOME. 
 
 To-morrow your Dictator 
 Shall bring in triumph home 
 
 The spoils of thirty cities 
 
 To deck the shrines of E-ome ! " 
 
 XXXIX. 
 
 Then burst from that great concourse 
 
 A shout that shook the towers. 
 And some ran north, and some ran south. 
 
 Crying, " The day is ours ! " 
 But on rode these strange horsemen. 
 
 With slow and lordly pace ; 
 And none who saw their bearing 
 
 Durst ask their name or race. 
 On rode they to the Forum, 
 
 While laurel-boughs and flowers. 
 From house-tops and from windows. 
 
 Fell on their crests in showers. 
 When they drew nigh to Vesta, 
 
 They vaulted down amain. 
 And washed their horses in the well 
 
 That springs by Vesta's fane. 
 And straight again they mounted. 
 
 And rode to Vesta's door ; 
 
BATTLE OF THE LAKE REGILLUS. 
 
 137 
 
 Then, like a blast, away they passed. 
 And no man saw them more. 
 
 XL. 
 
 And all the people trembled, 
 
 And pale grew every cheek ; 
 And Sergius the High Pontiff 
 
 Alone found voice to speak : 
 " The Gods who live for ever 
 
 Have fought for Rome to-day 1 
 These be the Great Twin Brethren 
 
 To whom the Dorians pray. 
 
138 LAYS OF ANCIENT EOME. 
 
 Back comes the Chief in triumph, 
 
 Who, in the hour of fight, 
 Hath seen the Great Twin Brethren 
 
 In harness on his right. 
 Safe comes the ship to haven. 
 
 Through billows and through gales. 
 If once the Great Twin Brethren 
 
 Sit shining on the sails. 
 Wherefore they washed their horses 
 
 In Yesta's holy well. 
 Wherefore they rode to Vesta's door, 
 
 I know, but may not tell. 
 Here, hard by Vesta's temple, 
 
 Build we a stately dome 
 Unto the Great Twin Brethren 
 
 Who fought so well for Rome. 
 And when the months returning 
 
 Bring back this day of fight, 
 The proud Ides of Quintilis, 
 
 Marked evermore with white. 
 Unto the Great Twin Brethren 
 
 Let all the people throng. 
 With chaplets and with offerings, 
 
 With music and with song ; 
 
BATTLE OF THE LAKE REGILLUS. 
 
 139 
 
 And let the doors and windows 
 
 Be hung with garlands all. 
 And let the Knights be summoned 
 
 To Mars without the wall: 
 Thence let them ride in purple 
 
 With joyous trumpet-sound, 
 Each mounted on his war-horse. 
 
 And each with olive crowned ; 
 And pass in solemn order 
 
 Before the sacred dome. 
 Where dwell the Great Twin Brethren 
 
 Who fought so well for Rome." 
 
VificiyviA 
 
 l | lll)llllllll l PI| l |ll lll t l iailJl l llll ll llllll l DI I ||IHIIIIll! l lllllllll l l l lllllll ll lil l l 
 
VIRGINIA 
 
 A COLLECTION Consisting exclusively of war-songs would give 
 an imperfect, or rather an erroneous, notion of the spirit of 
 the old Latin ballads. The Patricians, during more than a 
 century after the expulsion of the Kings, held all the high 
 military commands. A Plebeian, even though, like Lucius 
 Siccius, he were distinguished by his valour and knowledge 
 of war, could serve only in subordinate posts. A minstrel, 
 therefore, who wished to celebrate the early triumphs of his 
 country, could hardly take any but Patricians for his heroes. 
 The warriors who are mentioned in the two preceding lays, 
 Horatius, Lartius, Herminius, Aulus Posthumius, ^butius 
 Elva, Sempronius Atratinus, Valerius Poplicola, were all 
 members of the dominant order ; and a poet who was singing 
 their praises, whatever his own political opinions might be, 
 would naturally abstain from insulting the class to which they 
 
144 LAYS OF ANCIENT ROME. 
 
 belonged, and from reflecting on the system which had placed 
 such men at the head of the legions of the Commonwealth. 
 
 But there was a class of compositions in which the great 
 families were by no means so courteously treated. No parts 
 of early Roman history are richer with poetical colouring 
 than those which relate to the long contest between the 
 privileged houses and the commonalty. The population of 
 Rome was, from a very early period, divided into hereditary 
 castes, which, indeed, readily united to repel foreign enemies, 
 but which regarded each other, during many years, with 
 bitter animosity. Between those castes there was a barrier 
 hardly less strong than that which, at Venice, parted the 
 members of the Great Council from their countrymen. In 
 some respects, indeed, the line which separated an Icilius 
 or a Duilius from a Posthumius or a Fabius was even more 
 deeply marked than that which separated the rower of a 
 gondola from a Contarini or a Morosini. At Venice the 
 distinction was merely civil. At Rome it was both civil and 
 religious. Among the grievances under which the Plebeians 
 suiFered, three were felt as peculiarly severe. They were 
 excluded from the highest magistracies; they were excluded 
 from all share in the public lands; and they were ground 
 down to the dust by partial and barbarous legislation touch- 
 
VIRGINIA. 
 
 145 
 
 ing pecuniary contracts. The ruling class in Kome was a 
 monied class; and it made and administered the laws with 
 a view solely to its own interest. Thus the relation between 
 lender and borrower was mixed up with the relation between 
 sovereign and subject. The great men held a large portion 
 of the community in dependence by means of advances at 
 enormous usury. The law of debt, framed by creditors, 
 and for the protection of creditors, was the most horrible 
 that has ever been known among men. The liberty, and 
 even the life, of the insolvent were at the mercy of the 
 Patrician money-lenders. Children often became slaves in 
 consequence of the misfortunes of their parents. The debtor 
 was imprisoned, not in a public gaol under the care of 
 impartial public functionaries, but in a private workhouse 
 belonging to the creditor. Frightful stories were told re- 
 specting these dungeons. It was said that torture and brutal 
 violation were common ; that tight stocks, heavy chains, 
 scanty measures of food, were used to punish wretches guilty 
 of nothing but poverty; and that brave soldiers, whose breasts 
 were covered with honourable scars, were often marked still 
 more deeply on the back by the scourges of high-born usurers. 
 The Plebeians were, however, not wholly without consti- 
 tutional rights. From an early period they had been admitted 
 
146 LAYS OF ANCIENT ROME. 
 
 to some share of political power. They were enrolled each 
 in his century, and were allowed a share, considerable though 
 not proportioned to their numerical strength, in the disposal 
 of those high dignities from which they were themselves ex- 
 cluded. Thus their position bore some resemblance to that 
 of the Irish Catholics during the interval between the year 
 1792 and the year 1829. The Plebeians had also the 
 privilege of annually appointing officers, named Tribunes, 
 who had no active share in the government of the Common- 
 wealth, but who, by degrees, acquired a power formidable 
 even to the ablest and most resolute Consuls and Dictators. 
 The person of the Tribune was inviolable ; and, though he 
 could directly effect little, he could obstruct every thing. 
 
 During more than a century after the institution of the 
 Tribuneship, the Commons struggled manfully for the re- 
 moval of the grievances under which they laboured ; and, 
 in spite of many checks and reverses, succeeded in wringing 
 concession after concession from the stubborn aristocracy. 
 At length, in the year of the city 378, both parties mustered 
 their whole strength for their last and most desperate con- 
 flict. The popular and active Tribune, Caius Licinius, pro- 
 posed the three memorable laws which are called by his 
 name, and which were intended to redress the three great 
 
VIRGINIA. 147 
 
 evils of which the Plebeians complained. He was supported, 
 mth eminent ability and firmness, by his colleague, Lucius 
 Sextius. The struggle appears to have been the fiercest that 
 ever in any community terminated without an appeal to arms. 
 If such a contest had raged in any Greek city, the streets 
 would have run with blood. But, even in the paroxysms of 
 faction, the Roman retained his gravity, his respect for law, 
 and his tenderness for the lives of his fellow-citizens. Year 
 after year Licinius and Sextius were re-elected Tribunes. 
 Year after year, if the narrative which has come do^vn to 
 us is to be trusted, they continued to exert, to the full 
 extent, their power of stopping the whole machine of govern- 
 ment. No curule magistrates could be chosen; no military 
 muster could be held. We know too little of the state of 
 Rome in those days to be able to conjecture how, during 
 that long anarchy, the peace was kept, and ordinary justice 
 administered between man and man. The animosity of both 
 parties rose to the greatest height. The excitement, we 
 may well suppose, would have been peculiarly intense at the 
 annual election of Tribunes. On such occasions there can 
 be little doubt that the great families did all that could be 
 done, by threats and caresses, to break the union of the 
 Plebeians. That union, however, proved indissoluble. At 
 
148 LAYS OF ANCIENT ROME. 
 
 length the good cause triumphed. The Licinian laws were 
 carried. Lucius Sextius was the first Plebeian Consul, Caius 
 Licinius the third. 
 
