Lays of Ancient Rome

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The poems themselves are fun, in an old-fashioned bumptious way. They aren’t first-rate poetry, but they are first-rate second-rate poetry, and that’s good enough for me. (“The Raven,” “The Charge of the Light Brigade,” and “The Highwayman” are all excellent examples of my idea of first-rate second-rate verse.)

Macaulay was in his thirties serving as "the legal member" of the Governor-General’s Supreme Council for India. While ministering to the fledgling empire of the British, Macaulay reflected upon the origin of the Roman; he read closely the first five books of Livy, which are filled with the myths and legends preserved from Rome’s earliest days. Scholars of Macaulay’s time believed the theory—since rejected—that Livy based his history on ballads now lost—works of the early empire which praised the city’s ancient origins—and it was reflecting upon these lost ballads that sparked Macaulay’s creativity. What would these old ballads have looked like? How would they have treated their already mythic material? Would their writers’ view of the present have helped them organize the myths of the past? Under these circumstances a wise man will look with great suspicion on the legend which has come down to us. He will perhaps be inclined to regard the princes who are said to have founded the civil and religious institutions of Rome, the sons of Mars, and the husband of Egeria, as mere mythological personages, of the same class with Perseus and Ixion. As he draws nearer to the confines of authentic history, he will become less and less hard of belief. The Prophecy of Capys - Romulus and Remus return triumphant to the home of their grandfather Capys. When they arrive, Capys - blind and well advanced in years - is seized by a prophetic frenzy: Capys declaims a series of portents describing the future battles and victories destined as the lot of Romulus' descendants. That what is called the history of the Kings and early Consuls of Rome is to a great extent fabulous, few scholars have, since the time of Beaufort, ventured to deny. It is certain that, more than three hundred and sixty years after the date ordinarily assigned for the foundation of the city, the public records were, with scarcely an exception, destroyed by the Gauls. It is certain that the oldest annals of the commonwealth were compiled more than a century and a half after this destruction of the records. The same story of Romulus and Remus is just a story which says that they founded on this day Rome. Read what a famous English historian wrote in his “Lays of Ancient Rome”, a collection of narrative poems, or lays: Thomas Babington Macaulay. Four of these recount heroic episodes from early Roman history with strong dramatic and tragic themes, giving the collection its name. The Lays were composed by Macaulay in his thirties, during his spare time while he was the "legal member" of the Governor-General of India's Supreme Council from 1834 to 1838.

Believe it or not the epigram “Rome was not built in a day”, meaning that some things cannot be done at once, but require time and patience, was not coined by Romans. As a matter of fact it first appeared in England in John Heywood’s “A Dialogue Containing the Number in Effect of All the Proverbes in the English Tongue” (1546). It was also used in “Don Quixote” (1605) by Miguel de Cervantes. Nowadays modern Romans usually do as they like, and do not expect others do as they do. You can see why the Victorians loved these verses by Macaulay, celebrating as they do the very Victorian virtues of Courage and Patriotism. I myself was swept up in some of Macaulay’s Lays, in particular I was moved by the poem “Horatius” whose famous lines pop up in films from time to time (such as Tom Cruise’s “Oblivion” and, more recently, the Churchill biopic “Darkest Hour.”): Informs as it fascinates, Macaulay's Lays is altogether my favorite work of poetry. The words are evocative like no other poet I've read - Macauley manages to spin together action, suspense, gore, horror, and melodrama. Horatius at the Bridge is the highlight of the whole book, although the others are enjoyable too (Capys the least of the bunch): Regillus takes Horatius's Iliadic tone and expands it into a larger epic, Virginia brings to mind a short stage melodrama, and Capys is mostly a historical footnote to bring everything together. My two favorite stanzas (How can a man choose?!) are from Horatius and Regillus, respectively: Richard Corliss (19 April 2013). "Tom Cruise in Oblivion: Drones and Clones on Planet Earth". Time . Retrieved 31 August 2013. In Darkest Hour, Winston Churchill recites the following verses from "Horatius" (one of the Lays of Ancient Rome) to his fellow passengers in the London Underground: “Then out spake brave Horatius,

