“All human beings, not utterly savage, long for some information about past times, and are delighted by narratives which present pictures to the eye of the mind. But it is only in very enlightened communities that books are readily accessible…A man who can invent or embellish an interesting story, and put it into a form which others may easily retain in their recollection, will always be highly esteemed by a people eager for amusement and information, but destitute of libraries.”

The Lays of Ancient Rome are a collection of narrative poems, written as if they date from early Roman history. Macaulay’s intention was to recreate the feel of ballads the Romans might themselves have listened to, but are now lost. More recently, Winston Churchill memorized them in their entirety while at school to show that, despite his weak academic performance, he at least had an excellent memory.

The poems are a mix of martial, tragic, and spiritual themes, and are each prefaced with a discussion of the legend that inspired them. As with more modern folk tales, however, he also tries to capture themes of inequality and justice that would colour the telling of history in Roman times. For that reason, they still feel clever, as a poem written for the inventors of satire deserves.

On War

“Then out spake brave Horatius,
The Captain of the Gate:
‘To every man upon this earth
Death cometh soon or late.
And how can a man die better
Than facing fearful odds,
For the ashes of his fathers,
and the temples of his gods.’”

On increasing inequality

“Then none was for a party;
Then all were for the state;
Then the great man helped the poor,
And the poor man loved the great:
Then lands were fairly portioned;
Then spoils were fairly sold:
The Romans were like brothers
In the brave days of old.
Now Roman is to Roman
More hateful than a foe,
And the Tribunes beard the High,
and the Fathers grind the low.”

On Poverty

“Lest, when our latest hope is fled, ye taste of our despair,
And learn by proof, in some wild hour, how much the wretched dare.”