Ave Caesar
No bitterness: our ancestors did it.
They were only ignorant and hopeful, they wanted freedom but wealth too.
Their children will learn to hope for a Caesar.
Or rather--for we are not aquiline Romans but soft mixed colonists--
Some kindly Sicilian tyrant who'll keep
Poverty and Carthage off until the Romans arrive,
We are easy to manage, a gregarious people,
Full of sentiment, clever at mechanics, and we love our luxuries.
poem by Robinson Jeffers
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Related quotes
Tenuous and Precarious
Tenuous and Precarious
Were my guardians,
Precarious and Tenuous,
Two Romans.
My father was Hazardous,
Hazardous
Dear old man,
Three Romans.
There was my brother Spurious,
Spurious Posthumous,
Spurious was Spurious,
Was four Romans.
My husband was Perfidious,
He was Perfidious
Five Romans.
Surreptitious, our son,
Was Surreptitious,
He was six Romans.
Our cat Tedious
Still lives,
Count not Tedious
Yet.
My name is Finis,
Finis, Finis,
I am Finis,
Six, five, four, three, two,
One Roman,
Finis.
poem by Stevie Smith
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Romans Twelve
I read and re-read Romans twelve.
Until it casted a spell.
And I saw myself,
And others like me.
Instantly I realized...
I was not as free,
As I chose to be.
In these times I'm finding,
Romans twelve has helped me dispel
What I believe I had to do...
To protect a truth I myself abused!
And to release what I thought I knew too well.
This is what I discovered as I read Romans twelve.
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
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Barabbas
Love it or hate it, that is my name.
I fought against the Romans and I lost.
They were ready to crucify me.
They were ready to end my life.
But my hatred lives forever.
Love it or hate it, I live another day.
The Rabbi Jesus died in my place.
Another day and it would be different.
My war does not change in any way.
Not while Israel walks in chains...
Love it or hate it, here I am before you.
Look at me with my blood still flowing...
Hear me as I speak to you, one to another.
See my hands moving freely here and there,
Yet nowhere near Calvary today.
Love it or hate it, Rome let me live.
Caesar plays his games with us all.
One false move now and I can still die.
But we all die, that is the lot of Man.
Jesus would have died sooner or later.
Some say Jesus has risen from the tomb.
Would that I had been there to see it.
I could have thanked the man myself.
I could have asked for a miracle.
Take this heartache from me...
Forgive the Romans? Let them be?
Let them crush Israel underfoot?
Let God work out His purposes?
Forgive me, friend... I do not comprehend.
You may forgive the Romans, Jesus...
But love it or hate it, for good or ill...
I am still Barabbas...
Denis Martindale, copyright, April 2011.
Based on the film Barabbas...
poem by Denis Martindale
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Peace In The Midst Of The “Shakings” Of Life
God said, “Once again I will shake
not only the earth but the heavens also.” Hebrews 12: 26.
“This means that all of creation will be shaken
and removed, so that only unshakable things will remain.
Since we are receiving a Kingdom
that is unshakable, let us be thankful
and please God by worshiping him with holy
fear and awe”. (Beware prepare for meteor showers.) Hebrews 12: 27-28.
God uses shaking of tough circumstances
to reveal what is true eternal... His kingdom His glory.
Christians are to inherit part of God’s kingdom
an eternal city waits for you... your future is secure.
But where is our hope now you said?
What will we hold onto? Something stable!
“And I am convinced that nothing
can ever separate us from God's love.
Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,
neither our fears for today nor our worries
about tomorrow... not even the powers
of hell can separate us from God's love”. Romans 8: 38.
You can count on the love of Jesus
to never fail you, never crumble,
even in the hardest times. He said,
“Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you”. Hebrews 13: 5.
“God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear,
though the earth give way
and the mountains fall
into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.” Psalm 46: 1-3
For it was not to angels
that God subjected
the inhabited earth to come,
about which we are speaking.” Hebrews 2: 5.
“The mind governed by the flesh
is hostile to God; it does not submit
to God’s law, nor can it do so.” Romans 8: 7.
The world follows not God’s laws.
Yet as for us “Who shall separate us
from the love of Christ? Shall
tribulation, or distress, or persecution,
or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? ” Romans 8: 35.
“We do not know what we ought to pray for
but the Spirit himself intercedes for us...
because the Spirit intercedes for God’s
people in accordance with the will of God.” Romans 8: 26-27.
“I consider that our present sufferings
are not worth comparing with the glory
that will be revealed in us. For the creation
waits in eager expectation for the children
of God to be revealed. For the creation
was subjected to frustration,
not by its own choice,
but by the will of the one
who subjected it, in hope
that the creation itself will be liberated
from its bondage to decay and brought
into the freedom and glory of the children of God.” Romans 8: 18-21.
