by Dr. Jack Wheeler
August 20, 2017

Once upon a time in days of long ago when kids in school were actually educated, they all knew the story of  Horatio at the Bridge.

Winston Churchill committed all 600 lines of Macaulay’s famous poem about it to memory as a young boy, a story of epic heroism that inspired him all his life.

Horatio, or Publius Horatius, was a soldier in the fledgling Roman Army in 508 BC when the small weak city-state rebelled against rule by the Etruscans.  His nickname was “Cocles,” meaning one-eyed as he had lost an eye in a previous battle.  A huge Etruscan army attacked, slaughtering the Roman army, the remnants of which fled across the narrow Pons Sublicius bridge over the Tiber River and through the gates to the city.

As the Etruscans stormed over the bridge to sack and destroy Rome, one man stood in their way and defied them.  Horatio yelled back at his fellow Romans to cut down the bridge behind him while he fought and killed the Etruscans before him.

“Then out spake brave Horatius,
The Captain of the gate:
“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,

“Hew down the bridge, Sir Consul,
With all the speed ye may;
I, with two more to help me,
Will hold the foe in play.
In yon strait path a thousand
May well be stopped by three:
Now who will stand on either hand,
And keep the bridge with me?”

Two generals joined him, then raced back as the bridge was cut down while Horatio fought off the horde until the bridge was swept into the Tiber.  At last, with the city saved and him pierced with multiple wounds, Horatio dove into the river and swam to the Roman side.  For a thousand years would Romans revere him as their ultimate hero.

And still his name sounds stirring
Unto the men of Rome,
As the trumpet-blast that cries to them
To charge the Volscian home;
And wives still pray to Juno
For boys with hearts as bold
As his who kept the bridge so well
In the brave days of old.

Today, at this very moment, America is threatened with destruction by an enemy that wishes to subjugate her, wipe out her history, and extinguish her very existence. Inside America’s gate, cowards cannot find the courage to defend her, while outside the gate on the bridge stands one man alone defying the cowards and traitors behind him and the hate-filled enemy horde in front.

Right now is a crux moment in America’s history, determining whether that history will continue to live or die.  Providence has placed a Horatio at America’s bridge.  Now is the time to join him fighting on the bridge, and to cut down the bridge to prevent the enemy from sacking America.

He is calling out to every American Patriot:  “Now who will stand on either hand and keep the bridge with me?”

Do you hear America’s Horatio calling out to you?

 

— Horatio at America’s Bridge originally appeared at To The Point News.