---
title: "Pharsalia · De Bello Civili"
author: "Lucan"
translator: "Sir Edward Ridley"
languages: [la, en]
shelf: "Classical Latin"
section: 1 of 21
url: https://scriptura.si/works/lucan-pharsalia/1/
cite: "Lucan, tr. Sir Edward Ridley, Pharsalia · De Bello Civili, section 1. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/lucan-pharsalia/1/"
---

# Pharsalia · De Bello Civili

*Lucan, tr. Sir Edward Ridley*

The civil war between Caesar and Pompey as dark epic, written under Nero by a poet he forced to die at twenty-five.

> Latin: ed. Karl Hermann Weise, from the Perseus Digital Library (canonical-latinLit, phi0917.phi001, CC BY-SA 4.0).

> English: Sir Edward Ridley, from the Perseus Digital Library (phi0917.phi001.perseus-eng2). Notes are not included.

> Rows follow the references the two texts share (line numbers), cut where both reach the end of a sentence.

## 1. Book I · lines 1–290

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/lucan-pharsalia/1/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/lucan-pharsalia/1/#p-N

[¶0] WARS worse than civil on Emathian plains,
And crime let loose we sing: how Rome's high race
Plunged in her vitals her victorious sword;
Armies akin embattled, with the force
Of all the shaken earth bent on the fray;
And burst asunder, to the common guilt,
A kingdom's compact; eagle with eagle met,
Standard to standard, spear opposed to spear.
Whence, citizens, this rage, this boundless lust
To sate barbarians with the blood of Rome?
Did not the shade of Crassus, wandering still,
Cry for his vengeance? Could ye not have spoiled,
To deck your trophies, haughty Babylon?
Why wage campaigns that send no laurels home?
What lands, what oceans might have been the prize
Of all the blood thus shed in civil strife!
Where Titan rises, where night hides the stars,
'Neath southern noons with fiery rays aflame,
Or where keen frost that never yields to spring
In icy fetters binds the Scythian main:
Long since barbarian Araxes' stream,
And all the distant East, and those who know
(If any such there be) the birth of Nile,
Had felt our yoke. Then, then, with all the world
Beneath thee, Rome, if for nefarious war
Such be thy passion, turn upon thyself:
Not yet was wanting for thy sword a foe.
That crumbled houses and half-ruined homes
Now mark our cities; that the ancient streets
Scarce hear the footfall of the passer-by;
That mighty fragments lie beside the walls;
That hearths are desolate; that far and wide
Fields thick with bramble and untilled for years
Demand the labours of the hind in vain:
All this nor Pyrrhus caused, nor Punic chief,
Nor sword thrust deep. 'Twas civil strife alone
That dealt the wound and left the death behind.
Yet if the fates could find no other way
For Nero's coming, nor the gods with ease
Gain thrones in heaven; and if the Thunderer
Prevailed not till the giants' war was done,
We plain no more, ye gods! for such a boon
All wickedness be welcome and all crime;
Thronged with our dead be dire Pharsalia's fields,
Be Punic ghosts avenged by Roman blood;
Add, Caesar, to these ills the Mutin toils;
Perusia's dearth; on Munda's final field
The shock of battle joined; let Leucas' Cape
Shatter the routed navies; servile hands
Unsheath the sword on fiery Etna's slopes:
Still Rome is gainer by the civil war.
Thou, Caesar, art her prize. When thou shalt choose,
Thy watch relieved, to seek at length the stars,
All heaven rejoicing; and shalt hold a throne,
Or else elect to govern Phoebus' car
And light a subject world that shall not dread
To owe her brightness to a different Sun;
All shall concede thy right: do what thou wilt,
Select thy Godhead, and the central clime
Whence thou shalt rule the world with power divine.
And yet the Northern or the Southern Pole
We pray thee, choose not; but in rays direct
Vouchsafe thy radiance to thy city Rome.
Press thou on either side, the universe
Should lose its equipoise: take thou the midst,
And weight the scales, and let that part of heaven
Where Caesar sits be evermore serene
And smile upon us with unclouded blue.
Then may all men lay down their arms, and peace
Through all the nations reign, and shut the gates
That close the temple of the God of War.
Be thou my help, to me e'en now divine!
Let Delphi's steep her own Apollo guard,
And Nysa keep her Bacchus, uninvoked.
Rome is my subject and my muse art thou!
First of such deeds I purpose to unfold
The causes task immense what drove to arms
A maddened nation and from all the world
Struck peace away.
By envious fate's decrees
Abide not long the mightiest lords of earth;
Too great the burden, great shall be the fall.
Thus Rome o'ergrew her strength. So when that hour,
The last in all the centuries, shall sound
The world's disruption, all things shall revert
To that primaeval chaos, stars on stars
Shall crash; and fiery meteors from the sky
Plunge in the ocean. Earth shall then no more
Front with her bulwark the encroaching sea:
The moon, indignant at her path oblique,
Shall drive her chariot 'gainst her brother Sun
And claim the day for hers; and discord huge
Shall rend the spheres asunder. On themselves
The great are dashed: such end the gods have set
To height of power: nor ever Fortune shares
With other lands the weapons of her spite
Against a nation lord of land and sea.
Thou, Rome, degraded, sold, the common prey
Of triple despots, of a tyrant rule
Partnered as ne'er before-thyself art cause
Of all the ills. Ye chiefs, with greed of power
Blind, leagued for evil, is your force conjoined
To hold the world in common as your prize?
So long as Sea on Earth and Earth on Air
Lean for support while Titan runs his course,
And night with day divides an equal sphere,
No king shall brook his fellow, nor shall rule
Endure a rival. Search no foreign lands:
These walls are proof that in their infant days
A hamlet, not the world, was prize enough
To cause the shedding of a brothers blood.
Concord, on discord based, brief time endured,
Unwelcome to the rivals; and alone
Crassus delayed the advent of the war.
Like to the slender neck that separates
The seas of Graecia: should it be engulfed
Then would th' Ionian and Aegean mains
Break each on other: thus when Crassus fell,
Who held apart the chiefs, in piteous death,
And stained Assyria's plains with Latian blood,
Defeat in Parthia loosed the war in Rome.
