Then lands were fairly portioned;
Then spoils were fairly sold : The Romans were like brothers
In the brave days of old.
Now Roman is to Roman
More hateful than a foe, And the Tribunes beard the high,
And the Fathers grind the low. As we wax hot in faction,
In battle we wax cold : Wherefore men fight not as they fought
In the brave days of old.
THE KEEPING OF THE BRIDGE
Now while the Three were tightening
Their harness on their backs, The Consul was the foremost man
To take in hand an axe : And Fathers mixed with Commons
Seized hatchet, bar, and crow, And smote upon the planks above,
And loosed the props below.
Meanwhile the Tuscan army,
Right glorious to behold, Came flashing back the noonday light, Rank behind rank, like surges bright
Of a broad sea of gold. Four hundred t mm pets sounded
A peal of warlike glee,
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