Pomp and Circumstance Marches Tabley's poem "The March of Glory", which (as quoted by Elgar's biographer Basil Maine) begins <poem>Like a proud music that draws men on to die Madly upon the spears in martial ecstasy, A measure that sets heaven in all their veins And iron in their hands. I hear the Nation march Beneath her ensign as an eagle's wing; O'er shield and sheeted targe The banners of my faith most gaily swing; Moving to victory with solemn noise, With worship and with conquest, and the voice of myriads.</poem> proclaiming the "shows of things" (Maine's quotation marks): the naïve assumption that the
Attendant circumstance attendant circumstance) with the intention of provoking a violent reaction (the mental element demonstrating the right type of culpability) and thereby causes a breach of the peace (the result prohibited by law). There are no attendant circumstances that might invoke an excuse or other general defence. Indeed, the victim in this instance being a police officer would probably be considered an "aggravating circumstance" and increase the penalty for the crime. (When verification of an attendant circumstance decreases the penalty, it is known as a "mitigating" or "extenuating circumstance".) The elements of a crime may also require proof of attendant circumstances