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Un des symboles suivants apparaitra sur la derniAre image de cheque microfiche, selon le cas: le symbole — ► signifle "A SUIVRE", le symbols V signifle "FIN". Maps, plates, charts, etc., may be filmed at different reduction ratios. Those too large to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent dtre fllmto A des taux de reduction diffirents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour fttre reproduit en un seul cliche, il est film6 A partir de I'angle supArieur gauche, de gauche d droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant la nombre d'Images nicessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mithode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 -a '*> -..^w THI MOK H p-y-nrw W.,w- f^, ,,^ LAYS OF ANCIEIiT ROME, WITH IVRY AND THE ARMADA. L BY LOAD MACAULAY. LAYS OF THE SCOTTISn CiYALlERS. AND OTHER POEMS. BY PROF. WM. BDMONDSTOUNE AYTOUN, D.c.L. From latest Unglish BdiUom. Wme» faint, 1. 1. : THE INTER>^ATIONAL PHrXTINC AND PUBLISHING CO. ^ffmctea in eTanaUa : MONTREAL : John LOvell • TORnvTn A HALIFAX, N.S. : A. I ^^ 'JZIT ' B^^o^^TT^'''^ * ^^^ • MCMILLAN ; ST JOHN'^wtt ' a, ^' ^•^••' •^- * ^' CHAHLOTTE^r.!' P^e!;'. =: rA^rr ^ ^ 1871. 'If r i 1 * c^H ■ 1 1 ^^^^m \ : - s I) r4963 LAYS OF ANCIEl^T EOME WITH IVRY AND THE ARMADA. BY LORD MACAULAY. NEW EDITION. THE INTERNATmAL PHINtWanD PUBLISHING CO 1872. 9303 PREFACE. That what is called the history of the Kings and early Consuls of Rome is to a great extent fabulous, few scho- lars 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 possess those materials without which a trustworthy account of the infancy of the repub- lic 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 misrepresented. 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 6 PREFACE. of Rome, the son of Mars, and the husband of Egcria, as mere mytliologicul personages, of the same class with Perseus and Ixion. As ho 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 impor- tant parts of the narrative have some foundation in truth. But he will distrust almost all the details, not only because they seldom rest on any solid evidence, but also because he will constantly 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 of the imagination from the realities of the world in which we live. The earl^ history of Rome is indeed far more poetical than anything 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 Hosti- lius, 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 Romans and the three Albans, the purchase of the Sibylline books, the crime of TuUia, the simulated madness of Brutus, the ambi'mous reply of the Delphian oracle to the Tarquins, the wrongs of Lucretia, the heroic actions of Horatius Codes, of Scasvola, and of Cloelia, the battle of Regillus won by the aid of Castor and Pollux, the defence of Cremera, the touching story of Coriolanus, the still more touching story of Vii^inia, the wild legend about the draining of the Egcria, ass with carer to less and t impor- n truth, because because hey are peculiar , which rom the poetical ( of the 3ng the spherd's of the ! Hosti- marsh, led hair nightly in the le three rime of 5igUOU8 wrongs 3les, of by the ra, the g story of the PREFACE. 7 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. In the narrative of Livy, who was a man of fine imagin- ation, 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 discernible in the most tedious and in the most superfi- cial modern works on the early t'mes 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 Home, because that account appeared to them to have the air, not of a history, but of a romance or a drama. Plu- tarch, 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.* But though the existence of a poetical element in the early history of the Great City was detected so many years ago, the first critic who distinctly saw from what source that poetical element * "Tttotttov /lev evioig earl rb SpafiariKov koX TrTiaa/nar&dEc ov Set 6e UKiareiv, rfjv Tvxnv opavrag, o'iuv irm^/idruv drifiiovpydq eari. — Plut. Rom. viii. This remarkable passage has been more grossly misinterpreted than any other in the Greek language, 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. None of the transla- tors saw even that Tcoirjiia is a poem. They all render it an event, 8 PREFACE. I hid been derived was James Pcrizonius, one of the most acute and leurned antiquaries of the seventeenth century. His theory, which, in his own days, attracted little or no notice, was revived in the present ^'cneration by Niebuhr, 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 tiieory 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 bo now generally received by men conversant with classical antiquity ; and indeed it rests on such strong proofs, both internal and external, thatit 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 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 masterpieces of Sophocles and Euripides. The Latin comedies are free translations from Demophilus, Menander, and Appollodorus. The Latin philosophy was borrowed, without alteration, from the Portico and the Academy ; and the great Latin orators constantly pro- posed to themselves as patterns the speeches pf Demos- thenes and Lysias. I PREFACE, ^ But there was an earner Latin literature, a literature truly Latin, which has wholly perished, which had, indeed, almost wholly perished ion^' before those whom we are in the habit of rogardinj; as the greatest Latin writers were born. That literature abounded with metrical romances, such aa are found in every country where there is much curiosity and intelligence, but little reading and writing. All human beings, not utterly savage, long for some infor- mation 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 read- ily accessible. Metrical composition, therefore, which, in a highly civilised nation, is a mere luxury, is, in nations imperfectly civilised, almost a necessary of life, and is valued less on account of the 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 interest- ing 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 progress towards refinement. Tacitus informs us that songs were the only memorials of the past which the ancient Germans possessed. IVe 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, min- strelsy 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 10 PREFACE. rhymes, of which Germany is still justly proud. The exploits of Athelstane were commemorated by the Ano-Io Saxons and hose of Canute by the Danes, in rude poems, ot which a few fragments have come down to us The chants of the Welsh harpers preserved, through ages of darkness, a faint and doubtful memory of Arthur In the Highlands of Scotland may still be gleaned some relics ot the old songs about Cuthullin and Fingal. The lono- stiuggle of the Servians against the Ottoman power was recorded in lays full of martial spirit. We learn from Herrera that when a Pe/uvian Inoa 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 'm every village of Northern Persia. Captain Beechey heard the Bards of the Sandwich Islands recite the heroio achievements of Tamehameha, the most illustrious of thf^ip 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 Darnel, the negro prince of the Jaloflfs, won over Abdulkader the Mussulmaa tyrant of Foof^i Torra. This species of poetry attained a high degree of excellence among the Castilians, before tJiey began to copy Tuscan patterns. It attained a still higher degree of excellence among the English and the Lowland Scotch, curing the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries. Sut it reached its full perfection in ancient Greece ; for there can be m doubt that th'i great Homeric poems are generically ballads, though widely dis- tinguished from all other ballads, and indeed from almost ' fiamaa wmpoBiuoua, »y iransoeiideut sublimity and beauty. ^ :,*'^"'- vy. -. PREFACE. 