LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.
AN IMPERIAL PARALLEL. [To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."]
SIB, —Yon may think it worth while to print the following verses written early in the fifth century concerning Rome, by Rutilius Claudius Numatianus:— " Nam solis radiis aequalia munera tendis Qua circumfusus fluctuat oceanus.
Volvitur ipse tibi, qui continet orania, Phoebus Eque tuis ortus in tua condit equos.
Te non fiammigeris Libye tardavit arenis, Non armata suo reppulit ursa gelu.
Quantum vitalis natura tetendit in axes Tantum virtuti pervia terra tuae.
Fecisti patriam diversis gentibns unam ; Prof uit iniustis, to dominante, capi.
Dumque offers victis proprii consortia iuris, Urbem fecisti quod prius orbis erat."
E. T. S. C.
[Our readers may be glad to read the version of these striking lines kindly furnished as by Professor A. J. Church. —ED. Spectator.
Wide as the ambient ocean is thy sway, And broad thy Empire as the realms of day; Still on thy bounds the sun's great march attends, With thee his course begins, with thee it ends. Thy strong advance nor Afric's burning sand, Nor frozen horrors of the Pole withstand; Thy valour, far as kindly Nature's bound Is fixed for man, its dauntless way has found. All nations own in thee their common land, And e'en the guilty bless thy conquering hand; One right for weak, for strong, thy laws create, And bind the wide world in a world-wide State.]
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