APPIAN WAY by AUBREY DE VERE

AWE-STRUCK I gazed upon that rock-paved way,
The Appian Road; marmorean witness still
Of Rome's resistless stride and fateful Will,
Which mocked at limits, opening out for aye
Divergent paths to one imperial sway.
The Nations verily their parts fulfil;
And War must plough the fields which Law shall till;
Therefore Rome triumphed till the appointed day.
Then from the Catacombs, like waves, up-burst
The Host of God, and scaled, as in an hour,
O'er all the earth the mountain seats of Power.
Gladly in that baptismal flood immersed
The old Empire died to live. Once more on high
It sits; now clothed with immortality!
ON THE CROSS IN THE INTERIOR OF THE COLISEUM.
FAR from his friends, his country, and his home,
Perhaps on that small spot-ay doubtless there
Some Christian Martyr fell, in one wide stare
Concentrating the gaze intense of Rome.

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