"GIVE me your soldiers' bracelets; all Their splendid jewels, great and small, And straight your army shall be led Within the city walls." So said Tarpeia, while the Sabine waits In siege before the Roman gates. Whereat each soldier, filing past The traitress, on her body cast His heavy bracelet; till at last The shining heap became so great, She fell and died beneath their weight. Even so it fares with mortals, who With headlong eagerness pursue Ambition, pleasure, wealth, or fame, The glittering prize at which they aim Comes often, like Tarpeia's fate, To bruise and crush them with its weight. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...BUCOLIC COMEDY: WHY by EDITH SITWELL A CHILD'S EVENING PRAYER by SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE CASSANDRA by EDWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON AT GIBRALTAR by GEORGE EDWARD WOODBERRY PEACE PICTURES by ELIZABETH I. BARNES ESCAPE by EDMUND CHARLES BLUNDEN |