Long ago the Gladiators, <br />When the call to combat came, <br />Marching past the massed spectators, <br />Hailed the Emp'ror with acclaim! <br />Voices ringing with the fury <br />Of the strife so soon to be, <br />Cried, "O Caesar, morituri <br />salutamus te!" <br /> <br />Nowadays the massed spectators <br />See the unaccustomed sight -- <br />Legislative gladiators <br />Marching to their last great fight; <br />Young and old, obscure and famous, <br />Hand to hand and knee to knee -- <br />Hear the war-cry, "Salutamus <br />morituri te!" <br /> <br />Fight! Nor be the fight suspended <br />Till the corpses strew the plain. <br />Ere the grisly strife be ended <br />Five and thirty must be slain. <br />Slay and spare not, lest another <br />Haply may discomfit thee: <br />Brother now must war with brother -- <br />"Salutamus te!" <br /> <br />War-torn vet'ran, skilled debater, <br />Trickster famed of bridge and road, <br />Now for each grim gladiator <br />Gapes Oblivion's drear abode. <br />Should the last great final jury <br />Turn their thumbs down -- it must be! <br />"Ave, Caesar, morituri <br />salutamus te!" <br /><br />Andrew Barton Paterson<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/ave-ceasar/