Wednesday, March 14, 2012

68. Constantine and the New Hope


Rome’s dress was in tatters.
Her once beautiful face emaciated
With hunger and strife.
The emperors treated her terribly
As they lavished her with gold and jewelry.
A warrior arose to save her.
Exchanging metal chest plate
For the robes of an emperor.
He had a new vision for her
Coming from the battlefield.
“Conquer by this”
Said the voice of the crossed sun
At the Milvian Bridge.
What once was persecuted was exalted and things went well.
He picked the sickly Rome up,
Flushed the moths away and sewed her dress back together.
Adorning the empire with her new symbols
He gathered men
To write a book
Uniting Jew and Christian
Through story and tradition.
On his deathbed
He was welcomed into the new religion
With water.

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

67. Rome’s Decedant Decline


Rome wasn’t finished here on earth.
Emperors partied in decadence
Playing fiddles while the city burned.
Her crown became the center for
Distracting people with bread and circus
As lions ate Jew and Christian alike.
Slaves fought each other
While free food was passed out to on looking spectators.
Horses were made state officials.
Emperors believed themselves gods
Relating to Jupiter
Demanding tribute and sacrifice.
They drank wine
But got drunk on power.
Civil wars
Economic crises
All kinds of trials and tribulations
Threatened the sleeping lady Rome.
She was divided into provinces
As she lay on her throne.
Yet she slept there peacefully
Unaware of her keeper.
Blinded only by wealth and games
As emperors became corrupt or mad with power.
The empire fell into decline.

Monday, March 12, 2012

66. Christianity


A religion came
During the august one’s reign.
Born of a virgin in Palestine
Among lowly animals
Where three kings
Brought offerings
Of gold
Of Frankincense
Of Myrrh.
They escaped the slaughter of Herod’s men
To Egypt where he lived out his days.
Teaching great wisdom
As a young boy
In a temple where his mother found.
He was washed of sin
By John of the river.
Twelve friends followed him later in life
After many miracles abound.
“What should we do about Caesar?”
Asked one of his faithful ones.
“Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s”
Said the carpenter’s son.
Then he wandered through the desert
Being tempted by worldly goods.
At his last meal
One of his friends betrayed him
In the garden where he prayed.
He was tried.
“This isn’t my kingdom.”
He said.
“My kingdom will come soon.”
The Pontius one gave his people a choice.
They chose the other.
He was placed on the cross.
“It is finished.”
Was the last dying words
Of the carpenter’s son
To win over death
Bringing people to the world to come.
For three days
They cried for him.
For three days
They sat talking of him
For three days
They waited.
He came back on the third
With great rejoicing
Then rose to the heavens
To his seat.

Sunday, March 11, 2012

65. The Pax Romana


A second triumvirate was formed
That hunted the traitors.
The last of the Romans
Fell over Caesar’s token
Across the river Styx
As the battle for Rome’s future raged all around him.
The traitors died.
Antony met Caesar’s consort
Her country fell when he left
The snake took care of that.
The August one came
In the turmoil after the Julian.
Declaring himself princeps
He rested the exhausted Rome
On her glorious throne
Dressed in an empress’s gown.
During the august one’s reign
Rome grew fat with offerings.
She lay in peace and prosperity
On her throne
Surrounded by presents from across the land.
Silks from China,
Ivory from Africa,
Jewels and spices from India,
Gold and silver flowed from France
Her conquests took her to the Danube.
She was sung to sleep by great poets.
Virgil telling tales of Aeneas,
Horace singing to Grecian pots
Livy told the truth,
Ovid mixing history and myth.
As she rested her mighty head
Smiling to herself on the august one’s lap
He declared Rome to be at peace
Calling himself “Restorer of the world.”
After him dynasties came.
Julio Claudians provided stability,
Flavians gave Rome a proper public crown,
The five good ones spread the empire further.
Emperors came and went like weather.
Some were fair
Others stormy.

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.

Friday, March 9, 2012

63. The Steps to Empire

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.

Thursday, March 8, 2012

62. The Third Punic War

“Carthago Delenda Est…” (Cato the Elder 234 B.C. – 149 B.C.)

“Carthage must be destroyed!”
Sprang from the statesman’s ancient lips.
“Carthage must be destroyed!”
The senate yelled for blood.
“Carthage must be destroyed!”
The people want revenge.
“Carthage must be destroyed!”
Rome wanted revenge.
“Carthage must be destroyed!”
She screamed it with harpy’s fury.
“No more peace!”
“The time has come!”
“Take arms!”
“Carthage must be destroyed!”
Rome went
After Numidian problems.
Two years passed
Another Scipio made the charge to Hannibal’s city
Forcing his way in.
People were killed.
People were enslaved.
The city was razed to the ground.
The walls where Dido fell
Proclaiming endless hate
For the sons and daughters of Aeneas
Were gone.
Rome’s hate burned for Dido’s people too.
It could be seen in every Roman soldier.
Burning more intense
Than Dido’s own.
“Carthage must be destroyed!”
Echoing through history
Along with legion’s sandaled feet
Digging salt into the ground
Kicking it up
Into Roman eyes.
“Carthage must be destroyed!”
“Carthage was destroyed.”