Page:Poems that every child should know (ed. Burt, 1904).djvu/247

Rh For such a gallant feat of arms

Was never seen before."

And now he feels the bottom;

Now on dry earth he stands;

Now round him throng the Fathers

To press his gory hands;

And now with shouts and clapping,

And noise of weeping loud,

He enters through the River Gate,

Borne by the joyous crowd.

They gave him of the corn land,

That was of public right,

As much as two strong oxen

Could plow from morn till night:

And they made a molten image,

And set it up on high,

And there it stands unto this day

To witness if I lie.

It stands in the Comitium,

Plain for all folk to see,—

Horatius in his harness,

Halting upon one knee:

And underneath is written,

In letters all of gold,

How valiantly he kept the bridge

In the brave days of old.

And still his name sounds stirring

Unto the men of Rome,

As the trumpet blast that cries to them

To charge the Volscian home;