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16.

Then far to North Æbutius,
The Master of the Knights,
Gave Tubero of Norba

To feed the Porcian kites.

Next under those red horse-hoofs
Flaccus of Setia lay;
Better had he been pruning
Among his elms that day.
Mamilius saw the slaughter,

And tossed his golden crest,

And towards the Master of the Knights
Through the thick battle pressed.
Ebutius smote Mamilius

So fiercely on the shield,
That the great lord of Tusculum
Wellnigh rolled on the field.
Mamilius smote Æbutius,

With a good aim and true,

Just where the neck and shoulder join, And pierced him through and through; And brave Æbutius 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?"

17.

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 Tarquin's head.

He dropped the lance: he dropped the reins:
He fell as fall the dead.
Down Aulus springs to slay him,

With eyes like coals of fire;
But faster Titus hath sprung down,
And hath bestrode his sire.
Latian captains, Roman knights,

Fast down to earth they spring;
And hand to hand they fight on foot
Around the ancient king."
First Titus gave tall Cæso

A death wound in the face;
Tall Caso was the bravest man
Of the brave Fabian race:
Aulus slew Rex of Gabii,

The priest of Juno's shrine: Valerius smote down Julius,

Of Rome's great Julian line;
Inlius, who left his mansion
High on the Velian hill,

And through all turns of weal and wo
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.

Ah! wo is me for the good house
That loves the people well!
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.
18.

But fiercer grew the fighting

Around Valerius dead;

For Titus dragged him by the foot,
And Aulus by the head.

“On, Latines, on !" quoth Titus,

See how the rebels fly!"

"Romans, stand firm!" quoth Aulus,
"And win this fight or die!
They must not give Valerius
To raven and to kite;

For aye Valerius loathed the wrong,
And aye upheld the right:
And for your wives and babies

In the front rank he fell.

Now play the men for the good house That loves the people well!"

19.

Then tenfold round the body

The roar of battle rose,
Like the roar of a burning forest,

When a strong northwind blows.
Now backward, and now forward,
Rocked furiously the fray,
Till none could see Valerius,

And none wist where he lay.
For shivered arms and ensigns

Were heaped there in a mound, 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.

20.

But north looked the Dictator;
North looked he long and hard;
And spake to Caius Cossus,
The Captain of his Guard:
"Caius, of all the Romans

Thou hast the keenest sight;

Say, what through yonder storm of dust Comes from the Latian right?"

21.

Then answered Caius Cossus :
"I see an evil sight;
The banner of proud Tusculum
Comes from the Latian right,
I see the plumed horsemen;
And far before the rest

I see the dark-gray charger,
I see the purple vest;

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So Aulus spake, and turned him
Again to that fierce strife;
And Caius Cossus mounted,

And rode for death and life.
Loud clanged beneath his horse-hoofs
The helmets of the dead,
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 stou: Lavinians fell,
Beneath the edge of the true sword
That kept the bridge so well.

24.

"Herminius! Aulus greets thee; He bids thee come with speed To help our central battle,

For sore is there our need:

There wars the youngest Tarquin, And there the Crest of Flame,

The Tusculan Mamilius,

Prince of the Latian name.
Valerius hath fallen fighting
In front of our array,

And Aulus of the seventy fields
Alone upholds the day."

25.

Herminius beat his bosom,

But never a word he spake:

He clapped his hands on Auster's mane; He gave the reins a shake.

Away, away went Auster

Like an arrow from the bow;

Black Auster was the fleetest steed
From Aufidus to Po.

26.

Right glad were all the Romans

Who, in that hour of dread, Against great odds bare up the war Around Valerius dead, When from the south the cheering Rose with a mighty swell,"Herminius comes, Herminius, Who kept the bridge so well!"

