THE PRO-CONSULS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 166, 13 July 1907, Page 9

THE PRO-CONSULS.

Ijo! Former day* did see the Consuls cflme From distant regions to Imperial Eagles and legions, axes, fasces band >d< ' Betwixt the marble palaces, to stand Brass-helmed, gold-mailed, tempered by snows, or t&nn'd By desert suns—in dreams we see tH*m. ; ' Still to the palaces of vanished Borne. .'"-j But Rome's a ruin, all her standards dot?n; See tfie Pro-Consuls come to London Totra, Where are the emblems 3 What the tokleis, shown • ' Of pomp . imperial, where tbe banniss thrown In. sigii of rule o'er hijl and dale ajld flood? . .- Why here's no emblem! Through t&e London mud Under the- sleety sky our Consuls come. :'-. Shall not old ghosts laugh amid ruuJSd Rome? I wonder! when the centuries have roiled- '■ And Ages—iron, marble, or of gold Are dead, and you and I, Roinau and Brit- . ish Peace, Alike receded, fade and pass and cease . Where Sidons, London Towns and marble Romes Alike house phantoms and alike axe tombs Of vanished pasts—l wonder, will men say Which was the greater: Pas Britannica ' Or deep-based sway of Rome; brick of today, Or gold and bronze or marble; London, mcd. Axes and "brands, or ties of home and blood ? Or shall they sayr, "Aye, that old sway was rood And this iv turn was good that made them come Black garbed and peaceful to this latei Rome." . 7r£ ol ' d Madox Hueffer, In the "Daily,