Caesar, in rage for war, rejoicing findsFoes in Italia; no bloodless stepsNor vacant homes had pleased him; so his marchWere wasted: now the coming war was joinedUnbroken to the past; to force the gates,Not find them open, fire and sword to bringUpon the harvests, not through fields unharmedTo pass his legions-this was Caesar's joy;In peaceful guise to march, this was his shame.Italia's cities, doubtful in their choice,Though to the earliest onset of the warAbout to yield, strengthen their walls with moundsAnd deepest trench encircling: massive stonesAnd bolts of war to hurl upon the foeThey place upon the turrets. Magnus mostThe people's favour held, yet faith with fearFought in their breasts. As when, with strident blast,A southern tempest has possessed the mainAnd all the billows follow in its track:Then, by the Storm-king smitten, should the earthSet Eurus free upon the swollen deep,It shall not yield to him, though cloud and skyConfess his strength; but in the former windStill find its master. But their fears prevailed,And Caesar's fortune, o'er their wavering faith.For Libo fled Etruria; Umbria lostHer freedom, driving Thermus from her bounds;Great Sulla's son, unworthy of his sire,Feared at the name of Caesar: Varus soughtThe caves and woods, when smote the hostile horseThe gates of Auximon; and Spinther drivenFrom Asculum, the victor on his track,Fled with his standards, soldierless; and thou,Scipio, didst leave Nuceria's citadelDeserted, though by bravest legions heldSent home by Caesar for the Parthian war;Whom Magnus earlier, to his kinsman gaveA loan of Roman blood, to fight the Gaul.But brave Domitius held firm his postBehind Corfinium's ramparts; his the troopsWho newly levied kept the judgment hallAt Milo's trial. When from far the plainRolled up a dusty cloud, beneath whose veilThe sheen of armour glistening in the sun,Revealed a marching host. ' Dash down,' he cried,Swift as ye can, the bridge that spans the stream;And thou, O river, from thy mountain sourceWith all thy torrents rushing, planks and beamsRuined and broken on thy foaming breastBear onward to the sea. The war shall pauseHere, at these bounds: here shall this headlong chiefAwait in idleness our victory.'He bade his squadrons, speeding from the walls,Charge on the bridge: in vain: for Caesar sawThey sought to free the river from his chainsAnd bar his march; and roused to ire, he cried:Were not the walls sufficient to protectYour coward souls? Seek ye by barricadesAnd streams to keep me back? What though the floodOf swollen Ganges were across my path?Now Rubicon is passed, no stream on earthShall hinder Caesar! Forward, horse and foot,And ere it totters rush upon the bridge.'Urged in their swiftest gallop to the frontDashed the light horse across the sounding plain;And suddenly, as storm in summer, flewA cloud of javelins forth, by sinewy armsHurled at the foe; the guard is put to flight,And conquering Caesar, seizing on the bridge,Compels the enemy to keep the walls.Now do the mighty engines, soon to hurlGigantic stones, press forward, and the ramCreeps 'neath the ramparts; when the gates fly back,And lo! the traitor troops (foul crime in war)Yield up their leader. Him they place beforeHis proud compatriot; yet with upright form,And scornful features and with noble mien,He asks his death. But Caesar knew his wishWas punishment, and pardon was his fear:Live though thou wouldst not,' so the chieftain spake,And by my gift, unwilling, see the day:Be to my conquered foes the cause of hope,Proof of my clemency-or if thou wiltTake arms again-and should'st thou conquer, countThis pardon nothing.' Thus he spake, and badeLet loose the bands and set the captive free.Ah! better had he died, and fortune sparedThe Roman's last dishonour, whose worse doomIt is, that he who joined his country's campAnd fought with Magnus for the Senate's causeShould gain for this-a pardon! Yet he curbedHis anger, thinking, ' Wilt thou then to Rome' And peaceful scenes, degenerate? Rather war,The furious battle and the certain end!Break with life's ties: be Caesar's gift in vain.'
