 | A Song of Heroes |  |
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CÆSAR.
I have sung the Greek. The Roman
Now stands forth in iron mailed,
Who by patient plan, and manly
Will, and might of hand prevailed;
Now stands forth in iron mailed,
Who by patient plan, and manly
Will, and might of hand prevailed;
Who, by clod-subduing labour,
Rose, hard toil and sober cheer,
Stern-faced Law and strict obedience,
Sacred reverence and fear;
Rose, hard toil and sober cheer,
Stern-faced Law and strict obedience,
Sacred reverence and fear;
Fell, by overgrowth of Fortune,
Fell, by insolence of sway,
When in pride of strength the strong man
Tramped the weak man in the clay;
Fell, by insolence of sway,
When in pride of strength the strong man
Tramped the weak man in the clay;
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Fell, by sacred greed of having,
All the trash that gold can buy,
Piles of grandeur, seas of glitter,
Shows that feed the lustful eye;
All the trash that gold can buy,
Piles of grandeur, seas of glitter,
Shows that feed the lustful eye;
Acres, gardens, gladiators,
Fish-ponds, towers that flaunt the sky,
Purple pomp and pillowed pleasure,
And a wine-cup seldom dry,
Fish-ponds, towers that flaunt the sky,
Purple pomp and pillowed pleasure,
And a wine-cup seldom dry,
All things; only not a common-
Hearted zeal for common good,
With a fevered lust of getting,
Each man what he nearest could—
Hearted zeal for common good,
With a fevered lust of getting,
Each man what he nearest could—
Not as brother strives with brother,
But with rage of tigerhood,
Plunging, tearing on to power
Through seas of bribery and blood.
But with rage of tigerhood,
Plunging, tearing on to power
Through seas of bribery and blood.
But not all were vile. Some wildly
Fought and foamed like fretted cattle;
Some, with lofty ken far-viewed,
And lofty aim controlled the battle.
Fought and foamed like fretted cattle;
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And lofty aim controlled the battle.
Such was Cæsar; neither weakly
Shrinking from a forceful blow,
Nor with insolent triumph trampling
In the mire a fallen foe.
Shrinking from a forceful blow,
Nor with insolent triumph trampling
In the mire a fallen foe.
Bred to fearless, firm directness
In the soldier's kingly school,
In an age when only swords
Gave strength to stand or right to rule,
In the soldier's kingly school,
In an age when only swords
Gave strength to stand or right to rule,
Step by step with measured boldness,
Wise to wait the ripening hour,
Quick to seize the breeze of favour,
Up the strong man clomb to power.
Wise to wait the ripening hour,
Quick to seize the breeze of favour,
Up the strong man clomb to power.
Fluent talkers in the forum
Sway the passion of the hour;
But when Fate will seal her charter,
Then the soldier comes with power.
Sway the passion of the hour;
But when Fate will seal her charter,
Then the soldier comes with power.
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Cæsar now is Consul: seated
Bravely in his curule chair,
With his rods and with his lictors,
What is Cæsar scheming there?
Bravely in his curule chair,
With his rods and with his lictors,
What is Cæsar scheming there?
He hath crushed the Spanish brigands;
With sharp sword and strong decree,
O'er the Lusitanian mountains
Pushed the Empire to the sea.
With sharp sword and strong decree,
O'er the Lusitanian mountains
Pushed the Empire to the sea.
Now he'll lot the land to tillers,
Strangle violence with law,
Drag to public reprobation
Grasping hand and greedy maw.
Strangle violence with law,
Drag to public reprobation
Grasping hand and greedy maw.
Laws for peace: but peaceful glory
Might not slake great Cæsar's thirst;
Where an arm might strike for mastery,
There he panted to be first.
Might not slake great Cæsar's thirst;
Where an arm might strike for mastery,
There he panted to be first.
Pompey, with his pictured toga,
Lopped the pride of Mithridates,
Cleared the seas of roving robbers,
Wedded Tiber to Euphrates;
Lopped the pride of Mithridates,
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Wedded Tiber to Euphrates;
What shall Cæsar do? His boyhood's
Memory nursed the glorious day
When mighty Marius, seven times Consul,
To the fierce Celts blocked the way,
Memory nursed the glorious day
When mighty Marius, seven times Consul,
To the fierce Celts blocked the way,
Drifting Romeward like a deluge;
He, like Marius, would go forth,
And with Roman sword and sentence
Tame the rude hordes of the North.
