---
title: "Pharsalia · De Bello Civili"
author: "Lucan"
translator: "Sir Edward Ridley"
languages: [la, en]
shelf: "Classical Latin"
section: 10 of 21
url: https://scriptura.si/works/lucan-pharsalia/10/
cite: "Lucan, tr. Sir Edward Ridley, Pharsalia · De Bello Civili, section 10. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/lucan-pharsalia/10/"
---

# 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.

## 10. Book V · lines 476–815

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/lucan-pharsalia/10/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/lucan-pharsalia/10/#p-N

[¶0] But Caesar's mind though frenzied for the fight
Was forced to pause until Antonius brought
The rearward troops; Antonius even now
Rehearsing Leucas' fight. With prayers and threats
Caesar exhorts him. ' Why delay the fates,
Thou cause of evil to the suffering world?
My speed hath won the major part: from thee
Fortune demands the final stroke alone.
Do Libyan whirlpools with deceitful tides
Uncertain separate us? Is the deep
Untried to which I call? To unknown risks
Art thou commanded? Caesar bids thee come,
Thou sluggard, not to leave him. Long ago
I ran my ships midway through sands and shoals
To harbours held by foes; and dost thou fear
My friendly camp? I mourn the waste of days
'Which fate allotted us. Upon the waves
And winds I call unceasing: hold not back
Thy willing troops, but let them dare the sea;
Here gladly shall they come to join my camp,
Though risking shipwreck: with indignant voice
I call upon thee. Not in equal shares
'The world has fallen between us: thou alone
Dost hold Italia, but Epirus I
And all the lords of Rome.' Twice called and thrice
Antonius lingered still: but Caesar's mind
Was that he failed the gods, not they his cause.
By night he braved the strait which others feared
Though bidden: for he knew that daring deeds
Are safely wrought beneath the smile of heaven:
And thus he hoped in fragile boat to cross
The stormy billows fearful to a fleet.
Now gentle night had brought repose from arms;
And sleep, blest guardian of the poor man's couch,
Restored the weary; and the camp was still.
The hour was come that called the second watch
When mighty Caesar, in the silence vast
With cautious tread advanced to such a deed
As slaves should dare not. Fortune for his guide,
Alone he passes on, and o'er the guard
Stretched in repose he leaps, in secret wrath
At such a sleep. Pacing the winding beach,
Fast to a sea-worn rock he finds a boat
On ocean's marge afloat. Hard by on shore
Its master dwelt within his humble home.
No solid front it reared, for sterile rush
And marshy reed enwoven formed the walls,
Propped by a shallop with its bending sides
Turned upwards. Caesar's hand upon the door
Knocks twice and thrice until the fabric shakes.
Amyclas from his couch of soft seaweed
Arising, calls: ' What shipwrecked sailor seeks
'My humble home? Who hopes for aid from me,
' By fates adverse compelled? ' He stirs the heap
Upon the hearth, until a tiny spark
Glows in the darkness, and throws wide the door.
Careless of war, he knew that civil strife
Stoops not to cottages. O! happy life
That poverty affords! great gift of heaven
Too little understood! what mansion wall,
What temple of the gods, would feel no fear
When Caesar called for entrance? Then the chief:
' Enlarge thine hopes and look for better things.
' Do but my bidding, and on yonder shore
' Place me, and thou shalt cease from one poor boat
' To earn thy living; and in years to come
' Look for a rich old age: and trust thy fates
' To those high gods whose wont it is to bless
' The poor with sudden plenty.' So he spake
E'en at such time in accents of command,
For how could Caesar else? Amyclas said,
''Twere dangerous to brave the deep to-night.
' The sun descended not in ruddy clouds
' Or peaceful rays to rest; part of his beams
' Presaged a southern gale, the rest proclaimed
' A northern tempest; and his middle orb,
' Shorn of its strength, permitted human eyes
' To gaze upon his grandeur; and the moon
' Rose not with silver horns upon the night
' Nor pure in middle space; her slender points
'Not drawn aright, but blushing with the track
' Of raging tempests, till her lurid light
'Was sadly veiled within the clouds. Again
' The forest sounds; the surf upon the shore;
' The dolphin's mood, uncertain where to play;
' The sea-mew on the land; the heron used
' To wade among the shallows, borne aloft
' And soaring on his wings-all these alarm;
' The raven, too, who plunged his head in spray,
' As if to anticipate the coming rain,
And trod the margin with unsteady gait.