The Lays were composed by Macaulay in his thirties, during his spare time while he was the "legal member" of the Governor-General of India's Supreme Council from 1834 to 1838. He later wrote of them: I get a weekly allergy shot and have to wait in the doctor's office half an hour after each shot. This has been the treat that makes me look forward to those visits. I wouldn't allow myself to read it any other time. The Lays sold well in America and had a profound impact on the generation that would fight the Civil War. On June 27, 1864, Ohio Colonel Daniel McCook Jr. prepared his brigade to advance toward Confederate positions at Kennesaw Mountain, Georgia by reciting the phrase from "Horatius" beginning "For how can man die better / Than facing fearful odds..." More than thirty years later, Lieutenant J. T. Holmes wrote "I recalled McCook's death song as he strode through the brigade and the actual work before us, of which we had been advised, began to dawn clearly on all minds. It was doubtless, a spontaneous quotation, but very appropriate to inspire the patriotic feeling and, if we had been Roman soldiery, a trust in the care of the gods. It was a heathen refrain, but impregnated with love of country and kith and kin and duty owed to them all." [8] As a young man he composed the ballads Ivry and The Armada, which he later included as part of Lays of Ancient Rome, a series of very popular ballads about heroic episodes in Roman history which he composed in India and published in 1842. The Battle of Lake Regillus - The Romans take arms against the powerful Latine league headed by the expelled Tarquin nobles. The fighting is desperate and bloody: the event is decided only after the arrival upon the battlefield of the twin gods Castor and Pollux.SCOTT EVIL: Thank you. I mean, hey, but this is totally not real. Like, how many archers you got there, Mister Tuscan General? Celebrity Death Match Special: Horatio at the Bridge versus Austin Powers, International Man of Mystery

Langworth, Richard M. (15 March 2018). " "Then Out Spake Brave Horatius": A Review of "Darkest Hour" ". winstonchurchill.hillsdale.edu. Hillsdale College . Retrieved 16 July 2021.

It is certain, therefore, that the great Latin writers of the Augustan age did not possess those materials, without which a trustworthy account of the infancy of the republic could not possibly be framed. Those writers own, indeed, that the chronicles to which they had access were filled with battles that were never fought, and Consuls that were never inaugurated; and we have abundant proof that, in these chronicles, events of the greatest importance, such as the issue of the war with Porsena and the issue of the war with Brennus, were grossly misrepresented. The Roman ballads are preceded by brief introductions, discussing the legends from a scholarly perspective. Macaulay explains that his intention was to write poems resembling those that might have been sung in ancient times.The Lays were first published by Longman in 1842, at the beginning of the Victorian Era. They became immensely popular, and were a regular subject of recitation, then a common pastime. The Lays were standard reading in British public schools for more than a century. Here follows what he says about this legend: The Armada was sent by Philip II of Spain with the goal of conveying an army of invasion to England, and deposing the Protestant Queen Elizabeth. The supposedly invincible fleet was thwarted by a combination of vigilance, tactics that took advantage of the size and poor maneuverability of the Armada's ships, and a series of other misfortunes. These poems of courage and patriotism became popular at the height of the British Empire, around the time Victoria was proclaimed "Empress of India," but Macaulay wrote them much earlier, long before he won his fame as an historian, in the years immediately before Victoria was crowned a queen.

Just as fun as the poems themselves, though, are the essays that precede them, in which Macaulay discusses the characteristics of the Roman ballad tradition—which is of course his own fabrication—in a way that explains (and excuses) many features of his poems, including the occasional anachronism. The plan occurred to me in the jungle at the foot of the Neilgherry hills; and most of the verses were made during a dreary sojourn at Ootacamund and a disagreeable voyage in the Bay of Bengal. [1]

Horatius

Macaulay, Lays of Ancient Rome, William J. and John C. Rolfe, eds., Harper and Brothers, New York (1888). 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 hand-breadth out / Behind the Tuscan's head." This book is simply good. It is quality poetry that begs to be read aloud (or at the very least subvocalized if you are reading in a doctor's office like I was). Macaulay's introduction gives a fascinating description of the role of ballads and song in establishing and passing on culture. Each poem is then introduced with a description of the period and events it is describing. To read them is to be immersed in the contemplation of honor, love, courage, and sacrifice.