Copyright © Terence George Craddock
Written in response to the ‘Weekly Prayer Focus’ topic ‘When Everything’s Shaking, Find Something Stable’ from the ‘Weekly Global Media Outreach Prayer Letter’.
poem by Terence George Craddock
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Old World New World
Natives wearing turquoise and silver
Dirty dogs barking in the distance
People of a thousand tongues
Im learning the primitive rights
Im doing as the romans do
Mt. kalais to mt. everest
Then down to the river ganges
To follow your mighty past
Were learning the primitive rights
Were doing as the romans do
Old world
New world
I know nothing
But Ill keep listening
Cities tumble into the ocean
Cities getting built in the sky
Now were talking digital
Were learning the primitive rights
Were doing as the romans do
Millions playing at monopoly
Rolling the dice of their life
Im dancing and shaking hands
Were learning the primitive rights
Were doing as the romans do
I know nothing
Grow old look wise
Never knowing til I die
But Ill keep listening
Ill keep listening
Pan
Shambala
Judism
Hindu
Christianity
Masdic
Budism
Atman of vedies
Sun ra
Astrology
Voodoo
The great dream time
song performed by by INXS
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Horace, Seventh Epode
Whither, whither, reckless Romans,
Are you rushing, sword in hand?
Has not yet the blood of brothers,
Fully stained the sea and land?
Not that raging conflagration
Should o’er fallen Carthage play;
Not that the unconquered Briton
Should descend the sacred way.
"Rome," exclaims the joyful Parthian,
"Ruin for herself prepares;
Wolves with wolves are never savage,
Lion lion never tears."
Is this fury? is it madness?
Speedy answer I demand;
Foolish, blinded, guilty Romans,
Silent, stupefied you stand. [590]
Thus ’tis fated, blood of brothers
Must atone for brothers’ guilt,
Since the blood of injured Remus
Romulus in anger spilt.
poem by James Clerk Maxwell
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The Romans held Britain from the invasion of Julius Caesar till their voluntary withdrawal from the island, A.D. 420,- that is, about five hundred years.
quote by Thomas Bulfinch
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The Displeasure of Selefkidis
Dimitrios Selefkidis was displeased
to learn that a Ptolemy
had reached Italy in such a squalid state:
poorly dressed and on foot,
only three or four slaves. This way
their dynasty will become a joke,
the laughter of Rome.
Selefkidis of course knows
that basically even now they've become something like
servants
to the Romans; he also knows
that the Romans give and take away
their thrones arbitrarily, as they please.
But they should maintain a certain dignity
at least in their appearance;
they shouldn't forget that they are still kings,
are still (alas) called kings.
This is why Dimitrios Selefkidis was displeased;
and right away he offered Ptolemy
purple robes, a magnificent diadem,
precious jewels, numerous servants and retainers,
his most expensive horses,
so that he might present himself at Rome as he should,
as an Alexandrian Greek monarch.
But Ptolemy, who'd come to beg,
knew his business and refused it all:
he didn't have the slightest need for these luxuries.
Shabbily dressed, humble, he entered Rome,
put himself up in the house of a minor artisan,
and then presented himself
as a poor, ill-fated creature to the Senate
in order to make his begging more effective.
poem by Constantine P. Cavafy
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In a Township of Asia Minor
The news about the outcome of the sea-battle at Actium
was of course unexpected.
But there's no need for us to draft a new proclamation.
The name's the only thing that has to be changed.
There, in the concluding lines, instead of: "Having freed the Romans
from Octavius, that disaster,
that parody of a Caesar,"
we'll substitute: "Having freed the Romans
from Antony, that disaster,..."
The whole text fits very nicely.
"To the most glorious victor,
matchless in his military ventures,
prodigious in his political operations,
on whose behalf the township ardently wished
for Antony's triumph,..."
here, as we said, the substitution: "for Octavius Caesar's triumph,
regarding it as Zeus' finest gift—
to this mighty protector of the Greeks,
who graciously honors Greek customs,
who is beloved in every Greek domain,
who clearly deserves exalted praise,
and whose exploits should be recorded at length
in the Greek language, in both verse and prose,
in the Greek language, the vehicle of fame,"
et cetera, et cetera. It all fits brilliantly.
poem by Constantine P. Cavafy
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Well, if you look at the whole story, I mean there's only Jews and Romans in the story. I mean I just wanted to flesh that character out and make that a drama about the people around Christ when he was going through this passion.
quote by Mel Gibson
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Otho
I.
Thou wert not, Cassius, and thou couldst not be,
Last of the Romans, though thy memory claim
From Brutus his own glory--and on thee
Rests the full splendour of his sacred fame:
Nor he who dared make the foul tyrant quail
Amid his cowering senate with thy name,
Though thou and he were great--it will avail
To thine own fame that Otho’s should not fail.
II.
'Twill wrong thee not—thou wouldst, if thou couldst feel,
Abjure such envious fame--great Otho died
Like thee--he sanctified his country’s steel,
At once the tyrant and tyrannicide,
In his own blood—a deed it was to bring
Tears from all men—though full of gentle pride,
Such pride as from impetuous love may spring,
That will not be refused its offering.
poem by Percy Bysshe Shelley
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The old Romans all wished to have a king over them because they had not yet tasted the sweetness of freedom.
quote by Titus Livius
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The Roman Cemetery
Abused have been the Romans
by certain scholars of more recent times
for not creating metaphysics
like other glorious nations,
but only aqueducts, roads, colosseums, forums,
the eternal city, castra, border, earthwork.