11 As it is agreeable to general experience that, at a cer- tain stage in the progress of society, ballad-poetry should flourish, so is it also agreeable to general experience that, at a subsequent stage in the progress of society, ballad- poetry should be undervalued and neglected. Knowledge advances : manners change : great foreign models of com- position are studied and imitated. The phraseology of the Old minstrels becomes obsolete. Their versification, which, having received its laws only from the 3ar, abounds in irregularities, seems licentious and uncjuth. Their simplicity appears beggarly when compr^red with the quaint forms and gaud^ colouring of such artists as Cow- ley 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 irretrievably lost. We cannot wonder that the ballads of Rome 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 English songs equal to any that were published by Bishop Percy, and many Spanish songs as good as the best of thosf) 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 snuff of a candle, or a mischievous dog, might in a moment have deprived the world for ever of any of those fine composition3. Sir Walter Scott, who united to the fire of a great poet the minute curiosity and patient dili- gence of a orent, antimmrv tooq Kiif i«af \^ i'-r^a ^^ ~- 13 --' — 1 — J J »--.f r.-ii.t juau ill time tO suvtj the precious relics of the Minstrelsy of the Border. In 12 PREFACE. Germany, the lay of the Nibelunga 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 qivili- sation, never for a moment ceased to love and admire their old ballads, were the Greeks. . That the early Romans 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 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 rela- tion 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 r^ Grecian song. ' Where, ' Cicero mournfully asks, ' are those old verses now ? ' * Contemporary with Ennius was Quintus Fabius Pictor the earliest of the Roman annalists. His account of the * ' Quid ? Nostri ve teres versus ubi sunt ? ♦ • • • • . " QuOa Olim Faiini irotonrt.ia ^,,»>«l i. -" - • •™t^-w|«v voiucwaiit. PREFACE. la infancy and youth of Romulus and Remus has been preserved by Dionysius, and contains a very remarkable reference to the ancient Latin poetry. Fahius 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.' * Cum neque Musarum scopulos quisquam superslrat, Nee dicti stucjiosus erat." ' Brutus xviii. The Muses, it should be observed, are Greek divinities. The Italian Goddesses of verse were the Oamoenae. At a later period, the appellations were used indiscrimiftately; but in the age of Ennius there was probably a distinction. In the opitaph of Nievius, who was the representative of the old Italian school of poetry, the Camoenae, 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 (Z?e Lingua Latino., lib. vi.), suggests, with great ingenuity, that the Fauns, who were repre- sented 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. * 01 6e avSpudevreg yivovrai, Kard re a^iuaiv fiopcp^g Kal *s 16 PREFACE. be ascribed the virtues of such men as Cnmillus and Fabricius.* 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 music, ancient ballads in praise of men of former times. These young performers, he observes^ were of unblemished character, a circumstance which he pro- bably mentioned because, among the Greeks, and indeed in his time among the Romtms also, the morals of singing boys were in no high repute.f The testimony of Horace, though given incidentally, confirms 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.J * 'Majores natu in conviviis ad tibias egregia superiorum opera carmine comprehensa pangebant, quo ad ea imitanda juventutem alacriorem redderent. . . . Quas Athenas, quam scholam, quae alieni- gena studia huic domesticae discipline praBtulerim ? Inde oriebantur Camilli, Scipiones, Fabricii, Marcelli, Fabii.'— Fa^. Max. ii. 1. t ' In conviviis pueri modesti ut cantarent carmina antiqua, in quibus laudes erant majorum, et assa voce, et cum tibicine.' Nonius, Assa voce pro sola. X ' Nosque et profestis lucibus et sacris, Inter jocosi munera Liberi, Cum prole matronisque nostris, Rite Deos prius apprecati, Virtute functos, more patrum. duces, Lydis remixto carmine tibiis, Trojamque, et Anchisen, et almjB Frogeniem Veaerici caueuius.' » Carm. ir, 15. PREFACE. 17 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 understand why the early history of the city is unlike almost everything else in Latin literature, native where almost everything else is borrowed, imaginative where almost everything else is prosaic. We can scarcely hesi- tate 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 Herodotus furnished some hints to the Latin min- strels:* but it was not till after the war with Pyrrhus that the poetry of Rome 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 Roman people rose to unrivalled political a3<3endency 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 effected without a struggle. Naevius seems to have been the last of the ancient line of poets. Ennius was the founder of a * See the Preface to the Lay of the Battle of Regillus. 18 PREFACE. r i new dynasty. NaDvius celebrated the First Punic War in Saturniun verse, the old national verse of Italy.* Ennius • Cicero speaks highly in more than one place of this poem of Naerms ; Enn.us sneered at it. and stole from it. Jiftrill ^- ^*'"''"^*'^ measure/see Hermann's Elementa Doctrine, xJ^I^T'tTI'"'".' '"''"''^^"^ *° *^' grammarians, consisted of two parts. The first was a catalectic dimeter iambic ; the second was composed of three trochees. But the licence tiken byThe early Latin poets seems to have been almost boundless. The most perfect Saturman line which has been preserved was the work, not of a professional artist, but of an amateur : ' Dabunt malum Metelli xVasvio poetae ' There has been much difference of opinion among learned men respectmg the history of this measure. That it is fhe same with a Greek measure used by Archilochus is indisputable. (Bentlev 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 th re ha been imitation on e ther side. Bishop Heber heard the children of hnv bT '"f "f ^ '"^'"^ '^"^^^' «^^^^'' 'o the tune of 'My boy Billy.' Neither the Castilian nor the Geman minstrels of S middle ages owed anything to Paros or to ancient Rome Yel ooth the poem of the Cid and the poem of the Nibelunrcontefn many Saturnian verses ; as,~ ^^^"eiungs contain ' Estas nuevas ^i mio Cid eran venidas ' 'A mi lo dicen ; k ti dan las orejadas ' 'Man mohte michel wunder von Sifride sagen ' Wa ich den Kunic vinde daz sol man mir sagen ' Indeed, there cannot be a more perfect Saturnian line than one which IS sung in every English nursery- .»* iJ^^ ^"e^^n/as in hei parlour eating bread and honey • ' PREFACE. 19 sang the Second Punic War in numbers borrowed from the Iliad. The elder poet, in the epitaph which he wrote 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. iJentley says indeed that the Saturuian measure was first brought from Greece into Italy by Nasvius. But this is merely obiter dictum. to use a phrase common in our courts of law, and would not have been deliberately maintained by that incomparable critic, whose memory is held la reverence by all lovers of learning. The argu- ments which might be brought against Bentley's assertion— for it is mere assertion, supported by no evidence— are innumerable A few will suffice. 