 The results of this great change were singularly happy 
 and glorious. Two centuries of prosperity, harmony, and 
 victory followed the reconciliation of the orders. Men who 
 remembered Rome engaged in waging petty wars almost 
 within sight of the Capitol lived to see her the mistress of 
 Italy. While the disabilities of the Plebeians continued, she 
 was scarcely able to maintain her ground against the Yolscians 
 and Hernicans. When those disabihties were removed, she 
 rapidly became more than a match for Carthage and Macedon. 
 
 During the great Licinian contest the Plebeian poets were, 
 doubtless, not silent. Even in modern times songs have 
 been by no means without influence on public affairs ; and 
 we may therefore infer that, in a society where printing was 
 unknown, and where books were rare, a pathetic or humorous 
 party-ballad must have produced effects such as we can but 
 faintly conceive. It is certain that satirical poems were 
 common at Rome from a very early period. The rustics, 
 who lived at a distance from the seat of government, and 
 took little part in the strife of factions, gave vent to their 
 petty local animosities in coarse Fescennine verse. The 
 

 VIRGINIA. 149 
 
 lampoons of the city were doubtless of a higher order ; and 
 their sting was early felt by the nobility. For in the 
 Twelve Tables, long before the time of the Licinian laws, 
 a severe punishment was denounced against the citizen who 
 should compose or recite verses reflecting on another. * Satire 
 is, indeed, the only sort of composition in which the Latin 
 poets, whose works have come down to us, were not mere 
 imitators of foreign models; and it is therefore the only L>ort 
 of composition in which they have never been rivalled. It 
 was not, like their tragedy, their comedy, their epic and lyric 
 poetry, a hothouse plant which, in return for assiduous and 
 skilful culture, gave only scanty and sickly fruits. It was 
 hardy and full of sap; and in all the various juices which 
 it yielded might be distinguished the flavour of the Ausonian 
 soil. " Satire," said Quinctilian, with just pride, " is all our 
 own." Satire sprang, in truth, naturally from the con- 
 stitution of the Roman government and from the spirit of 
 the Roman people ; and, though at length subjected to metrical 
 rules derived from Greece, retained to the last an essentially 
 
 * Cicero justly infers from this law that there had been early Latin poets whose 
 works had been lost before his time. " Quamquam id quidem etiam xii tabulae 
 declarant, condi jam turn solitum esse carmen, quod ne liceret fieri ad alterius 
 injuriam lege sanxerunt." — Tusc.\\.2. 
 
150 LAYS OF ANCIENT ROME. 
 
 Roman character. Lucilius was the earliest satirist whose 
 works were held in esteem under the Caesars. But, many 
 years before Lucilius was born, NaBvius had been flung into 
 a dungeon, and guarded there with circumstances of unusual 
 rigour, on account of the bitter lines in which he had attacked 
 the great Caecilian family.* The genius and spirit of the 
 Roman satirists survived the liberty of their country, and 
 wei'e not extinguished by the cruel despotism of the Julian 
 and Flavian Emperors. The great poet who told the story 
 of Domitian's turbot was the legitimate successor of those 
 forgotten minstrels whose songs animated the factions of the 
 infant Republic. 
 
 Those minstrels, as Niebuhr has remarked, appear to have 
 generally taken the popular side. We can hardly be mis- 
 taken in supposing that, at the great crisis of the civil con- 
 flict, they employed themselves in versifying all the most 
 powerful and virulent speeches of the Tribunes, and in heap- 
 ing abuse on the leaders of the aristocracy. Every personal 
 defect, every domestic scandal, every tradition dishonourable 
 to a noble house, would be sought out, brought into notice, 
 and exaggerated. The illustrious head of the aristocratical 
 
 * Plautus, Allies Gloriosus. Aulus Gellius, iil. 3. 
 
VIRGINIA. 151 
 
 party, Marcus Furius Camillus, might perhaps be, in some 
 measure, protected by his venerable age and by the memory 
 of his great services to the State. But Appius Claudius 
 Crassus enjoyed no such immunity. He was descended from 
 a long line of ancestors distinguished by their haughty de- 
 meanour, and by the inflexibihty with which they had with- 
 stood all the demands of the Plebeian order. While the 
 political conduct and the deportment of the Claudian nobles 
 drew upon them the fiercest public hatred, they were accused 
 of wanting, if any credit is due to the early history of Rome, 
 a class of qualities which, in a military Commonwealth, is 
 sufficient to cover a multitude of ofi'ences. The chiefs of the 
 family appear to have been eloquent, versed in civil business, 
 and learned after the fashion of their age ; but in war they 
 were not distinguished by skill or valour. Some of them, as 
 if conscious where their weakness lay, had, when filling the 
 highest magistracies, taken internal administration as their 
 department of public business, and left the military command 
 to their colleagues.* One of them had been intrusted with 
 an army, and had failed ignominiously.f None of them had 
 been honoured with a triumph. None of them had achieved 
 
 * In the years of the city 260, 304, and 330.- 
 t In the year of the city 282. 
 
152 LAYS OF ANCIENT ROME. 
 
 any martial exploit, such as those by which Lucius Quinctius 
 Cincinnatus, Titus Quinctius Capitolinus, Aulus Cornelius 
 Cossus, and, above all, the great Camillus, had extorted the 
 reluctant esteem of the multitude. During the Licinian con- 
 flict, Appius Claudius Crassus signalised himself by the ability 
 and severity with which he harangued against the two great 
 agitators. He would naturally, therefore, be the favourite 
 mark of the Plebeian satirists ; nor would they have been 
 at a loss to find a point on which he was open to attack. 
 
 His grandfather, called, like himself, Appius Claudius, had 
 left a name as much detested as that of Sextus Tarquinius. 
 This elder Appius had been Consul more than seventy years 
 before the introduction of the Licinian laws. By availing 
 himself of a singular crisis in public feeling, he had obtained 
 the consent of the Commons to the abolition of the Tribune- 
 ship, and had been the chief of that Council of Ten to which 
 the whole direction of the State had been committed. In 
 a few months his administration had become universally 
 odious. It had been swept away by an irresistible outbreak 
 of popular fury; and its memory was still held in abhorrence 
 by the whole city. The immediate cause of the downfall of 
 this execrable government was said to have been an attempt 
 made by Appius Claudius upon the chastity of a beautiful 
 
VIRGINIA. 153 
 
 young girl of humble birth. The story ran that the De- 
 cemvir, unable to succeed by bribes and solicitations, resorted 
 to an outrageous act of tyranny. A vile dependent of the 
 Claudian house laid claim to the damsel as his slave. The 
 cause was brought before the tribunal of Appius. The wicked 
 magistrate, in defiance of the clearest proofs, gave judgment 
 for the claimant. But the girFs father, a brave soldier, saved 
 her from servitude and dishonour by stabbing her to the 
 heart in the sight of the whole Forum. That blow was 
 the signal for a general explosion. Camp and city rose at 
 once ; the Ten were pulled down ; the Tribuneship was re- 
 established ; and Appius escaped the hands of the execu- 
 tioner only by a voluntary death. 
 
 It can hardly be doubted that a story so admirably adapted 
 to the purposes both of the poet and of the demagogue 
 would be eagerly seized upon by minstrels burning with 
 hatred against the Patrician order, against the Claudian house, 
 and especially against the grandson and namesake of the in- 
 famous Decemvir. 
 