27. Mamilius spied Herminius, And dashed across the way. VOL. IV.-7

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Fast, fast, with heels wild spurning,
The dark-gray charger fled;
He burst through ranks of fighting men,
He sprang o'er heaps of dead.
His bridle far out-streaming,

His flanks all blood and foam,
He sought the southern mountains,
The mountains of his home.
The

pass was steep and rugged,

The wolves they howled and whined; But he ran like a whirlwind up the pass, And he left the wolves behind. Through many a startled hamlet Thundered his flying feet:

He rushed through the gate of Tusculum,
He rushed up the long white street;
He rushed by tower and temple,

And paused not from his race
Till he stood before his master's door
In the stately market-place.
And straightway round him gathered
A pale and trembling crowd,
And when they knew him cries of rage
Brake forth, and wailing loud:
And women rent their tresses

For their great prince's fall:
And old men girt on their old swords,
And went to man the wall.

30.

But, like a graven image,

Black Auster kept his place, And ever wistfully he looked Into his master's face.

The raven-mane that daily,

With pats and fond caresses,

The young Herminia washed and combed,
And twined in even tresses,

And decked with coloured ribands
From her own gay attire,
Hung sadly o'er her father's corpse
In carnage and in mire.
Forth with a shout sprang Titus,

And seized black Auster's rein,
Then Aulus sware a fearful oath,
And ran at him amain.
3 A

"The furies of thy brother
With me and mine abide,
If one of your accursed house
Upon black Auster ride!"
As on an Alpine watch-tower

From heaven comes down the flame,

Full on the neck of Titus

The blade of Aulus came:
And out the red blood spouted,

In a wide arch and tall,
As spouts a fountain in the court
Of some rich Capuan's hall.
The knees of all the Latines

Were loosened with dismay
When dead, on dead Herminius,
The bravest Tarquin lay.
31.

And Aulus the Dictator

Stroked Auster's raven mane, With heed he looked unto the girths, With heed unto the rein.

"Now bear me well, black Auster,

Into yon thick array;

And thou and I will have revenge
For thy good lord this day."

32.

So spake he; and was buckling

Tighter black Auster's band,

When he was aware of a princely pair
That rode at his right hand.
So like they were, no mortal

Might one from other know:
White as snow their armour was:
Their steeds were white as snow.
Never on earthly anvil

Did such rare armour gleam; And never did such gallant steeds Drink of an earthly stream.

33.

And all who saw them trembled,
And pale grew every cheek;
And Aulus the Dictator

Scarce gathered voice to speak. "Say by what name men call you? What city is your home?

And wherefore ride ye in such guise Before the ranks of Rome ?"

34.

By many names men call us;
In many lands we dwell:
Well Samothracia knows us :
Cyrene knows us well.
Our house in gay Tarentum

Is hung each morn with flowers:
High o'er the masts of Syracuse
Our marble portal towers:
But by the proud Eurotas

Is our dear native home;

And for the right we come to fight Before the ranks of Rome."

35.

No answered those strange horsemen, And each couched low his spear; And forthwith all the ranks of Rome Were bold, and of good cheer: And on the thirty armies

Came wonder and affright,

And Ardea wavered on the left,

And Cora on the right.

"Rome to the charge!" cried Aulus;
"The foe begins to yield!
Charge for the hearth of Vesta!
Charge for the Golden Shield!
Let no man stop to plunder,
But slay, and slay, and slay:
The gods who live forever
Are on our side to-day."

36.

Then the fierce trumpet-flourish
From earth to heaven arose,

The kites know well the long stern swel
That bids the Romans close.

Then the good sword of Aulus
Was lifted up to slay:
Then, like a crag down Apennine,
Rushed Auster through the fray.
But under those strange horsemen
Still thicker lay the slain;
And after those strange horses
Black Auster toiled in vain.
Behind them Rome's long battle
Came rolling on the foe,
Ensigns dancing wild above,
Blades all in line below.

