A stirring teacher of Roman history, and of the virtues of courage, sacrifice, and determination.

The Lays of Ancient Rome is collection of ballads about heroic episodes in Roman history.

The poems were composed by Lord Macaulay during his spare time whilst he was the "legal member" of the of the Supreme Council governing India under the Viceroy (1834-1838). He wrote about them:

"The plan occurred to me in the jungle at the foot of the Neilgherry hills; and most of the verses were made during a dreary sojorn at Ootacamund and a disagreeable voyage in the Bay of Bengal."

The Lays of Ancient Rome were originally published by Longmans in 1842; they became immensely popular in Victorian times, and were a popular subject for recitation, a common pastime of the era.

They were set reading in British public schools for more than a hundred years. Winston Churchill memorised them when at Harrow School, to show that, his academic performance not withstanding, he was capable of certain mental prodigies.

Download Lays of Ancient Rome by Thomas Babbington Macaulay

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Lays of Ancient Rome by Thomas Babbington Macaulay, the Pennsylvania State University, Electronic Classics Series, Jim Manis, Faculty Editor, Hazleton, PA 18202-1291 is a Portable Document File produced as part of an ongoing student publication project to bring classical works of literature, in English, to free and easy access of those wishing to make use of them.

Cover Design: Jim Manis
Copyright © 2006 The Pennsylvania State University

CONTENTS
Horatius................................................. 19
Horatius................................................. 22
The Battle of the Lake Regillus .............. 47
The Battle of the Lake Regillus .............. 54
Virginia.................................................. 88
Virginia.................................................. 95
The Prophecy of Capys ........................ 105
The Prophecy of Capys ........................ 109

LAYS OF ANCIENT ROME
By Thomas Babbington Macaulay

THAT WHAT IS CALLED the history of the Kings and early Consuls of Rome is to a great extent fabulous, few scholars have, since the time of Beaufort, ventured to deny. It is certain that, more than three hundred and sixty years after the date ordinarily assigned for the foundation of the city, the public records were, with scarcely an exception, destroyed by the Gauls. It is certain that the oldest annals of the commonwealth were compiled more than a century and a half after this destruction of the records.

It is certain, therefore, that the great Latin writers of the Augustan age did not possess those materials, without which a trustworthy account of the infancy of the republic could not possibly be framed. Those writers own, indeed, that the chronicles to which they had access were filled with battles that were never fought, and Consuls that were never inaugurated; and we have abundant proof that, in these chronicles, events of the greatest importance, such as the issue of the war with Porsena and the issue of the war with Brennus, were grossly misrepresented.

Under these circumstances a wise man will look with great suspicion on the legend which has come down to us. ...

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