A republican's case for order
Libertatis Sacra Fames
"Or Murder with his silent bloody feet."
Poem
Albeit nurtured in democracy,And liking best that state republicanWhere every man is Kinglike and no manIs crowned above his fellows, yet I see,Spite of this modern fret for Liberty,Better the rule of One, whom all obey,Than to let clamorous demagogues betrayOur freedom with the kiss of anarchy.Wherefore I love them not whose hands profanePlant the red flag upon the piled-up streetFor no right cause, beneath whose ignorant reignArts, Culture, Reverence, Honour, all things fade,Save Treason and the dagger of her trade,Or Murder with his silent bloody feet.
In brief
SummaryA sonnet in which the speaker, though 'nurtured in democracy' and fond of a republic where 'every man is Kinglike', argues that the rule of one man is better than freedom betrayed by 'clamorous demagogues' and 'the kiss of anarchy'. The sestet condemns those who 'Plant the red flag upon the piled-up street / For no right cause'. Under their 'ignorant reign', the speaker warns, art, culture, reverence and honour all fade, and only Treason and Murder thrive.
Key themes
"Better the rule of One, whom all obey,"
Summary
The octave begins with the speaker's loyalties. 'Albeit nurtured in democracy', the speaker likes best the republican state 'Where every man is Kinglike and no man / Is crowned above his fellows'. Yet, 'Spite of this modern fret for Liberty', the speaker judges it 'Better the rule of One, whom all obey, / Than to let clamorous demagogues betray / Our freedom with the kiss of anarchy'. Liberty itself, the argument runs, is safer under a single ruler than under the mob.
The sestet draws the consequence: 'Wherefore I love them not whose hands profane / Plant the red flag upon the piled-up street / For no right cause'. Under their 'ignorant reign', the speaker says, 'Arts, Culture, Reverence, Honour, all things fade', and nothing survives but 'Treason and the dagger of her trade' and 'Murder with his silent bloody feet'.
Characters
The speaker
The wary republican
Raised 'in democracy' and preferring a state where no man 'Is crowned above his fellows', the speaker nevertheless chooses 'the rule of One' over anarchy, and refuses to love those who raise the red flag 'For no right cause'.
Themes
Liberty and order
The speaker holds two loyalties at once, to the republic 'Where every man is Kinglike' and to 'the rule of One, whom all obey'. The poem settles the conflict in favour of order, but only because the alternative is freedom betrayed 'with the kiss of anarchy', an image of a false embrace that hands liberty to its enemies.
Revolution without cause
The sestet is aimed at street revolution, at hands that 'Plant the red flag upon the piled-up street / For no right cause'. The poem's fear is cultural as much as political. Under such rule 'Arts, Culture, Reverence, Honour, all things fade', and the only figures left are Treason with 'the dagger of her trade' and Murder 'with his silent bloody feet'.
Quotes
Context
The sonnet belongs to 'Eleutheria', the group of poems on liberty and politics in Wilde's collected poems. Its Latin title means 'the sacred hunger for liberty', a hunger the poem both honours and tests: it grants the speaker's democratic upbringing, then argues for strong rule over the rule of the mob.
About this edition
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