8.

Aunus from green Tifernum, Lord of the Hill of Vines;

And Seius,* whose eight hundred slaves sicken in Ilva's mines; And Picus, long to Clusium † vassal in peace and war,

Who led to fight his Umbrian powers

From that gray crag where, girt with towers,

The fortress of Nequinum lowers

O'er the pale waves of Nar.

9.

Stout Lartius hurled down Aunus into the stream beneath;
Herminius struck at Seius, and clove him to the teeth;

At Picus brave Horatius darted one fiery thrust,

And the proud Umbrian's gilded arms clashed in the bloody dust.

10.

Then Ocnus of Falerii ‡ rushed on the Roman Three;

And Lausulus of Urgo, the rover of the sea;

And Aruns § of Volsinium, who slew the great wild boar,

The great wild boar that had his den

Amidst the reeds of Cosa's fen,

And wasted fields and slaughtered men

Along Albinia's shore.

11.

Herminius smote down Aruns; Lartius laid Ocnus low:

Right to the heart of Lausulus, Horatius sent a blow.

"Lie there," he cried, "fell" pirate! No more, aghast and pale, From Ostia's walls the crowd shall mark

The track of thy destroying bark.

No more Campania's hinds shall fly
To woods and caverns when they spy
Thy thrice accursed sail."

12.

But now no sound of laughter was heard amongst the foes.
A wild and wrathful clamor from all the vanguard rose.
Six spears' lengths from the entrance halted that deep array,
And for a space no man came forth to win the narrow way.
FA-LE'RI-I. § A'RUNŞ.

*SE'I-Us or SĒJUS, † CLU'ŞI-UM.

13.

But hark! the cry is Astur: And lo! the ranks divide;
And the great Lord of Luna comes, with his stately stride.
Upon his ample shoulders clangs loud the fourfold shield,

And in his hand he shakes the brand which none but he can wield.

14.

He smiled on those bold Romans, a smile serene and high;
He eyed the flinching Tuscans, and scorn was in his eye.
Quoth he, "The she-wolf's litter stand savagely at bay":
But will ye dare to follow, if Astur clears the way?"

15.

Then whirling up his broadsword with both hands to the height, He rushed against Horatius, and smote with all his might.

8

With shield and blade, Horatius right deftly turned the blow. The blow, though turned, came yet too nigh;

It missed his helm, but gashed his thigh:

The Tuscans raised a joyful cry

To see the red blood flow.

16.

He reeled, and on Herminius he leaned one breathing-space; Then, like a wildcat mad with wounds, sprang right at Astur's face.

Through teeth, and skull, and helmet, so fierce a thrust he sped, The good sword stood a hand-breadth out behind the Tuscan's head,

17.

And the great Lord of Luna fell at that deadly stroke,
As falls on Mount Alvernus a thunder-smitten oak.

Far o'er the crashing forest the giant arms lie spread;

And the pale augurs 9, muttering low, gaze on the blasted head.

18.

On Astur's throat Horatius right firmly pressed his heel,

And thrice and four times tugged amain 10, ere he wrenched out the

steel.

"And see," he cried, "the welcome, fair guests, that waits you here! What noble Lucumo comes next to taste our Roman cheer?"

19.

But at his haughty challenge a sullen murmur ran,

Mingled of wrath, and shame, and dread, along that glittering van. There lacked not men of prowess, nor men of lordly race;

For all Etruria's noblest were round the fatal place.

20.

But all Etruria's noblest felt their hearts sink to see

On the earth the bloody corses, in the path the dauntless Three: And, from the ghastly entrance where those bold Romans stood, All shrank, like boys who, unaware, ranging the woods to start a hare, Come to the mouth of the dark lair, where, growling low, a fierce old bear

Lies amidst bones and blood.

21.

But meanwhile axe and lever have manfully been plied, And now the bridge hangs tottering above the boiling tide. "Come back, come back, Horatius!" loud cried the Fathers" all. "Back, Lartius! back, Herminius! back ere the ruin fall!”

22.

Back darted Spurius Lartius; Herminius darted back :

And, as they passed, beneath their feet they felt the timbers crack.
But when they turned their faces, and on the farther shore
Saw brave Horatius stand alone, they would have crossed once more.

