Yes, what characters old, and yet startlingly new,
Did that same historian pilot us to!
Came Hannibal, trapper of Romans; whose might
Put even the courage of heroes to flight!
Unhelped by his own, and not conquered e'en then,
Till the sun was eclipsed and made cowards his men;
Yet even, when down—full of age and neglect—
His enemies feared him, and gave him respect!
Came brave, grand Horatius, who kept bridge one day,
And took bloody toll from whoe'er came that way;