On The Application Of Military Power - Poem #82

O Lucius Paulus! What are we doing here
amongst these tribes bearing Rome nothing but enmity
driving us normally benevolent men
to increasing harshness?

Thick as flies
these little people
stubborn, with studied animosity
beyond all reason and human patience

Small people
with objectionable customs
strange law
ineffectual Gods

not to be trusted
threatening us each day
each bearing close watch
their ill will more than irritation 

Do we expect to make these people Roman?

Shall we go  home where there is peace
or shall we cross the river
to the next village or beyond the horizon
unto the end of a world so far from Rome?

Quo Vadis?

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