The Collected Poems: 1956-1998 by Zbigniew Herbert

Author:Zbigniew Herbert [Herbert, Zbigniew]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Poetry, Fiction, Poems
ISBN: 9780060783952
Google: 2LHv4xUZUacC
Amazon: 0060783958
Publisher: Ecco
Published: 2008-02-05T00:00:00+00:00

CALIGULA

Reading old chronicles, epics, and biographies, Mr Cogito sometimes feels persuaded of the physical presence of long deceased persons.

CALIGULA SAYS:

Among all the citizens of Rome

I loved only one

my horse—Incitatus

when he entered the Senate

his coat’s unblemished toga

shone immaculate among lily-livered purple-clad murderers

Incitatus had many virtues

he never spoke in public

he had the nature of a Stoic

I think in his stable at night he must have read the philosophers

I loved him so much one day I decided to crucify him

but his noble anatomy would not allow it

he accepted his consul’s rank indifferently

he wielded power in the best possible way

that is he didn’t wield it at all

we failed to incline him to a steady relationship

with my dear wife Caesonia

and so sadly no line of centaur-emperors arose

that’s why Rome fell

I decided to have him pronounced a god

but on the ninth day before the calends of February

Cherea Cornelius Sabinus and other fools stonewalled my pious plan

he received the news of my death calmly

he was thrown out of the palace and banished

he bore that blow with dignity

he died without progeny

slaughtered by a thick-skinned butcher from the municipality of Antium

about the posthumous fate of his flesh

Tacitus has nothing to say

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