But if the cause demands, behold me thine.
'Either we reach the bidden shore, or else
'Storm and the deep forbid-we can no more.'
Thus said he loosed the boat and raised the sail.
No sooner done than stars were seen to fall
In flaming furrows from the sky: nay, more;
The pole star trembled in its place on high:
Black horror marked the surging of the sea;
The main was boiling in long tracts of foam,
Uncertain of the wind, yet seized with storm.
Then spake the captain of the trembling bark:
See what remorseless ocean has in store!
Whether from east or west the storm may come
Is still uncertain, for as yet confused
'The billows tumble. Judged by clouds and sky
'A western tempest: by the murmuring deep
'A wild south-eastern gale shall sweep the sea.
'Nor bark nor man shall reach Hesperia's shore
In this wild rage of waters. To return
'Back on our course forbidden by the gods,
'Is our one refuge, and with labouring boat
'To reach the shore ere yet the nearest land
'May be too distant.'
But great Caesar's trust
Was in himself, to make all dangers yield.
And thus he answered: ' Scorn the threatening sea,
Spread out thy canvas to the raging wind;
If for thy pilot thou refusest heaven,
'Me in its stead receive. Alone in thee
One cause of terror just-thou dost not know
'Thy comrade, ne'er deserted by the gods,
'Whom fortune blesses e'en without a prayer.
'Break through the middle storm and trust in me.
'The burden of this fight falls not on us
But on the sky and ocean; and our bark
Shall swim the billows safe in him it bears.
Nor shall the wind rage long: the boat itself
Shall calm the waters. Flee the nearest shore,
Steer for the ocean with unswerving hand:
Then in the deep, when to our ship and us
No other port is given, believe thou hast
'Calabria's harbours. And dost thou not know
'The purpose of such havoc? Fortune seeks
'In all this tumult of the sea and sky
A boon for Caesar.'

> Latin: Caesaris adtonitam miscenda ad proelia mentem
Ferre moras scelerum partes iussere relictae.
Ductor erat cunctis audax Antonius armis,
Iam tunc civili meditatus Leucada bello.
Illum saepe minis Caesar precibusque morantem
Evocat: O mundi tantorum caussa malorum,
Quid superos et fata tenes? Sunt cetera cursu
Acta meo: summam rapti per prospera belli
Te poscit Fortuna manum. Num rupta vadosis
Syrtibus incerto Libye nos dividit aestu?
Numquid inexperto tua credimus arma profundo,
Inque novos traheris casus? Ignave, venire
Te Caesar, non ire, iubet. Prior ipse per hostes
Percussi medias alieni iuris arenas.
Tui mea castra times? Pereuntia tempora fati
Conqueror: in ventos impendo vota, fretumque.
Ne retine dubium cupientes ire per aequor:
Si bene nota mihi est, ad Caesaris arma iuventus
Naufragio venisse volet. Iam voce doloris
Utendum est: non ex aequo divisimus orbem.
Epirum Caesarque tenet totusque senatus:
Ausoniam tu solus habes. His terque quaterque
Vocibus excitum postquam cessare videbat,
Dum se deesse deis, ac non sibi numina, credit,
Sponte per incautas audet tentare tenebras,
Quod iussi timuere, fretum, temeraria prono
Expertus cessisse deo: fluctusque verendos
Classibus, exigua sperat superare carina.
Solverat armorum fessas nox languida curas:
Parta quies miseris, in quorum pectora somno
Dat vires fortuna minor. Iam castra silebant;
Tertia iam vigiles commoverat hora secundos:
Caesar sollicito per vasta silentia gressu
Vix famulis audenda parat: cunctisque relictis,
Sola placet Fortuna comes. Tentoria postquam
Egressus, vigilum somno cedentis membra
Transsiluit, questus tacite quod fallere posset.
Litora curva legit, primisque invenit in undis
Rupibus exesis haerentem fune carinam.
Rectorem dominumque ratis secura tenebat
Haud procul inde domus, non ullo robore fulta,
Sed sterili iunco cannaque intexta palustri,
Et latus inversa nudum munita phaselo.