1. Bentley's assertion is opposed to the testimony of Ennius. Ennius sneered at Naevius for writing on the First Punic War in verses such as the old Italian Bards used before Greek had been studied. -iHow the poem of Njevius was verse. Is it possible that Ennius could have if the Saturnian verse had been just imr first time ? 2. Bentley^s assertion 'When Greece,' vilised country, Would Horace h imported frqr., ^ "-^T^Sentle;!^ 's asser Aurelius Victor, unci- passed away.' h numbers had been exameter ? to the testimony of Festus and of 'hom positively say that the most ancient prophecies attributed lo the Fauns were in Saturnian verse. 4. Bentleys assertion is opposed to tho testimony of Terentianus Maurus, to whom he has himself appealed. Terentianus Maurus docs 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 Naevius. Nay, the expressions used by Terentianus Maurus clearly Nj I 20 PREFACE. for himself, and which is a fine specimen of the early lloman 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 literature, 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 we can hardly blame the Romans for turning away with contempt 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 generations, to delight the vulgar. While Virgil, in hexameters of exquisite modu- ktion, described the sports of rustics, those, rustics were jnging their w'ld Saturnian ballads.f It is not ''^, at the time when Cicero lamented the " 'i^oems mentioned by Cato, a search ^ines, as active as the search gg the descendants of w the mos .■s-'to^. lave brought to imply the contrary : forW lB^^MaaP . have believed, from a very early period, that thisT^Ba^gMindigeno^:- Droduc- tion of Latium, if it was really broJfUler from Greece in an Zhl P ^T ^°^ ^^''^^ ^"'^"^^*y' ^^ *^« ^Se which gave wr er« 7 Tfp' ." "'' ''"'" *'' ^^"^°^' «"^ °*^«^ distmguished wruers? If Bentley's assertion were correct, there could have been no more doubt at Rome about the Greek origin of the Satur- * Aulus Gellius, Noctes Atticse, i. 24. t See Servius. in ftAornr a oqk PREFACE. 21 light many fine remains of ancient minstrelsy. No such search was made. The Latin ballads perished for ever ret discerning critics have thought that they could still percerve m the early history of Rome numerous fragments ot 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 Amajeons and Bacchanals seem to live The theatres and temples of the Greek and the Roman were degraded into the quarries of the Turk and the Goth Lven so did the ancient Saturnian poetry become the' quarry m 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 intermediate links which connected the lost ballads with the histories now extant. From a vei period it was the usage that an oratioi nounced over the remains of a " "^ as we learn from Pt occasion to reca|,^ tors the deceaa^^^^^^^^^^^HB^^^'^^' to the commpj;«^y^^^^MipPf^^t: 'T^'""'^ ^.v.--*r-^^^ /^^^^■P^'^^t^le doubt that the o^er on whom tlWWTwas imposed, would make use of all the stories suited to his purpose which were to be tound 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. !>•»•; PREFACE. It may be worth while to fleleot a particular Btory, an5 to trace its probable progress through these stages. The description of the migration of the Fubian house t / Cre- mora 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 clun, 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 lamen- tation is drowned by tlie 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 Lu \. After achieving high deeds of valour against over»vhelming numbers, all perish save one child, jkfrom which the great Fabian race was destined the safety and glory of the common- jmance, the details of which are destitute of all ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ from some lay which had' '^^^WQHHHj^^^^l^' applause at ban- quets, is in the high^H^lHHp^ ^Nor is it diffi- cult to imagine a mode in whic fflHf transmi - ri rtm raif^lit' have taken place. The celebrated Quintus F-ibiu : M,.xi- mus, who died about twenty years before the r irat Punic War, and more than forty years before Ennius was born, is said to have been interred with extraordinary pomp. In the eulo.'^y pronounced over his body all the great exploUf; 03' iiis iucestors were doubtless recounted and exagg<^ ^'i^^^ , If there were th^n extant songs whieli jra v o PREFACB, 23 a vivid and touching description of an evcnfc, the saddest Jind the mowt glorious in th<' long liiHtory of the Pubian house, nothing oould be more natural than that the pane- gyrist should borrow from such songs their finest touches, in order to adorn his speech. A few generations later the songs would perliaps be forgotten, or remembered only by shepherds and vine-dressers. But the speech would cer- tainly 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 chro- nicle, 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. That this might happen at Rome can scarcely be doubt- ed ; for something very like this has happened in severalv countries, and, among others, in our own. Pej-ha^^ii^^ theory of Perizonius cannot be bettc showing that what he s ancient times ti gravity, 'has ^^'^^^^^■^■PPMmBftgar's amours, from which, ^ ^^HBI^^InTwe may form a conjecture of the rest.' He^fRTtells 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 those two tales, the chro- »>'«1„ _i? ITT?!!* n -««■ 1 •• . -. - . ^iuic ui v. Hiiam 01 MaimesUury, wiio lived ift the time of" 24 PREFACE. King Stephen. The great majority of readers suppose that the d( /ice by which Elfrida was substituted for her young mistress, the artifice by which AtheLvold obtained the hand of Elfrida, the detection of that artifice, the hunting party, and the vengeance of Ihe amorous king, are thin-s about which there is no more doubt than about the execu- tion of Anne Boleyn, or the slittingof Sir John Coventry's nose. But when we turn to William of Malme3bury, we find that Hume, in his eagerness to rebte these pleasant fcb es, has overlooked one very important circumstance. 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 m^ old chronicle. The ballads perished ; the chronicle ^3^ ^^^ historian, some centuries after the ' ^ogether forgotten, consulted the feely colouring of these tive which is lite! the inventions of some ml^l_. _^ bably never committed to writing, whose*^l_^, in oblivion, and whose dialect has become obsoU? •^i^'^fX-p^^ '0- 'ed It must, then, be admitted to be possible, or rather highly « ( ■■ Infaraias quaa post dicam magis resperserunt cantilenre ' Edgar appears to have been most mercilessly treated in the Anglo- toaxon ballads. He was thfi fnimiirUnr^f +u ^„i , ., ^ . and the minstrels were at deadly feud PREFACE, 25 probable, that the stories of Romulus and Remus, and of the Horatii and Curiatii, may have had a similar origin. Castilian literature will furnish us with 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 Dofia Sol, In a solitary place the bride- grooms seized their brides, stripped them, scourged them, and departed, leaving them for dead. But house of Bivar, suspecting foul play, travellers in disguise. The ladies to the hoiiise of their fati king. It was by the Cid ^^^^^■■^^■^HiPiP^rs of Car- rion together JH^^HBHRI^^ould do battle ^^ of the Cid. The guilty youths would iMfTTeolined the combat; but all their shifts were vain. They were vanquished 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 examination of dates and o,irnnTnaf.nnr>ofl fliof +v.;c * Mariana, lib. x. cap. 4. 