Page:Poems that every child should know (ed. Burt, 1904).djvu/242

204 And the great Lord of Luna

Fell at the deadly stroke,

As falls on Mount Alvernus

A thunder-smitten oak.

Far o'er the crashing forest

The giant arms lie spread;

And the pale augurs, muttering low,

Gaze on the blasted head.

On Astur's throat Horatius

Right firmly pressed his heel,

And thrice and four times tugged amain

Ere he wrenched out the steel.

"And see," he cried, "the welcome,

Fair guests, that waits you here!

What noble Lucumo comes next

To taste our Roman cheer?"

But at his haughty challenge

A sullen murmur ran,

Mingled of wrath, and shame, and dread,

Along that glittering van.

There lacked not men of prowess,

Nor men of lordly race;

For all Etruria's noblest

Were round the fatal place.

But all Etruria's noblest

Felt their hearts sink to see

On the earth the bloody corpses,

In the path the dauntless Three:

And, from the ghastly entrance

Where those bold Romans stood,