23.

But with a crash like thunder fell every loosened beam,

And, like a dam, the mighty wreck lay right athwart 12 the stream: And a long shout of triumph rose from the walls of Rome,

As to the highest turret-tops was splashed the yellow foam.

24.

Alone stood brave Horatius, but constant still in mind;

Thrice thirty thousand foes before, and the broad flood behind. "Down with him!" cried false Sextus, with a smile on his pale face

66

Now yield thee," cried Lars Porsena, "now yield thee to our grace."

25.

Round turned he, as not deigning those craven ranks to see;
Naught spake he to Lars Porsena, to Sextus naught spake he

But he saw on Palatinus* the white porch of his home;

And he spake to the noble river that rolls by the towers of Rome.

26.

"O Tiber! father Tiber! to whom the Romans pray,

A Roman's life, a Roman's arms, take thou in charge this day!" So he spake, and speaking, sheathed the good sword by his side, And, with his harness on his back, plunged headlong in the tide. 27.

No sound of joy or sorrow was heard from either bank;

But friends and foes, in dumb surprise,

With parted lips and straining eyes,

Stood gazing where he sank;

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 forbear to cheer.

28.

But fiercely ran the current, swollen high by months of rain;
And fast his blood was flowing; and he was sore in pain,
And heavy with his armor, and spent with changing blows:
And oft they thought him sinking, but still again he rose.

29.

And now he feels the bottom; now on dry earth he stands,
Now round him throng the Fathers to press his gory hands;
And now with shouts and clapping, and noise of weeping loud,
He enters through the River-gate, borne by the joyous crowd.

1 CON'SUL. One of the two chief mag-
istrates of the ancient Roman re-
public.

6 HIND. A countryman; a rustic; also, the female of the red deer.

7 BAY. The state of being obliged to
face one's enemies, through im
possibility of escape.

8 DEFT'LY. Dexterously.
9 ÂU'GUR. A soothsayer.
10 A-MAIN'.
11 FATH'ERS.

senate.

Violently; with might.
Members of the Roman

12 A-THWÂRT'. Across ; transverse to

PAL-A-TI'NUS. Palatine, one of the seven hills of Rome.

LXXXII.-PETER THE GREAT.

MACAULAY.

[Peter the First, Czar of Russia, commonly called Peter the Great, was born in 1672, and died in 1725. He was a man of remarkable ability, both as a statesman and a warrior. Through his efforts for the civilization of his people, his internal improvements, and his conquests in war, Russia emerged from a posi tion of comparative obscurity to one in the first rank among the nations of the world.

Peter the Great visited London in 1698, in the reign of William III.]

1. On the 10th of January a vessel from Holland anchored off Greenwich,* and was welcomed with great respect. Peter the First, Czar of Muscovy,† was on board. He took boat with a few attendants, and was rowed up the Thames to Norfolk Street, where a house overlooking the river had been prepared for his reception. His journey is an epoch' in the history not only of his own country, but of ours, and of the world. To the polished nations of Western Europe, the empire which he governed had till then been what Bokhara § or Siam || is to us. That empire, indeed, though less extensive than at present, was the most extensive that had ever obeyed a single chief.

2. On the Baltic, Russia had not then a single port. Her maritime2 trade with the other nations of Christendom was entirely carried on at Archangel, ¶ a place which had been created and was supported by adventurers from our island. In the days of the Tudors, ** a ship from England, seeking a north-east passage to the land of silk and spice, had discovered the White Sea. The barbarians who dwelt on the shores of that dreary gulf had never before

*Pronounced GREN'ĮJ.

† Mus'co-vy. A name sometimes applied to Russia.

Pronounced TĚMZ.

§ BŎK-HÄ'RÄ. A state of Central Asia.

|| SI-ĂM'. An extensive kingdom in the south-east of Asia.

¶ ÄRCH-AN'GEL. A seaport town in the northern part of Russia.

** The Tudor dynasty of English sovereigns began with Henry VII. (proclaimed king in 1485), the son of Edmund Tudor, and ended with Queen Elizabeth, who died in 1603.