26 PREFACE, '\\ untrue. Such confutation was surely not needed ; for the narrative is on the face of it a romance. How it found i\» way int.) Mariana's history is quite clear. He acknow- ■ lodges his obligations to the ancient chronicles; and had doubtless before him the 'Chronica del famoso Cavallero Old Ruy Diez Campeador/ which had been printed as early as the year 155^ 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 lan- guage 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 century and a half after the death of Mariana, this venerable ballad, of which one imperfect copy on parchment, four hundred years old, had been preserved at Bivar, was for the first time printed' Then it was found that every interesting circumstanc^ of^e story of the heirs of Carrion was derived by the 'i^^^^^ ^^^°* ^ ^°°^ of which he had never heard, J Hj^ M^ I^ composed by a minstrel whose very name ^ BH | [W || H |||| H ^ ^^^ ^^^° ^he process • ^ ^^^'flHHHRK0^^8R^HHII^K^^ transformed ^"'^^^^^^^^^"^^^a^^^''^^'^^ some portions of early Rc^P^^^^gthe poetry out of which they were made, is t^ft^H^^Piis^J^- In the following poems the authSi'-^eaks, not in his own person, but in the persons of ancient minstrels who • **f '«*^.^ ^T""""^ ""^^'^ ^^^^^'^ ^^^« °f t^e Birar manuscript m the firs volume of the Goleccion d. Poena, Castellanas anterU Z f:^ I'. T'^' '' *'' '^"^^ °^^^^ ^^^^^ °f G-rion, in the poem of the Oid, has been translated by Mr. Frere in a manner above all praise. PREFACE. 27: know only what a Roman citizen, bom three or four htin- dred 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 blun- der 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 for its own sake, the ungenerous exultation over the vanquished, which the reader will sometimes observe. To portray a Roman of the age of Camillus or Curius as superior to national anti- pathies, 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 Blacl Prince, would be to violate all dramatic proprj old Romans had some great virtues^ veracity, spirit to resist oi authority, jfidelitj estedness, chivalrous 5. "would manner of a been borrowe and ^hem. improper to mimic the r age or country. Something has however, from our own old ballads, and more from Sir Walter Scott, the great restorer of our ballad- poetry. To the Iliad Itill greater obligations are due ; and those obligations have been contracted with the less hesita- tion, because there is reason to believe that some of the old Latin minstrels really had recourse to that inexhausti- ble store of poetical images. 28 PREFACE. It would have been easy to swell this little yolumeto » ve^ co„a,derable bulk, by appending notes filTw^th "ntort^Ld ,r f """* ™'"^^' ""^y "<»■'<• have little di itZ °° " r ' "' ""= '"'^■"'«»» -11 always aepend much more on the general character and spirit of Buch a work than on minute details. ^ i' ^-. HORATIITS. 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 eaclyg|her inp^||||of no small importance. Polvb i i i i|||i[|ME^MMB^^^^^Bp^®> heard the tale recii^iyiiH^^^H^^^^^^^^^Bteul or Praetor for hA^il^^^^H^^^^^^^^^I^^^HHpiiP^with 'ot embellishing ^arkable that, according led the bridge alone, and perished •s. According to the chronicles which I* the minstrels says : ' Old ^en that knowen the grounde well yenoughe ^all It the battel! of Otterburn : *" " erburqjjilfcn thia spurne The otherpS ' Thjs fraye bj^S ,,,^^ Bjtwene the nyghte and thT.^ Ther the Dowglas lost hjs lyfe,' And the Percy was lede away.'' It is by no means unlikely that there were two ohi Roman lays about the defence of the brid^ anTthll While the story which T.N.^ u., ._. .,,'=!' ^""^ ^^'^^^ J ,j nas txaubimi/tea to us was H0RATIU8. 31 7 probable (Served by ds which ^etry. In he Percy, • In one 8 English i: in the ibat, and ir Hugh umbrian li for the e event, thin the ! ballads old that, 3 was preferred by the multitude, 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 manner in which 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 proceedings of Camillus, after the taking of Veii, were regarded. The penultimate syllable of the name Porsena has been shortened in spite of the authority of Niebuhr, who pro- ^''^^^^HRBil^^lHBHl^PiMMR^^^^^^^^^^ Niebuhr he must have uttered and heard uttered a hundred times before he left school. Niebuhr seems also to have forgot- ten that Martial has fellow-culprits to keep him in coun- tenance. Horace has committed the same decided blunder ; for he gives us, as a pure iambic line, * Minacis aut Etrusca Porsense manus.' 32 LAra OF ANCIENT ROME. a StTay,'" ''^'^'^ "''-^^'^ » 'he aa.e way, and agair;-"" '''"'"" "'"'=" "<'"''"' ^«'"» ^ ' • Clusinum y„Ig„,, „„„, p<,„ena magna, jubebas.' patrician tfbJu * ,"P^*«<:°*''*-« «f one of the three ..n.opte.t:L^.:~r -«---« -^'^'^•'• fl:»ii4- \3 IVUiliC lUCU VJXia. UIVU uxgtsvi HOEATIUS. A mile around the citj, The throng stopped up the ways • A fearAil sight it was to see Through two long nights and dayg. XIV. For aged folks on crutches, And women great with child, And mothers sobbing oyer 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. XVI. Now, from the rock Tarpeian, Could the wan burghers spy The line of blazing villages Red in the midnight sky. The Fathers of the City, They sat all night and day, For every hour some horseman camp With tidings of dismay. m LAYS OF ANCIENT ROME. XVII. To eastward and to westward Have spread the Tuscan bands ; Nor house, nor fence, nor dovecote In Orustumerium stands. Verbenna down to Ostia Hath wasted all the plain • Astur hath stormed Janlculum 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 ail j In haste they girded up their gowns, And hied them to the wall. XIX. They held a council standing Before the River-Gate j Short time was there, ye well may guess, For musing or debate. 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 iear: ' To arjis ! to arms I Sir Consul: Lars Porsena is here.' I H0RATIU8. On the low hills to westward The Consul fixed his eye, And saw the swarthy storm of dust Else fast alojug the sky. XXI. And nearer fast and nearer Doth the red whirlwind come ; And louder still and still more loud, Prom underneath that rolling cloud, Is heard the trumpet's war-note proud, The trampling, and the hum. And plainly and more plainly Now through the gloom appears, Far to left and far to right, In broken gleams of dark-blue light, The long array of helmets bright, The long array of spears. XXII. And plainly and more plainly, Above that glimmering line. Now might ye see the banners Of twelve fair cities shine ; But the banner of proud Clusium Was highest of them all. The terror of the Umbrian, The terror of the Gaul. 39 XXIII. And plainly and more plainly Now might the burghers know, By port and vest, hj horse and crest, Each warlike Lucumo. 40 I^AVS OF ANCIENT ROME. There Cilniua of Arretium On his fleet roan was seen j And Astur of the four-fold shield Girt with the brand none else may wield, Tolumnius with the belt of gold, And dark Verbenna from the hold Bj reedy Thrasymene, XXIV. Fast by the royal standard, O'erlookiugallthewar, ' Lars Porsena of Clusium Sat in his ivory car; By the right wheel rode Mamilius Prince of the Latian name J ' And by the left false Sextus, That wrought the deed of shame. \ XXV. But when the face of Sextua 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 J^o child but screamed out curses, ' And shook Its little fist. XXVI. But the Consul's brow was sad, And the Consul's speech was low, And darkly looked hfi «> +K-. «,.]i And darkly at the foe. UORATIUS. * Their van will be upon us Before the bridge gees down ; And if they once may win the bridge, What hope to save the town ? ' xxvir. Then out apake brave Horatiug, 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 ? 