The Herald of the Latines

From Gabii came in state:

The Herald of the Latines

Passed through Rome's Eastern Gate:

The Herald of the Latines

Did in our Forum stand;
And there he did his office,
A sceptre in his hand.
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"Hear, Senators and people

Of the good town of Rome, The Thirty Cities charge you To bring the Tarquins home: And if ye still be stubborn

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To work the Tarquins wrong,

The Fathers of the City

Are met in high debate. Then spake the elder Consul, An ancient man and wise:

"Now hearken, Conscript Fathers,

To that which I advise.

In seasons of great peril

"Tis good that one bear sway; Then choose we a Dictator,

Whom all men shall obey. Camerium knows how deeply The sword of Aulus bites, And all our city calls him

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With boys, and with grey-headed men,

To keep the walls of Rome.

Hard by the Lake Regillus

Our camp was pitched at night:

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The never-ending fen; From the Laurentian jungle,

The wild hog's reedy home;

From the green steeps whence Anio leaps
In floods of snow-white foam.

Their leader was false Sextus,
That wrought the deed of shame:
With restless pace and haggard face
To his last field he came.
Men said he saw strange visions

Which none beside might see,

And that strange sounds were in his ears

Which none might hear but he.

A woman fair and stately,

But pale as are the dead,

Oft through the watches of the night
Sat spinning by his bed.
And as she plied the distaff,

In a sweet voice and low,
She sang of great old houses,

And fights fought long ago.

So spun she, and so sang she,
Until the east was grey,

Then pointed to her bleeding breast,
And shrieked, and fled away.

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But in the centre thickest

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