So comes the Po in flood-time
Upon the Celtic plain:

So comes the squall, blacker than night,
Upon the Adrian main.
Now, by our Sire Quirinus,

It was a goodly sight

To see the thirty standards
Swept down the tide of flight.
So flies the spray of Adria

When the black squall doth blow;
So corn-sheaves in the flood-time
Spin down the whirling Po.
False Sextus to the mountains
Turned first his horse's head:
And fast fled Ferentinum,

And fast Circeium fled.
The horsemen of Nomentum
Spurred hard out of the fray;
The footmen of Velitræ

Threw shield and spear away.
And underfoot was trampled,
Amidst the mud and gore,
The banner of proud Tusculum,
That never stooped before:
And down went Flavius Faustus,
Who led his stately ranks
From where the apple blossoms wave
On Anio's echoing banks,

And Tullus of Arpinum,
Chief of the Volscian aids,
And Metius with the long fair curls,
The love of Anxur's maids,
And the white head of Vulso

The great Arician seer
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 pursuers

Were mingled in a mass;

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Sempronius Atratinus

Sate in the Eastern Gate.
Beside him were three Fathers,

Each in his chair of state;
Fabius, whose nine stout grandsons
That day were in the field,
And Manlius, eldest of the Twelve
Who keep the Golden Shield;
And Sergius, the High Pontiff,
For wisdom far renowned;
In all Etruria's colleges

Was no such Pontiff found.

And all around the portal,
And high above the wall,
Stood a great throng of people,
But sad and silent all;
Young lads, and stooping elders
That might not bear the mail,
Matrons with lips that quivered,
And maids with faces pale.
Since the first gleam of daylight,
Sempronius had not ceased
To listen for the rushing

Of horse-hoofs from the east.
The mist of eve was rising,

The sun was hastening down,

When he was aware of a princely pair
Fast pricking towards the town.
So like they were, man never
Saw twins so like before;
Red with gore their armour was,
Their steeds were red with gore.

38.

"Hail to the great Asylum! Hail to the hill-tops seven!

Hail to the fire that burns for aye,

And the shield that fell from heaven!

This day, by Lake Regillus,

Under the Porcian height,

All in the lands of Tusculum

Was fought a glorious fight. To-morrow your Dictator

Shall bring in triumph home The spoils of thirty cities

To deck the shrines of Rome!"

39.

Then burst from that great concourse
A shout that shook the towers,

And some ran north, and some ran south,
Crying, "The day is ours!"

But on rode these strange horsemen,
With slow and lordly pace;

And none who saw their bearing
Durst ask their name or race.
On rode they to the Forum,

While laurel-boughs and flowers,
From housetops 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.

40.

And all the people trembled,
And pale grew every cheek;
And Sergius the High Pontiff

Alone found voice to speak: "The Gods who live forever

Have fought for Rome to-day!
These be the Great Twin Brethren
To whom the Dorians pray.
Back comes the Chief in triumph,
Who, in the hour of fight,
Hath seen the Great Twin Brethren
In harness on his right.
Safe comes the ship to haven,

Through billows and through gales
If once the Great Twin Brethren
Sit shining on the sails.
Wherefore they washed their horses
In 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 mouths returning
Bring back this day of fight,
The proud Ides of Quintilis,

Marked evermore with white,
Unto the Great Twin Brethren
Let all the people throng,
With chaplets and with offerings,

With music and with song;
And let the doors and windows

Be hung with garlands all,
And let the Knights be summoned
To Mars without the wall:
Thence let them ride in purple
With joyous trumpet-sound,
Each mounted on his war-horse,
And each with olive crowned;
And pass in solemn order

Before the sacred dome,

Where dwell the Great Twin Brethren Who fought so well for Rome."

VIRGINIA.