41 !, Sir ConsiJ, / emay; \J XXIX. * Hew down the bridge With all the speed ye 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 ?' 42 LAYS OF ANCIENT ROME. M W 1i XXX. Then out spake Spurius Lartius ; A Ramnian proud was ho : '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 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. 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 portione'd ; 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, * "^■-' ^'■'■"^ix^^ oeara tiie high. And the Fathers giind the low. HORATIUS, As we wax hot in faction, In battle we wax cold : Wherefore men fight not as they fought In the brave days of old. 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. 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. 43 xxxvr. The Three stood calm and silent. And looked upon the foes. And a great shout of laughter From all the vanguard rose ; 44 si i LAFS OF ANCIENT ROME. 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 • XXXT Annus from green Tifeuxum, Lord of the Hill of Vines ; And Seius, whose eight hundred slaves Sicken in lira's mines ; And Pious, long to Clusium Vassal in peace and war, Who led to fight his Umbriau powers From that grey crag where, girt with towers, The "jrtress 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 Palerii Rushed on the Roman Three • And Lausulus of Urgo The rover of the sea : BORATIUS. i5 And Aruna 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 Ocaus low : Bight to the heart of Lausulus Horatius sent a blow. * Lie there,' he cried, ' fell pirate I 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. 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 I the ranks divide ; Comes with his stately stride. 46 II \ LAYS OF ANCIENT ROME. Upon hia ample shoulders Clangs loud the fourfold 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 slitter Stand savagely at bay ; But will ye dare to follow, ;, If Astur clears the v.ay ? > 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 j I m,ssedh,s 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 3-vvOfd stood a hand-breadth out Behind the Tuscan's head. EORATIUS. XLVI. And the great Lord of Luna Fell at that deadly stroke, As falls on Mount Alvernus A thunder-smitten oak. I'ar o'er the crashing forest The giant arms lie spread ; And the pale augurs, muttering low, Gaze on the blasted head. XLVII. 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 I What noble Lucumo comes next To taste our Roman cheer ? ' XLVIII. 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. XLIX. But all Etruria's noblest - Felt their hearts sink to see On the earth the bloodv coroses. e* - A f In the path the dauntless Three : 47 48 LArs OF ANCIENT ROME, 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 thoso behind cried 'Por^^ard 1' And those before cried 'Back I' And backward now and forward t Wavers the deep array ; And on the tossing sea of steel, To and fro the standards reel j And the victorious trumpet-peal Dies fitfully away. Yet one man for one moment Stood out before the crowd; Well known was he to all the Three, ^ And they gave him greeting loud,' 'Now welcome, welcome, SextusI Now welcome to thy home 1 Why dcst thou stay, and turn away? He] lies the road to Rome.' LII. Thrice looked he at the city; Thrice looked he at the dead ; And thrice came on in fury And thrice turned back in dread ; H0RATIU8. And, white with fear and hatred, Scowled at the narrow way Where, wallowing in a pool of blood, The bravest Tuscan& lay. LIII. But meanwhile axe and lever Have mnnfuUy been plied ; And now the bridge hangs tottering Above the boiling tide. < Come back, come bacn, Horatius I ' Loud cried the Fathers all, 'Back, LartiusI back, HerminiusI Back, ero the ruia fall 1 ' 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. LV. But with a crash like thunder Fell every loosened beam, And, like a dam, the mighty wreck Lay right athwart the ttream ; And a long shout of triumph Eosc from the walls of Rome, As to the highest turret-tops 49 ^ 50 I^Ars OF ANCIENT ROME. \i- V-'A HI LVI. '] And, like a horse unbroken When first l.e feela the rein, The furious river struggled hlrd, And tossed his tawny mane, And burst the curb, and bounded, Rejoiofng to be free, ^.nd whirling down, in fierce career Battlement, and plank, and pier, .Hushed headlong to the sea. ' LVII. Alone stood brave Horatius, But constant still in mind ; Thrice thirty thousand foes before, And the broad flood behind. ' Down with him I 'cried false Sextus, With a smile on his pale face 'Now yield thee,' cried Lars Porsena, 'Now yield thee to our grace.' LVIII. Bound 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 I To whom the Romans pray, A Roman's life, a Roman's aras. --- V v:^.^x3. ia cnarge this day 1 ' n OR AT I us. So he spake, and speaking sheathed The Rood sword by his side, And with his harness on his back, Plunged headlong in tho tide. LX. No sound of joy or sorrow Was heard from either bank But friends and foes in dumb surprise, With parted lips and straining eyes, Stood gazing where he sank ; 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. 51 LXII. Never, I ween, did swimmer, In such an evil case. Struggle through such a raging flood Safe to the landing place : D 52 III I J^AFS OF ANCIENT ROME, But bis limbs were borne up bravely Bj tbe brave heart within And our good father Tiber Bore bravely up his chin.* LXIII. ' Curse on him I 'quoth false Seztus J 'Will not the villain drown? ' ' But for this stay, ere close of day We should have sacked the town V 'Heaven help him I ' quoth Lars Porsena ' And bring him safe to shore j 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 ; And now, with shouts and clapping, And noise of weeping loud He enters through the River-Gate Borne by the joyous crowd. ' * 'Our ladye bare upp her chinne.' 'Never heavier nianandhorse ^'^'"'^ '^ ^^^'^^ ^«'«»'^. Stemmed a midnight torrei.t'8 force. * * - ' * # Ye», through good heart n„d „„ j*,^ ,, * At.eng.nheg.,„e<.,t<,I.„<,tagp,.„,r*™°' I^y qfthe Last Minstrel, I. H0RAT1U8. - 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 oq 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, Jn letters all of gold, How valiantly he kept the bridge In the brave days of old. LXVII, And still his name sounds stirring Unto the men of Rome, As the trumpet-blast that cries to them To charge the Volscian home ; And wives still pray to a uno For boys with hearts as oold 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, Autl Ibe long howling of the wolves Ts heard amidst the snow; 63 f - LAVS OF ANCIENT ROME. When round the lonely cottage Roars loud the tempest's din, And the good logs of Algidus Roar louder yet within ; LXTX. 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; 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 goodraan 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 liare teen produced about ninety years after the lay of Horatius. Some persons mentioned 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 regularly applied to those men and things by every minstrel. Thus we find, both in the Homeric poems and in Hesiod, piTj 'EpaK^eiTijirepcKUTo^ ' Afiiyv^eic, dtaKTopog ' ApyeKpdvTTjg, iTrrdnvTioc Qril^Vf 'E?iv;7f evek' T/mdfioio. 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 ar^A fV^o Iq-it nf flio T.nlfe Rpp-illus is that the former is meant to bs purely Roman, while the latter, though 66 ^''^S OF A^Cm^^j^O^^ I I I! !i national in its o-eneral ««• -. , Greek learning and ofCTL^X^''''' '-"o'"- of the Tarquins, as it has cole doT"""- ''"^ '^^^ "' been oo^ppiJed from the worts "Tl i 'PP'*" *° ''"ve «nd one, at least, „f thosIZ "' P^P"'"^ P»ets ; tie Greek coioni; i„ iZy'T^JT' *^ """'" ^^-ted We had some acq„ainta/e'e wit! thf" ^"' '"^ '^ and Herodotus. Manv of fh. • '^'"'''' "^ Homer of the house .f TaT^ „ ^^1^'"''"^ ""-"*-- "Ppfearance, have a Greek .7 "'""'' °"'''^» W themselves are represented as r-'t;-- ''''* '"-<>-■>» peat house of the Baeoh ad^ d""^° '"''"«'' of the by the tyranny of that ^pseirt "" ''"''"'"-''y strange escape Herodotus haf 1 ]!