184 MACAULAY
Now from the rock Tarpeian
Could the wan burghers spy The line of blazing villages
Red in the midnight sky. The Fathers of the City,
They sat all night and day, For every hour some horseman came
With tidings of dismay.
To eastward and to westward
Have spread the Tuscan bands ; Nor house, nor fence, nor dovecote
In Crustumerium stands. Verbenna down to Ostia
Hath wasted all the plain; Astur hath stormed Janiculum,
And the stout guards are slain.
I wis, in all the Senate
There was no heart so bold But sore it ached, and fast it beat,
When that ill news was told. Forthwith up rose the Consul,
Up rose the Fathers all; In haste they girded up their gowns,
And hied them to the wall.
They held a council standing
Before the River-Gate; Short time was there, ye well may guess,
For musing or debate.
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