Haec Caesar bis terque manu quassantia tectum
Limina commovit. Molli consurgit Amyclas,
Quem dabat alga, toro. Quisnam mea nafragus, inquit,
Tecta petit? aut quem nostrae Fortuna coegit
Auxilium sperare casae? Sic fatus, ab alto
Aggere iam tepidae sublato fune favillae,
Scintillam tenuem commotos pavit in ignes;
Securus belli: praedam civilibus armis
Scit non esse casas. O vitae tuta facultas
Pauperis, angustique lares! o munera nondum
Intellecta deum! quibus hoc contingere templis
Aut potuit muris, nullo trepidare tumultu,
Caesarea pulsante manu? Tum poste recluso,
Dux ait: Exspecta votis maiora modestis,
Spesque tuas laxa, iuvenis. Si iussa secutus
Me vehis Hesperiam, non ultra cuncta carinae
Debebis, manibusque inopem duxisse senectam.
Ne cessa praebere deo tua fata, volenti
Angustos opibus subitis implere Penates.
Sic fatur: quamquam plebeio tectus amictu,
Indocilis privata loqui. Tum pauper Amyclas:
Multa quidem prohibent nocturno credere ponto.
Nam sol non rutilas deduxit in aequora nubes
Concordesque tulit radios: Noton altera Phoebi,
Altera pars Borean diducta luce vocabat.
Orbe quoque exhaustus medio languensque recessit,
Spectantes oculos infirmo lumine passus.
Lunaque non gracili surrexit lucida cornu,
Aut orbis medii puros exesa recessus:
Nec duxit recto tenuata cacumina cornu,
Ventorumque nota rubuit: tum lurida pallens
Ora tulit, vultu sub nubem tristis ituro.
Sed mihi nec motus nemorum, nec litoris ictus,
Nec placet incertus, qui provocat aequora, Delphin:
Aut siccum quod mergus amat: quodque ausa volare
Ardea sublimis pennae confisa natanti:
Quodque caput spargens undis, velut occupet imbrem,
Instabili gressu metitur litora cornix.
Sed si magnarum poscunt discrimina rerum,
Haud dubitem praebere manus. Vel litora tangam
Iussa, vel hoc potius pelagus flatusque negabunt.
Haec fatus, solvensque ratem, dat carbasa ventis:
Ad quorum motus non solum lapsa per altum
Aera dispersos traxere cadentia sulcos
Sidera: sed summis etiam quae fixa tenentur
Astra polis, sunt visa quati. Niger inficit horror
Terga maris: longo per multa volumina tractu
Aestuat unda minax, flatusque incerta futuri:
Turbida testantur conceptos aequora ventos.
Tunc rector trepidae fatur ratis: Adspice, saevum
Quanta paret pelagus. Zephyros intendat, an Euros,
Incertum est. Puppim dubius ferit undique pontus.
Nubibus et coelo Notus est: si murmura ponti
Consulimus, Cori verrunt mare. Gurgite tanto,
Nec ratis Hesperias tanget, nec naufragus oras.
Desperare viam et vetitos convertere cursus,
Sola salus. Liceat vexata litora puppe
Prendere, ne longe nimium sit proxima tellus.
Fisus cuncta sibi cessura pericula Caesar,
Sperne minas, inquit, pelagi, ventoque furenti
Trade sinum. Italiam si coelo auctore recusas,
Me pete. Sola tibi caussa haec est iusta timoris,
Vectorem non nosse tuum; quem numina numquam
Destituunt, de quo male tunc Fortuna meretur,
Cum post vota venit. Medias perrumpe procellas,
Tutela secure mea. Coeli iste fretique,
Non puppis nostrae labor est: hanc Caesare pressam
A fluctu defendet onus. Ne longa furori
Ventorum saevo dubitur mora: proderit undis
Ista ratis. Ne flecte manus: fuge proxima velis
Litora: tum Calabro portu te crede potitum,
Cum iam non poterit puppi nostraeque saluti
Altera terra dari Quid tanta strage paretur,
Ignoras? Quaerit pelagi coelique tumultu

[¶1] Then a hurricane
Swooped on the boat and tore away the sheet:
The fluttering sail fell on the fragile mast:
And groaned the joints. From all the universe
Commingled perils rushed. In Atlas' seas
First Corus raised his head, and stirred the depths
To fury, and had forced upon the rocks
Whole seas and oceans; but the chilly north
Drove back the deep that doubted which was lord.
But Scythian Aquilo prevailed, whose blast
Tossed up the main and showed as shallow pools
Each deep abyss; and yet was not the sea
Heaped on the crags, for Corus' billows met
The waves of Boreas: such seas had clashed
Even were the winds withdrawn; Eurus enraged
Burst from the cave, and Notus black with rain,
And all the winds from every part of heaven
Strove for their own; and thus the ocean stayed
Within his boundaries. No petty seas
Rapt in the storm are whirled. The Tuscan deep
Invades th' AEgean; in Ionian gulfs
Sounds wandering Hadria. How long the crags
Which that day fell, the Ocean's blows had braved!
