 | The Poetical Works of Aubrey De Vere
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A Man—one Man!
Stilicho crossed the Alps alone: alone
His hand he lifted upon Rhenus' banks,
A hand that raised a standard. Round it flocked
The wrecks of ancient Roman legionaries
The Gauls, the German tribes late linked with Rome
By treaties, first-fruits of his rule sagacious.
With these, as with an army from the clouds,
He dropp'd on Greece astonished. Alaric fled
To far Thessalian hills. He girt him round:
In one day more, but one, Alaric had perished:
That noon, the assault commanded, rode in sight
A horseman by the Eastern Emperor sped,
The bearer of a missive: ‘Leave this land:
War not on Alaric: Alaric and I are friends.
Send back mine Eastern Legions.’
| The Poetical Works of Aubrey De Vere
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