It's hard to track down now, but some time in the run-up to the war, Helen Waddell, well-known in her time for translations of Latin poetry, published a version of a passage from Claudian's 'Of the Gothic War' referring to the withdrawal of the Roman legions - that sent a shiver through those who read it ...
Legions which cowed the hordes from Thüringen,
The Ruhr, and Hessen, they are gone. Defence
Is left to terror of the Roman name.
Tonight there is no watch upon the Rhine.
Legions which cowed the hordes from Thüringen,
The Ruhr, and Hessen, they are gone. Defence
Is left to terror of the Roman name.
Tonight there is no watch upon the Rhine.