What lofty peaks did vanquished earth resign!
And yet on yonder coast such mighty waves
Took not their rise; from distant regions came
Those monster billows, driven on their course
By that great current which surrounds the world.
Thus did the King of Heaven, when length of years
Wore out the forces of his thunder, call
His brother's trident to his help, what time
The earth and sea one second kingdom formed
And ocean knew no limit but the sky.
Now, too, the sea had risen to the stars
In mighty mass, had not Olympus' chief
Pressed down its waves with clouds: that night from heaven
Came not, as others; but the murky air
Was dim with pallor of the realms below;
The sky lay on the deep; within the clouds
The waves received the rain: the lightning flash
Clove through the parted air a path obscured
By mist and darkness: and the heavenly vaults
Re-echoed to the tumult, and the frame
That holds the sky was shaken. Nature feared
Chaos returned, as though the elements
Had burst their bonds, and night had come to mix
Th' infernal shades with heaven.
In such turmoil
Not to have perished was their only hope.
Far as from Leucas point the placid main
Spreads to the horizon, from the billow's crest
They viewed the dashing of th' infuriate sea;
Thence sinking to the middle trough, their mast
Scarce topped the watery height on either hand,
Their sails in clouds, their keel upon the ground.
For all the sea was piled into the waves,
And drawn from depths between laid bare the sand.
The master of the boat forgot his art,
For fear o'ercame; he knew not where to yield
Or where to meet the wave: but safety came
From ocean's self at war: one billow forced
The vessel under, but a huger wave
Repelled it upwards, and she rode the storm
Through every blast triumphant. Not the shore
Of humble Sason, nor Thessalia's coast
Indented, not Ambracia's scanty ports
Dismayed the mariners, but the giddy tops
Of high Ceraunia's cliffs.
But Caesar now,
Thinking the peril worthy of his fates:
Are such the labours of the gods? ' exclaimed,
Bent on my downfall have they sought me thus,
Here in this puny skiff in such a sea?
If to the deep the glory of my fall
Is due, and not to war, intrepid still
Whatever death they send shall strike me down.
Let fate cut short the deeds that I would do
And hasten on the end: the past is mine.
The northern nations fell beneath my sword;
'My dreaded name compels the foe to flee.
'Pompeius yields me place; the people's voice
Gave at my order what the wars denied.
And all the titles which denote the powers
Known to the Roman state my name shall bear.
Let none know this but thou who hear'st my prayers,
Fortune! that Caesar summoned to the shades,
Dictator, Consul, full of honours, died
Ere his last prize was won. I ask no pyre
Or tomb, ye gods! wherein my dust may rest:
Nay! plunge in middle deep this battered frame!
All earth shall look for me, nor shall men cease
At Caesar's name to fear.' Such words he spake,
When lo! a tenth gigantic billow raised
The feeble keel, and where between the rocks
A cleft gave safety, placed it on the shore.
Thus in a moment fortune, kingdoms, lands,
Once more were Caesar's.
But on his return
When daylight came, he entered not the camp
Silent as when he parted; for his friends
Soon pressed around him, and with weeping eyes
In accents welcome to his ears began:
'Whither in reckless daring hast thou gone,
Unpitying Caesar? Were these humble lives
Left here unguarded while thy limbs were given,
Unsought for, to be scattered by the storm?
'When on thy breath so many nations hang
For life and safety, and so great a world
Calls thee its master, to have courted death
Proves want of heart. Were none of all thy friends
Deserving held to join their fate with thine?
'When thou wast tossed upon the stormy main
We lay in slumber! Shame upon such sleep!
'And why thyself didst seek Italia's shores?
'"Twere cruel (such thy thought) to speak the word
That bade another dare the furious sea.
All men must bear what chance or fate may bring,
The sudden peril and the stroke of death;
But shall the ruler of the world attempt
'The raging ocean? With incessant prayers
Why weary heaven? is it indeed enough
To crown the war, that Fortune and the deep
'Have cast thee on our shores? And wouldst thou use
'The grace of favouring deities, to gain
Not lordship, not the empire of the world,
'But lucky shipwreck! ' Night dispersed, and soon
The sun beamed on them, and the wearied deep,
The winds permitting, lulled its waves to rest.
