The tyrant ousted, liberty restored,
A senate and a legal code assumed,
A nation strong in virtue, soon the lord
Of mare nostrum, sea by land consumed.
Yet liberty fits not the world entire,
A few self-governed men can rule a state,
Expansion soon makes liberty expire,
Debauchery and Caesar are its fate.
Augustus worked to fix the malady,
Surrendering his station as the king,
Yet Rome was irredeemable indeed,
And Caesars ruled ‘til Oadacer’s sting.
Perhaps the land by two seas flanked is wise,
To leave its conquests free to rule their lives.
-Tyler William O’Neil
May 8, 2009
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