'Ave Ceasar'

By A B Banjo Paterson

Long ago the Gladiators,

When the call to combat came,

Marching past the massed spectators,

Hailed the Emp'ror with acclaim!

Voices ringing with the fury

Of the strife so soon to be,

Cried,

"O Caesar, moriturisalutamus te!"

Nowadays the massed spectators

See the unaccustomed sight —

Legislative gladiators

Marching to their last great fight;

Young and old, obscure and famous,

Hand to hand and knee to knee —

Hear the war-cry,

"Salutamusmorituri te!"

Fight! Nor be the fight suspended

Till the corpses strew the plain.

Ere the grisly strife be ended

Five and thirty must be slain.

Slay and spare not, lest another

Haply may discomfit thee:

Brother now must war with brother —

"Salutamus te!"

War-torn vet'ran, skilled debater,

Trickster famed of bridge and road,

Now for each grim gladiator

Gapes Oblivion's drear abode.

Should the last great final jury

Turn their thumbs down — it must be!

"Ave, Caesar, moriturisalutamus te!"

(With the amendment of electoral boundaries, the election of 6 August 1904 was to be for a Parliament with 35 fewer members.)