Caesar, in arma furens, nulla, nisi sanguine fuso,Gaudet habere vias, quod non terat hoste vacantesHesperiae fines, vacuosque irrumpat in agros,Atque ipsum non perdat iter, consertaque bellisBella gerat. Non tam portas intrare patentes,Quam fregisse, iuvat: nec tam patiente colonoArva premi, quam si ferro populetur et igni.Concessa pudet ire via, civemque videri.Tunc urbes Latii dubiae, varioque favoreAncipites, quamquam primo terrore ruentisCessurae belli, denso tamen aggere firmantMoenia, et abrupto circumdant undique vallo:Saxorumque orbes, et quae super eminus hostemTela petant, altis murorum turribus aptant.Pronior in Magnum populus, pugnatque minaciCum terrore fides: ut, cum mare possidet AusterFlatibus horrisonis, hunc aequora tota sequuntur:Si rursus tellus, pulsu laxata tridentisAeolii, tumidis immittat fluctibus Eurum,Quamvis icta novo, ventum tenuere prioremAequora, nubiferoque polus cum cesserit Euro,Vindicat unda Notum. Facilis sed vertere mentesTerror erat, dubiamque fidem fortuna ferebat.Gens Hetrusca fuga trepidi nudata Libonis,Iusque sui pulso iam perdidit Umbria Thermo.Nec gerit auspiciis civilia bella paternisCaesaris audito conversus nomine Sulla.Varus, ut admotae pulsarunt Auximon alae,Per diversa ruens neglecto moenia tergo,Qua silvae, qua saxa, fugit. Depellitur arceLentulus Asculea. Victor cedentibus instat,Divertitque acies: solusque ex agmine tantoDux fugit, et nullas ducentia signa cohortes.Tu quoque commissae nudatam deseris arcem,Scipio, Nuceriae: quamquam firmissima pubesHis sedeat castris, iampridem Caesaris armisParthorum seducta metu: qua Gallica damnaSupplevit Magnus, dumque ipse ad bella vocaret,Donavit socero Romani sanguinis usum.At te Corfini validis circumdata murisTecta tenent, pugnax Domiti: tua classica servatOppositus quondam polluto tiro Miloni.Ut procul immensam campo consurgere nubem,Ardentesque acies percussis sole coruscoConspexit telis, Socii, decurrite, dixit,fluminis ad ripas, undaeque immergite pontem:Et tu montanis totus nunc fontibus exi,Atque omnes trahe, gurges, aquas ut spumeus alnos,Discussa compage, feras. Hoc limite bellumHaereat, hac hostis lentus terat otia ripa.Praecipitem cohibete ducem: victoria nobisHic primum stans Caesar erit. Nec plura locatus,Devolvit rapidum nequidquam moenibus agmen.Nam prior e campis ut conspicit, amne soluto,Rumpi Caesar iter, calida prolatus ab ira:Non satis est, muris latebras quaesisse pavori?Obstruitis campos, fluviisque arcere paratis,Ignavi? Non, si tumido me gurgite GangesSubmoveat, stabit iam flumine Caesar in ullo,Post Rubiconis aquas. Equitum properate catervae:Ite simul pedites: ruiturum adscendite pontem.Haec ubi dicta, levis totas accepit habenasIn campum sonipes: crebroque simillima nimboTrans ripam validi torserunt tela lacerti.Ingreditur pulsa fluvium statione vacantemCaesar, et ad tutas hostis compellitur arces.Et iam moturas ingentia pondera turresErigit, et mediis subrepsit vinea muris:Ecce, nefas belli, reseratis agmina portisCaptivum traxere ducem, civisque superbiConstitit ante pedes. Vultu tamen alta minaciNobilitas recta ferrum cervice poposcit.Scit Caesar poenamque peti, veniamque timeri.Vive, licet nolis, et nostro munere, dixit,Cerne diem. Victis iam spes bona partibus esto,Exemplumque mei: vel, si libet, arma retenta;Et nihil hac venia, si viceris ipse, paciscor.Fatur, et adstrictis laxari vincula palmisImperat. Heu quanto melius vel caede peractaParcere Romano potuit fortuna pudori;Poenarum extremum cui fit, quod castra secutusSit patriae Magnumque ducem totumque senatum,Ignosci. Premit ille graves interritus iras,Et secum: Romamne petes, pacisque recessus,Degener? In medios belli non ire furores,Iamdudum moriture, paras? Rue certus, et omnesLucis rumpe moras, et Caesaris effuge munus.
