The Sword of Caesar Borgia
By Richard Garnett, LL.D., C.B.
“Aut Cassar aut nihil ”
Well hath the graver traced thee, sword of mine
Here Caesar by the Rubicon’s slow deeps
Ponders ; here resolute to empire leaps.
And far and near the smitten waters shine.
The vanquished train’s intertninable line
Wends at his wheels up Capitolian steeps ;
And round the interlacing legend creeps,
Casar or nothing ! saith Duke Valentine
And did I bare thee to the sun, my blade,
Fired at the flash all Italy should thrill,
And many a city quake and province bow.
Yet is a drop within this vial stayed
That should the might of marching armies still,
And stainless sheathe ten thousand such as thou.
By Richard Garnett, LL.D., C.B.
“Aut Cassar aut nihil ”
Well hath the graver traced thee, sword of mine
Here Caesar by the Rubicon’s slow deeps
Ponders ; here resolute to empire leaps.
And far and near the smitten waters shine.
The vanquished train’s intertninable line
Wends at his wheels up Capitolian steeps ;
And round the interlacing legend creeps,
Casar or nothing ! saith Duke Valentine
And did I bare thee to the sun, my blade,
Fired at the flash all Italy should thrill,
And many a city quake and province bow.
Yet is a drop within this vial stayed
That should the might of marching armies still,
And stainless sheathe ten thousand such as thou.