Are met in solemn council, with a grave and puzzled air.
Then uprises Lucius Cimber, a grocer proud was he,
Who traded first with China, in Twankay and Bohea;
And in accents slow and solemn, thus the meeting he advised:—
“Let’s try and fill the hole up with stones macadamised.”
And they listened to his counsel, and with shovel and with spade,
They adjourned unto the Forum, and aside their togas laid.
And then all in their shirt sleeves they worked with might and main,
Patrician and Plebeian, alike they worked in vain.
For though a thousand cart-loads into the gulf they threw,