Pompeius, ignorant that his captain thusWas taken, armed his levies newly raisedTo give his legions strength; and as he thoughtTo sound his trumpets with the coming dawn,To test his soldiers ere he moved his campThus in majestic tones their ranks addressed:True host of Rome! avengers of her lawsRanked 'neath the standards of the better right,To whom the Senate gives no private arms,Ask by your voices for the battle sign.Fierce falls the pillage on Hesperian fields,And Gallia's fury o'er the snowy AlpsIs poured upon us. Caesar's swords at last' Are red with Roman blood. But with the woundWe gain the better cause; the crime is theirs.Through me her captain Rome for vengeance calls;' Tis no true fight to wreak your country's ire.' Was that a war when Catilina's hand' Lifted against her roofs the flaming torch,' And, partner in his fury, Lentulus,' And mad Cethegus with his naked arm?' Is such thy madness, Caesar? when the Fates' With great Camillus' and Metellus' names' Might place thine own, dost thou prefer to rank' With Marius and Cinna? Swift shall be' Thy fall: as Lepidus before the sword' Of Catulus; or who my axes felt,' Carbo, now buried in Sicanian tomb;' Or who, in exile, roused Iberia's hordes,' Sertorius-yet, witness Heaven, with these' I hate to rank thee; hate the task that Rome' Has laid upon me, to oppose thy rage.' Would that in safety from the Parthian war' And Scythian steppes had conquering Crassus come!' Then haply hadst thou fallen by the hand' That smote vile Spartacus the robber foe.' But if among my triumphs fate has said' Thy conquest shall be written, know this heart' Still sends the life blood coursing: and this arm' Still vigorously flings the dart afield.' He deems me slothful. Caesar, thou shalt learn'We brook not peace because we lag in war.' Old, does he call me? Fear not ye mine age.' Let me be elder, if his soldiers are.' The highest point a citizen can reach' And leave his people free, is mine: a throne' Alone were higher; whoso would surpass' Pompeius, aims at that. Both Consuls stand' Here; here for battle stand your lawful chiefs:' And shall this Caesar drag the Senate down?' Not with such blindness, not so lost to shame' Does Fortune rule. Does he take heart from Gaul,' For years on years rebellious, and a life' Spent there in labour? or because he fled' Rhine's icy torrent and the shifting pools' He calls an ocean? or unchallenged sought' Britannia's cliffs; then turned his back in flight?' Or does he boast because his citizens' Were driven in arms to leave their hearths and homes?'Ah, vain delusion! not from thee they fled:' My steps they follow-mine, whose conquering signs' Swept all the ocean, and who, ere the moon' Twice filled her orb and waned, compelled to flight' The pirate, shrinking from the open sea,' And humbly begging for a narrow home' In some poor nook on shore. 'Twas I again' Who, happier far than Sulla, drave to death' That king who, exiled to the deep recess' Of Scythian Pontus, held the fates of Rome' Still in the balances. Where is the land' That has not seen my trophies? Icy waves' Of northern Phasis, hot Egyptian shores,' And where Syene 'neath its noontide sun' Knows shade on neither hand: all these have learned' To fear Pompeius: and far Baetis' stream,' Last of all floods to join the refluent sea.' Arabia and the warlike hordes that dwell' Beside the Euxine wave: the famous land' That lost the golden fleece; Cilician wastes,' And Cappadocian, and the Jews who pray' Before an unknown God; Sophene soft-' All felt my yoke. What conquests now remain,' What wars not civil can my kinsman wage? 