 In order that the reader may judge fairly of these frag- 
 ments of the lay of Virginia, he must imagine himself a 
 Plebeian who has just voted for the re-election of Sextius 
 and Licinius. All the power of the Patricians has been 
 
154 LAYS OF ANCIENT ROME. 
 
 exerted to throw out the two great champions of the Com- 
 mons. Every Posthumius, -^milius, and Cornelius has used 
 his influence to the utmost. Debtors have been let out 
 of the workhouses on condition of voting against the men of 
 the people; clients have been posted to hiss and interrupt 
 the favourite candidates : Appius Claudius Crassus has spoken 
 with more than his usual eloquence and asperity : all has 
 been in vain ; Licinius and Sextius have a fifth time carried 
 all the tribes : work is suspended : the booths are closed : the 
 Plebeians bear on their shoulders the two champions of liberty 
 through the Forum. Just at this moment it is announced 
 that a popular poet, a zealous adherent of the Tribunes, has 
 made a new song which will cut the Claudian nobles to the 
 heart. The crowd gathers round him, and calls on him to 
 recite it. He takes his stand on the spot where, according 
 to tradition, Virginia, more than seventy years ago, was seized 
 by the pandar of Appius, and he begins his story. 
 
LVCRETIA. 
 
FRAGMENTS OF A LAY SUNG IN THE FORUM ON THE DAY WHEREON LUCIUS SEXTIUS 
 SEXTINUS LATERANUS AND CAIUS LICINIUS CALVUS STOLO WERE ELECTED TRIBUNES 
 OF THE COMMONS THE FIFTH TIME, IN THE YEAR OF THE CITY CCCLXXXII. 
 
 Ye good men of the Commons, with loving hearts and true. 
 Who stand by the bold Tribunes that still have stood by you. 
 Come, make a circle round me, and mark my tale with care, 
 A tale of what Rome once hath borne, of what Rome yet may bear. 
 
158 LAYS OF ANCIENT ROME. 
 
 This is no Grecian fable, of fountains running wine. 
 
 Of maids with snaky tresses, or sailors turned to swine. 
 
 Here, in this very Forum, under the noonday sun, 
 
 In sight of all the people, the bloody deed was done. 
 
 Old men still creep among us who saw that fearful day, 
 
 Just seventy years and seven ago, when the wicked Ten bare sway. 
 
 Of all the wicked Ten still the names are held accursed, 
 And of all the wicked Ten Appius Claudius was the worst. 
 He stalked along the Forum like King Tarquin in his pride : 
 Twelve axes waited on him, six marching on a side ; 
 The townsmen shrank to right and left, and eyed askance with fear 
 His lowering brow, his curling mouth which alway seemed to sneer: 
 That brow of hate, that mouth of scorn, marks all the kindred still ; 
 For never was there Claudius yet but wished the Commons ill : 
 Nor lacks he fit attendance ; for close behind his heels. 
 With outstretched chin and crouching pace, the client Marcus 
 
 steals, 
 His loins girt up to run with speed, be the errand what it may. 
 And the smile flickering on his cheek, for aught his lord may say. 
 Such varlets pimp and jest for hire among the lying Greeks: 
 Such varlets still are paid to hoot when brave Licinius speaks. 
 Where'er ye shed the honey, the buzzing flies will crowd ; 
 Where'er ye fling the carrion, the raven's croak is loud ; 
 
VIRGINIA. 
 
 159 
 
 Where'er down Tiber garbage floats, the greedy pike ye see ; 
 And wheresoe'er such lord is found, such client still will be. 
 
 Just then, as through one cloudless chink in a black stormy sky 
 Shines out the dewy morning-star, a fair young girl came by. 
 With her small tablets in her hand, and her satchel on her arm, 
 Home she went bounding from the school, nor dreamed of shame or harm 
 And past those dreaded axes she innocently ran. 
 
 With bright, frank brow that had not learned to blush at gaze of man : 
 And up the Sacred Street she turned, and, as she danced along. 
 She warbled gaily to herself lines of the good old song, 
 How for a sport the princes came spurring from the camp, 
 And found Lucrece, combing the fleece, under the midnight lamp. 
 
 ■^x\ \\\ 
 
160 LAYS OF ANCIENT ROME. 
 
 The maiden sang as sings the lark, when up he darts his flight, 
 
 From his nest in the green April corn, to meet the morning light ; 
 
 And Appius heard her sweet young voice, and saw her sweet young face, 
 
 And loved her with the accursed love of his accursed race, 
 
 And all along the Forum, and up the Sacred Street, 
 
 His vulture eye pursued the trip of those small glancing feet. 
 
 Over the Alban mountains the light of morning broke ; 
 From all the roofs of the Seven Hills curled the thin wreaths of smoke : 
 The city-gates were opened ; the Forum, all alive, 
 With buyers and with sellers was humming like a hive : 
 Blithely on brass and timber the craftsman's stroke was ringing. 
 And blithely o'er her panniers the market-girl was singing. 
 And blithely young Virginia came smiling from her home : 
 Ah ! woe for young Virginia, the sweetest maid in Home ! 
 With her small tablets in her hand, and her satchel on her arm, 
 Forth she went bounding to the school, nor dreamed of shame or harm. 
 She crossed the Forum shining with stalls in alleys gay. 
 And just had reached the very spot whereon I stand this day. 
 When up the varlet Marcus came ; not such as when ere while 
 He crouched behind his patron's heels with the true client smile : 
 He came with lowering forehead, swollen features, and clenched fist. 
 And strode across Virginia's path, and caught her by the wrist. 
 
VIKGINIA. 161 
 
 Hard strove the frighted maiden, and screamed with look aghast ; 
 
 And at her scream from right and left the folk came running fast ; 
 
 The money-changer Crispus, with his thin silver hairs. 
 
 And Hanno from the stately booth glittering with Punic wares. 
 
 And the strong smith Mursena, grasping a half-forged brand. 
 
 And Yolero the flesher, his cleaver in his hand. 
 
 All came in wrath and wonder ; for all knew that fair child ; 
 
 And, as she passed them twice a day, all kissed their hands and 
 
 smiled ; 
 And the strong smith Muraena gave Marcus such a blow. 
 The caitiff reeled three paces back, and let the maiden go. 
 Yet glared he fiercely round him, and growled in harsh, fell tone, 
 " She 's mine, and I will have her : I seek but for mine own : 
 She is my slave, born in my house, and stolen away and sold. 
 The year of the sore sickness, ere she was twelve hours old. 
 'Twas in the sad September, the month of wail and fright, 
 Two augurs were borne forth that mom ; the Consul died ere night. 
 I wait on Appius Claudius ; I waited on his sire : 
 Let him who works the client wrong beware the patron's ire ! " 
 
 So spake the varlet Marcus ; and dread and silence came 
 On all the people at the sound of the great Claudian name. 
 For then there was no Tribune to speak the word of might. 
 Which makes the rich man tremble, and guards the poor man's right. 
 
162 
 
 LAYS OF ANCIENT ROME. 
 
 There was no brave Licinius, no honest Sextius then ; 
 
 But all the city, in great fear, obeyed the wicked Ten. 
 
 Yet ere the varlet Marcus again might seize the maid, 
 
 Who clung tight to Muraena's skirt, and sobbed, and shrieked for aid. 
 
 Forth through the throng of gazers the young Icilius pressed. 
 
 And stamped his foot, and rent his gown, and smote upon his breast. 
 
 And sprang upon that column, by many a minstrel sung, 
 
 Whereon three mouldering helmets, three rusting swords, are hung, 
 
 And beckoned to the people, and in bold voice and clear 
 
 Poured thick and fast the burning words which tyrants quake to hear. 
 
 " Now, by your children's cradles, now, by your fathers' graves. 
 Be men to-day, Quirites, or be for ever slaves ! 
 
VIRGINIA. 163 
 
 For this did Servius give us laws ? For this did Lucrece bleed ? 
 
 For this was the great vengeance wrought on Tarquin's evil seed ? 
 
 For this did those false sons make red the axes of their sire ? 
 
 For this did Scsevola's right hand hiss in the Tuscan fire ? 
 
 Shall the vile fox-earth awe the race that stormed the lion's den ? 
 
 Shall we, who could not brook one lord, crouch to the wicked Ten ? 
 
 Oh for that ancient spirit which curbed the Senate's will ! 
 
 Oh for the tents which in old time whitened the Sacred Hill ! 
 
 In those brave days our fathers stood firmly side by side ; 
 
 They faced the Marcian fury ; they tamed the Fabian pride : 
 
 Tliey drove the fiercest Quinctius an outcast forth from Rome ; 
 
 They sent the haughtiest Claudius with shivered fasces home. 
 
