observed as sacred in succession by the Alban cities, and 35

now honoured by the observance of Rome, the greatest

power on earth, when men first stir up the war-god to

battle, whether their purpose be to carry piteous war

among the Getæ, the Hyrcanians, or the Arabs, or to

march as far as India, track the Morning-star to its home,

and wrest the standards from the grasp of Parthia.

There are two folding-gates of War—such the title they

bear—clothed with religious awe and with the terrors of 5

Mars the cruel: they are closed by a hundred brazen bars