"[H]e must be possest, / Of more, Vagellius, than thy iron breast, / Who braves their anger, and with ten poor toes, / Defies such countless hosts of hobnail'd shoes."
— Gifford, William (1756-1826)
Author
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for G. and W. Nicol; Cadell and Davies; and R. H. Evans ... By W. Bulmer and Co.
Date
1817
Metaphor
"[H]e must be possest, / Of more, Vagellius, than thy iron breast, / Who braves their anger, and with ten poor toes, / Defies such countless hosts of hobnail'd shoes."
Metaphor in Context
A Judge, if to the camp your plaints you bear,
Coarse shod, and coarser greaved, awaits you there:
By antique law proceeds the cassock'd sage,
And rules prescribed in old Camillus' age;
To wit, Let soldiers seek no foreign bench,
Nor plead to any charge, without the trench.
O nicely do Centurions sift the cause,
When buff-and-belt-men violate the laws!
And ample, if with reason we complain,
Is, doubtless, the redress our injuries gain!
Even so:--but the whole legion are our foes,
And, with determined aim, the award oppose.
"These snivelling rogues take special pleasure still,
"To make the punishment outweigh the ill."
So runs the cry; and he must be possest,
Of more, Vagellius, than thy iron breast,
Who braves their anger, and with ten poor toes,
Defies such countless hosts of hobnail'd shoes.
Coarse shod, and coarser greaved, awaits you there:
By antique law proceeds the cassock'd sage,
And rules prescribed in old Camillus' age;
To wit, Let soldiers seek no foreign bench,
Nor plead to any charge, without the trench.
O nicely do Centurions sift the cause,
When buff-and-belt-men violate the laws!
And ample, if with reason we complain,
Is, doubtless, the redress our injuries gain!
Even so:--but the whole legion are our foes,
And, with determined aim, the award oppose.
"These snivelling rogues take special pleasure still,
"To make the punishment outweigh the ill."
So runs the cry; and he must be possest,
Of more, Vagellius, than thy iron breast,
Who braves their anger, and with ten poor toes,
Defies such countless hosts of hobnail'd shoes.
Categories
Provenance
Searching "breast" and "iron" in HDIS (Poetry)
Date of Entry
06/08/2005
