WITH canvas yielding to the southern windThe navy sailed the deep, and every eyeGazed on Ionian billows. But the chiefTurned not his vision from his native shoreNow left for ever, while the morning mistsDrew down upon the mountains, and the cliffsFaded in distance till his aching sightNo longer knew them. Then his wearied frameSank in the arms of sleep. But Julia's shape,In mournful guise, dread horror on her brow,Rose through the gaping earth, and from her tombErect, in form as of a Fury spake:'Driven from Elysian fields and from the plains'The blest inhabit, when the war began,'I dwell in Stygian darkness where abide'The souls of all the guilty. There I saw'Th' Eumenides with torches in their hands'Prepared against thy battles; and the fleets' Which by the ferryman of the flaming stream'Were made to bear thy dead: and Hell enlarged'To hold thy punishments: the sisters three' With busy fingers all their needful task' Could scarce accomplish, and the threads of fate'Dropped from their weary hands. With me thy wife,'Thou, Magnus, leddest happy triumphs home:'New wedlock brings new luck. Thy concubine,' Whose star brings all her mighty husbands ill,'Cornelia, weds in thee a breathing tomb.'Through wars and oceans let her cling to thee'So long as I may break thy nightly rest:' No moment left thee for her love, but all'By night to me, by day to Caesar given.'Me not the oblivious banks of Lethe's stream' Have made forgetful; and the kings of death' Have suffered me to join thee; in mid fight'I will be with thee, and my haunting ghost'Remind thee Caesar's daughter was thy spouse.'Thy sword kills not our pledges; civil war'Shall make thee wholly mine.' She spake and fled.But he, though heaven and hell thus bode defeat,More bent on war, with mind assured of ill,'Why dread vain phantoms of a dreaming brain?Or nought of sense and feeling to the soulIs left by death; or death itself is nought.'Now fiery Titan in declining pathDipped to the waves, his bright circumferenceSo much diminished as a growing moonNot yet full circled, or when past the full;When to the fleet a hospitable coastGave access, and the ropes in order laid,The sailors struck the masts and rowed ashore.Thus was the fleet set free and rapt from viewBy favouring breezes. On Italian soilSole lord stood Caesar: but he found no joyIn triumph over Magnus-rather grievedThat thus in safety had his flight been sped.Not any gifts of fortune now sufficedHis fiery spirit; and no victory won,Unless the war was finished with the stroke.Then arms he laid aside, in guise of peaceSeeking the people's favour; skilled to knowHow to arouse their ire, and how to gainThe popular love by corn in plenty given.Alone through famine cities can be won;By food a tyrant bribes the crowd to cringe;And starving peoples know not how to fear.He orders Curio to stem the wavesAnd cross to lands Sicilian, where of oldOr ocean by a sudden rise o'erwhelmedThe land, or split the isthmus right in twain,Leaving a path for seas. The mighty deepThere labours ever lest again should meetThe mountains rent asunder. Nor were leftSardinian shores unvisited: each isleIs blest with noble harvests which have filledMore than all else the granaries of Rome,And poured their plenty on Hesperia's shores.Not even Libya, with its fertile soil,Their yield surpasses, when the southern windGives way to northern and permits the cloudsTo drop their moisture on the teeming earth.This ordered, Caesar leads his legions on,Not armed for war, but as in time of peaceReturning to his home. Ah! had he comeWith only Gallia conquered and the North,What long array of triumph had he brought!What pictured scenes of battle! how had RhineAnd Ocean borne his chains! How noble Gaul,And Britain's fair-haired chiefs his lofty carHad followed! Such a triumph had he lostBy further conquest. Now in silent fearThey watched his marching troops, nor joyful townsPoured out their crowds to welcome his return.Yet did the conqueror's proud soul rejoice,Far more than at their love, at such a fear.