More in that victory than ye thought was won,
Ye sons of Arsaces; your conquered foes
Took at your hands the rage of civil strife.
By sword the realm is parted; and the state
Supreme o'er earth and sea, wide as the world,
Could not find space for two. For Julia bore,
Cut off by fate unpitying, the bond
Of that ill-omened marriage and the pledge
Of blood united, to the shades below.
Hadst thou but longer stayed, it had been thine
To keep the parent and the spouse apart,
Strike sword from grasp and join the threatening hands;
As Sabine matrons in the days of old
Joined in the midst the bridegroom and the sire.
With thee all trust was buried, and the chiefs
Could give their courage vent, and rushed to war.
Lest newer glories triumphs past obscure,
Late conquered Gaul the bays from pirates won,
This, Magnus, is thy fear; thy roll of fame,
Of glorious deeds accomplished for the state
Allows no equal; nor will Caesar's pride
A prior rival in his triumphs brook;
Which had the right 'twere impious to enquire;
Each for his cause can vouch a judge supreme;
The victor, heaven: the vanquished, Cato, thee.
Nor were they like to like: the one in years
Now verging towards decay, in times of peace
Had unlearned war; but thirsting for applause
Gave to the people much, and proud of fame
His former glory cared not to renew,
But joyed in plaudits of the theatre,
His gift to Rome: his triumphs in the past,
Himself the shadow of a mighty name.
As when some oak, in fruitful field sublime,
Adorned with venerable spoils, and gifts
Of bygone leaders, by its weight to earth
With feeble roots still clings; its naked arms
And hollow trunk, though leafless, give a shade;
And though condemned beneath the tempest's shock
To speedy fall, amid the sturdier trees
In sacred grandeur rules the forest still.
No such repute had Caesar won, nor fame;
But energy was his that could not rest-
The only shame he knew was not to win.
Keen and unvanquished, where revenge or hope
Might call, resistless would he strike the blow
With sword unpitying: every victory won
Reaped to the full; the favour of the gods
Pressed to the utmost; all that stayed his course
Aimed at the summit of power, was thrust aside:
Triumph his joy, though ruin marked his track.
As parts the clouds a bolt by winds compelled,
With crack of riven air and crash of worlds,
And veils the light of day, and on mankind,
Blasting their vision with its flames oblique,
Sheds deadly fright; then turning to its home,
Nought but the air opposing, through its path
Spreads havoc, and collects its scattered fires.
Such were the hidden motives of the chiefs;
But in the public life the seeds of war
Their hold had taken, such as are the doom
Of potent nations: and when fortune poured
Through Roman gates the booty of a world,
The curse of luxury, chief bane of states,
Fell on her sons. Farewell the ancient ways!
Behold the pomp profuse, the houses decked
With ornament; their hunger loathed the food
Of former days; men wore attire for dames
Scarce fitly fashioned; poverty was scorned,
Fruitful of warriors; and from all the world
Came that which ruins nations; while the fields
Furrowed of yore by great Camillus' plough,
Or by the mattock which a Curius held,
Lost their once narrow bounds, and widening tracts
By hinds unknown were tilled. No nation this
To sheathe the sword, with tranquil peace content
And with her liberties; but prone to ire;
Crime holding light as though by want compelled:
Great was the glory in the minds of men,
Ambition lawful even at point of sword,
To rise above their country: might their law:
Decrees were forced from Senate and from Plebs:
Consul and Tribune broke the laws alike:
Bought were the fasces, and the people sold
For gain their favour: bribery's fatal curse
Stained every yearly contest of the Field.
Then covetous usury rose, and interest
Was greedier with the seasons; and all trust
Was crushed; and many found a boon in war.
Caesar has crossed the Alps, his mighty soul
Great tumults pondering and the coming shock.
Now on the marge of Rubicon, he saw,
In face most sorrowful and ghostly guise,
His trembling country's image; huge it seemed
Through mists of night obscure; and hoary hair
Streamed from the lofty front with turrets crowned:
Torn were her locks and naked were her arms.
Then thus, with broken sighs the Vision spake:
What seek ye, men of Rome? and whither hence
Bear ye my standards? If by right ye come,
My citizens, stay here; these are the bounds;
No further dare.' But Caesar's hair was stiff
With horror as he gazed, and ghastly dread
Restrained his footsteps on the further bank.
Then spake he, ' Thunderer, who from the rock
Tarpeian seest the wall of mighty Rome;
Gods of my race who watched o'er Troy of old;
Thou Jove of Alba's height, and Vestal fires,
And rites of Romulus erst rapt to heaven,
And God-like Rome; be friendly to my quest.
Not with offence or hostile arms I come,
Thy Caesar, conqueror by land and sea,
Thy soldier here and wheresoe'er thou wilt:
No other's; his, his only be the guilt
Whose acts make me thy foe.' He gives the word
And bids his standards cross the swollen stream.
So in the wastes of Afric's burning clime
The lion crouches as his foes draw near,
Feeding his wrath the while, his lashing tail
Provokes his fury; stiff upon his neck
Bristles his mane: deep from his gaping jaws
Resounds the muttered growl, and should a lance
Or javelin reach him from the hunter's ring,
Scorning the puny scratch he bounds afield.
From modest fountain blood-red Rubicon
In summer's heat flows on; his pigmy tide
Creeps through the valleys and with slender marge
Divides the Italian peasant from the Gaul.
Then winter gave him strength, and fraught with rain
The third day's crescent moon; while Eastern winds
Thawed from the Alpine slopes the yielding snow.
The cavalry first form across the stream
To break the torrent's force; the rest with ease
Beneath their shelter gain the further bank.
When Caesar crossed and trod beneath his feet
The soil of Italy's forbidden fields,
Here,' spake he, 'peace, here broken laws be left;
Farewell to treaties. Fortune, lead me on;
War is our judge, and in the fates our trust.'