 But what their care bequeathed us our madness flung away : 
 
 All the ripe fruit of threescore years was blighted in a day. 
 
 Exult, ye proud Patricians ! The hard-fought fight is o'er. 
 
 We strove for honours — 'twas in vain : for freedom — 'tis no more. 
 
 No crier to the polling summons the eager throng ; 
 
 No Tribune breathes the word of might that guards the weak from wrong. 
 
 Our very hearts, that were so high, sink down beneath your will. 
 
 Riches, and lands, and power, and state — ye have them : — keep them still. 
 
 Still keep the holy fillets ; still keep the purple gown, 
 
 The axes, and the curule chair, the car, and laurel crown : 
 
 Still press us for your cohorts, and, when the fight is done. 
 
 Still fill your garners from the soil which our good swords have won. 
 
164 LAYS OF ANCIENT ROME. 
 
 Still, like a spreading ulcer, which leech-craft may not cure. 
 
 Let your foul usance eat away the substance of the poor. 
 
 Still let your haggard debtors bear all their fathers bore ; 
 
 Still let your dens of torment be noisome as of yore ; 
 
 No fire when Tiber freezes ; no air in dog-star heat ; 
 
 And store of rods for free-born backs, and holes for free-born feet. 
 
 Heap heavier still the fetters ; bar closer still the grate ; 
 
 Patient as sheep we yield us up unto your cruel hate. 
 
 But, by the Shades beneath us, and by the Gods above. 
 
 Add not unto your cruel hate your yet more cruel love ! 
 
 Have ye not graceful ladies, whose spotless lineage springs 
 
 From Consuls, and High Pontiffs, and ancient Alban kings ? 
 
 Ladies, who deign not on our paths to set their tender feet. 
 
 Who from their cars look down with scorn upon the wondering street, 
 
 Who in Corinthian mirrors their own proud smiles behold. 
 
 And breathe of Capuan odours, and shine with Spanish gold ? 
 
 Then leave the poor Plebeian his single tie to life — 
 
 The sweet, sweet love of daughter, of sister, and of wife. 
 
 The gentle speech, the balm for all that his vexed soul endures. 
 
 The kiss, in which he half forgets even such a yoke as yours. 
 
 Still let the maiden's beauty swell the father's breast with pride ; 
 
 Still let the bridegroom's arms infold an unpolluted bride. 
 
 Spare us the inexpiable wrong, the unutterable shame. 
 
 That turns the coward's heart to steel, the sluggard's blood to flame. 
 
VIRGINIA. 
 
 165 
 
 Lest, when our latest hope is fled, ye taste of our despair. 
 
 And learn by proof, in some wild hour, how much the wretched dare." 
 
 Straightway Yirginius led the maid a little space aside, 
 To where the reeking shambles stood, piled up with horn and hide, 
 Close to yon low dark archway, where, in a crimson flood. 
 Leaps down to the great sewer the gurgling stream of blood. 
 Hard by, a flesher on a block had laid his whittle down : 
 Yirginius caught the w^hittle up, and hid it in his gown. 
 And then his eyes grew very dim, and his throat began to swell. 
 And in a hoarse, changed voice he spake, " Farewell, sweet child ! 
 Farewell ! 
 
166 
 
 LAYS OF ANCIENT ROME. 
 
 Oh ! how I loved my darling ! Though stern I sometimes be. 
 
 To thee, thou know'st, I was not so. Who could be so to thee ? 
 
 And how my darling loved me ! How glad she was to hear 
 
 My footstep on the threshold when I came back last year ! 
 
 And how she danced with pleasure to see my civic crown, 
 
 And took my sword, and hung it up, and brought me forth my gown ! 
 
 Now, all those things are over — yes, all thy pretty ways, 
 
 Thy needlework, thy prattle, thy snatches of old lays ; 
 
 And none will grieve when I go forth, or smile when I return. 
 
 Or watch beside the old man's bed, or weep upon his urn. 
 
VIRGINIA. 
 
 167 
 
 The house that was the happiest within the Roman walls, 
 
 The house that envied not the wealth of Capua's marble halls. 
 
 Now, for the brightness of thy smile, must have eternal gloom. 
 
 And for the music of thy voice, the silence of the tomb. 
 
 The time is come. See how he points his eager hand this way ! 
 
 See how his eyes gloat on thy grief, like a kite's upon the prey ! 
 
 With all his wit, he little deems, that, spurned, betrayed, bereft. 
 
 Thy father hath in his despair one fearful refuge left. 
 
 He little deems that in this hand I clutch what still can save 
 
 Thy gentle youth from taunts and blows, the portion of the slave ; 
 
168 LAYS OF ANCIENT ROME. 
 
 Yea, and from nameless evil, that passeth taunt and blow — 
 
 Foul outrage which thou knowest not, which thou shalt never know. 
 
 Then clasp me round the neck once more, and give me one more kiss ; 
 
 And now, mine own dear little girl, there is no way but this." 
 
 With that he lifted high the steel, and smote her in the side, 
 
 And in her blood she sank to earth, and with one sob she died. 
 
 Then, for a little moment, all people held their. breath; 
 And through the crowded Forum was stillness as of death ; 
 And in another moment brake forth from one and all 
 A cry as if the Yolscians were coming o'er the wall. 
 Some with averted faces shrieking fled home amain ; 
 Some ran to call a leech ; and some ran to lift the slain : 
 Some felt her lips and little wrist, if life might there be found ; 
 And some tore up their garments fast, and strove to stanch the wound. 
 In vain they ran, and felt, and stanched ; for never truer blow 
 That good right arm had dealt in fight against a Yolscian foe. 
 
 When Appius Claudius saw that deed, he shuddered and sank down. 
 And hid his face some little space with the corner of his gown, 
 Till, with white lips and bloodshot eyes, Virginius tottered nigh. 
 And stood before the judgment-seat, and held the knife on high. 
 " Oh ! dwellers in the nether gloom, avengers of the slain. 
 By this dear blood I cry to you, do right between us twain ; 
 
VIRGINIA. 
 
 169 
 
 And even as Appius Claudius hath dealt by me and mine, 
 
 Deal you by Appius Claudius and all the Claudian line ! " 
 
 So spake the slayer of his child, and turned, and went his way; 
 
 But first he cast one haggard glance to where the body lay. 
 
 And writhed, and groaned a fearful groan, and then, with steadfast feet. 
 
 Strode right across the market-place unto the Sacred Street. 
 
 Then up sprang Appius Claudius : " Stop him; alive or dead! 
 Ten thousand pounds of copper to the man who brings his head." 
 
170 LAYS OF ANCIENT ROME. 
 
 He looked upon his clients ; but none would work his will. 
 He looked upon his lictors ; but they trembled, and stood still. 
 And, as Virginius through the press his way in silence cleft. 
 Ever the mighty multitude fell back to right and left. 
 And he hath passed in safety unto his woeful home. 
 And there ta'en horse to tell the camp what deeds are done in 
 Kome. 
 
 By this the flood of people was swollen from every side. 
 And streets and porches round were filled with that o'erflowing tide ; 
 And close around the body gathered a little train 
 Of them that were the nearest and dearest to the slain. 
 They brought a bier, and hung it with many a cypress crown, . 
 And gently they uplifted her, and gently laid her down. 
 The face of Appius Claudius wore the Claudian scowl and sneer. 
 And in the Claudian note he cried, " What doth this rabble here ? 
 Have they no crafts to mind at home, that hitherward they stray ? 
 Ho ! lictors, clear the market-place, and fetch the corpse away ! " 
 The voice of grief and fury till then had not been loud ; 
 But a deep sullen murmur wandered among the crowd. 
 Like the moaning noise that goes before the whirlwind on the deep. 
 Or the growl of a fierce watch-dog but half-aroused from sleep. 
 But when the lictors at that word, tall yeomen all and strong. 
 Each with his axe and sheaf of twigs, went down into the throng, 
 
VIRGINIA. 171 
 
 Those old men say, who saw that day of sorrow and of sin, 
 
 That in the Roman Forum was never such a din. 
 
 The wailing, hooting, cursing, the howls of grief and hate, 
 
 Were heard beyond the Pincian Hill, beyond the Latin Gate. 
 
