Now, while the Three were tightening
Their harness on their backs,

The Consul was the foremost man
To take in hand an axe;
And Fathers with the Commons
Seized hatchet, bar, and crow,
And smote upon the planks above,

And loosed the props below.

Meanwhile the Tuscan army,

Right glorious to behold,

Came flashing back the noonday light;
Rank behind rank, like surges bright
Of a broad sea of gold.
Four hundred trumpets sounded

A peal of warlike glee,

As that great host, with measured tread,
And spears advanced, and ensigns spread,
Rolled slowly toward the bridge's head,
Where stood the dauntless Three.

The Three stood calm and silent,
And looked upon the foes,
And a great shout of laughter

From all the vanguard rose;

And forth three chiefs came spurring

Before that mighty mass;

To earth they sprang, their swords they drew, And lifted high their shields, and flew

To win the narrow pass.

Herminius smote down Aruns;

Lartius laid Ocnus low;

Right to the heart of Lausulus

Horatius sent a blow.

"Lie there," he cried, "fell pirate!

No more, aghast and pale,

From Ostia's walls the crowd shall mark
The track of thy destroying bark.

No more Campania's hinds shall fly
To woods and caverns when they spy
Thy thrice-accurséd sail.'

"And see," he cried, "the welcome,
Fair guests, that waits you here!
What noble Lucermno comes next
To taste our Roman cheer?"

But at this haughty challenge

A sullen murmur ran,

Mingled of wrath and shame and dread,

Along that glittering van.

There lacked not men of prowess,

Nor men of lordly race;

For all Etruria's noblest

Were round the fatal place.

But all Etruria's noblest

Felt their hearts sink to see On the earth the bloody corpses

In the path of the dauntless Three. And from the ghastly entrance

Where those bold Romans stood, All shrank, like boys, who unaware, Ranging the woods to start a hare, Come to the mouth of the dark lair

Where, growling low, a fierce old bear Lies amidst bones and blood.

Was none who would be foremost
To lead such dire attack?

But those behind cried "Forward!"

And those before cried "Back!"
And backward now and forward
Wavers the deep array;

And on the tossing sea of steel,
To and fro the standards reel;
And the victorious trumpet peal
Dies fitfully away.

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!"

Back darted Spurius Lartius;
Herminius darted back;

And, as they passed, beneath their feet
They felt the timbers crack.
But when they turned their faces,

And on the farther shore

Saw brave Horatius stand alone,

They would have crossed once more.

But with a crash like thunder

Fell every loosened beam,

And, like a dam, the mighty wreck
Lay right athwart the stream;
And a long shout of triumph
Rose from the walls of Rome,
As to the highest turret tops
Was splashed the yellow foam.

And like a horse unbroken,

When first he feels the rein,
The furious river struggled hard,
And tossed his tawny mane,
And burst the curb, and bounded,
Rejoicing to be free;

And whirling down in fierce career,
Battlement, and plank, and pier,
Rushed headlong to the sea.

Alone stood brave Horatius;
But constant still in mind,
Thrice thirty thousand foes before,
And the broad flood behind.
"Down with him!" cried false Sextus,
With a smile on his pale face.
"Now yield thee," cried Lars Porsena,
"Now yield thee to our grace."

Round turned he, as not deigning
Those craven ranks to see;
Naught spake he to Lars Porsena,
To Sextus naught spake he;

But he saw on Palatinus

The white porch of his home; And he spake to the noble river

That rolls by the towers of Rome.