1800–1859. British poet, historian, and politician.
At a Glance
Lays of Ancient Rome (1842 narrative poem)
XXVII.
“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,
XXVIII.
“And for the tender mother
Who dandled him to rest,
And for the wife who nurses
His baby at her breast,
And for the holy maidens
Who feed the eternal flame,
To save them from false Sextus
That wrought the deed of shame? (“Horatius,” Stanzas 27–28)
Rilla of Ingleside, chapter 11 (“how could men die better than fighting for the ashes of their fathers and the temples of their gods”).
Source
Thomas Babington Macaulay, Lays of Ancient Rome (1842; London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1847), p. 56. Online at https://archive.org/details/ofancientromlays00macarich/.