Standing Together

My Latin II students were reading the poem "Horatius" by Thomas Babington Macaulay today, and I could not help but think of the Summit families. It is a classic of English poetry and is based on the event in Rome's history when, in 508 B.C., just after the expulsion of the last king, a hero named Horatius Cocles volunteered to hold a narrow pass at the end of a bridge against the enemy if only someone would stand alongside him. By all means, take time to read the whole poem, but consider these verses.

Then out spake brave Horatius,
The Captain of the gate:
‘To every man upon this earth
Death cometh soon or late.
And how can man die better
Than facing fearful odds,
For the ashes of his fathers,
And the temples of his Gods,

Hew down the bridge, Sir Consul,
With all the speed ye may;
I, with two more to help me,
Will hold the foe in play.
In yon strait path a thousand
May well be stopped by three.
Now who will stand on either hand,
And keep the bridge with me?’

Already our families have answered the call of Horatius Cocles and are working together for the good of the school with which God has blessed us. And why are these families doing so, families who, like everyone, face the economic struggles of a difficult time? Perhaps it is because they know so well the value of the education their students are receiving. Perhaps it is because they hope that their children will, if needed, find the kind of solace that one Benson A. Koenig, Battery A, 10th AART Battalion, U.S. Army, North Africa and Italy, 1942–1944, did as he lay dying.

Those last three days, reciting from memory
Cicero and Vergil, you could quote
Long passages of Latin poetry.
It left us stunned. The only antidote
To poison in your flesh was blessèd words.
No other good thing comforted you when
Pulsating life, just like a flock of birds,
Gathered its wings to fly. The deaths of men
Can be as silent as the moon’s eclipse,
Spectrally speechless as fields after battle,
Loud as the riven sky’s apocalypse
With thundering noise—or mindless as a rattle.
Benson, your answer to encroaching dark
Was lustrous language, flaring like a spark. Joseph S. Salemi