He, like Marius, would go forth,
And with Roman sword and sentence
Tame the rude hordes of the North.
Nevermore shall Teut or Cimber,
Nursed in Hyperborean snows,
Pour their wasteful swarms, like locusts,
Where fair-fielded Padus flows.
Nursed in Hyperborean snows,
Pour their wasteful swarms, like locusts,
Where fair-fielded Padus flows.
Gaul was vexed with fevered faction;
German and Helvetian hordes,
Westward with wild fury ramping,
Call for sweep of Roman swords.
German and Helvetian hordes,
Westward with wild fury ramping,
Call for sweep of Roman swords.
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At Bibracte Cæsar smote them,
And in fine short-sworded line,
Grappling as a Roman grapples,
Drave the Teuts across the Rhine.
And in fine short-sworded line,
Grappling as a Roman grapples,
Drave the Teuts across the Rhine.
Hardy Belgæ, stout-thewed Nervii,
Sober water-drinking men,
On the banks of Meuse and Sambre
Bowed the neck to Cæsar then.
Sober water-drinking men,
On the banks of Meuse and Sambre
Bowed the neck to Cæsar then.
Suevi, clad with coats of deer-skin,
Match for the immortal gods,
Felt that more than gods were near them,
Where great Cæsar showed his rods.
Match for the immortal gods,
Felt that more than gods were near them,
Where great Cæsar showed his rods.
Not the westmost sailor Bretons,
Flowed about with briny tides,
Can maintain their rocky townships
Where great Cæsar's soul presides.
Flowed about with briny tides,
Can maintain their rocky townships
Where great Cæsar's soul presides.
Utmost Britain, Gaul's last refuge,
Now his foot of venture knows:
Where the sea-mews round the white cliffs
Sweep, where Thames majestic flows,
Now his foot of venture knows:
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Sweep, where Thames majestic flows,
Victor he stood, and with prophetic
Glance the time not distant saw
When the rude and painted Nomads,
In stern school of Roman law
Glance the time not distant saw
When the rude and painted Nomads,
In stern school of Roman law
Trained to manhood, would rejoice
In the grace of fixed abodes,
Roman towns and Roman villas,
Roman camps and Roman roads.
In the grace of fixed abodes,
Roman towns and Roman villas,
Roman camps and Roman roads.
Ten years' toil have born such fruitage;
From Britannia's cloudy home
To blue Rhone, all breathe with safety
'Neath the sheltering wing of Rome.
From Britannia's cloudy home
To blue Rhone, all breathe with safety
'Neath the sheltering wing of Rome.
What reward shall be to Cæsar,
Who hath made his country great?
Shall he march in pomp of triumph,
Crowned with laurel, through the gate?
Who hath made his country great?
Shall he march in pomp of triumph,
Crowned with laurel, through the gate?
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Shall ten thousand throats salute him
Consul twice with loud acclaim;
Consul, Censor, every title
That can top a Roman name?
Consul twice with loud acclaim;
Consul, Censor, every title
That can top a Roman name?
Ask the Senate. No; no grateful
Thanks come from patrician breast,
Faction-mongers, plotters, hirelings,
In the robe of statesmen dressed.
Thanks come from patrician breast,
Faction-mongers, plotters, hirelings,
In the robe of statesmen dressed.
Him they fear; and 'fore his kingly
Glance with conscious guilt they cower,
Who with unbribed hand will rudely
Stint their merchandise of power.
Glance with conscious guilt they cower,
Who with unbribed hand will rudely
Stint their merchandise of power.
Mighty men to fling bravadoes;
But when Cæsar claimed his right
At the gates of Rome, great Pompey
With his minions winged their flight
But when Cæsar claimed his right
At the gates of Rome, great Pompey
With his minions winged their flight
To the far Brundisian refuge;
Thence across the Adrian foam,
There to head the Asian muster
'Gainst the noblest man in Rome.
Thence across the Adrian foam,
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'Gainst the noblest man in Rome.
