HORATIUS. A LAY MADE ABOUT THE YEAR OF THE CITY CCCLX. 1. 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 trysting day, And bade his messengers ride forth, East and west and south and north, To summon his array. 2. East and west and south and north Who lingers in his home, 3. The horsemen and the footmen From many a stately market-place, Which, hid by beech and pine, Like an eagle's nest hangs on the crest Of purple Apennine; 4. From lordly Volaterræ, Where scowls the far-famed hold Piled by the hands of giants For god-like kings of old; From seagirt Populonia, Whose sentinels descry Sardinia's snowy mountain-tops Fringing the southern sky; 5. From the proud mart of Pisa, 6. 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 7. 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 8. 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. 9. There be thirty chosen prophets, Both morn and evening stand: Have turned the verses o'er, Traced from the right on linen white By mighty seers of yore. 10. And with one voice the Thirty Have their glad answer given: "Go forth, go forth, Lars Porsena, Go forth, beloved of Heaven; Go, and return in glory To Clusium's royal dome, And hang round Nurscia's altars The golden shields of Rome." 11. 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. 12. For all the Etruscan armies Prince of the Latian name. 13. But by the yellow Tiber The throng stopped up the ways; A fearful sight it was to see 14. For aged folk on crutches, 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, 15. And droves of mules and asses Laden with skins of wine, And endless flocks of goats and sheep, That creaked beneath their weight Of corn-sacks and of household goods, Choked every roaring gate. 16. Now, from the rock Tarpeian, The line of blazing villages 'They sat all night and day, For every hour some horseman came With tidings of dismay. 17. 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. 18. I wis, in all the Senate, There was no heart so bold, In haste they girded up their gowns, 19. They held a council standing Short time was there, ye well may guess, Out spoke the Consul roundly: "The bridge must straight go down; For, since Janiculum is lost, Naught else can gave the town." 20 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 Bise fast along the sky. 21. And nearer fast and nearer Doth the red whirlwind come; And louder still and still more loud, From underneath that rolling cloud, Is heard the trumpet's war-note proud, The trampling and the hum. And plainly and more plainly Now through the gloom appears, Far to left and far to right, In broken gleams of dark-blue light, The long array of helmets bright, The long array of spears. 22. 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. 23. And plainly and more plainly There Cilnius of Arretium On his fleet roan was seen; And Astur of the fourfold shield, Girt with the brand none else may wield, 24. Fast by the royal standard, 25. 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 spate towards him and hissed; No child but screamed out curses, And shook its little fist. 26. But the Consul's brow was sad, Before the bridge goes down; 27. Then out spake brave Horatius, The Captain of the gate: "To every man upon this earth 28. "And for the tender mother Who feed the eternal flame, 29. "Hew down the bridge, Sir Consul, With all the speed ye may; I, with two more to help me, In yon strait path a thousand Now, who will stand on either hand, 30. Then out spake Spurius Lartius, A Ramnian proud was he: "Lo, I will stand on 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." 31. "Horatius," quoth the Consul, "As thou sayest, so let it be." And straight against that great array Forth went the dauntless Three. For Romans in Rome's quarrel Spared neither land nor gold, Nor son nor wife, nor limb nor life, In the brave days of old. 32. 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. 33. 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, HORATIUS. In battle we wax cold; Wherefore men fight not as they fought In the brave days of old. 34. Now, while the Three were tightening The Consul was the foremost man "Oh, Tiber! father Tiber! To whom the Romans pray, No sound of joy or sorrow Was heard from either bank; But friends and foes in dumb surprise, They saw his crest appear, All Rome sent forth a rapturous cry, And even the ranks of Tuscany Could scarce forbear to cheer. |