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greatpoetry2016-04-07 10:07 am
aquamarcia.livejournal.com) wrote in greatpoetry2016-04-07 10:07 am
three stanzas from "Horatius at the Bridge"
Stanzas 27, 28 & 29 from Horatius at the Bridge by Thomas Babington, Lord Macaulay (1800-1859)
Then out spake brave Horatius,
The Captain of the gate:
“To every man upon this earth
Death cometh soon or late.
And how can man die better
Than facing fearful odds
For the ashes of his fathers
And the temples of his gods,
“And for the tender mother
Who dandled him to rest,
And for the wife who nurses
His baby at her breast,
And for the holy maidens
Who feed the eternal flame,—
To save them from false Sextus
That wrought the deed of shame?
“Hew 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?”
To read the entire poem, google "horatius at the bridge" and follow the link to Bartleby's page. (I'm not embedding the link here because I'm pretty sure embedded hyperlinks set off this community's automatic moderation of incoming posts.)
Then out spake brave Horatius,
The Captain of the gate:
“To every man upon this earth
Death cometh soon or late.
And how can man die better
Than facing fearful odds
For the ashes of his fathers
And the temples of his gods,
“And for the tender mother
Who dandled him to rest,
And for the wife who nurses
His baby at her breast,
And for the holy maidens
Who feed the eternal flame,—
To save them from false Sextus
That wrought the deed of shame?
“Hew 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?”
To read the entire poem, google "horatius at the bridge" and follow the link to Bartleby's page. (I'm not embedding the link here because I'm pretty sure embedded hyperlinks set off this community's automatic moderation of incoming posts.)