Lays of Ancient Rome - 11

Horatius at the Bridge
by Thomas B. Macaulay

XXI

And nearer fast and nearer
       
Doth the red whirlwind come;
And louder still and still more loud,
From underneath that rolling cloud,
Is heard the trumpet's war-note proud,
       
The trampling, and the hum.
And plainly and more plainly
       
Now through the gloom appears,
Far to left and far to right,
In broken gleams of dark-blue light,
The long array of helmets bright,
       
The long array of spears.

XXII

And plainly and more plainly,
       
Above that glimmering line,
Now might ye see the banners
       
Of twelve fair cities shine;
But the banner of proud Clusium
       
Was highest of them all,
The terror of the Umbrian,
       
The terror of the Gaul.

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Continued next week. Tomorrow's installment from the great Arab book Thousand and One Nights.

More About This Book

This poem celebrates one of the great heroic legends of history. Horatius saves Rome from the Etruscan invaders in 642 BC. Scottish poet Macaulay published this in 1842.

Illustration: Horatio at the Bridge from the first edition.

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