And when Antonius saw a breeze arise
Fresh from a cloudless heaven, to break the sea,
He loosed his ships which, by the pilots' hands
And by the wind in equal order held,
Swept as a marching host across the main.
But night unfriendly from the seamen snatched
All governance of sail, parting the ships
In divers paths asunder. Like as cranes
Deserting frozen Strymon for the streams
Of Nile, when winter falls, in casual lines
Of wedge-like figures first ascend the sky;
But when in loftier heaven the southern breeze
Strikes on their pinions tense, in loose array
Dispersed at large, in flight irregular,
They wing their journey onwards. Stronger winds
With day returning blew the navy on,
Past Lissus' shelter which they vainly sought,
Till bare to northern blasts, Nymphaeum's port,
But safe in southern, gave the fleet repose.

> Latin: Quid praestet Fortuna mihi.
Non plura locuto,
Avulsit laceros, percussa puppe, rudentes
Turbo rapax, fragilemque super volitantia malum
Vela tulit: sonuit victis compagibus alnus.
Inde ruunt toto congesta pericula mundo.
Primus ab Oceano caput exeris Atlanteo,
Core, movens aestus: iam te tollente furebat
Pontus, et in scopulos totas erexerat undas.
Occurrit gelidus Boreas, pelagusque retundit:
Et dubium pendet, vento cui pareat, aequor.
Sed Scythici vicit rabies Aquilonis, et undas
Torsit, et abstrusas penitus vada fecit arenas.
Nec perfert pontum Boreas ad saxa, suumque
In fluctus Cori frangit mare: motaque possunt
Aequora subductis etiam concurrere ventis.
Non Euri cessasse minas, non imbribus atrum
Aeolii iacuisse Notum sub carcere saxi
Crediderim: cunctos solita de parte ruentes
Defendisse suas violento turbine terras;
Sic pelagus mansisse loco. Non parva procellis
Aequora rapta ferunt: Aegeas transit in undas
Tyrrhenum: sonat Ionio vagus Hadria ponto.
Ah quoties frustra pulsatos aequore montes
Obruit illa dies! quam celsa cacumina pessum
Tellus victa dedit! Non illo litore surgunt
Tam validi fluctus, alioque ex orbe voluti
A magno venere mari, mundumque coercens
Monstriferos agit unda sinus. Sic rector Olympi
Cuspide fraterna lassatum in saecula fulmen
Adiuvit, regnoque accessit terra secundo,
Cum mare convolvit gentes, cum litora Tethys
Noluit ulla pati, coelo contenta teneri.
Nunc quoque tanta maris moles crevisset in astra,
Ni superum rector pressisset nubibus undas.
Non coeli nox illa fuit: latet obsitus aer
Infernae pallore domus, nimbisque gravatus
Deprimitur, fluctusque in nubibus accipit imbrem.
Lux etiam metuenda perit, nec fulgura currunt
Clara, sed obscurum nimbosus dissilit aer.
Tunc superum convexa fremunt, atque arduus axis
Insonuit, motaque poli compage laborant
Extimuit natura chaos: rupisse videntur
Concordes elementa moras, rursusque redire
Nox manes mixtura deis. Spes una salutis,
Quod tanta mundi nondum periere ruina.
Quantum Leucadio placidus de vertice pontus
Despicitum; tantum nautae videre trementes
Fluctibus e summis praeceps mare: quumque tumentes
Rursus hiant undae, vix eminet aequore malus.
Nubila tanguntur velis, et terra carina.
Nam pelagus, qua parte sedet, non celat arenas:
Exhaustum in tumulos, omnisque in fluctibus unda est.
Artis opem vicere metus: nescitque magister,
Quam frangat, cui cedat aquae. Discordia ponti
Succurrit miseris, fluctusque evertere puppim
Non valet in fluctus: victum latus unda repellens
Erigit, atque omni surgit ratis ardua vento.
Non humilem Sasona vadis, non litora curvae
Thessaliae saxosa pavent, oraeque malignos
Ambraciae portus: scopulosa Ceraunia nautae
Summa timent. Credit iam digna pericula Caesar
Fatis esse suis. Tantusne evertere, dixit,
Me superis labor est: parva quem puppe sedentem
Tam magno petiere mari? Si gloria leti
Est pelago donata mei, bellisque negamur;
Intrepidus, quamcunque datis mihi numina, mortem
Accipiam. Licet ingentes abruperit actus
Festinata dies fatis; sat magna peregi.
