Metrical essays | ||
87
THE DEATH OF OTHO.
“We are not fighting for Italy, with Hannibal, or Pyrrhus, or the Cambrians; our dispute
is with the Romans;—and whatever party prevails, whether we conquer or are conquered,
our country must suffer. Under the victor's joy she bleeds.”
Last words of Otho.
I
The armed hosts have met,There is cry of victory won;
The battle brand to the hilt is red
With the blood of sire and son.
II
With the fam'd and noble deadReeks that accursed plain;
Brother by brother's hand borne down!
Kinsmen by kinsmen slain!
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III
Thine altars, Rome, are darkWith the stain which never dies;
Though twice ten thousand hecatombs
Were offered to thy skies:
VI
I weep—but years of woeMay not veil this infamy;—
I stand by thy polluted shrine,
And I am here to die.
V
For me—this field was fought,For me—the sword flash'd high,
And Rome was bath'd in her own blood:
This yet is left—to die!—
VI
Welcome, destroying death!—Welcome, thou grave—my home!—
I die, as erst the patriot died—
I die for thee, O! Rome.
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VII
Thus Otho spoke;—then rush'dOn the bright sword he bore:—
The soul from its proud shrine hath fled—
Death's agony is o'er!
Metrical essays | ||