'T was in the calm and silent night!
  The senator of haughty Rome
Impatient urged his chariot's flight,
  From lordly revel rolling home.
Triumphal arches gleaming swell
  His breast with thoughts of boundless sway;
What reck'd the Roman what befell
  A paltry province far away,
  In the solemn midnight
  Centuries ago!

Within that province far away
  Went plodding home a weary boor:
A streak of light before him lay,
  Fall'n through a half-shut stable door
Across his path. He pass'd—for nought
  Told what was going on within;
How keen the stars! his only thought;
  The air how calm and cold and thin,
  In the solemn midnight
  Centuries ago!

O strange indifference!—low and high
  Drows'd over common joys and cares:
The earth was still—but knew not why;
  The world was listening—unawares.
How calm a moment may precede
  One that shall thrill the world for ever!
To that still moment none would heed,
  Man's doom was link'd, no more to sever,
  In the solemn midnight
  Centuries ago.