 | The Dawn in Britain |  |
The next hour, lo, in sight of all, draw in
Gigantic yoke of Afric elephants,
The imperator Drusus Nero Claudius;
In chariot standing, of Caratacus,
For the more glory. And was that winged white war-cart
Taken in the battle. Kowain and Venutios,
Leapt, when o'er-yerked Goldhoof the beam, to grass,
Down, hastily; and they with sharp skeans shared his trace.
Constrained to leave, midst mortal press, king's chariot;
Those saved the royal team, and that uneath!
Themselves scaped hardly away, on the steeds' backs.
Gigantic yoke of Afric elephants,
The imperator Drusus Nero Claudius;
In chariot standing, of Caratacus,
For the more glory. And was that winged white war-cart
Taken in the battle. Kowain and Venutios,
Leapt, when o'er-yerked Goldhoof the beam, to grass,
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Constrained to leave, midst mortal press, king's chariot;
Those saved the royal team, and that uneath!
Themselves scaped hardly away, on the steeds' backs.
Cæsar commands, when Camulus' gate he passed,
To raise, in forum burned, of Britain's Ilium;
(Which vapours yet, like a vast dying pyre,
Full of white bones of Britons,) the imperial
Pavilion. Of the bitter reek, recks Claudius
But small; nor stench even of his enemies' corses!
To raise, in forum burned, of Britain's Ilium;
(Which vapours yet, like a vast dying pyre,
Full of white bones of Britons,) the imperial
Pavilion. Of the bitter reek, recks Claudius
But small; nor stench even of his enemies' corses!
Lo, in the prætorian tabernaculum, erst,
He sitting, of his legate; bravely endites
And seals now imperial letters, to Vitellius,
His colleague, (namely in that year's consulship:)
Sith, to Rome's Senate, writes magnific tidings;
Under his auspices, how Britannia prostrate,
Lies; their metropolis burned: blue Britons tamed;
He added hath, another world, to Rome.
He sitting, of his legate; bravely endites
And seals now imperial letters, to Vitellius,
His colleague, (namely in that year's consulship:)
Sith, to Rome's Senate, writes magnific tidings;
Under his auspices, how Britannia prostrate,
Lies; their metropolis burned: blue Britons tamed;
He added hath, another world, to Rome.
| The Dawn in Britain | |