Lays of Ancient Rome

The Lays of Ancient Rome (1842) is a once-famous collection of four lays (short narrative poems) by Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800-1859) describing semi-mythical heroic episodes in Roman history with strong dramatic and tragic themes. To them are added two poems dealing with more recent European history, "Ivry" (1824) and "The Armada" (1832).

Overview


The poems were composed by Lord Macaulay during his spare time whilst he was the "legal member" of the Governor-General of India's Supreme Council (1834–1838). He wrote about them:


 * "The plan occurred to me in the jungle at the foot of the Neilgherry hills; and most of the verses were made during a dreary sojorn at Ootacamund and a disagreeable voyage in the Bay of Bengal."

The Roman ballads have short but learned introductions discussing the legends and justifying the poems as being like ballads that might have been sung in ancient Roman times.

The Lays were originally published by Longmans in 1842; they became immensely popular in Victorian times, and were a popular subject for recitation, a common pastime of the era. They were set reading in British public schools for more than a hundred years. Winston Churchill memorised them when at Harrow School, to show that, his academic performance notwithstanding, he was capable of certain mental prodigies.

Horatius
The first poem, Horatius, describes how Horatius Cocles and two companions (Spurius Lartius and Titus Herminius) hold the bridge against a large invading Etruscan army led by Lars Porsena from Clusium. The three heroes are willing to die if it will prevent the enemy from crossing the bridge and sacking an otherwise ill-defended Rome. While the trio close with the front ranks of the Etruscans, the Romans hurriedly work to demolish the bridge to leave their enemies stranded on the wrong side of the swollen Tiber River.

This poem contains the often-quoted lines:


 * Then out spake brave Horatius,
 * the Captain of the Gate:
 * "To every man upon this earth
 * Death cometh soon or late.
 * And how can man die better
 * than facing fearful odds,
 * For the ashes of his fathers,
 * And the temples of his Gods

Spurius Lartius and Herminius regain the Roman side before the bridge's fall, but Horatius is stranded, jumps into the river in full armour, and "when above the surges They saw his crest appear, All Rome sent forth a rapturous cry, And even the ranks of Tuscany Could scarce forebear to cheer." He reaches the Roman shore, is rewarded, and for generations to come "Still is the story told, How well Horatius kept the bridge In the brave days of old."

The Battle of Lake Regillus
This poem celebrates the Roman victory at the Battle of Lake Regillus over the Latin League. The fighting is fierce and bloody - and the event only decided when the twin gods Castor and Pollux descend to the battlefield on the side of Rome.

This poem includes a number of finely described single-combats, in conscious imitation of Homer's Iliad.

Virginia
This poem describes the tragedy of Virginia, the only daughter of her father Virginius: a poor Roman citizen-farmer. The wicked patrician decemvir Appius Claudius Crassus embarks upon spurious legal proceedings to claim Virginia as his "lost runaway slave": an action guaranteed to succeed given the incumbent corrupt magistracy. Virginius is driven to despair: and in desperation resolves to save his daughter from Appius Claudius' lust by any means - even death is preferable.

Virginia's death subsequently stirs the plebians to action: their violent outbursts eventually overthrow the decemvirs and lead to the establishment of the office of Tribunes to protect the plebian interest.

The Prophecy of Capys
When Romulus and Remus arrive in triumph at the house of their grandfather Capys, the blind old man enters a prophetic frenzy. In his rapture, Capys foretells the future greatness of Romulus' descendents, and their ultimate victories over their enemies in the Pyhrric and Punic wars.

Ivry, A Song of the Huguenots
This earlier poem of 1824 celebrates a battle won by Henry of Navarre, later King Henri IV

The Armada: A Fragment
This ballad of 1832 recounts the news arriving at Plymouth of the Spanish invasion fleet, and the subsequent lighting of beacons to send the news to London and across England, "Till Skiddaw saw the fire that burnt on Gaunt's embattled pile, And the red glare on Skiddaw roused the burghers of Carlisle."