What is this ancient impulse gifts impart,
To crowds, currying favor, hearts to sway?
Did not the Gracchi brother’s wealth depart,
Spreading it wide to gain power’s bright array?
Did Cleopatra not her rivals thwart,
Robbing the few, the many’s needs to lay?
Such deeds of old, how echoes still remain,
In time’s vast stretch, this urge we can’t restrain.

What is this timeless urge, these rallying cries,
Against the elites, the masses to incite?
Did Cleisthenes not from high ranks arise,
Bringing down nobles, wielding his own might?
Did Jan Žižka, with peasant voices wise,
Challenge the enterprising, stir the fight?
So Socrates might ask, with wisdom keen,
Are these not truths we’ve ever plainly seen?