Then in the shades of night he leads the troops
Swifter than Balearic sling or shaft
Winged by retreating Parthian, to the walls
Of threatened Rimini, while fled the stars,
Save Lucifer, before the coming sun,
Whose fires were veiled in clouds, by south wind driven,
Or else at heaven's command: and thus drew on
The first dark morning of the civil war.
Now stood the troops within the captured town,
Their standards planted; and the trumpet clang
Rang forth in harsh alarums, giving note
Of impious strife: roused from their sleep the men
Rushed to the hall and snatched the ancient arms
Long hanging through the years of peace; the shield
With crumbling frame; dark with the tooth of rust
Their swords; and javelins with blunted point.
But when the well-known signs and eagles shone,
And Caesar towering o'er the throng was seen,
They shook for terror, fear possessed their limbs,
And thoughts unuttered stirred within their souls.
O miserable those to whom their home
Denies the peace that all men else enjoy!
Placed as we are beside the Northern bounds
And scarce a footstep from the restless Gaul,
We fall the first; would that our lot had been
Beneath the Eastern sky, or frozen North,
To lead a wandering life, rather than keep
' The gates of Latium. Brennus sacked the town
' And Hannibal, and all the Teuton hosts.
' This is the path when Rome's the prize of war.'
Deep in their breasts they breathed the silent moan;
But dared not speak their sorrow nor their fear.
As when in winter all the fields are still,
And birds are voiceless, and no murmured sound
Breaks on the silence of the central sea;
So deep the stillness. But when through the shades
The day had broken, lo! the torch of war!
For by the hand of Fate is swift dispersed
All Caesar's shame of battle, and his mind
Scarce doubted more; and Fortune toiled to make
His action just and give him cause for arms.
For while Rome wavered and her patriots' names
Were loud and frequent in the mouths of men,
The Senate angered and in scorn of right
Drove out the Tribunes who withstood their will.
To Caesar's troops already on the march
They haste with Curio, who in former days
With bold and venal tongue had dared to speak
For Freedom, and to voice the people's wrongs,
And summon to their side the chiefs in arms.
Who, when he saw that Caesar doubted still,
Spake out; ' So long as I the rostrum held
' By this my voice against the Senate's will
' Was thy command prolonged, and to thy side
' By me were drawn the wavering men of Rome.
' Mute now are laws in war; we from our hearths
Are driven, yet willing exiles; for thine arms
Shall make us citizens of Rome again.
'Strike; for no strength as yet the foe hath gained.
'To pause when ready is to court defeat:
'Like risk, like labour, thou hast known before,
'But never such reward. Could Gallia hold
'Thine armies ten long years ere victory came,
'That little nook of earth? One paltry fight
'Or twain, fought out by thy resistless hand,
'And Rome for thee shall have subdued the world:
'Tis true no triumph now would bring thee home;
'No captive tribes would grace thy chariot wheels
'Winding in pomp around the ancient hill:
'Spite, gnawing spite, denies thee all thy due;
For all thy conquests, for a world well won
'Scarce shalt thou go unpunished. Yet 'tis fate
'Thou should'st subdue thy kinsman: share the world
'With him thou canst not; rule thou canst, alone.'

> Latin: Praefatur poeta argumentum. Conqueritur de bello ipso. Alloquitur Neronem. De causis belli internis. Aemulatio inter Pompeium et Caesarem, mortuo Crasso. Luxuries Romana. Caesar Rubiconem transit, Ariminumque invadit. Queruntur incolae eius regionis, sese primos cuiusque belli sentire damna. Accedit Curio, Roma expulsus, ad Caesarem, eumque ad bellum hortatur. Caesar milites alloquitur. Dubiis militibus, Laelius item ad bellum hortatur. Adsentiunt milites. Ergo Caesar Romam petit. Enumerantur copiae. Fama maior vero Romae de eius adventu. Metus populi. Fugiunt senatores et cives, et ipse Pompeius. Prodigia visa enarrantur. Ea propter consulitur Tuscus vates Aruns. Lustratur urbs. Sacrificium fit infaustum. Mala praesagit Aruns. Item Figulus. Item matrona quaedam.
Prooemium de prodigiis. Melius esse, nulla fieri. Describitur turbatus Romae status. Queruntur matronae. Queruntur viri, quorum aliquis senior prolixa oratione de superiori bello civili inter Marium Syllamque gesto disserit. Interritus tamen his omnibus, Brutus noctu ad Catonem adit, eumque alloquitur, et quaerit, quod sit consilium suum. Respondet Cato: se Pompeium secuturum, et ad idem faciendum Brutum incitat. Dum ii colloquuntur inter se, intrat Marcia, quam Cato sibi nuptam, olim Hortensio cesserat; ea, mortuo Hortensio, iterum Catonis matrimonium petit, in bellum eum secutura. Ergo iunguntur statim, praesente Bruto. Interea Pompeius in Campaniam cesserat; describitur Apenninus mons cum fluminibus suis. Caesar omnem Italiam occupat; fugiunt Libo, Thermus, Sylla, Varus, Lentulus, Scipio ex oppidis suis, quae tenuerunt. Domitius Corfinii, ponte rupto fluvioque supra ripam emisso, morari Caesarem conatur; ille tamen transit flumen; dumque obsidere parat Corfinium, cives Domitium ei tradunt, quem Caesar libertate invitum etiam donat. Interim Pompeius suas cohortes alloquitur, proeliumque promittit in posterum diem. Non acclamantibus tamen militibus, cedit usque ad Brundusium. Describitur eius oppidi situs. Dimittit filium Pompeius in Asiam, ad sollicitandos reges. Ipse in Epirum transire parat. Persequitur Pompeium Caesar, mareque praecludere vallo molitur. Pompeius Italiam relinquit. Caesar Brundusium intrat.
