Exile or Caesar? Death hath solved thy doubt, <br />And made thee certain of thy changeless fate; <br />And thou no more hast wearily to wait, <br />Straining to catch the people's tarrying shout <br />That from unrestful rest would drag thee out, <br />And push thee to those pinnacles of State <br />Round which throng courtly loves, uncourted hate, <br />Servility's applause, and envy's flout. <br />Twice happy boy! though cut off in thy flower, <br />The timeliest doom of all thy race is thine: <br />Saved from the sad alternative, to pine <br />For heights unreached, or icily to tower, <br />Like Alpine crests that only specious shine, <br />And glitter on the lonely peak of Power.<br /><br />Alfred Austin<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/felix-opportunitate-mortis/