Propulit ut classem velis cedentibus AusterIncumbens, mediumque rates movere profundum,Omnis in Ionios spectabat navita fluctus:Solus ab Hesperia non flexit lumina terraMagnus, dum patrios portus, dum litora numquamAd visus reditura suos, tectumque cacumenNubibus, et dubios cernit vanescere montes.Inde soporifero cesserunt languida somnoMembra ducis. Diri tum plena horroris imagoVisa caput moestum per hiantes Iulia terrasTollere, et accenso furialis stare sepulcro.Sedibus Elysiis campoque expulsa piorumAd Stygias, inquit, tenebras manesque nocentes,Post bellum civile trahor. Vidi ipsa tenentesEumenidas, quaterent quas vestris lampadas armis.Praeparat innumeras puppes Acherontis adustiPortitor: in multas laxantur Tartara poenas.Vix operi cunctae dextra properante sororesSufficiunt: lassant rumpentes stamina Parcas.Coniuge me laetos duxisti, Magne, triumphos:Fortuna est mutata toris: semperque potentesDetrahere in cladem fato damnata maritos,En nupsit tepido pellex Cornelia busto.Haereat illa tuis per bella, per aequora signis,Dum non securos liceat mihi rumpere somnos,Et nullum vestro vacuum sit tempus amori,Sed teneat Caesarque dies, et Iulia noctes.Me non Lethaeae, coniux, oblivia ripaeImmemorem fecere tui, regesque silentumPermisere sequi. Veniam, te bella gerente,In medias acies. Numquam tibi, Magne, per umbrasPerque meos manes generum non esse licebit.Abscidis frustra ferro tua pignora. BellumTe faciet civile meum. Sic fata, refugitUmbra per amplexus trepidi dilapsa mariti.Ille, dei quamvis cladem manesque minentur,Maior in arma ruit, certa cum mente malorum.Et, quid, ait, vani terremur imagine visus?Aut nihil est sensus animis a morte relictum,Aut mors ipsa nihil. Titan iam pronus in undasIbat, et igniferi tantum demerserat orbis,Quantum deesse solet lunae, seu plena futura est,Seu iam plena fuit: tunc obtulit hospita tellusPuppibus accessus faciles: legere rudentes,Et posito remis petierunt litora malo.Caesar, ut emissas venti rapuere carinas,Absconditque fretum classes, et litore solusDux stetit Hesperio, non illum gloria pulsiLaetificat Magni: queritur quod tuta per aequorTerga ferant hostes. Neque enim iam sufficit ullaPraecipiti fortuna viro: nec vincere tanti,Ut bellum differret, erat. Tunc pectore curasExpulit armorum, pacique intentus agebat,Quoque modo vanos populi conciret amores,Gnarus et irarum caussas, et summa favorisAnnona momenta trahi. Namque adserit urbesSola fames, emiturque metus, cum segne potentesVulgus alunt. Nescit plebes ieiuna timere.Curio Sicanias transcendere iussus in urbes,Qua mare tellurem subitis aut obruit undis,Aut scidit, et medias fecit sibi litora terras.Via illic ingens pelagi, semperque laborantAequora, ne rupti repetant confinia montes.Bellaque Sardoas etiam sparguntur in oras.Utraque frugiferis est insula nobilis arvis,Nec plus Hesperiam longinquis messibus ullae,Nec Romana magis complerunt horrea terrae.Ubere vix glebae superat, cessantibus Austris,Cum medium nubes Borea cogente sub axemEffusis magnum Libye tulit imbribus annum.Haec ubi sunt provisa duci, tunc agmina victorNon armata trahens, sed pacis habentia vultum,Tecta petit patriae. Pro, si remeasset in Urbem,Gallorum tantum populis Arctoque subacta,Quam seriem rerum longa praemittere pompa,Quas potuit belli facies! Ut vincula Rheno,Oceanoque daret! Celsos ut Gallia currusNobilis, et flavis sequeretur mixta Britannis!Perdidit o qualem vincendo plura triumphum!Non ilium laetis vadentem coetibus urbes,Sed tacitae videre metu. Non constitit usquamObvia turba duci. Gaudet tamen esse timoriTam magno populis, et se non mallet amari.
