The Dawn in Britain :: :: University of Virginia Library

When now all kings, to morrow's sacrifice;
(Which daily is slain, at the great temple-stone,)
Are come; Cunobelin, that both sickness hath,
And heavy age; and may, no longer, bear
The sovereignty; his belt-of-strength deposed,
(That glittering girdle royal, of burned gold:
Which ensign is, since days of Cassiobellan,
Of who warlord, o'er all tribes of South Britain,)
In ancient Mogont's hands; priest, purple-stoled,
Midst choir of leaf-crowned druids, of the sun-god;
That, in his holy temple, dance and chant.

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Received it, reverent, goeth, lo, Mogont forth,
Before them all, with solemn dancing foot;
Through the great temple's midst, till come to place,
Where fire, (which fell from heaven; the sacred hearth,)
Burns. He, then, (three times, turned to West, from East,)
Lays, on sun's altar-stone, that golden belt!

Whose chariot-wheels shine, in this morning sun?
Caratacus; he, it is, so swiftly arrives!
Yet pale the prince, from sickness nigh to death.
With whom stands riding, in white glittering war-cart,
With antique targe, old Cantion Dumnoveros.
And when, at porch of Belin's mighty house,
Those light, all Britons, standing round, applaud!

Devout, then, in wheel-temple, of the sun,
All enter; where, when Dumnoveros hears,
(Who next, in Samoth's house is, to Cunobelin,)
In reverend age; how he, mongst kings, deposed
That golden belt, ensign of the Land's Ward;
He it shining lifts, and girds, with loud accord,
Of all their throats! the loins of Togodumnos.

And Togodumnos feels, in him, infused,
New strength and vertue of his saviour gods.
To heaven, shout Britons; when, with pomp of druids,

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Kings bring him forth, to morning parliament;
That shot-down sunny beam, from covert skies,
See rest, mongst lords and druids, on Togodumnos!