Classic Poem

ROME .

Thy marvelous genius, perfect as the sun,
Gave light and vigor to the Roman gloom;
Europe to hold thy legions had not room;
Thy boundless mind craved worlds to overrun.

Thy will that shrank not at the Rubicon,
Could in grave council virtues new assume,
And while thy glory on the earth did bloom,
Proud nations hailed the grand deeds thou hadst done.

Thy clarion name will to all men recall
The lofty soul, the valor undismayed!
We see thee battling 'mid the groves of Gaul,
And when in robes Imperial arrayed,
Near Pompey's threatening marble thou didst fall,
Supremely scorning thy assassins' blade!