Pompeio naviganti in somnio apparet Iulia, uxor quondam eius, cruentumque fore bellum praedicit. Appellit ad Epirum Pompeius. Caesar Curio mandat, ut ex Sicilia annonam procuret. Deinde Romam tendit. Romae timor. Senatus Caesari obnoxius. Unus Metellus tribunus se opponit aerarium spoliaturis. Minatur ei Caesar. Cotta Metellum ad cedendum hortatur. Aperitur templum, aerariumque inde profertur. Interim Pompeius copias ex Graecia Asiaque cogit; quae recensentur. Caesar in Hispaniam iturus ad Massiliam tendit, quae fida manserat Pompeio. Mittunt Massilienses legatos ad eum, civile bellum deprecantes. Caesar tamen Massiliam obsidet. Describuntur munitiones. Lucum iubet Caesar exscindi sacrum, cogitque ipse renuentes milites. Caesar in Hispaniam proficiscens, Trebonio mandat oppugnationem. Agger iacitur; pugnatur; acceditur ad muros; vinea agitur. Erumpunt noctu Massilienses, hostesque profligant terra. Igitur mari res tentatur. Brutus adest cum classe. Navalis fit pugna. Ea uberius per singuli facinora describitur. Vincuntur Massilienses, Brutusque victor evadit.
Interea Caesar in Hispaniam venit, ubi Afranius et Petreius legati praeerant copiis Pompeianis vel potius Romanis Iberisque cum illis coniunctis. Ad Ilerdam res geritur. Fit proelium. Vere adveniente aquarum fiunt fluctus, et inundantur castra. Fames oritur et annonae caritas. Diluvium. Denique aquae recedunt; Petreius Ilerda abit. Caesar eum persequens pugnam facit. Fugientem hostem Caesar a tergo iubet excipi. Castra locantur utrimque et a Pompeianis et Caesarianis. Agnoscunt se invicem cives, et manus copulant, et pocula iungunt. At Petreius suos abigit, eosque alloquitur. Bellum recipitur. Fuga fit Pompeianorum Ilerdam versus. Caesar eos aqua intercludit. Describitur Pompeianorum aquae inopia. Afranius pacem petit a Caesare. Fit pax. Recreantur adversarii et milites et incolae. Interim Antonius, Caesaris legatus, in ora Dalmatica Salonis obsidetur a Pompeianis. Conantur Caesariani effugere noctu ratibus iunctis. Quarum duae feliciter elabuntur. At intercepti a Pompeianis qui tertia vehuntur, semet ipsos invicem ad unum omnes interficiunt. Curio interim, ex Sicilia ad Bagradam fluvium in Africa appellit prope Uticam, edoceturque ab incola quodam de ea regione, deque Herculis ibi contra Antaeum rebus gestis, et de Scipione. Curio Varum pellit. Contra Iubam pugnat; sed circumventus eius insidiis, ipse cum copiis perit. Apostrophe ad Curionem.
Sub initio anni consules in Epiro in exercitu Pompeii comitia habent. Lentulus patres alloquitur hortaturque ut Pompeium iubeant esse ducem. Id quod fit. Dein reges, qui auxilia miserant, laudati. Appius Pompeianus consulit oraculum Delphicum, quod diu siluerat. Describitur oraculum. Aperitur templum. Pythia dehortatur. Adigitur tamen ut tripoda conscendat. Furor eam invadit. Eloquitur oraculum de Appio ipso ante Pharsalicam pugnam in Euboea insula morituro. Apostrophe ad oraculum. Exit Pythia templo, animumque humanum recipit. Apostrophe ad Appium. Interim redux ex Hispania Caesar, deprehendit milites ad pacem inclinantes, bellumque pertaesos, et tumultuantes idcirco. Caesar interritus eos alloquitur, minaturque. Mutatur militum animus. Caesar Brundusium eos mittit ibique classem parare iubet. Ipse Romam it, resque ibi ordinat. Inde Brundusium, media hieme. Confirmat milites. Traiicit fretum, adque Palaesten appellit in Epiro. Dein ad Dyrrhachium castra fiunt. Caesarem moratur, ne pugna statim fiat, Antonius, Brundusii relictus, hiemeque ne eum sequeretur impeditus. Caesar decernit solus Brundusium navigare, Antoniumque accersere. Ergo ad litus it. Ibi cymbam deprehendit, eiusque dominum Amyclam quendam ex somno excitat, promissisque magnis adigit, ut secum fretum transiiciat. Tempestas fit. Timet nauta. Confirmat eum Caesar. Describitur tempestas. Ad Italiam appellit Caesar. Redeuntem deinde sui carpunt milites, quod sese reliquerit. Transiiciunt Brundusio reliquae copiae. Pompeius uxorem Corneliam Lesbum dimittit, quo tuta sit a bello. Alloquitur eam. Illa respondet. Cornelia conscendit navem. Lesbum navigat.
Caesar, frustra provocato ad pugnam Pompeio, ad Dyrrhachium tendit. Pompeius iter ei praecludit. Describitur oppidi situs. Caesar obsidionem molitur, castellaque exstruit. Qua re animadversa, Pompeius facit eruptiones, ut distrahat Caesaris copias. Fames oritur et lues in Pompeii exercitu. Item fames in Caesaris. Pompeius castellum aliquod oppugnat, ac paene expugnasset, nisi defensum esset a Scaeva, forti viro, cuius egregie factum enarratur. Repulsus hac parte Pompeius alia castella aggreditur, capitque unum eorum. Caesar recipere illud conatur, sed frustra. Ergo in Thessaliam it, eoque eum sequitur Pompeius. Describitur Thessaliae situs. Uterque castra locant, copiis trepide rerum exitum spectantibus. Inter Pompeianos erat Sextus, Magni filius. Is, magicorum arcanorum studiosus, futura scire avens, spretis verioribus oraculis, veneficas Thessaliae adit. Quarum artes describuntur. Earum una Erichtho, reliquarum more spreto, urbes fugit, desertaque incolit, cadavera inquirens laceransque et ad suas artes adhibens. Ergo eam Sextus cum comitibus noctu investigat, invenitque sedentem et multam carmine caedem Thessaliae precantem. Alloquitur eam, rogatque, ut, quid futurum sit, ex mortuo aliquo se scientem faciat. Respondet illa, se facturam quod rogaverit. Ergo eligit sibi unum ex cadaveribus. Id unco pertrahitur ad caveam veneficae. Describitur locus, et ornatus Erichthus. Pavet Sextus. Confirmat eum Erichtho. Efficit illa, arte et carminibus, ut reviviscat cadaver. Iubet illud Erichtho fata eloqui. Ergo eloquitur, et infausta quidem et omnino Romanis et imprimis Pompeiis. Quo facto demum Erichtho, rogo incenso, cadaver mori patitur, Sextumque, ad castra redeuntem, comitatur.