Arctoas domui gentes: inimica subegi
Arma metu: vidit Magnum mihi Roma secundum.
Iussa plebe tuli fasces per bella negatos.
Nulla meis aberit titulis Romana potestas.
Nesciet hoc quisquam, nisi tu, quae sola meorum
Conscia votorum es, me, quamvis plenus honorum
Et dictator eam Stygias et consul ad umbras,
Privatum, Fortuna, mori. Mihi funere nullo
Est opus, o superi: lacerum retinete cadaver
Fluctibus in mediis: desint mihi busta rogusque,
Dum metuar semper, terraque exspecter ab omni.
Haec fatum decimus, dictu mirabile, fluctus
Invalida cum puppe levat: nec rursus ab alto
Aggere deiecit pelagi, sed pertulit unda,
Scruposisque angusta vacant ubi litora saxis,
Imposuit terrae. Pariter tot regna, tot urbes
Fortunamque suam, tacta tellure, recepit.
Sed non tam remeans Caesar iam luce propinqua,
Quam tacita sua castra fuga comitesque fefellit.
Circumfusa duci flevit, gemituque suorum
Et non ingratis incessit turba querelis:
Quo te, dure, tulit virtus temeraria, Caesar?
Aut quae nos viles animas in fata relinquens,
Invitis spargenda dabas tua membra procellis?
Cum tot in hac anima populorum vita salusque
Pendeat, et tantus caput hoc sibi fecerit orbis,
Saevitia est voluisse mori. Nullusne tuorum
Emeruit comitum, fatis non posse superstes
Esse tuis? Cum te raperet mare, corpora segnis
Nostra sopor tenuit. Pudet, heu! Tibi caussa petendae
Haec fuit Hesperiae: visum est, committere quemquam
Tam saevo, crudele, mari. Sors ultima rerum
In dubios casus et prona pericula mortis
Praecipitare solet. Mundi iam summa tenentem
Permisisse mari! Tantum quid numina lassas?
Sufficit ad belli summam favor iste laborque
Fortunae, quod te nostris impegit arenis?
Hine usus placuere deum, non rector ut orbis,
Nec dominus rerum, sed felix naufragus esses?
Talia iactantes, discussa nocte serenus
Oppressit cum sole dies, fessumque tumentes
Composuit pelagus, ventis patientibus, undas.
Nec non Hesperii lassatum fluctibus aequor
Ut videre duces, purumque insurgere coelo
Fracturum pelagus Borean, solvere carinas,
Quas ventus ductaeque pari moderamine dextrae
Permixtas habuere diu: latumque per aequor,
Ut terrestre, coit, consertis puppibus, agmen.
Sed nox saeva modum venti velique tenorem
Eripuit nautis, excussitque ordine puppes.
Strymona sic gelidum, bruma pellente, relinquunt
Poturae te, Nile, grues, primoque volatu
Effingunt varias, casu monstrante, figuras.
Mox ubi percussit tensas Notus altior alas,
Confusos temere immixtae glomerantur in orbes,
Et turbata perit dispersis littera pennis.
Cum primum redeunte die violentior aer
Puppibus incubuit, Phoebeo concitus ortu,
Praetereunt frustra tentati litora Lissi,
Nymphaeumque tenent. Nudas Aquilonibus undas
Succedens Boreae iam portum fecerat Auster.

[¶2] When Caesar's troops were gathered in their strength
And Magnus saw the battle day was near
Before his camp, Cornelia he resolved
To send to Lesbos' shore, from rage of fight
Safe and apart: so lifting from his soul
The weight that burdened it. Thus, lawful Love,
Thus art thou tyrant o'er the mightiest mind!
His spouse was the one cause why Magnus stayed
Nor met his fortunes, though he staked the world
And all the destinies of Rome. The word
He speaks not though resolved; so sweet it seemed,
When on the future pondering, to gain
A pause from Fate! But at the close of night,
When drowsy sleep had fled, Cornelia sought
To soothe the anxious bosom of her lord
And win his kisses; when amazed she saw
His cheek was tearful, and with boding soul
Shrank from the hidden wound, nor dared surprise
Magnus in tears. But sighing thus he spake:
' Dearer to me than life itself, when life
'Is happy (not at moments such as these);
'The day of sorrow comes, too long delayed,
'Nor long enough! With Caesar at our gates
' With all his forces, a secure retreat
'Shall Lesbos give thee. Try me not with prayers.