 But close around the body, where stood the little train 
 
 Of them that were the nearest and dearest to the slain. 
 
 No cries were there, but teeth set fast, low whispers, and black frowns. 
 
 And breaking up of benches, and girding up of gowns. 
 
 'T was well the lictors might not pierce to where the maiden lay. 
 
 Else surely had they been all twelve torn limb from limb that day. 
 
 Right glad they were to struggle back, blood streaming from their heads. 
 
 With axes all in splinters, and raiment all in shreds. 
 
 Then Appius Claudius gnawed his lip, and the blood left his cheek ; 
 
 And thrice he beckoned with his hand, and thrice he strove to speak ; 
 
 And thrice the tossing Forum set up a frightful yell ; 
 
 " See, see, thou dog ! what thou hast done ; and hide thy shame in hell ! 
 
 Thou that wouldst make our maidens slaves must first make slaves of men. 
 
 Tribunes ! Hurrah for Tribunes ! Down with the wicked Ten ! " 
 
 And straightway, thick as hailstones, came whizzing through the air 
 
 Pebbles, and bricks, and potsherds, all round the curule chair : 
 
 And upon Appius Claudius great fear and trembling came ; 
 
 For never was a Claudius yet brave against aught but shame. 
 
 Though the great houses love us not, we own, to do them right. 
 
 That the great houses, all save one, have borne them well in fight. 
 
172 
 
 LAYS OF ANCIENT ROME. 
 
 Still Caius of Corioli, his triumphs, and his wrongs, 
 
 His vengeance, and his mercy, live in our camp-fire songs. 
 
 Beneath the yoke of Furius oft have Gaul and Tuscan bowed ; 
 
 And Rome may bear the pride of him of whom herself is proud. 
 
 But evermore a Claudius shrinks from a stricken field. 
 
 And changes colour like a maid at sight of sword and shield. 
 
 The Claudian triumphs all were won within the city-towers ; 
 
 The Claudian yoke was never pressed on any necks but ours. 
 
 A Cossus, like a wild cat, springs ever at the face ; 
 
 A Fabius rushes like a boar against the shouting chase ; 
 
 But the vile Claudian litter, raging with currish spite. 
 
 Still yelps and snaps at those who run, still runs from those who smite. 
 
 So now 't was seen of Appius. When stones began to fly. 
 
 He shook, and crouched, and wrung his hands, and smote upon his thigh 
 
 " Kind clients, honest lictors, stand by me in this fray ! 
 
 Must I be torn in pieces ? Home, home, the nearest way ! " 
 
VIRGINIA. 
 
 173 
 
 While yet he spake, and looked around with a bewildered stare, 
 
 Four sturdy lictors put their necks beneath the curule chair ; 
 
 And fourscore clients on the left, and fourscore on the right. 
 
 Arrayed themselves with swords and staves, and loins girt up for fight. 
 
 But, though without or staff or sword, so furious was the throng, 
 
 That scarce the train with might and main could bring their lord along. 
 
 Twelve times the crowd made at him ; five times they seized his gown ; 
 
 Small chance was his to rise again, if once they got him down : 
 
 And sharper came the pelting ; and evermore the yell — 
 
 " Tribunes! we will have Tribunes ! " — rose with a louder swell: 
 
174 
 
 LAYS OF ANCIENT ROME. 
 
 And the chair tossed as tosses a bark with tattered sail 
 
 When raves the Adriatic beneath an eastern gale, 
 
 When the Calabrian sea-marks are lost in clouds of spume, 
 
 And the great Thunder-Cape has donned his veil of inky gloom. 
 
 One stone hit Appius in the mouth, and one beneath the ear ; 
 
 And ere he reached Mount Palatine, he swooned with pain and fear. 
 
 His cursed head, that he was wont to hold so high with pride, 
 
 Now, like a drunken man's, hung down, and swayed from side to side ; 
 
 And when his stout retainers had brought him to his door, 
 
 His face and neck were all one cake of filth and clotted gore. 
 
 As Appius Claudius was that day, so may his grandson be ! 
 
 God send Rome one such other sight, and send me there to see ! 
 
THE PROPHECY OF CAPYS. 
 
THE PROPHECY OF CAPYS. 
 
 It can hardly be necessary to remind any reader that, 
 according to the popular tradition, Romulus, after he had 
 slain his grand-uncle Amulius, and restored his grandfather 
 Numitor, determined to quit Alba, the hereditary domain 
 of the Sylvian princes, and to found a new city. The Gods, 
 it was added, vouchsafed the clearest signs of the favour 
 with which they regarded the enterprise, and of the high 
 destinies reserved for the young colony. 
 
 This event was likely to be a favourite theme of the old 
 Latin minstrels. They would naturally attribute the project 
 of Romulus to some divine intimation of the power and pro- 
 sperity which it was decreed that his city should attain. 
 They would probably introduce seers foretelling the victories 
 of unborn Consuls and Dictators, and the last great victory 
 would generally occupy the' most conspicuous place in the 
 prediction. There is nothing strange in the supposition that 
 the poet who was employed to celebrate the first great 
 
178 LAYS OF ANCIENT ROME. 
 
 triumpli of the Romans over the Greeks might throw his 
 song of exultation into this form. 
 
 The occasion was one likely to excite the strongest feel- 
 ings of national pride. A great outrage had been followed 
 by a great retribution. Seven years before this time, Lucius 
 Posthumius Megellus, who sprang from one of the noblest 
 houses of Rome, and had been thrice Consul, was sent am- 
 bassador to Tarentum, with charge to demand reparation 
 for grievous injuries. The Tarentines gave him audience in 
 their theatre, where he addressed them in such Greek as he 
 could command, which, we may well believe, was not exactly 
 such as Cineas would have spoken. An exquisite sense of 
 the ridiculous belonged to the Greek character; and closely 
 connected with this faculty was a strong propensity to 
 flippancy and impertinence. When Posthumius placed an 
 accent wrong, his hearers burst into a laugh. When he 
 remonstrated, they hooted him, and called him barbarian ; and 
 at length hissed him off the stage as if he had been a bad 
 actor. As the grave Roman retired, a buffoon who, from 
 his constant drunkenness, was nicknamed the Pint-pot, came 
 up with gestures of the grossest indecency, and bespattered 
 the senatorial gown with filth. Posthumius turned round to 
 the multitude, and held up the gown, as if' appealing to the 
 
THE PROPHECY OF CAPYS. 179 
 
 universal law of nations. The sight only increased the in- 
 solence of the Tarentiries. They clapped their hands, and 
 set up a shout of laughter which shook the theatre. " Men 
 of Tarentum," said Posthumius, " it will take not a little 
 blood to wash this gown." * 
 
 Rome, in consequence of this insult, declared war against 
 the Tarentines. The Tarentines sought for allies beyond 
 the Ionian Sea. Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, came to their help 
 with a large army ; and, for the first time, the two great 
 nations of antiquity were fairly matched against each other. 
 
 The fame of Greece in arms, as well as in arts, was then 
 at the height. Half a century earlier, the career of Alexander 
 had excited the admiration and terror of all nations from 
 the Ganges to the Pillars of Hercules. Eoyal houses, founded 
 by Macedonian captains, still reigned at Antioch and Alex- 
 andria. That barbarian warriors, led by barbarian chiefs, 
 should win a pitched battle against Greek valour guided by 
 Greek science, seemed as incredible as it would now seem 
 that the Burmese or the Siamese should, in the open plain, 
 put to flight an equal number of the best English troops. 
 The Tarentines were convinced that their countrymen were 
 
 * Dion. Hal. De Legationibus; 
 
180 
 
 LAYS OF ANCIENT ROME. 
 
 irresistible in war ; and this conviction had emboldened them 
 to treat with the grossest indignity one whom they regarded 
 as the representative of an inferior race. Of the Greek 
 generals then living Pyrrhus was indisputably the first. 
 Among the troops wlio were trained in the Greek discipline 
 his Epirotes ranked high. His expedition to Italy was a 
 turning-point in the history of the world. He found there 
 a people who, far inferior to the Athenians and Corinthians 
 
THE PROPHECY OF CAPYS. 181 
 
 in the fine arts, in the speculative sciences, and in all the 
 refinements of life, were the best soldiers on the face of the 
 earth. Their arms, their gradations of rank, their order of 
 battle, their method of intrenchment, were all of Latian 
 origin, and had all been gradually brought near to perfection, 
 not by the study of foreign models, but by the genius and 
 experience of many generations of great native commanders. 
 The first words which broke from the king, when his prac- 
 tised eye had surveyed the Roman encampment, were full of 
 meaning : — " These barbarians," he said, " have nothing bar- 
 barous in their military arrangements." He was at first 
 victorious ; for his own talents were superior to those of 
 the captains who were opposed to him ; and the Romans 
 were not prepared for the onset of the elephants of the East, 
 which were then for the first time seen in Italy — moving 
 mountains, with long snakes for hands.* But the victories 
 of the Epirotes were fiercely disputed, dearly purchased, and 
 altogether unprofitable. At length, Manius Curius Dentatus, 
 who had in his first Consulship won two triumphs, was again 
 placed at the head of the Roman Commonwealth, and sent 
 to encounter the invaders. A great battle was fought near 
 
 * Anguimanus is the old Latin epithet for an elephant. Lucretius, ii. 538. v. 1302. 
 