^ ' '"'"' "f '^hose ^n-plicity and liveliness * r '^'' 'l'*'' "comparable <» that, when Tarquin the Pro, 7 ' f '™^^''"» tell ^ the best mode „f goverlif! """'^ "^"^ ^'^^ -plied onl, by beaLrd wn 1;:^"""' '"*^' '"' ^«-t poppies in his gfrdert Thi '""" *" *« Herodotus, in the passage to w[ich!.f' " '^"""^ '''•"t been made, relates of the crunse "" '"" '^''^'^y -of Cpselus. The strati ^n^L^'r'^-''''' Gabu ,s brought under the power j!i ^^^ '"'"' "f again, obviously copied from r! J ""^ '^'"^»'''» ". oftheyoungTa^uLJro^SB-!.^?'^^"''''''^ a story as would be told bv IT, !^^^^' " J»«ts«ch of the Greek mytholot ^?r' '""'^? '«"«'''«« fuU returned by Apollo is in the e. . ""biguous answer Herodotus, v. 92. Livy i P4 n- t Herodotus, iii. 1/54 r./„_ . ._ BATTLE OF THE LAKE REQILLUS. 57 destruction. 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, JNliicius burning his hand,* Cloelia swimming through Tiber, seem 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 Grreek air of the story. The Battle of the Lake Regillus is in all respects a Homeric battle, except 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 related which forcibly remind us of the great slaughter round the corpses of Sarpedon and Patroclus. 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 therofore 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 diffi- * M. de Pouilly attempted, a hundred and twenty years ago, to prove that the story of Mucins was of Greek origin ; bui he waq d6mie des Imcriptions, vi. 27. 66. 68 ^^Ys OP ANcimr ROME. cult to believe the resemblance accident,! P • before the Trojan ranka, defyinTtt v ^""rPP*""" encounter him : "wj'ng the bravest Greek to i-ivy introduces Sextus in a simil., juvenun, Tarquiniun, ostent.nr """"''■■ '^^^^^^ -ie.' Menellsr„sh;::irPari:7r "™'""' eager for vengeance, spurs his IZ ttlrr^' :r:'!: ™ -- ^-'-*'^ terrori r^-. larquinius,' says Liw ' r»t,.„ • infenso cessit hosti ' If tLy. I ^^^ ™»™n> RegiUus was decided bv s„ner„»? , ^'''' ^"^ "^ "nd Pollux, it was said hJT . "^ "^'""y- Castor at the head'of ZY^'o^^^ 'TfJ' ^™«'' -1 -ounted, afterwards carried tlfe news of ,t '"""'"''"^^'''*. and had «peed to the city. TlTZiln^l T'^"'* """"^'Wo J>ad alighted wis poinTed 1" WeVli"''"'' ^"^^ ancient temple. A orpa* «.,.," *''® '^'='' rose their honour on the Idefof Oui! T '"' ^'P' '» ^^eir anniversary of the baftl. !^ ' '"^^"""^ '" ^ the Mcrifices L. „ff"--d ; ' "" "'"' '^'y «umnt„o.,» — ■•ff...d» them atthe public charge.' O^e BATTLE OF THE LAKE REGILLUS. 59 spot on th3 margin of Lake Regillns 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, with 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, iu the midst of the confusion and slaughter,- he had seen two godlike forms on white horses scattering the Latines, would find ready credence. We know, indeed, that, in modem 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, univer- sities, 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 +1,^ ju;^y, TT.^ Vjs'l ^^'^ PviflPTipp. of his own senses against the legend ; but he seems to have distrusted even eo LAVS OF ANCIENT ROME, il fi wio oatwo, and tliat ho saw a irrov hor^n ^x.u\. lo de'£, 'td „::: "'"■ 'I, '"^ """^-""' ^-'- uo iiuiia, and not fcho cver-b osscd anosHn «,.,•«* Ja»o,. .Novonhelo. - Bor„,,l ,.dd, "it ly bo Z tho pcrsoa on the groy ho«o was the glorious ll to"':: w' ""tI '"i^ '' ^'"""^ """ 'f -' - ~ y TO see nun. The Romans of tho a.^o of n;„«; . TO«i.ii ««^k ui . "^ ^^ vyincinnatus i.iries tno j-mii. It 18 therefore conceivable that the appearance of C»,,tor and Pollux ™ay have bee 1 Jought at Regill,.., had pas.,ed away. Nor could anythinsr be bear the tidings of victory to Home. bee^buiH Tv"" '"""'''""' "" ^"'^ ^-^^ h«d tltlL? •, ""■•■"?'"' '•^ ^'"'''' ""> «*«*« annual ly te tmed ite gratitude for their protection. Q„i„tus moitT ^"P""\»-'- -™ «>oeted Censors at a momentous ensis. It had become absolutely necessary On that classification depended the distribution of poli- seemed to be in danger of falling under the dominion trZLLr""^f^"'^^ "'■ "^ "" '""o^'"" "nd head- strong rabble. Under such eireumstances, the most illus- tnous patrician and the most illustrious plebeian of the age ^ere intrusted with the office of arbitrating between L angry factions, and they performed their arduous task to we sauaaotioa of all honest and reasonable men. BATTLE OF THE LAKE REOILLUS. ei Ono of their reforms was a remodelling of the eques- trian order ; and, having eflFected this reform, they deter- mined to give to their work a sanction derived from religion. In the chivalrous societies of modern times, which have much more than may at first sight appear in common with the equestrian order of Rome, 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 Four- teenth instituted a new order of chivalry for the rewarding of military merit, ho 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 consi- derable resemblance between this rule of the order of Saint I^ewis and the rule which Fabius and Decius made respecting the Roman knights. It was ordained that a grand muster and inspection of the equestrian body should be part of the ceremonial performed, on the anniversary of the battle of RegiUus, in honour of Castor and Pollux, the two equestrian Gods. All the kni^-hts, 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 as one of the most splendid sights of Rome. In the time of Dionysius the cavalcade some- '62 J^'ArS OF ANCTENT ROME. 'o who., by the oonXL ; «!!' '"^ '''"""^' enco of the public worshin IT T' ^P"""**-"!- that those high l^Zt^tT '■ """^ '' '' P™'"''"« . fonu„ate e„o"u,h TZ T^ZZ'l CI^"' some warrant for the innovation t™dit,ono thir;:;t:irz:r ir ""-^ ^^^" -^o^ ^- the religion, festivals "«„:: "Z "" f '"'*^' "* iadeed from so early a p^rioT tW '"'^ P'^""'''- ve.es were popnlarl/aL^be ItC::;:;'''^ '^r unintelligible in thp «c,o ^ ''"^^"oia, and were utterly P-o War a ^^^ i^St If S t hotn^of^r "^ unoonth, Lmert;2rwtrsrr ^"^ A song, as we learn from Ho 1 1 1 ""'"f established ritual at the ^eaTsenllT kT' "' *'^ therefore likely that the Censors and p" rf t '* '' •Bad resolved to add a grand p o esd'n of I ' T'" "'"^ other solemnities annually peXre/n ^fr]" *''' Quiotili., would eali in th"^, awTa It S . '" "' would naturallv f«lrp f« i,- , ^ ' ^"^^ * Poet H the ap^L:f y;?sr;s r r "^•"'^^'- wxn uoas, and the institution t Livj, xxvu. 37. + 4 « + xiur. v;armeu oecuiare. BATTLE OF THE LAKE RE0ILLU8, 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 wise and holy Pontiff enjoining the magnificent cere- monial 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 interesting 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 Diony- sius and Livy. Antiquaries differ widely as to the situation of the field of buttle. 