midnight
A mile around the city The throng stopped up the ways ; A fearful sight it was to see Through two long nights and days . For aged folk on crutches , And women great with child , And mothers sobbing over babes That clung to them and smiled ; And sick men borne in litters High on the necks of slaves , And troops of sunburnt husbandmen With reaping-hooks and staves ; And droves of mules and asses Laden with skins of wine , And endless flocks of goats and sheep , And endless herds of kine , And endless trains of wagons That creaked beneath the weight Of corn-sacks and of household goods , Choked every roaring gate . Now , from the rock Tarpeian , Could the wan burghers spy The line of blazing villages Red in the midnight sky , The Fathers of the City , They sat all night and day , For every hour some horseman came With tidings of dismay . To eastward and to westward Have spread the Tuscan bands ; Nor house nor fence nor dovecot In Crustumerium stands . Verbenna down to Ostia Hath wasted all the plain ; Astur hath stormed Janiculum , And the stout guards are slain . I wis , in all the Senate , There was no heart so bold But sore it ached and fast it beat When that ill news was told .