182 
 
 LAYS OF ANCIENT ROME. 
 
 Beneventum. Pyrrhus was completely defeated. He repassed 
 the sea ; and the world learned with amazement, that a 
 people had been discovered, who, in fair fighting, were superior 
 to the best troops that had been drilled on the system of 
 Parmenio and Antigonus. 
 
 The conquerors had a good right to exult in their success ; 
 for their glory was all their own. They had not learned 
 from their enemy how to conquer him. It was with their 
 own national arms, and in their own national battle-array, 
 that they had overcome weapons and tactics long believed to 
 be invincible. The pilum and the broadsword had vanquished 
 
THE PROPHECY OF CAPYS. 
 
 183 
 
 the Macedonian spear. The legion had broken the Mace- 
 donian phalanx. Even the elephants, when the surprise pro- 
 duced by their first appearance was over, could cause no 
 disorder in the steady yet flexible battalions of Rome. 
 
 It is said by Florus, and may easily be believed, that the 
 triumph far surpassed in magnificence any that Rome had 
 previously seen. The only spoils which Papirius Cursor and 
 
 Fabius Maximus could exhibit were flocks and herds, waggons 
 of rude structure, and heaps of spears and helmets. But 
 now, for the first time, the riches of Asia and the arts of 
 Greece adorned a Roman pageant. Plate, fine stuff's, costly 
 furniture, rare animals, exquisite paintings and sculptures, 
 formed part of the procession. At the banquet would be 
 assembled a crowd of warriors and statesmen, among whom 
 Manius Curius Dentatus would take the highest room. Caius 
 Fabricius Luscinus, then, after two Consulships and two 
 
184 LAYS or ANCIENT EOME. 
 
 triumplis, Censor of the Commonwealth, would doubtless 
 occupy a place of honour at the board. In situations less 
 conspicuous probably lay some of those who were, a few 
 years later, the terror of Carthage ; Caius Duilius, the founder 
 of the maritime greatness of his country; Marcus Atilius 
 Eegulus, who owed to defeat a renown far higher than that 
 which he had derived from his victories; and Caius Lutatius 
 Catulus, who, while suffering from a grievous wound, fought 
 the great battle of the -Agates, and brought the first Punic 
 war to a triumphant close. It is impossible to recount the 
 names of these eminent citizens, without reflecting that they 
 were all, without exception. Plebeians, and would, but for 
 the ever memorable struggle maintained by Caius Licinius 
 and Lucius Sextius, have been doomed to hide in obscurity, 
 or to waste in civil broils, the capacity and energy which 
 prevailed against Pyrrhus and Hamilcar. 
 
 On such a day we may suppose that the patriotic enthu- 
 siasm of a Latin poet would vent itself in reiterated shouts 
 of lo triumphe^ such as were uttered by Horace on a far less 
 exciting occasion, and in boasts resembling those which Virgil 
 put into the mouth of Anchises. The superiority of some 
 foreign nations, and especially of the Greeks, in the lazy arts 
 of peace, would be admitted with disdainful candour; but 
 
THE PKOPHECY OF CAPYS. 
 
 185 
 
 pre-eminence in all the qualities which fit a people to subdue 
 and govern mankind would be claimed for the Romans. 
 
 The following lay belongs to the latest age of Latin ballad- 
 poetry. Naevius and Livius Andronicus were probably among 
 the children whose mothers held them up to see the chariot 
 of Curius go by. The minstrel who sang on that day might 
 possibly have lived to read the first hexameters of Ennius, 
 and to see the first comedies of Plautus. His poem, as 
 might be expected, shows a much wider acquaintance with 
 the geography, manners, and productions of remote nations, 
 than would have been found in compositions of the age of 
 Camillus. But he troubles himself little about dates; and 
 having heard travellers talk with admiration of the Colossus 
 of Rhodes, and of the structures and gardens with which 
 the Macedonian kings of Syria had embellished their resi- 
 dence on the banks of the Orontes, he has never thought of 
 inquiring whether these things existed in the age of Roitiulus. 
 
 p^t^:^-^^r-- 
 
 
 / I 
 
nO/A/E 
 
 PRlKoaDIA 
 
 Sfc 
 
 THE PROPHECY OF CAPYS. 
 
 A LAY SUNG AT THE BANQUET IN THE CAPITOL, ON THE 
 DAY WHEREON MANIUS CURIUS DENTATUS, A SECOND TIME 
 CONSUL, TRIUMPHED OVER KING PYRRHUS AND THE 
 TAREXTINES, IN THE YEAR OF THE CITY CCCCLXXIX, 
 
 f 
 
 Now slain is King Amulius, 
 Of the great Sylvian line, 
 
 Who reigned in Alba Longa, 
 On the throne of Aventine. 
 
 Slain is the Pontiff Gamers, 
 Who spake the words of doom 
 
" The cliiMren to the Tiber, 
 The mother to the tomb." 
 
 II. 
 
 In Alba's lake no fisher 
 
 His net to-day is flinging : 
 On the dark rind of Alba's oaks 
 
 To-day no axe is ringing : 
 The yoke hangs o'er the manger : 
 
 The scythe lies in the hay : 
 Through all the Alban villages 
 
 No work is done to-day. 
 
 III. 
 
 And every Alban burgher 
 
 Hath donned his whitest gown ; 
 And every head in Alba 
 
 Weareth a poplar crown ; 
 And every Alban door-post 
 
 With boughs and flowers is gay : 
 For to-day the dead are living ; 
 
 The lost are found to-day. 
 
 IV. 
 
 They were doomed by a bloody king : 
 They were doomed by a lying priest 
 
They were cast on the raging flood : 
 They were tracked by the raging beast : 
 
 Kaging beast and raging flood 
 Alike have spared the prey ; 
 
 And to-day the dead are living : 
 The lost are found to-day. 
 
Y. 
 
 The troubled river knew them, 
 
 And smoothed his yellow foam, 
 And gently rocked the cradle 
 
 That bore the fate of Rome. 
 The ravening she-wolf knew them. 
 
 And licked them o'er and o'er. 
 And gave them of her own fierce milk, 
 
 Rich with raw flesh and gore. 
 Twenty winters, twenty springs. 
 
 Since then have rolled away ; 
 And to-day the dead are living : 
 
 The lost are found to-day. 
 
 VI. 
 
 Blithe it was to see the twins. 
 
 Right goodly youths and tall. 
 Marching from Alba Longa 
 
 To their old grandsire's hall. 
 Along their path fresh garlands 
 
 Are hung from tree to tree : 
 Before them stride the pipers. 
 
 Piping a note of glee. 
 
 VII. 
 
 On the right goes Romulus, 
 With arms to the elbows red. 
 

 And in his hand a broadsword. 
 
 And on the blade a head — 
 A head in an iron helmet. 
 
 With horse-hair hanging down, 
 A shaggy head, a swarthy head, 
 
 Fixed in a ghastly frown — 
 The head of King Amulius 
 
 Of the great Sylvian line. 
 Who reigned in Alba Longa, 
 
 On the throne of Aventine. 
 
VIII. 
 
 On the left side goes Remus, 
 
 With wrists and fingers red, 
 And in his hand a boar-spear. 
 
 And on the point a head — 
 A wrinkled head and aged. 
 
 With silver beard and hair. 
 And holy fillets round it. 
 
