Then the good sword of Aulus
Was lifted up to slay :

Then, like a crag down Apennine,
Rushed Auster through the fray.
But under those strange horsemen
Still thicker lay the slain;
And after those strange horses

Black Auster toiled in vain.

Behind them Rome's long battle
Came rolling on the foe,
Ensigns dancing wild above,

Blades all in line below.

So comes the Po in flood-time

Upon the Celtic plain :

So comes the squall, blacker than night,
Upon the Adrian main.

Now, by our Sire Quirinus,
It was a goodly sight
To see the thirty standards

Swept down the tide of flight.

So flies the spray of Adria

When the black squall doth blow; So corn-sheaves in the flood-time

Spin down the whirling Po.

BATTLE OF THE LAKE REGILLUS.

False Sextus to the mountains

Turned first his horse's head;

And fast fled Ferentinum,

And fast Lanuvium fled.

The horsemen of Nomentum

Spurred hard out of the fray;
The footmen of Velitræ

Threw shield and spear away.
And underfoot was trampled,
Amidst the mud and gore,
The banner of proud Tusculum,
That never stooped before:
And down went Flavius Faustus,

Who led his stately ranks

From where the apple blossoms wave

On Anio's echoing banks,

And Tullus of Arpinum,

Chief of the Volscian aids,

And Metius with the long fair curls,

The love of Anxur's maids,

And the white head of Vulso,
The great Arician seer,
And Nepos of Laurentum,

The hunter of the deer;

125

And in the back false Sextus

Felt the good Roman steel,

And wriggling in the dust he died,

Like a worm beneath the wheel:

And fliers and pursuers

Were mingled in a mass;

And far away the battle

Went roaring through the

pass.

37.

Sempronius Atratinus

Sate in the Eastern Gate. Beside him were three Fathers,

Each in his chair of state;

Fabius, whose nine stout grandsons That day were in the field,

And Manlius, eldest of the Twelve Who keep the Golden Shield; And Sergius, the High Pontiff,

For wisdom far renowned;

In all Etruria's colleges

Was no such Pontiff found.

And all around the portal,

And high above the wall,

Of horse-hoofs from the east. The mist of eve was rising,

The sun was hastening down, When he was aware of a princely pai Fast pricking towards the town.

So like they were, man never
Saw twins so like before;

Red with gore their armour was,
Their steeds were red with gore.

38.

"Hail to the great Asylum! Hail to the hill-tops seven!

Hail to the fire that burns for aye,

And the shield that fell from heave

This day, by Lake Regillus,
Under the Porcian height,

All in the lands of Tusculum

Was fought a glorious fight. To-morrow your Dictator

Shall bring in triumph home

The spoils of thirty cities

To deck the shrines of Rome !"

39.

Then burst from that great concourse
A shout that shook the towers,

And some ran north, and some ran south,
Crying, "The day is ours!"

But on rode these strange horsemen,

With slow and lordly pace; And none who saw their bearing

Durst ask their name or race. On rode they to the Forum,

While laurel-boughs and flowers, From house-tops and from windows, Fell on their crests in showers. When they drew nigh to Vesta, They vaulted down amain,