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 'wrhich they were originally derived. It is unnecessary to point out the obvious imitations of the Iliad, which have been purposely introduced. thu BATTLE OF THE LAKE REGILLUS. I. Ho, trumpets, sound a war-note I Ho, lictors, clear the way I The Knights will ride, in all their pride Along the streets to-day. To-daj the doors and windows Are hung with garlands all, From Castor in the Forum, To Mars without the wall. Each Knight is robed in purple, With olive each is crowned ; 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 Shail have such honour still. BATTLE OF THE LAKE REQILLUS. Q&j are the Martian Kalends : December's Nones are gay : But the proud Ides, when the squadron rides, Shall be Rome's whitest day. li. Unto the Great Twin Brethren We keep this solemn feast. Swift, swif^ the Great Twin Brathren Game spurring from the east. They came o'er wild Parthenius Tossing in waves of pine, O'er Cirrha'8 dome, o'er Adria's foam, O'er purple Apennine, From where with flutes and dances Their ancient mansion rings, In lordly Lacedsemon, The City of two kings, To where, by Lake Regillus, 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 Gome's oaks. Upon the turf by the Fair Fount The reaper's pottage smokes. The fisher baits bis angle ; The hunter twangs his bow ; 6ft ^6 LAYS OF ANCIENT ROME. 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 ; How wolves came with fierce gallop, And crows on eager wings To tear the flesh of captains, And peck the eyas 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 standewt 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 ^ Vow thou thy vows, and pray That they, in tempest and in fight, Will keep thy head alway. BATTLE OF THE LAKE RE0ILLU8. 67 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, 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 VII. Then spake the Consul Aulus, He spake a bitter jest : ' Once the jays sent a message Unto the cuglc's nest :— E 68 I^AFS OF ANCIENT ROME. 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 j And carrion-kite and jay, Soon as they saw his beak and claw, Fled screaming far away.' viir. 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 Pathera, 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.' BATTLE OF THE LAKE REGILLUS. 69 IX. So Aulas was Dictator, The man of seventy fights ; He made -^butius Elva His Master of the Knights. On the third morn thereafter, At dawning of the day, Did Aulus and -(Ebutius 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. 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, TO !f i! 'f f it LAYS OF AJSrCIENT HOME. 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 towu of all ; From where the Witch's Fortress O'erhangs the dark-bluo seas; . From the sUU ghissy lake that sleeps Beneath Aricia's trees— Those trees in whoso dim shadow The ghastly priest doth reisfn, The priest who slew the slayer And shall himself be slain j From the drear banks of Ufens Where flights of marsh-fowl play, And buffaloes lie wallowing Through the hot summer's day; 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 I og's reedy home ; From the green steeps whence Anio leaps In floods of snow-white foam. XL Aricia, Cora, Norba, Velitrre, with the might Of Setia and of Tusculum, Were marshalled on the right: BATTLE OF THE LAKE REGTLLUS. The leader was Mamiliua, 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, And by the sails of Carthage brought Far o'er the southern waters. 71 XII. Lavinium and Laiirentum Had on the left their post, With all the banners of the marsh, And banners of the coast. Their leader was false Scxtus, 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 Sat spinning by his bed. And as she plied the distaff, In a sweet voice and low, LAFS OF ANCIENT ROME. She sang of great old houses, And fights fought long^go. So spun she, and so sang she,' Until the east was grej Then pointed to her bleeding breast And shrieked, and fled awaj. ' XIII. But in the centre thickest Were ranged the shields of foes, And from the centre loudest i'iie cry of battle rose. There Tibur marched and Pedum ■ Bene^ th proud Tarquin'g rule, And Ferentinum of the rock, ' ■ AndGabiiofthepool. There rode the Volscian succours: There, in a dark stern 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 was Titus On an Apulian steed, Titus, the youngest Tarquin, Too good f..;r such a breed. BATTLE OF THE LAKE REGILLUS. 73 XIV. Now on each side the leaders Give signal for the charge ; And on each side the footmen Strode on with lance and targe ; And on each aide the horsemen Struck their spurs deep in gore, 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 Hose 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 Sextug rode out foremost: His look was high and boldj 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, ^ Herminius glared on Sextus, .^iid came witu eagle speed. [I If 74 f 1 1 1 LA YS OF ANCIENT ROME, Herminius on black Auster, Brave champion on brave steed • Jn his right hand the broadsword ' That kept the bridge so well, And on his helm the crown he won When proud Fidena? fell. Woe to the maid whose lover Shall cross his path to-day J False Sextus saw, and trembled, And turned, and fled away. As turns, as flies, the woodman In the Calabrian brake , Of that fell speckled snake J So turned, so fled, false Septus, 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, Gave Tubero of Norba To feed the Porcian kites. Next under those red horse-hoofs Flaccus of Setialayj 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. BATTLE OF THE LAKE RE0ILLU3. ^butius smote Mamilius So fiercely on the shield That the great lord of Tusculum Well nigh rolled on the field. Mamilius smote vEbiitius, 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. 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 wrought; 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 Tarquiu's head. 7« I I III LAYS OF ANCIENT ROMS. He dropped the lance: he dropped the reins He fell as fall the dead. Down A'llll, v,,,,^^g t,o gJa^ Jj.^^ With ^-,.j; ,.'. r^alsoffirej But faster Titus hath sprung down, And hath bestrode his sire. Latian captains, Homan knights, Fast down to earth \hoj -, ,p And hand to hand they fight'on foot Around the ancient king. First Titus gave tall Ca?so A death wound in the face ; Tall Cjrso was the bravest mau ;,0f 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 Highon 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 off half his crest ; But Titus stabbed Valerius A span deep in the breast. - Like a mast snapped by the tempest, Valerius reeled and fell. BATTLE OF THE LAKE REGTLLUS. 77 Ah ! woe 18 mo for the good h6uae That loves the people well I Then shouted loud the Latines ; And with one rush they bore 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. ' On, Latines, on 1' quoth Titus, ' See how the rebels fly 1 ' 'Romans, stand firm!' quoth Aulus, ' And win this fight or die I 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 1' XIX. Then tenfold round the body The roar of battle rose, Like the roar of a burning forest, When a strong north wind blows. 78 LAYS OF ANCIENT ROME. 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, 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 Oossus, 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 Oossus : ' I see an evil sight ; The banner of proud Tusculum Comes from the Latian right ; I pee the plumed horsemen j And far before the rest I see the dark-grey charger, I see the purple vest ; BATTLE OF THE LAKE REGILLUS. 79 I see the golden helmet That shinca far off like flame ; Bo ever rides Marailius, Prince of the Latian name.' XXII. ' Now hearken, Oaiua Oossus : 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.' I XXIII. So Aulas spake, and turned him Again to that fierce strife ; And Caius Oossus mounted, And rode for death and life. Loud clanged beneath his horse-hoofs The helmets of the dead, 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 corn before the sickle The stout Lavinians fell, Beneath the edge of the true sword TVjn* V-y-r^* +U" \^~:a — 11 80 LAYS OF ANCIENT ROME. vX IB ! XXIV. 