Gincinnatus. [January, 



public armory, and clioose your steed from our public stalls ; assemble 

 all our centuries within the Campus Martins ; thence in full armor 

 march, and speedily advance upon the ^Equian camp at mount Algidus ; 

 and I myself will bear you company." Thus the quick command was 

 given ; and quick as given the ready soldier went. 



" To arms ! to arms ! To horse ! to horse 1 To the Campus Mar- 

 tius ! " was now shouted by all Home's voices, and echoed by all Kome's 

 hills. Leaving the Forum, attended by the Lictors, Gincinnatus quickly 

 made him ready to join the centuries marshaled by Tarquitius. And 

 scarce had that morning sun, which rose upon the cheerful Eoman 

 Farmer as he tilled his fruitful field, mounted to its meridian, before 

 the eagle banners of Eome were streaming out upon the wind, as that 

 Eoman Farmer, now Dictator of his country, boldly bore them on to the 

 rescue of his country's sons. 



That morning sun declined ; the evening came ; throbbing with sup- 

 pressed emotions of alternate hope and fear, the anxious heart of Eome 

 beat painfully under the forebodings of that silent night. The day 

 dawned again ; and again the morning sun, embracing the seven hills of 

 Eome, saluted Father Tiber, whose smiling face sent back the kissing 

 beams with warmth and joy increased. Again the sun mounted to the 

 zenith ; in the streets and squares of Eome thousands were abroad — too 

 fearful to labor, too anxious to rest. From lofty bights and towering 

 ramparts thousands were gazing out with whispering solicitude, across 

 the widening Campagna that stretched away eastward toward the Al- 

 ban Hills, watching to catch the earliest token of their army's fate. Its 

 meridian passed, again the sun declined ; the shadows of Eome's hills 

 were lengthening and stretching out toward the east, as though they 

 too were anxious to anticipate the comming messengers, who were ere long 

 to announce the City's fate. In the Forum, seated on their curule 

 chairs, the grave old Senators meanwhile remained in silent, thoughtful 

 session. The sky was clear, the air was calm, all nature hushed. On 

 the eastern ramparts the matrons stood and thought, but spake not, of 

 their husbands and their sons, — the maidens, of their brothers and 

 betrothed. " Behold ! I see a banner ! " at length one cried. " AVhere ?" 

 a hundred eager voices asked. " Nay, 'tis but the volant bird I saw, 

 whose plumage the golden sun hath touched, and made my wishing 

 mind mistake it for a Eoman banner," faintly replied the keen-eyed 

 gazer. " Nay, nay, mehercule ! 'tis there again ! A Eoman banner 

 sure I saw ! " And all eyes looked strainingly fjr what no eye could 

 see. Then stillness so profound ensued that the silent tide of life grew 