'This fatal boon I have denied myself.
'Thou wilt not long be absent from thy spouse.
'Disasters hasten, and things highest fall
With speediest ruin. 'Tis enough for thee
' To hear of Magnus' peril; and thy love
'Deceives thee with the thought that thou canst gaze
'Unmoved on civil strife. It shames my soul
'On the eve of war to slumber at thy side,
'And rise from thy dear breast when trumpets call
'A woeful world to misery and arms.
'I dread lest Magnus in this war endure
'Nor loss nor sorrow. But do thou lie hid
'Safer than kings or peoples, far removed;
'That so the grievous fortunes of thy lord
' May lighter fall on thee. If unkind heaven
' Our armies rout, still let my choicest part
' Survive in thee; if fated is my flight,
' Still leave me that whereto I fain would flee.'
Hardly at first her senses grasped the words
In their full misery; then her mind amazed
Could scarce find utterance for the grief that pressed.
Nought, Magnus, now is left wherewith to upbraid
'The gods and fates of marriage; 'tis not death
'That parts our love, nor yet the funeral pyre,
Nor that dread torch which marks the end of all.
I share the ignoble lot of vulgar lives:
'My spouse rejects me. Yes, the foe is come!
'Break we our bonds and Julia's sire appease! -
Is this thy consort, Magnus, this thy faith
'In her fond loving heart? Can danger fright
'Her and not thee? Long since our mutual fates
'Hang by one chain; and dost thou bid me now
'The thunder-bolts of ruin to withstand
Without thee? Is it well that I should die
'Even while you pray for fortune? And suppose
' I flee from evil and with death self-sought
' Follow thy footsteps to the realms below—
' Am I to live till to that distant isle
' Some tardy rumour of thy fall may come?
' And then thou say'st, unfeeling! that by use
' Strength shall be mine to bear such load of ills
' As fate reserves for us: but at such a strength
' My spirit trembles. Ah! forgive the truth.
' And if the favouring gods shall hear my prayers,
' I shall be last to hear the victory
' In that lone isle of rocks. When all are glad,
' My heart shall throb with anguish, and the sail
' Which brings the message I shall see with fear,
' Not safe e'en then: for Caesar in his flight
' Might seize me there, abandoned and alone
To be his hostage. If thou place me there,
The spouse of Magnus, shall not all the world
'Well know the secret Mitylene holds?
This my last prayer: if all is lost but flight,
'And thou shalt seek the ocean, to my shores
'Turn not thy keel, ill-fated one: for there,
'There will they seek thee.' Thus she spoke distraught,
Leaped from the couch and rushed upon her fate;
No stop nor stay: she clung not to his neck
Nor threw her arms about him; both forego
The last caress, the last fond pledge of love,
And grief rushed in unchecked upon their souls;
Still gazing as they part no final words
Could either utter, and the sweet Farewell
Remained unspoken. This the saddest day
Of all their lives: for other woes that came
More gently struck on hearts inured to grief.
Borne to the shore with failing limbs she fell
And grasped the sands, embracing, till at last
Her maidens placed her senseless in the ship.
Not in such grief she left her country's shores
When Caesar's host drew near; for now she leaves,
Though faithful to her lord, his side in flight
And flees her spouse. All that next night she waked;
Then first what means a widowed couch she knew,
Its cold, its solitude. When slumber found
Her eyelids, and forgetfulness her soul,
Seeking with outstretched arms the form beloved,
She grasps but air. Though tossed by restless love,
She leaves a place beside her as for him
Returning. Yet she feared Pompeius lost
To her for ever. Nay! such happy lot
The gods prepared not; for the hour drew near
Which gave her Magnus to her arms again.

> Latin: Undique collatis in robur Caesaris armis,
Summa videns duri Magnus discrimina Martis
Iam castris instare suis, seponere tutum
Coniugii decrevit onus, Lesboque remotam
Te procul a saevi strepitu, Cornelia, belli
Occulere. Heu quantum mentes dominatur in aequas
Iusta Venus! Dubium trepidumque ad proelia, Magne,
Te quoque fecit amor: quod nolles stare sub ictu
Fortunae, quo mundus erat Romanaque fata,
Coniux sola fuit. Mentem iam verba paratam
Destituunt, blandaeque iuvat ventura trahentem
Indulgere morae, et tempus subducere fatis.