Nocte ante pugnam Pompeius inani somnii specie luditur. Orto sole, cupidis pugnae militibus, ipsoque Cicerone hortante, Magnus, quamquam invitus, signum pugnae dat. Milites se parant. Prodigia narrantur. Populi metuunt. Vates quidam in Italia superiore praedicat pugnam ea ipsa die inter Pompeium et Caesarem pugnari. Describitur Pompeii acies. Laetus eam conspicit Caesar. Caesar militesque suos alloquitur. Arripiunt arma. Pompeius alloquitur suos. Conqueritur poeta de funesto Romae bello, deque amissa per pugnam Pharsalicam libertate Romana. Primus pugnam inchoat Crastinus Caesarianus. Describitur furor pugnantium. Caesar Pompeianos ab latere adoritur. Pelluntur Pompeii equites, e barbaris populis collecti. Centrum tamen resistit, ubi Romani. Abhorret poeta ab descriptione pugnae. Caesar suos hortatur. Brutus in exercitu Pompeii. Cadunt patricii; cadit Domitius. Horret queriturque pugnam poeta. Fugit Pompeius equo. Apostrophe ad eum. Pompeius Larissam venit; dein pergit in fuga. Caesar castra Pompeii occupat. Inhumata iacent cadavera. Ferae ad dapes veniunt. Apostrophe.
Pompeius in fuga ad litus maris devenit. Conscendit cymbam, eamque Lesbum dirigi iubet, ubi Cornelia uxor; cuius animi status describitur. Appellit ad Lesbum Pompeius. Solatur uxorem. Respondet Cornelia. Mitylenaei Pompeium ad se invitant. Ille eos laudat. Abit tamen Lesbo cum Cornelia, lugentibus incolis. Pompeius nocte in navi sedens loquitur cum gubernatore, quem iubet vitare Thessaliam Italiamque, ceterum navis cursum Fortunae committere. Sole orto eum assequuntur et Sextus filius, et alii proceres amicique. Ex his legat Deiotarum ad Orientis populos, auxilia conquisitum. Ille igitur, servili habitu indutus, escendit e navi in litus Asiae. Pompeius praeternavigat Ephesum, Samum, Rhodum, Pamphyliam, Taurum. In Cilicia alloquitur comites suos, solatur, suadetque, ut secum ad Parthos Eoasque gentes proficiscantur. Nam Aegyptiorum fidem aut Maurorum esse suspectam. Illi renuunt, respondetque Lentulus, hortans ut Aegyptum eat. Ergo Cyprum tendit. Inde traiecto mari, Pharon praenavigat, et ad Pelusium appellit. Ibi audit, regem in propinquo adesse; ergo flectit iter. Rex autem de Pompeii adventu comperit; ergo concilium convocat. In eo concilio Pothinus suadet regi, ut interimat Pompeium. Ergo Ptolemaeus Achillam ablegat. Apostrophe poetae. Achillas parva rate ad Pompeii navem accedens, invitat eum nomine regis, suadetque, ut ratem suam conscendat. Solus ergo conscendit. Ibi eum confodiunt Septimius et Achillas. Postrema Pompeius facit verba. Conqueritur, facinore viso, Cornelia fugiente navi sua. Septimius Pompeii caput abscidit, Achillaeque tradit. Apostrophe. Reliquum cadaver in mare proiectum servat Cordus, qui ex insula Cypra Pompeium secutus erat, in litusque affert, ibique comburit, deinde sepelit ossa, lapidemque imponit cum inscriptione. Apostrophe de Pompeii fato, deque Aegypto, illiusque tumulo.
At anima Pompeii, busto relicto, evolat ad piorum sedes, indeque terram despicit, et implet pectora suorum, Bruti et Catonis. Cato, iam totus Pompeianus, cum copiarum reliquiis Corcyram petit. Inde Cretam, ac denique Africam, ubi classem Pompeii deprehendunt, in qua Cornelia. Illa enim viso Pompeii sepulcro lamentata erat, nolueratque Aegypto abire, hortata Sextum, ut ipse in bellum proficisceretur; deinde in imam navis partem sese abdiderat. Ea ad Cyprum appulerat; dein ad Africam denuo, ad Catonis alteriusque Pompeii filii castra. Ibi Sextus edocet fratrem de nece patris. Ille Aegyptum petere vult. At Cato retinet. Cornelia in litus egressa ibi comburit Magni vestes et arma et insignia quae gesserat, loco ut essent cineris sibi; funusque instituit. Laudat Pompeium egregia oratione Cato. Milites interea Catonis fremunt, belloque abscedere postulant. Et primus Cilix Tarchondimotus; quem carpit Cato. At respondet ei alius ex illis, se Pompeium secutos esse, non civile bellum; velle abire domum. Indignatur Cato, et oratione eos retinet. Exercentur armis milites; expugnantur Cyrenaeorum oppida. Regnum deinde Iubae petitur navibus. Syrtes describuntur. Tempestas oritur. Ibi aliae naves alio deferuntur. Pars ad Tritonis paludem. Depingitur ea regio fabulosa. Sylva ibi olim aurea Hesperidum, fluviusque Letho. Hinc classis, syrtibus liberata, in Libyae ora stationem capit. At Cato, morae impatiens, suadet egredi in continentem, terraque per arenas iter facere. Describitur Libya, et mala iter ibi facientibus perpetienda. Arena conflictantur milites, sitim patiuntur. Ad Iovis Hammonis sedem perveniunt. Describitur eius situs. Labienus hortatur, ut consulant oraculum. At Cato non opus esse ait ei, qui sciat fortiter moriendum esse forti viro. Ita abeunt templo. Pergunt, praeeunte Catone; deveniunt ad fontem serpentibus plenum, e quo bibunt, hortante duce, illaesi. Quaerit poeta, unde tanta in Africa serpentum copia? Ergo facit digressionem de Phorcyadibus Medusaque, quae describitur. Narratur Perseus Gorgoni caput abscidisse, deinde per aera super Libyam volasse, ubi ex cruore Gorgonis destillante serpentes enati sint; qui describuntur. Per ea loca dum Cato iter facit, multi a serpentibus interimuntur, quorum mortes enarrantur. Queruntur milites. Catonis fortitudo constans. Lenitur malum a Psyllis, venenum exsugentibus. Denique Leptin perveniunt. Caesar interim, Pompeium quaerens, Hellespontum adit, Troiamque, cuius regio describitur; deinde Aegyptum. Ibi satelles regius ei obviam venit, Pompeii caput offerens. Lacrimatur Caesar, quamvis laetus, increpatque satellitem regemque. Pompeii manes placare eos iubet.