Vainly; not who doubts and wavers,
Never sure and ever late,
But who strikes with swift directness
Is the minister of Fate.
Never sure and ever late,
But who strikes with swift directness
Is the minister of Fate.
Not Pharsalia's plains shall save thee,
Pompey, with thy craven crew;
Prideful greed that grew to rashness,
In God's time shall have its due.
Pompey, with thy craven crew;
Prideful greed that grew to rashness,
In God's time shall have its due.
Proud patricians, purple-vested
Foplings in soft luxury born,
Them stout Cæsar's hard-faced veterans
Mowed like swathes of bending corn.
Foplings in soft luxury born,
Them stout Cæsar's hard-faced veterans
Mowed like swathes of bending corn.
Whither now? Not yet hath Cæsar's
Foot adventurous reached the Nile;
There, from sacred seats, on Pompey
Frowning Fate might learn to smile.
Foot adventurous reached the Nile;
There, from sacred seats, on Pompey
Frowning Fate might learn to smile.
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Pompey deemed: but fallen greatness
In a friend oft finds a foe;
On the shores of Nile the headless
Pompey lies in ghastly show.
In a friend oft finds a foe;
On the shores of Nile the headless
Pompey lies in ghastly show.
Mighty Pompey dead; and Cato,
With stiff neck and lofty head,
Holding guard in Honour's temple,
Where the god within had fled.
With stiff neck and lofty head,
Holding guard in Honour's temple,
Where the god within had fled.
Stoic Cato 'mid the ruins
Of old Rome the Fate defied,
And proudly on the coast of Afric
With self-planted dagger died.
Of old Rome the Fate defied,
And proudly on the coast of Afric
With self-planted dagger died.
Now the big round globe is Cæsar's;
What thing now shall Cæsar do,
Through those veins corrupt and fevered
Healthy pulses to renew?
What thing now shall Cæsar do,
Through those veins corrupt and fevered
Healthy pulses to renew?
He will be their needful master,
By firm law and not by blood—
Consul, Cæsar, Imperator—
Strangling faction in the bud.
By firm law and not by blood—
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Strangling faction in the bud.
Not the triumph of a party,
But a firm-compacted State,
Where every limb subserves the headship,
Shall make mighty Cæsar great.
But a firm-compacted State,
Where every limb subserves the headship,
Shall make mighty Cæsar great.
Not with Sulla's butcher-vengeance,
At his word red slaughter flows,
But with large and free forgiveness
He repays the hate of foes.
At his word red slaughter flows,
But with large and free forgiveness
He repays the hate of foes.
Not from feeble-blooded lordlings,
Hollow hearts in purple dressed,
But from men he made the Senate,
Proved the bravest and the best.
Hollow hearts in purple dressed,
But from men he made the Senate,
Proved the bravest and the best.
He would prune the flaunting plumage
Of the fine soft-feathered crew,
Borne about by slaves in litters,
Lest the mud should soil their shoe.
Of the fine soft-feathered crew,
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Lest the mud should soil their shoe.
But he strove in vain: the outward
Reverent show he might compel,
But their hearts with deadly rancour
And with bitter hatred swell.
Reverent show he might compel,
But their hearts with deadly rancour
And with bitter hatred swell.
He had cast the thing most holy
To the dogs; before the swine
Pearls; and for his noble rashness
Cæsar now must pay the fine.
To the dogs; before the swine
Pearls; and for his noble rashness
Cæsar now must pay the fine.
In the garb of friendship vested,
In petitioner's humble guise,
With the servile smile of falsehood
Gleaming in their traitor eyes.
In petitioner's humble guise,
With the servile smile of falsehood
Gleaming in their traitor eyes.
In the sacred hall of Council,
Seated in his curule chair,
Fearless, trustful, in his own
Uprightness clothed, they stabbed him there.
Seated in his curule chair,
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Uprightness clothed, they stabbed him there.
At the base of Pompey's statue
Fell great Cæsar; but not waned
His star with him. In world-wide Empire
Cæsar's work and name remained.
Fell great Cæsar; but not waned
His star with him. In world-wide Empire
Cæsar's work and name remained.
| A Song of Heroes | |