Vulcan

And from Tiber came two youths of Argos, twin brothers, Catillus and Corus, swift and strong as two centaurs from the hills.

And Siculus, who builded Prinesti, was there, son of Vulcan, and a great company of country folk with him, whereof many bear not shield nor spear, but slings with bullets of lead, and javelins in either hand, and helmets of wolf's skin upon their heads.

After him marched Messapus, tamer of horses, Neptune's son, whom no man might lay low with fire or sword.

And the people followed, singing a war song of their king, like to a great flock of swans, which flies with many cries across the Asian marsh.

So they feasted together on the flesh of oxen, and drank wine, and were merry.

But when they had made an end of eating and drinking, King Evander spake, saying, This great feast, my friend, we hold not without good reason, which thou shalt now hear from me.

Seest thou this great ruin of rocks? Here in old time was a cave, running very deep into the cliff, wherein Cecus dwelt, a monster but half man, whose father was Vulcan.

The ground thereof reeked with blood, and at the mouth were fixed the heads of dead men.

They were warned that the al-Qaeda was planning something.

I say this in the book, they styled themselves the Vulcans.

when they were campaigning, because there was a statue of the god Vulcan that looms over Birmingham, Alabama, which is the hometown of Condoleezza Rice.

So they saw themselves as the real, not the liberal namby-pamby Clinton people, they saw themselves as the tough guys.

I was there.

This is James Mann, author of a book called Rise of the Vulcans.

But there also arose a conservative movement on campuses that challenged Vietnam War liberalism.

And it was to this camp that Wolfowitz was attracted.

And in one of its nondescript conference rooms, they met to plot their return to power.

They even gave themselves a nickname.

The team informally called themselves the Vulcans.

The Vulcans, after the Roman god of the forge, the one who fashioned the weapons of the gods, the tools of power.

Because he could travel so swiftly, he became the messenger of the gods.

Another son of Jupiter was Hephaestus, whom we call Vulcan.

He was the god of fire and the friend of workers in metals.

He had a great forge under Mount Etna, and there he made wonderful things of iron and brass.

The round-eyed Cyclops were his blacksmiths.

One day Vulcan was rude to his father, who to punish him hurled him from heaven.

Vulcan fell upon rocks and broke his leg, and never after that was lame.

Ares, the terrible god of war, whom we call Mars, was another son of Jupiter.