Caesar, inter dubiae fidei Aegyptios intrepide versans, Alexandriam venit, locumque adit, quo Alexandri magni ossa dicebantur esse condita. De Alexandro Eoisque populis declamatio poetae. Interim rex puer, Ptolemaeus, sedato populo suo, apud Caesarem est; ad quem et astu advehitur Cleopatra. Declamatio de illa. Cleopatra Caesarem alloquitur supplex, rogatque ut se fratremque contra Pothini satellitis impotentiam tutetur. Adnuit Caesar. Luxuries Aegyptiorum describitur. Accumbunt epulis. Depingitur ornatus et forma Cleopatrae, luxusque in convivio. Caesar in convivio alloquitur Achoreum sacerdotem summum, ab eoque cupit se edoceri de diis Aegyptiorum, deque Nili fontibus. Ille ergo primum de Sole planetisque et Zodiaco, deinde de Nilo disserit, cuius incrementi caussas latere adhuc ait, pariter atque fontes. Cursum enarrat. Interim Pothinus Achillam excitat ad Caesaris necem. Is igitur, collectis militibus, ad regiam accedit. Caesar portas claudi iubet, regemque obsidem apud se retinet. Adversarii oppugnant aedes. Caesar ubique adest. Etiam navibus res geritur. Caesar, rate conscensa, cum navibus Pharon occupat. Dein Pothinum punit, abscisso eius capite. Interea minor regis filia Arsinoe, regia relicta, ad exeritum venit, Achillaque interemto, Ganymedi copias mandat; qui deinde contra Caesarem bellum facit. Caesar in summis periculus meminit Scaevae illius fortissimi ( ), pariter quondam in castello, atque ipse, obsessi. Atque ibi carmen imperfectum desinit.
Bella per Emathios plus quam civilia campos
Iusque datum sceleri canimus, populumque potentem
In sua victrici conversum viscera dextra,
Cognatasque acies, et rupto foedere regni,
Certatum totis concussi viribus orbis
In commune nefas, infestisque obvia signis
Signa, pares aquilas, et pila minantia pilis.
Quis furor, o cives, quae tanta licentia ferri,
Gentibus invisis Latium praebere cruorem?
Cumque superba foret Babylon spolianda tropaeis
Ausoniis, umbraque erraret Crassus inulta,
Bella geri placuit nullos habitura triumphos?
Heu quantum terrae potuit pelagique parari
Hoc, quem civiles hauserunt, sanguine, dextrae,
Unde venit Titan, et nox ubi sidera condit,
Quaque dies medius flagrantibus aestuat horis,
Et qua bruma, rigens ac nescia vere remitti,
Adstringit Scythico glacialem frigore pontum!
Sub iuga iam Seres, iam barbarus isset Araxes,
Et gens si qua iacet nascenti conscia Nilo.
Tunc, si tantus amor belli tibi, Roma, nefandi,
Totum sub Latias leges cum miseris orbem,
In te verte manus: nondum tibi defuit hostis.
At nunc semirutis pendent quod moenia tectis
Urbibus Italiae, lapsisque ingentia muris
Saxa iacent, nulloque domus custode tenentur
Rarus et antiquis habitator in urbibus errat,
Horrida quod dumis multosque inarata per annos
Hesperia est, desuntque manus poscentibus arvis,
Non tu, Pyrrhe ferox, nec tantis cladibus auctor
Poenus erit: nulli penitus discindere ferro
Contigit: alta sedent civilis vulnera dextrae.
Quodsi non aliam venturo fata Neroni
Invenere viam, magnoque aeterna parantur
Regna deis, coelumque suo servire tonanti
Non nisi saevorum potuit post bella Gigantum:
Iam nihil, o superi, querimur: scelera ipsa nefasque
Hac mercede placent: diros Pharsalia campos
Impleat, et Poeni saturentur sanguine manes;
Ultima funesta concurrant proelia Munda.
His, Caesar, Perusina fames, Mutinaeque labores
Accedant fatis; et quas premit aspera classes
Leucas; et ardenti servilia bella sub Aetna:
Multum Roma tamen debet civilibus armis,
Quod tibi res acta est. Te, quum, statione peracta,
Astra petes serus, praelati regia coeli
Excipiet, gaudente polo, seu sceptra tenere,
Seu te flammigeros Phoebi conscendere currus,
Telluremque nihil mutato sole timentem
Igne vago lustrare iuvet: tibi numine ab omni
Cedetur, iurique tuo natura relinquet,
Quis deus esse velis, ubi regnum ponere mundi.
Sed neque in Arctoo sedem tibi legeris orbe,
Nec polus aversi calidus qua vergitur Austri;
Unde tuam videas obliquo sidere Romam.
Aetheris immensi partem si presseris unam,
Sentiet axis onus. Librati pondera coeli
Orbe tene medio: pars aetheris illa sereni
Tota vacet, nullaeque obstent a Caesare nubes.
Tunc genus humanum positis sibi consulat armis,
Inque vicem gens omnis amet: Pax missa per orbem
Ferrea belligeri compescat limina Iani.
