Page:Songs, Legends, and Ballads.djvu/20

8 Torn by warring creeds, the Fathers
 * Urge to-day the question home—

"Whether Jupiter or Jesus
 * Shall be God henceforth in Rome?"

Lo, the scene! In Jove's own temple,
 * As of old, the Fathers meet;

Through the porch, to hear the speeches,
 * Press the people from the street.

Pontiffs, rich with purple vesture,
 * Pass from senate chair to chair;

Learned augurs, still as statues—
 * Voiceless statues, too—are there;

Vestal virgins, white with terror,
 * Mutely asking—what has come?

What new light shall turn to darkness
 * Vesta's holy fire in Rome?

Answer, Quindecemvirs! Surely,
 * Of this wondrous Nazarene

Ye must know, who keep the secrets
 * Of the prophet Sibylline?