 Such as the pontiffs wear — 
 The head of ancient Gamers, 
 
 Who spake the words of doom : 
 " The children to the Tiber ; 
 
 The mother to the tomb." 
 
 IX. 
 
 Two and two behind the twins 
 
 Their trusty comrades go. 
 Four and forty valiant men. 
 
 With club, and axe, and bow. 
 On each side every hamlet 
 
 Pours forth its joyous crowd. 
 Shouting lads and baying dogs. 
 
 And children laughing loud. 
 And old men weeping fondly 
 
 As Rhea's boys go by. 
 And maids who shriek to see the heads, 
 
 Yet, shrieking, press more nigh. 
 
So they marched along the lake ; 
 
 They inarched by fold and stall. 
 By corn-field and by vineyard. 
 
 Unto the old man's hall. 
 
 XI. 
 
 In the hall-gate sate Capys, 
 
 Capys, the sightless seer ; 
 From head to foot he trembled 
 
 As Romulus drew near. 
 And up stood stiff his thin white hair. 
 
 And his blind eyes flashed fire : 
 " Hail ! foster child of the wonderous nurse ! 
 
 Hail ! son of the wonderous sire ! 
 
 I 
 
di 
 
 XII. 
 
 " But thou — what dost thou here 
 S^V" In the old man's peaceful hall ? 
 
 What doth the eagle in the coop, 
 
 The bison in the stall ? 
 Our corn fills many a garner ; 
 
 Our vines clasp many a tree ; 
 Our flocks are white on many a hill ; 
 
 But these are not for thee. 
 
 .e 
 
 XIII. 
 
 " For thee no treasure ripens 
 
 In the Tartessian mine : 
 For thee no ship brings precious bales 
 
 Across the Libyan brine : 
 Thou shalt not drink from amber ; 
 
 Thou shalt not rest on down ; 
 Arabia shall not steep thy locks, 
 
 Nor Sidon tinge thy gown. 
 
 ^1 
 
 \j^ 
 
 il 
 
 XIV. 
 
 " Leave gold and myrrh and jewels. 
 
 Rich table and soft bed. 
 To them who of man's seed are born. 
 
 Whom woman's milk hath fed. 
 
 m 
 
Thou wast not made for lucre, 
 
 For pleasure, nor for rest ; 
 Thou, that art sprung from the War-god's loins, 
 
 And hast tugged at the she-wolf's breast. 
 
 " From sunrise unto sunset 
 All earth shall hear thy fame 
 
 A glorious city thou shalt build. 
 And name it by thy name : 
 
/': 
 
 n 
 
 And there, unquenched through ages, 
 
 Like Vesta's sacred fire, 9 ^^^^tS^'^^^^^Ko 
 
 Shall live the spirit of thy nurse. 
 
 The spirit of thy sire. 
 
 
 XVI. 
 
 " The ox toils through the furrow, 
 Obedient to the goad ; 
 
 The patient ass, up flinty paths, 
 ^J ^y0^\Ap Plods with his weary load : 
 
 With whine and bound the spaniel 
 His master's whistle hears ; 
 
 And the sheep yields her patiently 
 To the loud clashing shears. 
 
 XVII. 
 
 ,13^ ^^^4^^^*^ / " -^^^ *^y nurse will hear no master. 
 
 Thy nurse will bear no load ; 
 
 I 
 
 "Qs^^^^vt And woe to them that shear her, ^"^^'^'^M^ t. 
 
 J And woe to them that goad ! 
 
 ^ When all the pack, loud baying, 
 ^ ^ Her bloody lair surrounds. 
 
 She dies in silence, biting hard, 
 Amidst the dying hounds. 
 

 
 XVIII. 
 
 " Pomona loves the orchard ; 
 
 And Liber loves the vine ; 
 And Pales loves the straw-built shed 
 
 Warm with the breath of kine ; 
 And Venus loves the whispers 
 
 Of plighted youth and maid, 
 In April's ivory moonlight 
 
 Beneath the chestnut shade. 
 
 XIX. 
 
 " But thy father loves the clashing 
 
 Of broadsword and of shield : 
 He loves to drink the steam that reeks 
 
 From the fresh battle-field : 
 He smiles a smile more dreadful 
 
 Than his own dreadful frown, 
 When he sees the thick black cloud of smoke 
 
 Go up from the conquered town. 
 
 f'-^^ 
 
 inr 
 
 /X 
 
XX. 
 
 " And such as is the War-god, c P O L I A 
 
 The author of thy line, 
 And such as she who suckled thee, O P I M A 
 
 Even such be thou and thine. 
 Leave to the soft Campanian 
 
 His baths and his perfumes ; 
 Leave to the sordid race of Tyre 
 
 Their dyeing-vats and looms : 
 Leave to the sons of Carthage 
 
 The rudder and the oar : 
 Leave to the Greek his marble Nymphs ..c 
 
 And scrolls of wordy lore. ^) 
 
 XXI. 
 
 " Thine, Roman, is the pilum: 
 
 Koman, the sword is thine, '^ 
 
 The even trench, the bristling mound, 
 
 The legion's ordered line ; 
 And thine the wheels of t riumph. 
 
 Which with their laurelled train 
 Move slowly up the shouting streets 
 
 To Jove's eternal fane. 
 
 XXII. 
 
 ^' Beneath thy yoke the Yolscian 
 Shall vail his lofty brow : 
 
[ Vlt^l&OM/lHVyj 
 
 Soft Capua's curled revellers 
 Before thy chairs shall bow : 
 
 The Lucumoes of Amus 
 
 Shall quake thy rods to see ; 
 
 And the proud Samnite's heart of steel 
 Shall yield to only thee. 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 *^ The Gaul shall come against thee 
 From the land of snow and night : 
 
 Thou shalt give his fair-haired armies 
 To the raven and the kite. 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 " The Greek shall come against thee. 
 
 The conqueror of the East. 
 Beside him stalks to battle 
 
 The huge earth-shaking beast. 
 The beast on whom the castle 
 
 With all its guards doth stand, 
 The beast who hath between his eyes 
 
 The serpent for a hand. 
 
 ^ Ps. R. f^ vj« 
 
First march the bold Epirotes, 
 
 Wedged close with shield and spear : 
 
 And the ranks of false Tarentum 
 Are glittering in the rear. 
 
 XXV. 
 
 " The ranks of false Tarentum 
 
 Like hunted sheep shall fly : 
 In vain the bold Epirotes 
 
 Shall round their standards die ; 
 And Apennine's grey vultures 
 
 Shall have a noble feast 
 On the fat and the eyes 
 
 Of the huge earth-shaking beast. 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 " Hurrah ! for the good weapons 
 
 That keep the War-god's land. 
 Hurrah ! for Rome's stout pilum 
 
 In a stout Roman hand. 
 Hurrah ! for Rome's short broadsword 
 
 That through the thick array 
 Of levelled spears and serried shields 
 
 Hews deep its gory way. 
 
XXYII. 
 
 " Hurrah ! for the great triumph 
 
 That stretches many a mile. 
 Hurrah ! for the wan captives 
 
 That pass in endless file. 
 Ho ! bold Epirotes, whither 
 
 Hath the Eed King ta'en flight ? 
 Ho ! dogs of false Tarentum, 
 
 Is not the gown washed white ? 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 " Hurrah ! for the great triumph 
 
 That stretches many a mile. 
 Hurrah ! for the rich dye of Tyre, 
 
 And the fine web of Nile, 
 The helmets gay with plumage 
 
 Torn from the pheasant's wings, 
 The belts set thick with starry gems 
 
 That shone on Indian kings, 
 
The urns of massy silver. 
 
 The goblets rough with gold. 
 The many-coloured tablets bright 
 
 With loves and wars of old. 
 The stone that breathes and struggles. 
 
 The brass that seems to speak ; — 
 Such cunning they who dwell on high 
 
 Have given unto the Greek. 
 
Jj 
 
 XXIX. 
 
 " Hurrah ! for Manius Curius, 
 
 The bravest son of Rome, 
 Thrice in utmost need sent forth, 
 
 Thrice drawn in triumph home. 
 Weave, weave, for Manius Curius 
 
 The third embroidered gown : 
 Make ready the third lofty car. 
 