'No loud acclaim received his words, nor shoutAsked for the promised battle: and the chiefDrew back the standards, for the soldier's fearsWere in his soul alike; nor dared he trustAn army, vanquished by the fame aloneOf Caesar's powers, to fight for such a prize.And as some bull, his early combat lost,Forth driven from the herd, in exile roamsThrough lonely plains or secret forest depths,Whets on opposing trunks his growing horn,And proves himself for battle, till his neckIs ribbed afresh with muscle: then returns,Defiant of the hind, and victor nowLeads wheresoever he will his lowing bands:Thus Magnus, yielding to a stronger foe,Gave up Italia, and sought in flightBrundusium's sheltering battlements. Here of oldFled Cretan settlers when the dusky sailSpread the false message of the hero dead;Here, where Hesperia, curving as a bow,Draws back her coast, a little tongue of landShuts in with bending horns the sounding main.Yet insecure the spot, unsafe in storm,Were it not sheltered by an isle on whichThe Adriatic billows dash and fall,And tempests lose their strength: on either handA craggy cliff opposing breaks the galeThat beats upon them, while the ships withinHeld by their trembling cables ride secure.Hence to the mariner the boundless deepLies open, whether for Corcyra's portHe shapes his sails, or for Illyria's shore,And Epidamnus facing to the mainIonian. Here, when raging in his mightFierce Adria whelms in foam Calabria's coast,When clouds tempestuous veil Ceraunus' height,The sailor finds a haven.
Nescius interea capti ducis, arma parabatMagnus, ut immixto firmaret robore partes.Iamque secuturo iussurus classica Phoebo,Tentandasque ratus moturi militis iras,Adloquitur tacitas veneranda voce cohortes:O scelerum ultores, melioraque signa secuti,O vere Romana manus, quibus arma senatusNon privata dedit, voti deposcite pugnam.Ardent Hesperii saevis populatibus agri:Gallica per gelidas rabies effunditur Alpes:Iam tetigit sanguis pollutos Caesaris enses.Di melius, belli tulimus quod damna priores.Coeperit inde nefas. Iamiam, me praeside, RomaSupplicium poenamque petat. Neque enim ista vocariProelia iusta decet, patriae sed vindicis iram.Nec magis hoc bellum est, quam cum Catilina paravitArsuras in tecta faces, sociusque furorisLentulus, exsertique manus vesana Cethegi.O rabies miseranda ducis! Cum fata CamillisTe, Caesar, magnisque velint miscere Metellis,Ad Cinnas Mariosque veni. Sternere profecto,Ut Catulo iacuit Lepidus, nostrasque securesPassus, Sicanio tegitur qui Carbo sepulcro,Quique feros movit Sertorius exsul Iberos.Quamquam, si qua fides, his te quoque iungere, Caesar,Invideo, nostrasque manus quod Roma furentiOpposuit. Parthorum utinam post praelia sospes,Et Scythicis Crassus victor remeasset ab oris,Ut simili caussa caderes, qua Spartacus hostis.Te quoque si superi titulis accedere nostrisIusserunt, valet in torquendo dextera pilo:Peridus haec iterum circum praecordia sanguisIncaluit: disces non esse ad bella fugaces,Qui pacem potuere pati. Licet ille solutumDefectumque vocet, ne vos mea terreat aetas.Dux sit in his castris senior, dum miles in illis.Quo potuit civem populus perducere liber,Adscendi, supraque nihil, nisi regna, reliqui.Non privata cupit, Romana quisquis in urbePompeium transire parat. Hinc consul uterque,Hinc acies statura ducum est. Caesarne senatusVictor erit? Non tam caeco trahis omnia cursu,Teque nihil, Fortuna, pudet. Multisne rebellisGallia iam lustris aetasque impensa laboriDant animos? Rheni gelidis quod fugit ab undis,Oceanumque vocans incerti stagna profundi,Territa quaesitis ostendit terga Britannis?An vanae tumuere minae, quod fama furorisExpulit armatam patriis e sedibus Urbem?Heu demens, non te fugiunt, me cuncta sequuntur:Qui cum signa tuli toto fulgentia ponto,Ante bis exactum quam Cynthia conderet orbem,Omne fretum metuens pelagi pirata reliquit,Angustaque domum terrarum in sede poposcit.Idem ego per Sythici profugum divortia PontiIndomitum regem, Romanaque fata morantem,Ad mortem, Sulla felicior, ire coegi.Pars mundi mihi nulla vacat: sed tota teneturTerra meis, quocumque iacet sub sole, tropaeis.Hinc me victorem geldas ad Phasidos undasArctos habet: calida medius mihi cognitus axisAegypto, atque umbras nusquam flectente Syene.Occasus mea iura timent, Tethynque fugacemQui ferit Hesperius post