The Dawn in Britain by Charles M. Doughty |
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 | The Dawn in Britain |  |
Now the after-morrow of that day, when Claudius,
(Whose inward aches, what, for the fear, forepast,)
Yet pale, beheld, nigh-hand, death's griesly face,
With Aulus and his præfect, of the camps,
The legions' tribunes, and few Roman knights;
He rides, the situation and the strength,
To view, midst guard of horse, of Britons' banks.
Doth his heart boot, to see wide field of fight,
The enemies' gore, yet purpling as an heath!
(Whose inward aches, what, for the fear, forepast,)
Yet pale, beheld, nigh-hand, death's griesly face,
With Aulus and his præfect, of the camps,
The legions' tribunes, and few Roman knights;
He rides, the situation and the strength,
To view, midst guard of horse, of Britons' banks.
Doth his heart boot, to see wide field of fight,
The enemies' gore, yet purpling as an heath!
Gazing those Roman captains, long, admire
Bulwarks of Camulodunum, gates and dykes,
Wide rampires more than banks of Verulam ere.
Vaunts gat-toothed Claudius; Like Epeius' steed,
Those walls, of Britain's Ilium, soon o'erride,
Should towers of his. Then Aulus, in two castra,
Departs his legions. Whilst shall that, yond Colne,
Watch; should this other, in great Cæsar's view,
Begin the siege. He sends men, hew down trees;
And frame new towers, for battery. And certain horse,
Sends back, with Cæsar's letters, from these camps,
Bidding them speed; and that by only night,
As fearing yet the spersed blue Britons' war-carts.
Bulwarks of Camulodunum, gates and dykes,
Wide rampires more than banks of Verulam ere.
Vaunts gat-toothed Claudius; Like Epeius' steed,
Those walls, of Britain's Ilium, soon o'erride,
Should towers of his. Then Aulus, in two castra,
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Watch; should this other, in great Cæsar's view,
Begin the siege. He sends men, hew down trees;
And frame new towers, for battery. And certain horse,
Sends back, with Cæsar's letters, from these camps,
Bidding them speed; and that by only night,
As fearing yet the spersed blue Britons' war-carts.
They rescript bear, unto that naval castrum,
Which by Thames' mouth. Servants of Cogidubnos,
Them guide by woods. The third day, they arrive.
The letters read, prescribe; that sail the ships,
To Camulodunum, to the camps of legions.
Which by Thames' mouth. Servants of Cogidubnos,
Them guide by woods. The third day, they arrive.
The letters read, prescribe; that sail the ships,
To Camulodunum, to the camps of legions.
Cælius, now naval præfect, drawn his fleet
Out, to the tide; embarked his eager soldiers,
At eve: and sith, by covert night, stands forth
To the sea-deep, to shun the pirates' navy.
Out, to the tide; embarked his eager soldiers,
At eve: and sith, by covert night, stands forth
To the sea-deep, to shun the pirates' navy.
| The Dawn in Britain | |