Numidia.

“urbem venalem et mature perituram, si emptorem invenerit.” *

I.

Old father Herodotus once told us

How Libya came by its name

And was divided along the shores of lake Tritonis

The land of lotus eaters he did claim

The western part since then became

A land of eager sedentary farmers

While that of the east was the fame

Of nordic shepherds the first beginners

Of Numidian virtues in attesting sinners.

II.

A warlike people may agree

To follow the whims of philosopher kings

When little the mind attempts to free

Those pursuits of feuding nations brings

Calamity held off birth pangs and stings

Of harsh measures needed to promote

A wholesome growth for the future flings

Speak not of servitude beneath the rote

Client nations held in line by the throat.

III.

The vast terrain of Libya has seen 

Many a despot keen to hold a tight grip

On power, unworthy by fine glossed sheen

Media blackouts lead senators to flick

Casually through dossiers, intervention a trip

Of light hearted scrutiny simply observing

The collapse of a nation, sand, dust and brick

Leaving to fate victims undeserving

By a megalomaniac’s self preserving.

IV.

Sallust tells us how Jugurtha came once 

To power in the way which others now try

Rome relinquished him of that bunce

Replacing him with someone else who’d comply

With the wants of the empire and not deny

Birthright but a means so little regarded

Forty years of longing with an impatient sigh

Turns to civil strife heavily bombarded

By inertia’s force defiantly guarded.

V.

Libyan plains dissimilar to her neighbour

Easily split into east and west

Rebels bring liberation to their honour

Against such odds doing their best

To hold the line at the behest

Of those who seek but modest gains

Civil strife brings woes to those oppressed

Desires for the slackening of chains

Finding release from whom over them reigns.

VI.

Not always inevitable if avoided

Before the fall comes pride

Within their self image still wanted

The proud inherit reasons which abide

Yet oft based on former virtue beside

Of which our sons make good use

Licentious excesses usually hide

Beneath the surface ethics become loose

Excuses for rhetorical sophistic abuse.

*King Jugurtha famously described Rome’s weakness to bribes by saying:

“A city for sale is doomed to quick destruction, if it should find a buyer.”