Classic Poem

( FROUDE )

C ÆSAR how far thy arrowy name
Pierces the future with its flame!
The greatest name that Jesus knew,
The mightiest man that Shakespere drew,
Plutarch survives but for thy tale,
Peter and Paul by thee prevail,
Namesakes from thee Popes, Kaisers, Tsars,
And every land's Imperators!

As when thy mother called thee nigh
We lisp thy name in warm July,
And to thy calendars go back,
The Gospels and the Almanac.
The German learned his name by thee,
No Gaul was there till thou did'st see,
And British men in every age
Begin their story with thy page;
Spain, Greece, the Moor, the Parthian horde,
Arab, Egyptian, felt thy sword;
Rome's village standard thou unfurled,
The narrow town became the world,
Its Senate let Barbarians in
And all the races made akin.
Then on the fields, all smoothed to sow,
The seeds of Jesus silent blow.
Jesus, thy friend was priest to Jove,
And Jesus, Caesar, Jove, are Love!