90. Napoleon

A new man came.
Napoleon!
A new Caesar.
Napoleon!
To some a great leader.
Napoleon!
To others the scourge of Europe.
Napoleon!
Born of Corsica.
Napoleon!
Joining the army of France.
Napoleon!
Rising through the ranks.
Napoleon!
To shed the short robes for long ones.
Napoleon!
Napoleon!
Napoleon!
From the terrors of the burning revolutions
With fire in his eyes
The deep, calculating general
Moved out and declared war on Europe.
Eastward!
Eastward!
East he marched
Taking land from Austria
With the dream of Rome in his heart.
He went through Spain and Portugal.
To the ends of the European world!
Napoleon found it hard to resist Russia’s calling
So he crossed the border.
The icy blast of the Russian winter drove him back.
He lost the fight.
He was dethroned and forced into exile.
He escaped and rebuilt his army.
Waterloo was his final defeat.
Napoleon only lived on as a person three more times
But his name and memory will last forever.
He joined the graveyard of dead empires and powerful rulers.
Crossing Hades’ mighty river.

86. The Age of Discovery and Conquest

Columbus had an idea.

“I want to sail west to get to the east.”

No one would listen.

“You’re crazy,” they said.

“The world’s too big.”

He went to Spain.

They gave him ships.

He sailed west.

Bumped into a new continent.

Soon others did too.

Spain and Portugal explored that world

Hoping to find riches.

What they found was new land to fight over.

The pope settled the dispute by splitting the new world in two

As if he had that right to do.

Slaves were made of Africans.

The natives of America were killed.

Cortez, the conqueror, ruined many lives in Mexico.

The Aztecs,

Descendants of peoples who crossed the ancient Ice Age land bridge.

Descendants of the Olmecs.

Advanced in math and astronomy.

The great pyramid builders of the new world

Perished because of Spanish quests

For Gold, God and Glory and the new plagues they brought.

They returned the favor

With diseases of their own.

After Spain, other countries moved out.

The Dutch went for profits.

The British claimed their piece in North America.

North America should be watched.

New things are brewing there.

85. The Renaissance

Intellectual horizons slowly widened.
Humans became important with rediscoveries of the old Greek writings.
Information exploded with the printing press.
Books became more available.
Dante wrote his great work.
Shakespeare wrote his plays.
The Globe was founded.
The structure of the universe was changed and challenged.
Copernicus developed the sun-centered solar system.
Galileo agreed
Was sentenced to house arrest.
Artists learned new tricks.
Realistic images with color and brush were made.
Perspective expanded.
No longer were pictures flat and lifeless.
No longer were statues trapped in their dais.
They were free to walk about
They were free to be experienced.
New nobles emerged.
To make their way in the world of trade and banking.
The Medici became rich.
They commissioned paintings.
Lived like royalty.
Italy broke into republics.
Burgundy expanded.
Civil war broke out in England.
Isabella and Ferdinand ended division in Spain.
France was not well after the war of a hundred years
But managed to slowly dress their wounds.
The horizons of the known world started to expand.

84. Rebirth

More uprisings ripped through Europe.
More plagues.
Europe went through growing pains.
New states were formed.
Spain grew into Iberia.
A second schism
There were two popes.
The pope of Rome and the pope of Avignon
Causing conflict in the church.
A sainted woman made her problems known.
They tried to piece together the church
But couldn’t.
A council was called.
A third pope
Then a fourth antipope
Who found the stake to be too hot.
He’s a pope,
You’re a pope,
I’m a pope,
Everyone’s a pope.
All popes were deposed and a final one was chosen.
The systems of Europe broke down
Then rebuilt into new ones.
Religion continued in its authority.
Plagues came and went.
Wars were fought and new things began to form.
The Dark Ages of the Medieval period drew to a close.
Chaos slowly settled to order.

61. The Second Punic War

Giving up in Sicily

Carthage tried for Iberia

Whose golden and silvery mountains

Could supply her expanding country.

Three kings came to Iberia.

Hamilcar who landed in Spain,

Hasdrupal who continued the campaign,

Hannibal who stepped on the foot of the country called Rome.

Rome declared war in a fit of rage.

But Hannibal surprised her

He crossed her great Alpine ridges

Bringing great and fearful elephants

To sac the fair city.

He was met by Roman forces and driven back.

His transgression was never forgotten.

A Scipio came

To take revenge for his country.

He traveled to Africa

Fighting the Carthage king at home

He won the name Africanus

A statue was erected

Among others

Decorating Rome’s streets

Like homages to gods.

Rome retaliated.

Her great band of legions

Relentlessly pushed outward.

Growing out of Europe.

Branching into new territories.

All of Iberia fell.

They came to Greece

After fighting through Macedonian mountains.

Where the marble men used to live.

They offered freedom and peace.

The Akhians bowed to them

Giving Aeneas his revenge for Illium’s destruction.

Rome made sacrifices

For her survival.

She dressed herself with Mediterranean blue

With hints of roses

In the bloody sacred spring.

43. The Greek Revival

Growing out of the dust and ashes of the Greek Dark Age.

Following the trails of Geometric pottery.

Following the call of Homer’s poetry

As beautiful as the siren song of Odysseus.

The Greeks found their way back to the homeland.

Trade flowed in once again

Feeding the culturally starving populous.

They told stories of the brave deeds of heroes long ago

As the spinning potter’s wheel

Built their complex city-states.

They eventually got too big

So brave men set off

To found new colonies

They splattered Mediterranean coastline

With pottery paint specks of Greek culture

Spreading all the way to Spain and down into Egypt.

The written word matured.

A man’s worth was judged by courage in battle

Homer said to agathoi and kakoi alike.

Those that cowardly hide in tents

Pouting about their losses

Are not favored by the gods.

Those that heed their brothers’ call to arms

Will see their rewarding afterlife

And escape Hades’ icy grip.

For their warrior’s society

They must practice the deeds and revel

In Ares’ grim works.

So they can be called aristos.

That was their goal in life.

Aristos in fighting.

Aristos in running.

Aristos in speaking.

Aristos in cunning.

Aristos in the chariot race.

Aristos in weaving and other crafts.

When others see success

They are roused to work hard themselves.

Potters are jealous of potters,

Same with carpenters and beggars.

All to preserve their fortune and enhance their valuable time.