Nocte sub extrema, pulso torpore quietis,
Dum fovet amplexu gravidum Cornelia curis
Pectus, et aversi petit oscula grata mariti:
Humentes mirata genas, percussaque caeco
Vulnere, non audet flentem deprendere Magnum.
Ille gemens: Vita non nunc mihi dulcior, inquit,
Cum taedet vitae, laeto sed tempore, coniux,
Venit moesta dies, et quam nimiumque parumque
Distulimus: iam totus adest in proelia Caesar.
Cedendum est bellis: quorum tibi tuta latebra
Lesbos erit. Desiste preces tentare: negavi
Iam mihi: non longos a me patiere recessus.
Pracipites aderunt casus: properante ruina,
Summa cadunt. Satis est audisse pericula Magni:
Meque tuus decepit amor, civilia bella
Si spectare potes. Nam me iam, Marte parato,
Securos cepisse pudet cum coniuge somnos,
Eque tuo, miserum quatiunt cum classica mundun,
Surrexisse sint. Vereor civilibus armis
Pompeium nullo tristem committere damno.
Tutior interea populis, et tutior omni
Rege, late, positamque procul fortuna mariti
Non tota te mole premat. Si numina nostras
Impulerint acies, maneat pars optima nostri;
Sitque mihi, si fata premant victorque cruentus
Quo fugisse velim. Vix tantum infirma dolorem
Cepit, et adtonito cessere e pectore sensus.
Tandem vix moestas potuit proferre querelas:
Nil mihi de fatis thalami superisque relictum est,
Magne, queri: nostros non rumpit funus amores,
Nec diri fax summa rogi: sed sorte frequenti
Plebeiaque nimis careo dimissa marito.
Hostis ad adventuum rumpamus foedera tedae:
Placemus socerum. Sic est tibi cognita, Magne,
Nostra fide? credisne aliquid mihi tutius esse,
Quam tibi? non olim casu pendemus ab uno?
Fulminibus me, saeve, iubes tantaeque ruinae
Absentem praestare caput? secura videtur
Sors tibi, cum facias etiam nunc vota, perisse?
Ut nolim servire malis, sed morte parata
Te sequar ad manes; feriat dum moesta remotas
Fama procul terras, vivam tibi nempe superstes.
Adde, quod adsuescis fatis, tantumque dolorem
Crudelis me ferre doces. Ignosce fatenti:
Posse pati, timeo. Quodsi sunt vota, deisque
Audior, eventus rerum sciet ultima coniux.
Sollicitam rupes, iam te victore, tenebunt:
Et puppim, quae fata ferat tam laeta, timebo.
Nec solvent audita metus mihi prospera belli,
Cum, vacuis proiecta locis, a Caesare possim
Vel fugiente capi. Notescent litora clari
Nominis exsilio, positaque ibi coniuge Magni,
Quis Mitylenaeas poterit nescire latebras?
Hoc precor extremum, si nil tibi victa relinquent
Tutius arma fuga, cum te commiseris undis,
Quolibet infaustam potius deflecte carinam:
Litoribus quaerere meis. Sic fata, relictis
Exsiluit stratis amens, tormentaque nulla
Vult differre mora. Non moesti pectora Magni
Sustinet amplexu dulci, non colla tenere:
Extremusque perit tam longi fructus amoris:
Praecipitantque suos luctus, [neuterque recedens]
[Sustinuit dixisse, vale] vitamque per omnem
Nulla fuit tam moesta dies. Nam cetera damna
Durata iam mente malis firmaque tulerunt.
Labitur infelix, manibusque excepta suorum
Fertur ad aequoreas, ac se prosternit, arenas,
Litoraque ipsa tenet, tandemque illata carinae est.
Non sic infelix patiam portusque reliquit
Hesperios, saevi premerent cum Caesaris arma.
Fida comes Magni vadit duce sola relicto,
Pompeiumque fugit. Quae nox sibi proxima venit,
Insomnis. Viduo tum primum frigida lecto
Atque insueta quies uni, nudumque marito
Non haerente latus. Somno quam saepe gravata
Deceptis vacuum manibus complexa cubile est,
Atque oblita fugae quaesivit nocte maritum
Nam, flamma quamvis tacitas urgente medullas,
Non iuvat in toto corpus iactare cubili:
Servatur pars illa tori. Caruisse timebat
Pompeio: sed non superi tam laeta parabant.
Instabat, miserae Magnum quae redderet hora.