omnia flumina Baetis.Me domitus cognovit Arabs, me Marte ferocesHeniochi, notique erepto vellere Colchi.Cappadoces mea signa timent: et dedita sacrisIncerti Iudaea dei, mollisque Sophene.Armenios, Cilicasque feros, Taurosque subegi.Quod socero bellum, praeter civile, reliqui?Verba ducis nullo partes clamore sequuntur,Nec matura petunt promissae classica pugnae.Sensit et ipse metum Magnus; placuitque referriSigna, nec in tantae discrimina mittere pugnaeIam victum fama non visi Caesaris agmen.Pulsus ut armentis primo certamine taurusSilvarum secreta petit, vacuosque per agrosExsul in adversis explorat cornua truncis;Nec redit in pastus, nisi cum cervice receptaExcussi placuere tori: mox reddita victorQuoslibet in saltus comitantibus agmina taurisInvito pastore trahit: sic viribus imparTradidit Hesperiam, profugusque per Apula ruraBrundusii tutas conscendit Magnus in arces.Urbs est Dictaeis olim possessa colonis,Quos profugos Creta vexere per aequora puppesCecropiae, victum mentitis Thesea velis.Hac latus angustum iam se cogentis in arcumHesperiae tenuem producit in aequora linguam,Hadriacas flexis claudit quae cornibus undas.Nec tamen hoc arctis immissum faucibus aequorPortus erat, si non violentos insula CorosExciperet saxis, lapsasque refunderet undas.Hinc illinc montes scopulosae rupis apertoOpposuit natura mari, flatusque removit,Ut tremulo starent contentae fune carinae.Hinc late patet omne fretum, seu vela feranturIn portus, Corcyra, tuos, seu laeva petaturIllyris Ionias vergens Epidamnos in undasHuc fuga nautarum, cum totas Hadria viresMovit, et in nubes abiere Ceraunia, quumqueSpumoso Calaber perfunditur aequore Sason.
When the chiefCould find no hope in battle on the soilHe now was quitting, and the lofty AlpsForbad Iberia, to his son he spake,The eldest scion of that noble stock:Search out the far recesses of the earth,'Nile and Euphrates, wheresoe'er the fameOf Magnus lives, where, through thy father's deeds,The people tremble at the name of Rome.'Lead to the sea again the pirate bands;'Rouse Egypt's kings; Tigranes, wholly mine,'And Pharnaces and all the vagrant tribes'Of both Armenias; and the Pontic hordes,' Warlike and fierce; the dwellers on the hills'Rhipaean, and by that dead northern marsh'Whose frozen surface bears the loaded wain.Why further stay thee? Let the eastern worldSound with the war, all cities of the earth'Conquered by me, as vassals, to my camp'Send all their levied hosts. And you whose names'Within the Latian book recorded stand,'Strike for Epirus with the northern wind;'And thence in Greece and Macedonian tracts,(While winter gives us peace) new strength acquire'For coming conflicts.' They obey his wordsAnd loose their ships and launch upon the main.But Caesar's might, intolerant of peaceOr lengthy armistice, lest now perchanceThe fates might change their edicts, swift pursuedThe footsteps of his foe. To other men,So many cities taken at a blow,So many strongholds captured, might suffice;And Rome herself, the mistress of the world,Lay at his feet, the greatest prize of all.Not so with Caesar: instant on the goalHe fiercely presses; thinking nothing doneWhile aught remained to do. Now in his graspLay all Italia;-but while Magnus stayedUpon the utmost shore, his grieving soulDeemed all was shared with him. Yet he essayedEscape to hinder, and with labour vainPiled in the greedy main gigantic rocks:Mountains of earth down to the sandy depthsWere swallowed by the vortex of the sea;Just as if Eryx and its lofty topWere cast into the deep, yet not a speckShould mark the watery plain; or Gaurus hugeSplit from his summit to his base, were plungedIn fathomless Avernus' stagnant pool.The billows thus unstemmed, 'twas Caesar's willTo hew the stately forests and with treesEnchained to form a rampart. Thus of old(If fame be true) the boastful Persian kingPrepared a way across the rapid strait'Twixt Sestos and Abydos, and made oneThe European and the Trojan shores;And