Classic Poem

I have built a monument unto my name
More durable than brass, and loftier still
Than ev'n the Pyramids' majestic height:
Nor wasting rain nor winds can it destroy;
Nor years unnumbered, nor the seasons' flight.
I shall not wholly die; a part of me
Shall yet escape the shadowy realm of death.
So shall posterity renew my praise
While to the Capitol, in Vesta's name,
The pontiff and the silent virgins go.
Where rapid Aufid roars, and Daunus rules
A hardy race, though poor in streams their land,
There, humbly born, I yet to greatness grew.
I shall be known and praised as he who first
Tuned to the Latin lyre Æolian verse.
O Muse! assume the pride thy merits claim,
And with the Delphic laurel bind my brow.