 | The Dawn in Britain |  |
Gainst this new sun, on flickering wings, upmounts
Blithe lark, from the low bent with heavenly throat;
Whence creaking ghosts, from men's slain limbs, to-night,
Like gnats, shall rise. Mead where the gentle hart
Was wont, from hurst to holt, to have his flight;
And partridge cock, with ripe and merry note,
Now calls: when stills the dew, trode this fresh bent
Down, in long battle-strife, with jelly blood,
Shall, blackened mould, lie house of funerals;
A solitude, of rotten graves of warriors,
Henceforth! Comes this new sun up, with still heat,
And shoots slant beams, like lances, to dull earth.
Blithe lark, from the low bent with heavenly throat;
Whence creaking ghosts, from men's slain limbs, to-night,
Like gnats, shall rise. Mead where the gentle hart
Was wont, from hurst to holt, to have his flight;
And partridge cock, with ripe and merry note,
Now calls: when stills the dew, trode this fresh bent
Down, in long battle-strife, with jelly blood,
Shall, blackened mould, lie house of funerals;
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Henceforth! Comes this new sun up, with still heat,
And shoots slant beams, like lances, to dull earth.
Behold, the legate's purple is displayed,
On his prætorian tent, in legions' castra;
Dread sign of battle! Strait, he leads, with trumps,
Without all ports, his legions; and instructs,
In field, vast shining threefold battle-ordinance.
On his prætorian tent, in legions' castra;
Dread sign of battle! Strait, he leads, with trumps,
Without all ports, his legions; and instructs,
In field, vast shining threefold battle-ordinance.
Beckoning their præfects, all dight arms, at once!
And infinite breastplates cast large brazen gleam,
As river were; and glance, like blades of grass,
Their glaives; and seemed, like leaping flames, their spears.
And infinite breastplates cast large brazen gleam,
As river were; and glance, like blades of grass,
Their glaives; and seemed, like leaping flames, their spears.
Behold, then, Britons' bulwark, black with shields!
Wherein shine groves of spears, like lamping bronze.
Ostorius, lo, with tribunes of his legions,
Rides now, spy-out yond fastness of blue Britons;
And their defences view. Them steeps enclose;
Part stony walls; trees, banked with sods, the rest.
Quick stream, before them, runs; uncertain fords.
Wherein shine groves of spears, like lamping bronze.
Ostorius, lo, with tribunes of his legions,
Rides now, spy-out yond fastness of blue Britons;
And their defences view. Them steeps enclose;
Part stony walls; trees, banked with sods, the rest.
Quick stream, before them, runs; uncertain fords.
Returned, again, with speed; loud Cæsar's legate,
From legion, unto legion, to his soldiers,
Spake; How those were the oft o'erthrown blue Britons,
Uplandish wights, unapt to handle arms;
Having no certain bond; and none defence,
Of helm or harness: mong whom to-day seen,
Few men, of war! Consumed, already, O cohorts,
Their foremost ones, have your victorious glaives!
From legion, unto legion, to his soldiers,
Spake; How those were the oft o'erthrown blue Britons,
Uplandish wights, unapt to handle arms;
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Of helm or harness: mong whom to-day seen,
Few men, of war! Consumed, already, O cohorts,
Their foremost ones, have your victorious glaives!
All shout to battle! Might uneath centurions
Hold back tumultuous maniples of their ensigns.
When known, eftsoon, their scouts have founden fords,
Sound clarions! leads Ostorius on the legions.
Hold back tumultuous maniples of their ensigns.
When known, eftsoon, their scouts have founden fords,
Sound clarions! leads Ostorius on the legions.
| The Dawn in Britain | |