Sunday, March 04, 2007

I, Claudius Poem

Here is an excerpt from the first chapter of Robert Graves novel, "I, Claudius."
This is when the main character, the stuttering Roman emperor visits a Sibyl and asks a question about Rome's fate and his. The Goddess mimics Claudius's stammer, which shames him and replies:

Ten years, fifty days and three,
Clau--Clau--Clau--shall given be
A gift that all desire but he.

To a fawning fellowship
He shall stammer, cluck and trip,
Dribbling always with his lip.

But when he's dumb and no more here,
Nineteen hundred years or near,
Clau--clau--Claudius shall speak clear.

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