It has come to this . . . "who will stand on either hand, And keep the bridge with me?"

This, from Macaulay's Horatius:

     . . .  the Consul's brow was sad,
          And the Consul's speech was low,
     And darkly looked he at the wall,
          And darkly at the foe.
     "Their van will be upon us

          Before the bridge goes down;

     And if they once may win the bridge,

          What hope to save the town?"


               XXVII


     Then out spake brave Horatius,

          The Captain of the Gate:

     "To every man upon this earth
          Death cometh soon or late.
     And how can man die better
          Than facing fearful odds,
     For the ashes of his fathers,
          And the temples of his gods,


               XXVIII


     "And for the tender mother
          Who dandled him to rest,
     And for the wife who nurses
          His baby at her breast,
     And for the holy maidens
          Who feed the eternal flame,
     To save them from false Sextus
          That wrought the deed of shame?


               XXIX


     "Haul down the bridge, Sir Consul,
          With all the speed ye may;
     I, with two more to help me,

          Will hold the foe in play.

     In yon strait path a thousand
          May well be stopped by three.
     Now who will stand on either hand,
          And keep the bridge with me?"

And so the call goes out, "who will stand on either hand, And keep the bridge with me?"

Why not now, why not here, why not us? END