Then Caesar took the world's command, And savage millions cut he down! E'en mighty Pompey, great and grand, Fell like the fresh green grass, new mown! And Rome, Imperial Rome! the Fates Resigned to his corrupt embrace! And all of Rome's dependent states Implored the boon of Caesar's grace! He who had conquered from the Nile To where the Rhone and Thames stray, Who basked in beauty's fickle smile And thought supreme to end his day -- The master of the world was slain In the swift movement of the eye; In torture that subdued e'en pain He went to judgment in the sky! His grasp of power the world in thrall As adamantine chains did hold; No arm was raised to stay his fall -- And treason triumphed, treason bold! The mind grows faint the blood to view That selfish man has spilt -- for what? To dull his hate, or chain renew That binds the helot to his lot! That mad ambition may o'erleap The bounds of Reason and of Right, Or in cursed chains doomed millions keep On plea of Wisdom and of Might. |