Sed mihi iam numen: nec, si te pectore vates
Accipio, Cirrhaea velim secreta moventem
Sollicitare deum, Bacchumque avertere Nysa.
Tu satis ad dandas Romana in carmina vires.
Fert animus causas tantarum expromere rerum,
Immensumque aperitur opus, quid in arma furentem
Impulerit populum, quid pacem excusserit orbi.
Invida fatorum series, summisque negatum
Stare diu; nimioque graves sub pondere lapsus;
Nec se Roma ferens. Sic, quum, compage soluta,
Saecula tot mundi suprema coegerit hora,
Anticum repetent iterum chaos omnia; mixtis
Sidera sideribus concurrent: ignea pontum
Astra petent: tellus extendere litora nolet,
Excutietque fretum: fratri contraria Phoebe
Ibit, et, oblicum bigas agitare per orbem
Indignata, diem poscet sibi: totaque discors
Machina divulsi turbabit foedera mundi.
In se magna ruunt: laetis hunc numina rebus
Crescendi posuere modum. Nec gentibus ullis
Commodat in populum, terrae pelagique potentem,
Invidiam Fortuna suam. Tu caussa malorum,
Facta tribus dominis communis, Roma, nec umquam
In turbam missi feralia foedera regni.
O male concordes nimiaque cupidine caeci,
Quid miscere iuvat vires, orbemque tenere
In medio? Dum terra fretum, terramque levabit
Aer, et longi volvent Titana labores,
Noxque diem coelo totidem per signa sequetur,
Nulla fides regni sociis, omnisque potestas
Impatiens consortis erit. Nec gentibus ullis
Credite, nec longe fatorum exempla petantur.
Fraterno primi maduerunt sanguine muri.
Nec pretium tanti tellus pontusque furoris
Tunc erat: exiguum dominos commisit asylum.
Temporis augusti mansit concordia discors;
Paxque fuit non sponte ducum. Nam sola futuri
Crassus erat belli medius mora. Qualiter, undas
Qui secat et geminum gracilis mare separat Isthmos,
Nec patitur conferre fretum; si terra recedat,
Ionium Aegaeo franget mare: sic, ubi, saeva
Arma ducum dirimens, miserando funere Crassus
Assyrias Latio maculavit sanguine Carras,
Parthica Romanos solverunt damna furores.
Plus illa vobis acie, quam creditis, actum est,
Arsacidae: bellum victis civile dedistis.
Dividitur ferro regnum: populique potentis,
Quae mare, quae terras, quae totum continet orbem,
Non cepit fortuna duos. Nam pignora iuncti
Sanguinis, et diro ferales omine tedas
Abstulit ad manes, Parcarum, Iulia, saeva
Intercepta manu. Quodsi tibi fata dedissent
Maiores in luce moras, tu sola furentes
Inde virum poteras atque hinc retinere parentem,
Armatasque manus excusso iungere ferro,
Ut generos mediae soceris iunxere Sabinae.
Morte tua discussa fides, bellumque movere
Permissum ducibus. Stimulos dedit aemula virtus.
Tu, nova ne veteres obscurent facta triumphos,
Et victis cedat piratica laurea Gallis,
Magne, times: te iam series ususque laborum
Erigit, impatiensque loci fortuna secundi.
Nec quemquam iam ferre potest Caesarve priorem,
Pompeiusve parem. Quis iustius induit arma,
Scire nefas: magno se iudice quisque tuetur:
Victrix caussa deis placuit, sed victa Catoni
Nec coiere pares: alter, vergentibus annis
In senium, longoque togae tranquillior usu,
Dedidicit iam pace ducem; famaeque petitor,
Multa dare in vulgus; totus popularibus auris
Impelli, plausuque sui gaudere theatri:
Nec reparare novas vires, multumque priori
Credere fortunae. Stat magni nominis umbra:
Qualis frugifero quercus sublimis in agro,
Exuvias veteres populi sacrataque gestans
Dona ducum, nec iam validis radicibus haerens,
Pondere fixa suo est; nudosque per aera ramos
Effundens, trunco, non frondibus, efficit umbram;
Et quamvis primo nutet casura sub Euro,
Tot circum silvae firmo se robore tollant,
Sola tamen colitur. Sed non in Caesare tantum
Nomen erat, nec fama ducis: sed nescia virtus
Stare loco: solusque pudor, non vincere bello.
Acer et indomitus; quo spes, quoque ira vocasset,
Ferre manum, et numquam temerando parcere ferro:
Successus urgere suos, instare favori
Numinis: impellens, quidquid sibi, summa petenti,
Obstaret, gaudensque viam fecisse ruina.
Qualiter expressum ventis per nubila fulmen
Aetheris impulsi sonitu mundique fragore
Emicuit, rupitque diem, populosque paventes
Terruit, obliqua praestringens lumina flamma.
In sua templa furit: nullaque exire vetante
Materia, magnamque cadens, magnamque revertens
Dat stragem late, sparsosque recolligit ignes.
Hae ducibus caussae suberant: sed publica belli
Semina, quae populos semper mersere potentes.
Namque ut opes mundo nimias fortuna subacto
Intulit, et rebus mores cessere secundis,
Praedaque et hostiles luxum suasere rapinae:
Non auro tectisque modus: mensasque priores
Aspernata fames: cultus, gestare decoros
Vix nuribus, rapuere mares: foecunda virorum
Paupertas fugitur, totoque accersitur orbe,
Quo gens quaeque perit. Tum longos iungere fines
Agrorum, et quondam duro sulcata Camilli
Vomere, et antiquos Curiorum passa ligones
Longa sub ignotis extendere rura colonis.
Non erat is populus, quem pax tranquilla iuvaret,
Quem sua libertas immotis pasceret armis.
Inde irae faciles; et, quod suasisset egestas,
Vile nefas; magnumque decus, ferroque petendum,
Plus patria potuisse sua; mensuraque iuris
Vis erat: hinc leges et plebiscita coactae,
Et cum consulibus turbantes iura tribuni:
Hinc rapti fasces pretio, sectorque favoris
Ipse sui populus; letalisque ambitus urbi,
Annua venali referens certamina Campo:
Hinc usura vorax, avidumque in tempora foenus,
Et concussa fides, et multis utile bellum.
