Student poem composed by Joseph Story, 1796

Four-page handwritten poem composed in English by Joseph Story as a Harvard undergraduate. The verso of the last page is inscribed "Story's 1796." The poem contains classical allusions and is titled with the quote: "Aut Caeusar, aut nullus." The poem begins, "In elder climes, ere science' mystic page / Gave light unfolded to a barbarous age..." The poem ends with verse about George Washington. The text includes edits and struck-through words.

Title supplied by cataloger. Item received January 19, 1923 from the library of Professor Charles Eliot Norton.

The Papers of Joseph Story (HOLLIS 2152379) are held in the Harvard Law School Library

A draft of a letter from Joseph Story to Harriet, ca. 1801 (HUM 99) is also in the Harvard University Archives.

Jurist, politician, and professor of law Joseph Story (1779-1845) was born in Marblehead, Massachusetts on September 18, 1779. He received an AB from Harvard in 1798, an AM in 1801, and an LLD in 1821; he also received law degrees from Brown University and Dartmouth College. Story practiced law in Salem, Mass. and served as a representative in the state legislature before being appointed an associate justice of the United States Supreme Court in November of 1811. He served on the Supreme Court until his death in 1845. Story was chosen as the first Dane Professor of Law at the Harvard Law School in 1829. Joseph Story died in Cambridge, Massachusetts on September 10, 1845.