{
 "id": "ambrose-bierce/history",
 "title": "History",
 "ordinal": null,
 "subtitle": null,
 "poet": "Ambrose Bierce",
 "poet_slug": "ambrose-bierce",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "Shapes of Clay",
 "book_slug": "shapes-of-clay",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": 183,
 "container": "Shapes of Clay",
 "epigraph": null,
 "first_published": {
  "year": 1903,
  "venue": "Shapes of Clay (1903)",
  "note": "First located printing is this volume; an earlier periodical printing has not been established.",
  "uncertain": false,
  "sources": [
   "https://archive.org/details/shapesofclay00bier"
  ]
 },
 "source": {
  "kind": "standard-ebooks",
  "repo": "standardebooks/ambrose-bierce_poetry",
  "file": "shapes-of-clay.xhtml",
  "upstream": [
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/4793",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12658",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12977",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/15599",
   "https://archive.org/details/collectedworksof04bierrich",
   "https://archive.org/details/collectedworksof05bierrich",
   "https://archive.org/details/collectedworksof08bierrich",
   "https://archive.org/details/shapesofclay00bier",
   "https://archive.org/details/blackbeetlesinam00bier",
   "https://archive.org/details/literarycalifor05mighgoog",
   "https://archive.org/details/cali07webb"
  ],
  "rights": "public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931)"
 },
 "verification": {
  "level": "structural-only",
  "last_checked": "2026-08-20"
 },
 "stats": {
  "n_lines": 20,
  "n_stanzas": 1,
  "n_parts": 0,
  "longest_line_chars": 53,
  "max_indent": 0
 },
 "site_ready": true,
 "parts": [],
 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "What wrecked the Roman power? One says vice,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Another indolence, another dice.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Emascle says polygamy. “Not so,”",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Says Impycu⁠—“ ’twas luxury and show.”",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The parson, lifting up a brow of brass,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Swears superstition gave the coup de grâce.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Great Allison, the statesman-chap affirms",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "’Twas lack of coin (croaks Medico: “ ’Twas worms!”)⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And John P. Jones the swift suggestion collars,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Averring that no coins were silver dollars.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Thus, through the ages, each presuming quack",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Turns the poor corpse upon its rotten back,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Holds a new “autopsy” and finds that death",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Resulted partly from the want of breath,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But chiefly from some visitation sad",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That points his argument or serves his fad.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "They’re all in error⁠—never human mind",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The cause of the disaster has divined.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "What slew the Roman power? Well, provided",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "You’ll keep the secret, I will tell you. I did.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ]
 ]
}