the ballads of his predecessors; and he would make free use of the scanty stock of Greek learning which he had himself acquired. He would probably introduce some wise and holy Pontiff enjoining the magnificent ceremonial which, after a long interval, had at length been adopted. If the poem succeeded, many persons would commit it to memory. Parts of it would be sung to the pipe at banquets. It would be peculiarly interesting to the great Posthumian House, which numbered among its many images that of the Dictator Aulus, the hero of Regillus. The orator who, in the following generation, pronounced the funeral panegyric over the remains of Lucius Posthumius Megellus, thrice Consul, would borrow largely from the lay; and thus some passages, much disfigured, would probably find their way into the chronicles which were afterwards in the hands of Dionysius and Livy.

Antiquarians differ widely as to the situation of the field of battle. The opinion of those who suppose that the armies met near Cornufelle, between Frascati and the Monte Porzio, is, at least, plausible, and has been followed in the poem.

As to the details of the battle, it has not been thought desirable to adhere minutely to the accounts which have come down to us. Those accounts, indeed, differ widely from each other, and, in all probability, differ as widely from the ancient poem from which they were originally derived.

It is unnecessary to point out the obvious imitations of the Iliad, which have been purposely introduced.

THE

BATTLE OF THE LAKE REGILLUS.

A LAY SUNG AT THE FEAST OF CASTOR AND POLLUX ON THE IDES OF QUINTILIS, IN THE YEAR OF THE CITY CCCCLI.

1.

Ho, trumpets, sound a war-note!

Ho, lictors, clear the way!

The Knights will ride, in all their pride,

Along the streets to-day.

To-day the doors and windows

Are hung with garlands all,
From Castor in the Forum,
To Mars without the wall.
Each Knight is robed in purple,
With olive each is erown'd;
A gallant war-horse under each
Paws haughtily the ground.
While flows the Yellow River,
While stands the Sacred Hill,

The proud Ides of Quintilis

Shall have such honour still.
Gay are the Martian Kalends:

December's Nones are gay:

But the proud Ides, when the squadron rides,
Shall be Rome's whitest day.

2.

Unto the Great Twin Brethren

We keep this solemn feast. Swift, swift, the Great Twin Brethren Came spurring from the east. They came o'er wild Parthenius Tossing in waves of pine,

O'er Cirrha's dome, o’er Adria's foam,

O'er purple Apennine,

From where with flutes and dances

Their ancient mansion rings,

In lordly Lacedæmon,

The City of two kings,
To where, by Lake Regillus,
Under the Porcian height,
All in the lands of Tusculum,
Was fought the glorious fight.

3.

Now on the place of slaughter

Are cots and sheepfolds seen,

And rows of vines, and fields of wheat, And apple-orchards green.

The swine crush the big acorns

That fall from Corne's oaks: Upon the turf by the Fair Fount The reapers pottage smokes.

The fisher baits his angle;

The hunter twangs his bow;

Little they think on those strong limbs That moulder deep below.

Little they think how sternly
That day the trumpets pealed;
How in the slippery swamp of blood
Warrior and war-horse reeled;
How wolves came with fierce gallop,
And crows on eager wings,
To tear the flesh of captains,
And peck the eyes of kings;
How thick the dead lay scattered
Under the Porcian height;
How through the gates of Tusculum
Raved the wild stream of flight;
And how the Lake Regillus

Bubbled with crimson foam,

What time the Thirty Cities

Came forth to war with Rome.

4.

But, Roman, when thou standest

Upon that holy ground,

Look thou with heed on the dark rock
That girds the dark lake round.
So shalt thou see a hoof-mark
Stamped deep into the flint:

It was no hoof of mortal steed

That made so strange a dint: There to the Great Twin Brethren Vow thou thy vows, and pray That they, in tempest and in fight, Will keep thy head alway.

5.

Since last the Great Twin Brethren

Of mortal eyes were seen,

Have years gone by an hundred
And fourscore and thirteen.
That summer a Virginius

Was Consul first in place;
The second was stout Aulus,
Of the Posthumian race.
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.

6.

"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,

To work the Tarquins wrong,
The Thirty Cities warn you,

Look that your walls be strong."

7.

Then spake the Consul Aulus,

He spake a bitter jest: "Once the jays sent a message

Unto the eagle's nest:Now yield thou up thine eyrie

Unto the carrion-kite,

Or come forth valiantly, and face

The jays in deadly fight.