And droves of mules and asses
Laden with skins of wine, 115
And endless flocks of goats and sheep,
And endless herds of kine,
And endless trains of wagons
That creaked beneath the weight
Of corn-sacks and of household goods, 120
Choked every roaring gate.
XVI
Now, from the rock Tarpeian,[23]
Could the wan burghers spy
The line of blazing villages
Red in the midnight sky. 125
The Fathers[24] of the City,
They sat all night and day,
For every hour some horseman came
With tidings of dismay.
XVII
To eastward and to westward 130
Have spread the Tuscan bands;
Nor house nor fence nor dovecote
In Crustumerium[25] stands.
Verbenna down to Ostia[26]
Hath wasted all the plain; 135
Astur hath stormed Janiculum,[27]
And the stout guards are slain.
XVIII
I wis,[28] in all the Senate,
There was no heart so bold,
But sore it ached, and fast it beat; 140
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. 145
XIX
They held a council standing
Before the River-Gate[30];
Short time was there, ye well may guess,
For musing or debate.
Out spake the Consul roundly: 150
"The bridge[31] must straight go down;
For, since Janiculum is lost,
Naught else can save the town."