Explore "Romulus and Remus" by Rudyard Kipling on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
Oh, little did the Wolf-Child care, / When first he planned his home, / What City should arise and bear / The weight and state of Rome!
A shiftless, westward-wandering tramp, / Checked by the Tiber flood, / He reared a wall around his camp / Of uninspired mud.
But when his brother leaped the Wall / And mocked its height and make, / He guessed the future of it all / And slew him for its sake.
Swift was the blow -- swift as the thought / Which showed him in that hour / How unbelief may bring to naught / The early steps of Power.
Foreseeing Time's imperilled hopes / Of Glory, Grace, and Love -- / All singers, Caesars, artists, Popes -- / Would fail if Remus throve,
He sent his brother to the Gods, / And, when the fit was o'er, / Went on collecting turves and clods / To build the Wall once more!