marched upon the waters, wind and stormCounting as nought, but trusting his empriseTo one frail bridge, so that his ships might passThrough middle Athos. Thus a mighty moleOf fallen forests grew upon the waves,Free until then, and lofty turrets rose,And land usurped the entrance to the main.This when Pompeius saw, with anxious careHis soul was filled; yet hoping to regainThe exit lost, and win a wider worldWherein to wage the war, on chosen shipsHe hoists the sails; these, driven by the windWhich filled the bellying sails, not once nor twiceScattered the beams asunder; and at nightNot seldom engines, worked by stalwart arms,Flung flaming torches forth. But when the timeFor secret flight was come, no sailor shoutRang on the shore, no trumpet marked the hour,No clarion called the armament to sea.Already shone the Virgin in the skyLeading the Scorpion in her course, whose clawsForetell the rising Sun, when noiseless allThey cast the vessels loose; no song was heardTo greet the anchor wrenched from stubborn sand;No captain's order, when the lofty mastWas raised, or yards were bent; a silent crewDrew down the sails which hung upon the ropes,Nor shook the mighty cables, lest the windShould sound upon them. But the chief, in prayer,Thus spake to Fortune: ' Thou whose high decreeHas made us exiles from Italia's shores,Grant us at least to leave them.' Yet the fatesHardly permitted, for a murmur vastCame from the ocean, as the countless keelsFurrowed the waters, and with ceaseless splashThe parted billows rose again and fell.Then were the gates thrown wide; for with the fatesThe city turned to Caesar: and the foe,Seizing the town, rushed onward by the pierThat circled in the harbour; then they knewWith shame and sorrow that the fleet was goneAnd held the open: and Pompeius' flightGave a poor triumph. Yet was narrower farThe channel which gave access to the seaThan that Euboean strait whose waters laveThe shore by Chalcis. Here two ships stuck fastAlone, of all the fleet; the fatal hookGrappled their decks and drew them to the land,And the first bloodshed of the civil warHere left a blush upon the ocean wave.As when the famous ship sought Phasis' streamThe rocky gates closed in and hardly grippedHer flying stern; then from the empty seaThe cliffs rebounding to their ancient seatWere fixed to move no more. But now the stepsOf morn approaching tinged the eastern skyWith roseate hues: the Pleiades were dim,The wagon of the Charioteer grew pale,The planets faded, and the silvery starWhich ushers in the day, was lost in light.Thou, Magnus, hold'st the deep; yet not the sameNow are thy fates, as when from every seaThy fleet triumphant swept the pirate pest.Tired of thy conquests, Fortune now no moreShall smile upon thee. With thy spouse and sons,Thy household gods, and peoples in thy train,Still great in exile, in a distant landThou seek'st thy fated fall; not that the gods,Wishing to rob thee of a Roman grave,Decreed the strands of Egypt for thy tomb:'Twas Italy they spared, that far awayFortune on shores remote might hide her crime,And Roman soil be pure of Magnus' blood.
Ergo ubi nulla fides rebus post terga relictis,Nec licet ad duros Martem convertere Iberos,Cum mediae iaceant immensis tractibus Alpes:Tum subole ex tanta natum, cui firmior aetas,Adfatur: Mundi iubeo tentare recessus.Euphratem Nilumque move, quo nominis usqueNostri fama venit, quas est vulgata per urbesPost me Roma ducem. Sparsos per rura colonosRedde mari Cilicas. Pharios hinc concute reges,Tigranemque meum. Nec Pharnacis arma relinquas,Admoneo, nec tu populos utraque vagantesArmenia, Pontique feras per litora gentes,Rhipaeasoue manus, et quas tenet aequore densoPigra palus Scythici patiens Maeotica plaustri.Sed quid plura moror? totos mea, nate, per ortusBella feres, totoque urbes agitabis in orbePerdomitas: omnes redeant in castra triumphi.Et vos, qui Latios signatis nomine fastos,Primus in Epirum Boreas agat: inde per