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Debits and credits

Chapter 24: THE PORTENT
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About This Book

A varied collection of short fiction and verse that moves between mythic retellings, moral allegories, wartime vignettes, and social sketches. Pieces examine loyalty, duty, and the tension between tradition and change, often blending satirical observation with elegiac reflection. Some items use classical or legendary frames to illuminate human motives; others present intimate portraits of conflict, loss, and consolation. Formally diverse—featuring poems, short plays, and narrative sketches—the volume shifts tone frequently but returns to recurring concerns about conscience, belonging, and the costs and comforts of community.

THE PROPHET AND THE COUNTRY

THE PORTENT

Horace, Ode 20, Bk. V.

Oh, late withdrawn from human-kind
And following dreams we never knew!
Varus, what dream has Fate assigned
To trouble you?
Such virtue as commends the law
Of Virtue to the vulgar horde
Suffices not. You needs must draw
A righteous sword;
And, flagrant in well-doing, smite
The priests of Bacchus at their fane,
Lest any worshipper invite
The God again.
Whence public strife and naked crime
And—deadlier than the cup you shun—
A people schooled to mock, in time,
All law—not one.
Cease, then, to fashion State-made sin,
Nor give thy children cause to doubt
That Virtue springs from iron within—
Not lead without.