HOLDING THE BRIDGE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXI, Issue 19051, 2 July 1924, Page 3

HOLDING THE BRIDGE

HORATIUS AND COMPANY. THE TRIO IDENTIFIED. MR. MASSEY IN MERRY MOOD. In jocular vein, Mr Massey on Sunday expanded to a Press correspondent , his reference in the House on Saturday morning to Horatius and the two stalwarts whe with him kept the bridge to Rome. 1 ‘And which was Mr Isitt?” he was asked. “Why, certainly Mr Isitt was Horatius, there can be no doubt.” “And which was Herminius?” “Mr Bell was Herminus and Mr Witty Spurius Lartius or the other way about, if you like,” laughed Mr Massey. “No, lam not Horatius. He was the captain of the gate. The commander-in-chief is always in the background.” Reference to the Lays of Ancient Rome provides some sidelights cn the character of the trio when “none was for a party and all were for the State.” Horatius is found saying:— “And how can man die better, than facing fearful od’ds. For the ashes of his fathers and the temples of his gods.” Of the reward given Horatius it is written:—• “They gave him of the cornland, that was of public right, As much as two strong oxen could plough from morn till might. And they made a molten image, and set it up on high, And there it stands unto this day, to witness if I lie. And underneath is written, in letters, all of gold, How valiantly he kept the bridge, in the brave old days of old.” The other two, Messrs Witty and Bell, who abode on his right side and his left are described, Spurius Lartius as a “Ramnian proud” and “strong Herminius, of Titan blood was he.” Having identified the three, Mr Massey called a warning not to get them mixed with “Codlin and Short,” in whom he had found prototypes for Mr Wilford and Mr Holland in delivering that same good-humoured speech that so delighted and tickled the House in the small hours of Saturday.