arvaGraiorum Macetumque novas adquirite vires,Dum paci dat tempus hiems. Sic fatur, et omnesIussa gerunt, solvuntque cavas a litore puppes.At numquam patiens pacis longaeque quietisArmorum, ne quid fatis mutare liceret,Adsequitur, generique premit vestigia Caesar.Sufficerent aliis primo tot moenia cursuRapta, tot oppressae depulsis hostibus arces:Ipsa, caput mundi, bellorum maxima merces,Roma, capi facilis. Sed Caesar, in omnia praeceps,Nil actum credens, cum quid superesset agendum,Instat atrox: et adhuc, quamvis possederit omnemItaliam, extremo sedeat quod litore Magnus,Communem tamen esse dolet: nec rursus apertoVult hostes errare freto, sed molibus undasObstruit, et latum deiectis rupibus aequor.Cedit in immensum cassus labor: omnia pontusHaurit saxa vorax, montesque immiscet arenis:Ut maris Aegaei medias si celsus in undasDepellatur Eryx, nullae tamen aequore rupesEmineant; vel si convulso vertice GaurusDecidat in fundum penitus stagnantis Averni.Ergo ubi nulla vado tenuit sua pondera moles,Tunc placuit caesis innectere vincula silvis,Roboraque immensis late religare catenis.Tales fama canit tumidam super aequora XerxemConstruxisse vias, multum cum pontibus ausus,Europamque Asiae, Sestonque admovit Abydo,Incessitque fretum rapidi super Hellesponti,Non Eurum Zephyrumque timens; cum vela ratesqueIn medium deferret Athon. Sic ora profundiArctantur casu nemorum: tunc aggere multoSurgit opus, longaeque tremunt super aequor turres.Pompeius tellure nova compressa profundiOra videns, curis animum mordacibus angi,Ut reseret pelagus, spargatque per aequora bellum.Saepe Noto plenae, tensisque rudentibus actaeIpsa maris per claustra rates fastigia molisDiscussere salo, spatiumque dedere carinis:Tortaque per tenebras validis ballista lacertis,Multifidas iaculata faces. Ut tempora tandemFurtivae placuere fugae: ne litora clamorNauticus exagitet, neu buccina dividat horas,Neu tuba praemonitos perducat ad aequora nautas,Praecepit sociis. Iam coeperat ultima VirgoPhoebum laturas ortu praecedere Chelas,Cum taciti solvere rates. Non anchora vocesMovit, dum spissis avellitur uncus arenis:Dum iuga curvantur mali, dumque ardua pinusErigitur, pavidi classis siluere magistri:Strictaque pendentes deducunt carbasa nautae,Nec quatiunt validos, ne silibet aura, rudentes.Dux etiam votis hoc te, Fortuna, precatur,Quam retinere vetas, liceat sibi perdere saltemItaliam. Vix fata sinunt: nam murmure vastoImpulsum rostris sonuit mare, fluctuat unda,Totque carinarum permixtis aequora sulcis.Ergo hostes portis, quas omnes solverat urbisCum fato conversa fides, murisque recepti,Praecipiti cursu flexi per cornua portusOra petunt, pelagusque dolent contingere classes.Heu pudor! exigua est fugiens victoria Magnus.Angustus puppes mittebat in aequora limes,Arctior Euboica, qua Chalcida verberat, unda.Hic haesere rates geminae, classique paratasExcepere manus: tractoque in litora belloHic primum rubuit civili sanguine Nereus.Cetera classis abit, summis spoliata carinis:Ut, Pagasaea ratis peteret cum Phasidos undas,Cyaneas tellus emisit in aequora cautes;Rapta puppe minor subducta est montibus Argo,Vanaque percussit pontum Symplegas inanem,Et statura redit. Iam Phoebum urgere monebatNon idem Eoi color aetheris, albaque nondumLux rubet, et flammas propioribus eripit astris:Et iam Pleias hebet, flexi iam plaustra BootaeIn faciem puri redeunt languentia coeli,Maioresque latent stellae, calidumque refugitLucifer ipse diem. Pelagus iam, Magne, tenebas,Non ea fata ferens, quae, cum super aequora totoPraedonem sequerere mari. Lassata triumphisDestituit Fortuna tuis. Cum coniuge pulsus,Et natis, totosque trahens in bella penates,Vadis adhuc ingens, populis comitantibus, exsul.Quaeritur indignae sedes longinqua ruinae.Non, quia te superi patrio privare sepulchroMaluerint, Phariae busto damnantur arenae:Parcitur Hesperiae; procul hoc ut in orbe remotoAbscondat Fortuna nefas, Romanaque tellusImmaculata sui servetur sanguine Magni.