With Carthage defeated
Rome was now an unstoppable force on the world stage.
She grew rich and fat with decadence
But still retained her Republican machine.
Soon people started getting greedy.
They became too ambitious
For the Republic to survive.
The Gracchi of Rome Came to power
Under the guise of helping the lower class.
Men who fight and die for Italy
Enjoy nothing but air and light.
The first of the Gracchi broke tradition
On tribunal entrance
They killed him for it
Rolling up their togas
Taking out their clubs.
Murder found a place in politics.
The second did the same
Bringing horse riders
To judge corruption.
“No man who rides a horse will ever judge me!”
Said the senators to the Gracchi.
“Take all measures necessary to defend the republic.”
The second of the Gracchi died.
Rome faced more problems.
Her blue gown of republic
Slowly withered
Eaten by factions of moths.
Ripped by large thorny dictators.
Marius seized power by force
But gave it up when the war was over.
Sulla took advantage of civil and foreign war
Forsaking tradition
He staged a coup
Giving birth to the proconsulate
But retired
Because of a prophecy of death.
Generals came
Seeking power and might
Ruling the people as their king
But, as Pompey said to Sulla,
People worship the rising, not the setting sun.
Pompey’s sun rose
After Spartacus died
And the pirates left the sea.
He sent his woman, Rome,
To eat Anatolia and Syria.
As a present to his powerful wife,
He gave her Jerusalem’s treasures.
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