Says Mercury to Mars
“Come prithee cease your jars
Let us have no more ado
Or dearly we may rue
See Jove with rage is big
And shakes his amber wig
Contention’s in vain I declare oh!
A majority of votes
My conquest sure denotes
Constellations all incline
To decide the vict’ry mine
I’ll ask the Lady Venus
To make harmony between us
And friendship eternal we’ll swear oh!”
Mars quickly then replies
Rage flashing from his eyes
“Do you think I’m such an ass
As to let this matter pass
No, having once possessed
Pow’r supreme o’er the Chest
No usurper shall reign I declare oh
But as I feel assured
Hermes ne’er will be endured
I venture to suggest
That the members of the Chest
Shall decide as they think best
And by their great behest
I’ll abide by the Styx, I swear oh!”
And now behold the cause
Submitted to the laws
Of the members of the Chest
Who flock from East to West
Clever counsel is engaged
By the opponents enraged
And stern is the judge I declare oh.
The pleadings are begun
And, after some time, done
Victor Mercury’s pronounced
And Ares is renounced
Thus eloquence prevails
When slaughter’s power fails
And war yields to rhetoric I swear oh!
Herminius