Lays of Ancient Rome - 15

Horatius at the Bridge
by Thomas B. Macaulay

XXIX

"Haul down the bridge, Sir Consul,
       
With all the speed ye may;
I, with two more to help me,
       
Will hold the foe in play.
In yon strait path a thousand
       
May well be stopped by three.
Now who will stand on either hand,
       
And keep the bridge with me?"

XXX

Then out spake Spurius Lartius;
       
A Ramnian proud was he:
"Lo, I will stand at thy right hand,
       
And keep the bridge with thee."
And out spake strong Herminius;
       
Of Titian blood was he:
"I will abide on thy left side,
       
And keep the bridge with thee."

---

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.

More information here:

Literature Daily

More of this Series