Showing posts with label Neptune. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Neptune. Show all posts

Saturday, March 10, 2012

64. Julius Caesar

The sun came home
From his mighty conquests
People feared another ambitious man.
Instead Pompey reasoned with them
Making Crassus and Caesar suns themselves.
To make this bonding deal last
Pompey made a few business deals
To keep everything in the family.
On her head Pompey placed his three-star crown
Hoping Rome would stay that way
But one of those stars
Felt that his position
Was too small for his ambition
Julius Caesar, one such star
Weeping tears of Alexandrian dreams
Packed his bags,
Gathered his comrades
Setting off to conquer Gaul.
Many fell to Caesar’s legion
As he continued his way north.
Neptune stopped him with a storm
When he tried to finish off the Celts.
Caesar came back to Rome
With offerings of jewels to his people.
He adorned Rome like a goddess
To the dismay of Pompey and his peers.
Crassus died.
New people were brought in.
The senate asked Caeser to disband
As he came to the shores of Rubicon.
That was where they drew the line
As tensions weakened government.
When neither side refused to back down
Ambition caused a river to be crossed
Civil war was declared.
Caesar, with his laurels of hubris
Seduced an Egyptian queen.
A second river then was crossed
When, with three little words,
“Vini Vidi Vici,”
Caesar declared himself Emperor.
“Beware my king,”
The soothsayer said,
“For you will cross one last river.”
Beware the ides of March.
He couldn’t hear the soothsayer’s warning
His hubris laurels were worn too proudly.
Many senators thought them gaudy
So they plotted and found behind their backs
Some help across the third river.

Sunday, March 4, 2012

58. The Roman Republic


After the death of Romulus
Six more kings came
Numa, who spoke to the gods.
Tullus, who saw the destruction of Alba Longa.
Ancus, who wrote down religion and ceremonies.
New gods were created.
Zeus became Jupiter.
Hera became Juno.
Athena became Minerva.
Ares became Mars.
Poseidon became Neptune.
Hades became Pluto.
So many others changed their names
New ones were added
From old Latium’s religion.
Lucius, who increased the senate.
Servius, who expanded the vote.
Tarquinius, who terrorized the people
Becoming a tyrant.
The rape and death of Lucretia
Was the last straw.
The tyrant was deposed
The government overthrown
By the faithful women of Rome.
Slowly they settled into a republic
As the social elite saw fit.
Orders struggled for two centuries and five decades
To get their government right.
Patricians were the elite.
Plebeians were on the bottom
But wanted their say.
For years both groups brought turmoil to their beloved city
Until an agreement was made.
The plebeians were granted assembly.
Then Twelve Tables were made
As people climbed the ladder of offices to the consulship.
The senate was reinstated
As judges decided on matters of the state.
Each piece of the republic fell into place
Balancing out government and freedom
Like intricate working cogs of a machine
If one failed
The rest went with it.