 And twine the third green crown ; 
 And yoke the steeds of Rosea 
 
 With necks like a bended bow ; ^ 
 
 And deck the bull, Mevania's bull, J 
 
 The bull as white as snow. 
 
XXX. 
 
 " Blest and thrice blest the Roman 
 Who sees Rome's brightest day. 
 
 Who sees that long victorious pomp 
 Wind down the Sacred Way, 
 
 And through the bellowing Forum, 
 " And round the Suppliant's Grove, 
 
 Up to the everlasting gates 
 Of Capitolian Jove. 
 
-^ a. 
 
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 /^ 
 
 XXXI. 
 
 " Then where, o'er two bright havens, 
 
 The towers of Corinth frown ; 
 Where the gigantic King of Day 
 
 On his own Rhodes looks down ; 
 Where soft Orontes murmurs 
 
 Beneath the laurel shades ; 
 Where Nile reflects the endless length 
 
 Of dark-red colonnades ; 
 Where in the still deep water. 
 
 Sheltered from waves and blasts. 
 Bristles the dusky forest 
 
 Of Byrsa's thousand masts ; 
 Where fur-clad hunters wander 
 
 Amidst the northern ice ; 
 Where through the sand of morning-land 
 
 The camel bears the spice ; 
 Where Atlas flings his shadow 
 
 Far o'er the western foam. 
 Shall be great fear on all who hear 
 
 The mighty name of Rome." 
 
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 THE END. 
 
 !i,! 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS, 
 
 Note. — The coins, when not otherwise specified, have been drawn from the originals 
 in the British Museum. Each illustration not included in the following list is the 
 invention of the artist. 
 
 Page 
 
 3. Ornamental Title. — A very ancient bronze statue of the Wolf and Twins, in the 
 Etruscan style, preserved in the Capitol at Rome. Two Sibyls, engraved by 
 Marc Antonio, from designs by Raphael. 
 
 5. Early coin of the Licinian family, on which the sons of Brutus are seen guarded 
 by lictors. 
 
 35. Civic wreath, and head of Codes, from a Roman denarius. 
 
 37. The reverse of a coin of Antoninus Pius, in the Museum at Paris. 
 
 42. Head of Lucius Junius Brutus, from Visconti's IconograpMe Romaine. On the 
 left is the reverse of a coin of Marcus Brutus. The other coin is also of 
 Marcus Brutus, with his own head and that of his predecessor Lucius Junius 
 Brutus. 
 
 50. From a design by Polidoro Caravaggio. • 
 
 61. From a gem in the Museum Florentinum, published by Gori. 
 
 79. A coin of Bruttium representing the Dioscuri announcing the victory. 
 
 81. Aulus Postumius Regillensis, from a coin of the Postumian family. 
 
208 LAYS OF ANCIENT ROME. 
 
 Page 
 
 83. The Delphic oracle, a female consulting Apollo, from Sir W. Hamilton's vases. 
 
 84. Mucius Scaevola, from an antique gem in the Florentine Museum, published 
 
 by Gori. 
 
 85. Cloelia crossing the Tiber, from an engraving by Bonasoni, invented by Raphael. 
 
 86. The fight round the body of Patroclus, from a painted vase published by Millin. 
 
 94. The Salian priests bearing the sacred ancilia, from a cast of the gem in the 
 
 Florentine Museum. See p. 48. and p. 135. 
 
 95. From the Parthenon frieze. 
 
 101. Eagle's nest, from a sculpture in the Vatican Museum. 
 
 129. Coin of Lacedasmon with the Dioscuri, engraved by Millin. 
 
 130. Two early Roman coins representing the Dioscuri with their horses. The centre 
 
 is from a bas-relief in the Spada collection at Rome. 
 
 139. From a cast of a gem in Rome. 
 141. Roman tomb, from Santi Bartoli. 
 
 156. Lucretia stabbing herself, from the drawing by Raphael, engraved under his own 
 inspection by Marc Antonio. 
 
 175. The Goddess Rome seated, from the column of Antoninus Pius, in the Vatican. 
 
 180. A statue in the Capitol at Rome, supposed to be Pyrrhus. The head on the 
 coin is considered by Visconti to represent Pyrrhus. On the reverse is Thetis 
 with armour for Achilles. 
 
 182. An example of Macedonian spears, in a fragment of the celebrated mosaic from 
 
 . Pompeii representing Alexander the Great and Darius, preserved in the 
 Museum at Naples. 
 
 183. Waggons of rude structure, with spoils, &c., from the Arch of Septimius Severus 
 
 at Rome, engraved by Santi Bartoli. 
 185. Regal Macedonian coin. 
 
 187. The divine origin of Rome. Mars descending to Rhea, from the reverse of a 
 medal of Antoninus Pius. The military standards are from Trajan's column, 
 
 189. Two bas-reliefs from the sides of an altar preserved in the Vatican Museum. 
 
 193. The Prophet, from the Vatican Virgil, engraved by Bartoli. 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 209 
 
 Page 
 
 194. From the Baths of Titus. 
 
 195. A banquet, from Micali. Rome in the Augustan age, a restoration by C. R. 
 
 Cockerell, R.A. 
 
 196. From Pompeii, with the reverse of a coin of Commodus. 
 
 197. A town on fire, from a cartoon in the Louvre by Giulio Romano. The frui:^ 
 
 from Raphael's Loggie in the Vatican. 
 
 198. Left column. — A coin of Campania. A coin of Tyre, bearing the divinities 
 
 Apollo and Hercules, and, between them, the murex which produced the 
 celebrated dye. The Duilian column, erected to commemorate the earliest 
 naval victory of the Romans, over the Carthaginians 260 b. c, recently 
 " engraved by Canina. A Roman general presenting the aplustre to a female 
 representing Africa. 
 
 Right column. — Romulus bearing ihejirst spolia opima, the arms of Acron, king 
 of the Caeninenses, whom he slew in battle, from a cast of the gem in the 
 Florentine Museum. A coin of the Cornelia gens, representing A. Cornelius 
 Cossus as victorious, having slain Lars Tolumnius, king of the Veientes, and 
 bearing the second spolia opima. He triumphed over the Volscians. {Livy, 
 vi. 16.) 
 
 199. Left column. — A coin showing the third dedication of the spolia opima, by Mar- 
 
 cellus, who killed Viridomarus, king of the Gauls, a.u. 530. The statue is a 
 Gaulish chief, from the Gallery in the Louvre. A coin of Tarentum ; the 
 small elephant is an extraordinary addition to the usual type of the city, 
 which is Taras on the dolphin. 
 
 Right column. — A Samnite coin. A Barbarian prisoner, from the Louvre. A 
 head called Pyrrhus, from a cast of the gem in the Florentine Museum. 
 Beneath is a battle with elephants, from a sarcophagus in the Capitol Museum. 
 
 200. A coin of Vespasian with the elephants subservient to a Roman triumph. 
 
 (Paccatus, Paneg. Theod. c. 22.) The two groups of heroes and Amazons are 
 from the famous bronzes of Siris, preserved in the British Museum. There is 
 great probability that they were part of the armour worn by some Greek of 
 high rank in the last battle between Pyrrhus and the Romans ; the military 
 trophies are taken from those on the Capitol and a frieze from the Temple of 
 Bacchus. 
 
210 LAYS OF ANCIENT KOME. 
 
 Page 
 
 201, 202. The triumph of Julius Caesar, from the cartoons by Andrea Mantegna now 
 preserved at Hampton Court. 
 
 203. Victory sacrificing a bull, from a group in the British Museum. The candelabrum 
 
 is from the Louvre. Coin of Augustus, showing the embroidered gown, sceptre, 
 and crown ; and, on the reverse, steeds and car. The captives below are from 
 cameos preserved in Vienna and Paris. 
 
 204. Jupiter Capitolinus, from a coin of Vitellius. The Arch of Constantine, on the 
 
 Via Triumphalis at Rome. 
 
 205. Left column. — Coin of Corinth. The river Nile, from a coin of Hadrian. Sar- 
 
 matia, from a coin of Constantine. Mauritania, from a coin of Hadrian. 
 Right column. — Coin of Rhodes. Coin of Antiocheia, with the river Orontes at 
 her feet. Coin of Carthage. Arabia, from a coin of Trajan. 
 
 206. The apotheosis of a Roman emperor, from a cameo at Paris. 
 
 G. S. 
 
 THE END. 
 
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