Abused have been the Romans
for building only houses, with atria
receiving daylight from above,
and with the warning on their doorsills: cave canem.
If fate would have you come to Rome some day
and deep into the countryside, my friend, along the Via Apia
you were to wander,
you would then understand, oh, how unjust the balance is
in which people and peoples weigh
each other’s hearts and virtues. For you would see a Way
unrolling on and on into the landscape,
stone after stone, all fitting,
a Way lined left and right
with urns, sarcophaguses, mausoleums
preserving ashes, relics sheltering.
Thus did the Romans see the Way, defying every limit,
into the mighty realm of life through death advancing,
laid out in rows
on either side. And those who in the shade of cypresses
in sarcophaguses are sleeping, hear the sound
of shields and lances, hear the cohorts marching,
the wheels of chariots, the horses’ neighing. In due course
all this no longer does exist
but the more ancient dead still listen to the Way
that sounds on earth.
Thus did the Romans visualize a cemetery:
a way lined with two rows of silences.
And that is Roman metaphysics: a Way.
A way advancing through the dead, not through the quick.
poem by Lucian Blaga, translated by Dan Duţescu
Submitted by Dan Costinaş
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Poverty, And Ignorance!
one of the most infuriating
things i've ever read inferred
that people live in poverty
because they are ignorant!
the majority of people living
in poverty are there because
they are the victims of human greed.
call it what you want....
when too few have too much,
the many do without.
we are not so ignorant as to
accept your blatent assumptions!
poem by Eric Cockrell
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Hanibal B.
It was round about the third century B.C.
In Carthage by the sea,
That General Hamilcar Barca's son grew up
By the name of Hanibal B.
And this boy lived with no other thought
Than elephant husbandry.
I was a calf and he was a child,
In Carthage by the sea,
But we loved with a love that was frowned upon by some
I and my Hanibal B.
With such love, that the elephant god Ganesh
Fancied him and me.
And this was the reason that in 218 B.C.
In Saguntum by the sea,
The double-dealing Romans played up, upsetting
My sensitive Hanibal B.
So that his relatives said,
‘For Baal's sake, let the elephants be!
And cross the Alps and sort Rome out
For Carthage by the sea'.
Ganesh, tiring of affairs on the sub-continent,
Trumped up some nasty weather in the Pyrenees-
Yes! - that was why my poor boy came down with a sniffle
And was a bit weepy,
That the soldiers teased him because he was talking through his nose,
Chiding, deriding, saying 'Hanibal, you're so twee! '
But our love was more interesting than the love
Of those who weren't at all twee-
Of many who were ever so twee-
And when push came to shove
No puny punic soldier draftee
Could ever convince me it was droll
To mock loving minorities.
For I, one-tusked Surus, narrating these reams
Of the beautiful Hanibal B.
Say, though we shared many rumbles and sighs,
There was never any bestiality;
And yet all the night-time, I lay by his side
Warming my darling- his skin on my hide,
In the Alps, encamped past treacherous scree,
Inscribed in my heart and my memory.
poem by Diane Hine
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The Romans would never have found time to conquer the world if they had been obliged first to learn Latin.
quote by Heinrich Heine
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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If the Romans had been obliged to learn Latin, they would never have found time to conquer the world.
quote by Heinrich Heine
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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He Came To Earth
he came to earth to rule the nations
he came to earth for our salvation
he came to earth when mankind was in despair
he came to earth when it seemed that no one cared
his mind had been awoke
from the first moment he spoke.
he had been sent from GOD above
to show this world the peace and love
the peace that always seems to slip from our grasp
because it's something that will not last.
but his love is an everlasting fire
something which everyone desires.
a love so pure, and this love so strong
that here on earth, is where it belongs.
he preached this love for his thirty three years
something which the romans feared.
for someone who could start so young
that it had to be GODS son.
it was not the romans who took his life
but the people of his own nation
not knowing that it was for their salvation.
he knew that the treachery would come
and that a finger would be pointed.
because he was the one that GOD anointed.
his time was getting short he knew
but it was something that he had to do.
for JUDE, the time had came
as he held his head in shame
thirty pieces of silver was all it took
and with his death, the world shook.
JUDE was so ashamed of what he had done
that he went and himself he hung.
he came to earth for you and i
and for us, he did die.
poem by Louis Rams
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Lincolnshire Bomber Station
Across the road the homesick Romans made
The ground-mist thickens to a milky shroud;
Through flat, damp fields call sheep, mourning their dead
In cracked and timeless voices, unutterably sad,
Suffering for all the world, in Lincolnshire.
And I wonder how the Romans liked it here;
Flat fields, no sun, the muddy misty dawn,
And always, above all, the mad rain dripping down,
Rusting sword and helmet, wetting the feet
And soaking to the bone, down to the very heart . . .
poem by Henry Treece
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