This beautiful poem ties in wonderfully with Zurlini's beautiful film:
What are we waiting for, assembled in the forum?
The barbarians are due here today.
...
Why did our emperor get up so early, and why is he sitting enthroned at the city's main gate, in state, wearing the crown?
Because the barbarians are coming today and the emperor's waiting to receive their leader.
...
Why don't our distinguished orators turn up as usual to make their speeches, say what they have to say?
Because the barbarians are coming today and they're bored by rhetoric and public speaking.
Why this sudden bewilderment, this confusion?
(How serious people's faces have become.) Why are the streets and squares emptying so rapidly, everyone going home lost in thought?
Because night has fallen and the barbarians haven't come.
And some of our men just in from the border say there are no barbarians any longer.
Now what's going to happen to us without barbarians?
Those people were a kind of solution.
(Translated by Edmund Keeley)
What are we waiting for, assembled in the forum?
The barbarians are due here today.
...
Why did our emperor get up so early, and why is he sitting enthroned at the city's main gate, in state, wearing the crown?
Because the barbarians are coming today and the emperor's waiting to receive their leader.
...
Why don't our distinguished orators turn up as usual to make their speeches, say what they have to say?
Because the barbarians are coming today and they're bored by rhetoric and public speaking.
Why this sudden bewilderment, this confusion?
(How serious people's faces have become.) Why are the streets and squares emptying so rapidly, everyone going home lost in thought?
Because night has fallen and the barbarians haven't come.
And some of our men just in from the border say there are no barbarians any longer.
Now what's going to happen to us without barbarians?
Those people were a kind of solution.
(Translated by Edmund Keeley)