'IlcrtniniusI Aulas greets tlico; i\v> bids ihcu como with speed To lielp our coulnil battle ; For sore .'^ there our need. There wars the youngost Tarquin, And there the Orest of Flame The Tusculan Mumilius, Prince of the Latian name. Valerius hath fallen fighting In front of our array : And Aldus of the seventy fields Alone upholds the day.' XXV. Hcrminius beat his bosom : But never a word ho spako. Ho clapped his Hnd on Auster's mane : He gave the reins a shako, Away, away went Austcr, 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; 'Hcrminius comes, Hcrminius, Who kept the bridge so well !' U i BATTLE OF THE LAKE REGILLUS. 81 XXVII. Mamilius spied HerminiuB, And dashed across the way. 'llerminius I I have sought the© Through many a bloody day. One of us two, llerminius, Shall never more go homo. I will lay on for Tusculum, And lay thou on for Homo I ' XXVIIT. All round them paused the battle, While mot in mortal fray The Roman 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. Mamilius 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 j Ho sprang o'er heaps of dead. I 82 1(1 I i; I', I 11 LAVS OF ANCIENT ROME, His bridle far out-streaming, His flanks all blood and foam, He sought tiiG 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 foet ; He rushed through the gate of Tusculum, He rushed up the long white street j 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. And straightway round him gathered A pale and trembling crowd And when obey knew him, cries of rage Brake furth, 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. 1 1 XXX. But, like a graven image. Black Auster kept his place, And ever wistfully he looked luto his master's face. The raven-mane that dailv. With pats and fond caresses, BATTLE or THE LAKE REQILLUS, The young Herrainia washed and combed, And twined in even tresscti And decked with coloured ribands From her own gay attire, Hung sadly o'er her father's corpse In carnage and in miro. 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 tiiy brother With me and mine abide, If one of your accursed house Upon black Auster ride 1' 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. 83 XXXT. And Aulus the Dictator Stroked Auster's raven mane. With heed he looked unto the girths With heed unto ihe rein. F 64 f.iVS oy ANVtKNT IIOMN, • Now Ifonr wvy ^vdl, hiaok Aiih(«m', lulu yon (|ii(>K m-i'iiy ; Ami tliMit Mild I will li For 11 ii,vi> n\V(>ii(;fn 0' g«""l lonl tliirt (liiy, XXXII. Ho «|iiiko ho ; itMil wnM l)iu'klliijjf TiKhtoi* liliiok AiiHUn-'Ml.aiul, When lu> wan iiwiuc of a piliict-l)' jiulp Tliivl nulo i\l his rljiht hiuid. Ho liko ||H7 woiv, uo UlOI'lllI Might ono tVoni dihcr know: \VhiU>i\H«U(>\v I heir ariiiour wuh ; Thoir iti.HMifi wi'iv whUo uti .saow. !rfev'.'f ou omihl.v fiuvil Did such viiro iiruuuir ^>|,.m,i ; And novor did Huoh Kulliuii sU>i'd.< Drink of luv oarl"»ly f^tivi-Mi. X X \ III , And all who saw Ihoui livinldod, \x\k\ jialo givw ovory rhook ; And Aulus tho Dictator Scarce K'^lhcrcd v^ioo to spoak. *Say by whatnanio luou call you? What city is your homo? And whcivfiMv ride yc in such guiso liiJoixi the ranks of Konio?* XXXIV. * By many names men will us ; In many lands we dwell : Well Sjimothnicia knows us ; Cyreue knows i:s well. Iv^O- BATThU Oir THE LAKE RFMILLUS. Otjr Jioii«o In %y\.y{ Tfironttim U liunj< ('(Kill iiiorti with flowcra: Ifigli o'er the imwtrt of HymcuMo Our niarblo portal tovv,,^'^; iJiit \))j the j)rou(l Kiirotus 1m our dear nativre home; And for the rijtjht wo como to fight JJeforo the raiikH of lloino.' XXXV, Ho answered ihoBo utratigo horsemen And each ooiiehed low hia spear • And forthwith all the ranks of Homo Were bold, and of good cheer : And on the thirty armies ''ame wonder and affright, And Ardejv wavered on the left, And Cora on the right. Mlomo to the charge I ' cried Aulus ; "^The foo begins to yield I Charge for the liearth of Vesta I Charge for the Golden Shield I Jjot no man stop to plunder, 13ut shiy, and slay, a id slay ; The gods who live for ever Are on our side to-day.' 85 XXXVT. The- .:.:■ lierce trnmpct-flourish ' .ofi arth to heaven arose. The kites know well I he long stern swell That bids the Romans close. 86 LAirS OF ANCIENT ROME. Then the good sword of Aulus Was lifted up to slav : 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 Joiled in vain. Behind them Rome's long battle Came rolling ou the foe, Ensigns danciug wild above, Blades all in line below. !Su comes the Po in ilood-time Upon the Celtic plain : So comes tJ-e 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 doi,h blow. So corn-sheaves in the flood- time Spin down the whirling Po. False Sextus to the mountains' Turned tirst his horse's head j And fast fled Ferentinum, And fast Lanuvium fled. The horsemen of Nomentum Spurred hard out of the frayj The footmen of Velitrse Threw shield and spear away. It ! BATTLE OF THE LAKE REGILLUS. And underfoot was trampled, Amidst the mud and gore, The banner of proud Tusculum, That never stooped before : And down went Flavins Paqstus, Who led his stately ranks From where the apple blossoms wavo On Anio's echoing banks, And Tullus of Arplnum, Chief of the Volscian aids, And Melius with the long fair curls, The love of Anxnr's maids, And the white head of Vulso, The great Arician seer, And Nepos of Laurentum, The hunter of the deer ; And in the back false Sextus Felt the good Roman steel, And wriggling in the dust he died, Like a worm beneath the wheel : And fliers and piu-suars Were mingled in a masii ; And far awaj the batlie Went roaring through the pass. 87 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, 88 CATS OF ANCIENT ROME. And Manlius, eldest of the Twelve Who kept the Golden Shield : And Sergius, the High Pontiff, For wisdom far renowned ; In all Etruria's colleges Was no such Pontiff found. 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 Thai might not bear the mail, Matrons with lips that quivered, And maids with faces pale. Since the first gleam of dajlight, Sempronius had r ceased To listen for the rushu.^ 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 I Hail to the hill-tops seven I Hail to the fire thai burns for aye And the shield that fell from heaven! BATTLE OF THE LAKE REUILLUS, $0 This daj, by Lake Regillug, Under the Porcian height. All in the lands of Tusculum Was fought a glorious fight. To-morrow your Dictator Shall bring in triumph home The spoils of thirty cities To deck the shrines of Rome I 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 I' 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; Then, like a blast, away they passed, And no man saw them more. 90 • LAYS OF ANCIENT ROME. 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 I These be the Great Twin Brethrea To whom the Dorians pray. Back comes the Chief in triumph, Who, in the hour of fight, Hath seen tho Great Twin Brethren (Pn 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 Vesta'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 QuiLtilis, Marked evermore with white. Unto the Great Twin Brethren Let all the people throng, BATTLE OF THE LAKE RE GILL US. 91 With cliaplets and with offerings, With music and with song ; And let the doors and Avindows Bo hung with garlands all, And let the Knights be s'lmmoncd To Mars without the wall : ''^hcnce let them ride in purple With joyous trumpet-sound, Each mounted on his war-liorse. And each with olive crowned ; And pass in solemn order Before til icred dome, Where dwell the Great Twin Brethren Who fought, so well for Rome !' lOi 'iu ^ IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I 1.25 !?-iM IIIIM •^ 1^ III 2.2 ^ lis ilM |||||i8 U ill 1.6 6" ^ W 9 F Oy^I Phot ^ SciKices Corporation S V #4 .0*^ %. ^^ »'<»