A COLLECTION Consisting exclusively of war-1 of the Patrician money-lenders. Children often songs would give an imperfect, or rather an became slaves in consequence of the misfor erroneous notion of the spirit of the old Latin tunes of their parents. The debtor was impriballads. The Patricians, during about a cen- soned, not in a public jail under the care of tury and a half after the expulsion of the impartial public functionaries, but in a private kings, held all the high military commands. A workhouse belonging to the creditor. FrightPlebeian, even though, like Lucius Siccius, he ful stories were told respecting these dungeons. were distinguished by his valour and know-It was said that torture and brutal violation ledge of war, could serve only in subordinate were common; that tight stocks, heavy chains, posts. A minstrel, therefore, who wished to scanty measures of food, were used to punish celebrate the early triumphs of his country, wretches guilty of nothing but poverty; and could hardly take any but Patricians for his that brave soldiers, whose breasts were coheroes. The warriors who are mentioned in vered with honourable scars, were often mark. the two preceding lays, Horatius, Lartius, Her-ed still more deeply on the back by the scourges minius, Aulus Posthumius, Æbutius Elva, Sempronius Atratinus, Valerius Poplicola, were all members of the dominant order; and a poet who was singing their praises, whatever his own political opinions might be, would naturally abstain from insulting the class to which they belonged, and from reflecting on the system which had placed such men at the head of the legions of the commonwealth.

of high-born usurers.

The Plebeians were, however, not wholly without constitutional rights. From an early period they had been admitted to some share of political power. They were enrolled in the centuries, and were allowed a share, considerable though not proportioned to their numerical strength, in the disposal of those high dignities from which they were themselves excluded. Thus their position bore some resemblance to that of the Irish Catholics during the interval between the year 1792 and the year 1829. The Plebeians had also the privilege of annually appointing officers, named Tribunes, who had no active share in the government of the Commonwealth, but who, by degrees, acquired a power which made them formidable even to the ablest and most resolute Consuls and Dictators. The person of the Tribune was inviola ble; and, though he could directly effect little, he could obstruct every thing.

But there was a class of compositions in which the great families were by no means so courteously treated. No parts of early Roman | history are richer with poetical colouring than those which relate to the long contest between the privileged houses and the commonalty. The population of Rome was, from a very early period, divided into hereditary castes, which, indeed, readily united to repel foreign enemies, but which regarded each other, during many years, with bitter animosity. Between those castes there was a barrier hardly less strong than that which, at Venice, parted the mem- During more than a century after the institubers of the Great Council from their country- tion of the Tribuneship, the Commons strugmen. In some respects indeed, the line which gled manfully for the removal of grievances separated an Icilius or a Duilius from a Post- under which they laboured; and, in spite of humius or a Fabius was even more deeply many checks and reverses, succeeded in marked than that which separated the rower wringing concession after concession from the of a gondola from a Contarini or a Morosini. stubborn aristocracy. At length, in the year At Venice the distinction was merely civil. At of the city 378, both parties mustered their Rome it was both civil and religious. Among whole strength for their last and most desperate the grievances under which the Plebeians suf- conflict. The popular and active Tribune, fered, three were felt as peculiarly severe. Caius Licinius, proposed the three memorable They were excluded from the highest magis- laws which are called by his name, and which tracies; they were excluded from all share in were intended to redress the three great evils the public lands; and they were ground down of which the Plebeians complained. He was to the dust by partial and barbarous legislation supported, with eminent ability and firmness, touching pecuniary contracts. The ruling by his colleague, Lucius Sextius. The strugclass in Rome was a moneyed class; and it | gle appears to have been the fiercest that ever made and administered the laws with a view in any community terminated without an apsolely to its own interest. Thus the relation peal to arms. If such a contest had raged in between lender and borrower was mixed up any Greek city, the streets would have run with the relation between sovereign and sub. with blood. But, even in the paroxysms of ject. The great men held a large portion of the faction, the Roman retained his gravity, his community in dependence by means of ad-respect for law, and his tenderness for the lives vances at enormous usury. The law of debt, framed by creditors, and for the protection of creditors, was the most horrible that has ever been known among men. The liberty, and even the life, of the insolvent were at the mercy

of his fellow-citizens. Year after year Licinius and Sextius were re-elected Tribunes. Year after year, if the narrative which has come down to us is to be trusted, they continued to exert, to the full extent, their power of stopping

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