Iam gelidas Caesar cursu superaverat Alpes,
Ingentesque animo motus, bellumque futurum
Ceperat. Ut ventum est parvi Rubiconis ad undas,
Ingens visa duci Patriae trepidantis imago
Clara per obscuram vultu moestissima noctem,
Turrigero canos effundens vertice crines,
Caesarie lacera, nudisque adstare lacertis,
Et gemitu permixta loqui: Quo tenditis ultra?
Quo fertis mea signa, viri? Si iure venitis,
Si cives, huc usque licet. Tum perculit horror
Membra ducis; riguere comae, gressusque coercens
Languor in extrema tenuit vestigia ripa.
Mox ait: O magnae qui moenia prospicis urbis
Tarpeia de rupe, Tonans, Phrygiique penates
Gentis Iuleae, et rapti secreta Quirini,
Et residens celsa Latialis Iuppiter Alba,
Vestalesque foci, summique o numinis instar
Roma, fave coeptis. Non te furialibus armis
Persequor. En, adsum, victor terraque marique
Caesar, ubique tuus, liceat modo, nunc quoque, miles.
Ille erit, ille nocens, qui me tibi fecerit hostem.
Inde moras solvit belli, tumidumque per amnem
Signa tulit propere: sicut squalentibus arvis
Aestiferae Libyes viso leo comminus hoste
Subsedit dubius, totam dum colligit iram;
Mox ubi se saevae stimulavit verbere caudae
Erexitque iubas, vasto et grave murmur hiatu
Infremuit: tum, torta levis si lancea Mauri
Haereat, aut latum subeant venabula pectus,
Per ferrum, tanti securus vulneris, exit.
Fonte cadit modico, parvisque impellitur undis
Puniceus Rubicon, cum fervida canduit aestas:
Perque imas serpit valles, et Gallica certus
Limes ab Ausoniis disterminat arva colonis.
Tum vires praebebat hiems, atque auxerat undas
Tertia iam gravido pluvialis Cynthia cornu,
Et madidis Euri resolutae flatibus Alpes.
Primus in oblicum sonipes opponitur amnem,
Excepturus aquas: molli tum cetera rumpit
Turba vado faciles iam fracti fluminis undas.
Caesar ut adversam, superato gurgite, ripam
Attigit, Hesperiae vetitis et constitit arvis:
Hic, ait, hic pacem temerataque iura relinquo;
Te, Fortuna, sequor. Procul hinc iam foedera sunto.
Credidimus fatis. Utendum est iudice bello.
Sic fatus, noctis tenebris rapit agmina ductor
Impiger, et torto Balearis verbere fundae
Ocior, et missa Parthi post terga sagitta;
Vicinumque minax invadit Ariminum. Ignes
Solis lucifero fugiebant astra relicto,
Iamque dies primos belli visura tumultus
Exoritur. Seu sponte deum, seu turbidus Auster
Impulerit, moestam tenuerunt nubila lucem.
Constitit ut capto iussus deponere miles
Signa fore, stridor lituum clangorque tubarum
Non pia concinuit cum rauco classica cornu.
Rupta quies populi, stratisque excita iuventus
Diripuit sacris adfixa penatibus arma,
Quae pax longa dabat: nuda iam crate fluentes
Invadunt clypeos, curvataque cuspide pile,
Et scabros nigrae morsu rubiginis enses.
Ut notae fulsere aquilae Romanaque signa,
Et celsus medio conspectus in agmine Caesar,
Diriguere metu, gelidus pavor occupat artus,
Et tacito mutos volvunt in pectore questus:
O male vicinis haec moenia condita Gallis,
O tristi damnata loco! Pax alta per omnes
Et tranquilla quies populos: nos praeda furentum
Primaque castra sumus. Melius, Fortuna, dedisses
Orbe sub Eoo sedem gelidaque sub Areto,
Errantesque domos, Latii quam claustra tueri.
Nos primi Senonum motus, Cimbrumque furentem
Vidimus, et Martem Libyes, cursumque furoris
Teutonici. Quoties Romam Fortuna lacessit,
Hac iter est bellis. Gemitu sic quisque latenti,
Non ausus timuisse palam: vox nulla dolori
Credita: sed quantum, volucres cum bruma coercet,
Rura silent, mediusque tacet sine murmure pontus,
Tanta quies. Noctis gelidas lux solverat umbras:
Ecce faces belli, dubiaeque in proelia menti
Urgentes addunt stimulos cunctasque pudoris
Rumpunt fata moras: iustos Fortuna laborat
Esse ducis motus, et causas invenit armis.
Expulit ancipiti discordes urbe tribunos
Victo iure minax iactatis curia Gracchis.
Hos iam mota ducis vicinaque signa petentes
Audax venali comitatur Curio lingua:
Vox quondam populi, libertatemque tueri
Ausus, et armatos plebi miscere potentes.
Utque ducem varias volventem pectore curas
Conspexit: Dum voce tuae potuere iuvari,
Caesar, ait, partes, quamvis nolente senatu,
Traximus imperium tunc, cum mihi Rostra tenere
Ius erat, et dubios in te transferre Quirites.
Sed postquam leges bello siluere coactae,
Pellimur e patriis laribus, patimurque volentes
Exsilium: tua nos faciet victoria cives.
Dum trepidant nullo firmatae robore partes,
Tolle moras. Semper nocuit differre paratis.
Par labor atque metus pretio maiore petuntur.
Bellantem geminis tenuit te Gallia lustris,
Pars quota terrarum! Facili si proelia pauca
Gesseris eventu, tibi Roma subegerit orbem.
Nunc neque te longi remeantem pompa triumphi
Excipit, aut sacras poscunt Capitolia lauros.
Livor edax tibi cuncta negat: gentesque subactas
Vix impune feres. Socerum depellere regno
Decretum genero est. Partiri non potes orbem: