66

'FREEDOM'S CRUSADERS WHO WAR AGAINST WAR"

Poster-painting for the Fourth Liberty Loan by Edwin H. Blashfield (reproduced by the courtesy of the present owner, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City).

And outspake strong Herminius,—
Of Titian blood was he:

"I will abide on thy left side,
And keep the bridge with thee."

But, hark! the cry is Astur:
And lo! the ranks divide;
And the great lord of Luna

Comes with his stately stride.
Upon his ample shoulders

Clangs loud the fourfold shield,

And in his hand he shakes the brand
Which none but he can wield.

Then, whirling up his broadsword
With both hands to the height,

He rushed against Horatius,

And smote with all his might. With shield and blade Horatius Right deftly turned the blow.

The blow, though turned, came yet too nigh; It missed his helm, but gashed his thigh. The Tuscans raised a joyful cry

To see the red blood flow.

He reeled, and on Herminius

He leaned one breathing-space,

Then, like a wild-cat mad with wounds,
Sprang right at Astur's face.

Through teeth and skull and helmet
So fierce a thrust he sped,

The good sword stood a handbreadth out
Behind the Tuscan's head.

On Astur's throat Horatius
Right firmly pressed his heel,

And thrice and four times tugged amain,
Ere he wrenched out the steel.

"And see," he cried, "the welcome,

Fair guests, that waits

you here!

What noble Lucumo comes next
To taste our Roman cheer? "

But meanwhile axe and lever
Have manfully been plied;
And now the bridge hangs tottering
Above the boiling tide.

"Come back, come back, Horatius!"
Loud cried the fathers all,-
"Back, Lartius! back, Herminius!
Back, ere the ruin fall!"

But with a crash like thunder
Fell every loosened beam,

And, like a dam, the mighty wreck
Lay right athwart the stream;