Now Anxur's hold was passed, the oozy roadThat separates the marsh, the grove sublimeWhere reigns the Scythian goddess, and the pathBy which men bear the fasces to the feastOn Alba's summit. From the height afar-Gazing in awe upon the walls of RomeHis native city, since the Northern warUnseen, unvisited-thus Caesar spake:'Seat of the gods, have men deserted thee,'Thee, Rome, without a blow? Then for what town'Shall men do battle? Thank the gods, no host'From Eastern climes has sought Italia's shores'To wreak its fury; nor Sarmatian horde'With northern tribes conjoined; by Fortune's gift'This war is civil: else this coward chief'Had been thy ruin.'Trembling at his feetHe found the city: deadly fire and flame,As from a conqueror; gods and fanes dispersed;Such was the measure of their fear, as thoughHis power and wish were one. No festal shoutGreeted his march, no feigned acclaim of joy.Scarce had they time for hate. In Phoebus' hallTheir hiding places left, a crowd appearedOf Senators, uncalled, for none could call.No Consul there the sacred shrine adornedNor Praetor next in rank, and every seatPlaced for the officers of state was void:Caesar was all; his private voice was heard;All else were dumb. They sat prepared to voteFor him a throne or temple; for themselvesOr death or exile. Thank the gods that heBlushed more to order than did Rome to serve.Yet in one breast the spirit of Freedom roseEnraged lest force should override the laws;For hot Metellus, when he saw the gatesOf Saturn's temple yielding to the shock,With rapid step burst in between the ranksOf Caesar's troops, and stood before the doorsAs yet unopened. 'Tis the love of goldAlone that fears not death; no hand is raisedFor perished laws or violated rights:But for this dross, the vilest cause of all,Men fight and die. Thus did the Tribune barThe victor's road to rapine, and with voiceClear ringing spake: ' Save o'er Metellus dead'This temple opens not; my sacred blood' Shall flow, thou robber, ere the gold be thine.'And surely shall the Tribune's power defied'Find an avenging god; this Crassus knew,' Who, followed by our curses, sought the war'And met disaster on the Parthian plains.' All Rome is empty; draw thy falchion then,'Nor fear a crowd to gaze upon the crime.'Not from our treasury reward for guilt'Thy hosts shall ravish: other towns are left,'And other nations; seek thy gifts from them;'Nor drain Rome's peace for spoil: war still is thine.'Aroused to anger then the victor spake:' Vain is thy hope to fall in noble death;'Dost reckon Freedom safe with thee for guard?' With all thine honours, thou of Caesar's rage'Art little worthy: never shall thy blood' Defile his hand. Time lowest things with high' Confounds not yet so much that, if thy voice' Could save the laws, it were not better far'They fell by Caesar.' Such his lofty words.But as the Tribune yielded not, his rageRose yet the more, and at his soldiers' swordsOne look he cast, forgetting for the timeWhat robe he wore; but soon Metellus heardThese words from Cotta: ' When men bow to power' Freedom of speech is only Freedom's bane,' Whose shade at least survives, if with free will' Thou dost whate'er is bidden thee. For us' Some pardon may be found: a host of ills' Compelled submission, and the shame is less'That to have done which could not be refused.' Yield, then, this wealth, the seeds of direful war.' A nation's anger is by losses stirred,' When laws protect it; but the hungry slave' Brings danger to his master, not himself.'At this Metellus yielded from the path;And as the gates rolled backward, echoed loudThe rock Tarpeian, and the temple's depthsGave up the treasure which for centuriesNo hand had touched: all that the Punic foeAnd Perses and Philippus conquered gave,And all the gold which Pyrrhus panic-struckLeft when he fled: that gold, the price of Rome,Which yet Fabricius sold not, and the hoardLaid up by saving sires; the tribute sentBy Asia's richest nations; and the wealthWhich conquering Metellus brought from Crete,And Cato bore from distant Cyprus home;And last, the riches torn from captive kingsAnd borne before Pompeius when he cameIn frequent triumph. Thus was robbed the shrine,And Caesar first brought poverty to Rome.
Iamque et praecipites superaverat Anxuris arces,Et qua Pontinas via dividit uda paludes,Qua sublime nemus, Scythicae qua regna Dianae;Quaque iter est Latiis ad summam fascibus Albam:Excelsa de rupe procul iam prospicit Urbem,Arctoi toto non visam tempore belli:Miraturque suae, sic fatus, moenia Romae:Tene, deum sedes, non ullo Marte coactiDeseruere viri! Pro qua pugnabitur urbe?Di melius, quod non Latias Eous in orasNunc furor incubuit, nec iuncto Sarmata veloxPannonio, Dacisque Getes admixtus: habentiTam pavidum tibi, Roma, ducem Fortuna pepercit,Quod bellum civile fuit. Sic fatur, et urbemAdtonitam terrore subit. Namque ignibus atrisCreditur, ut captae, rapturus moenia Romae,Sparsurusque deos. Fuit haec mensura timoris:Velle putant, quaecumque potest. Non omina festa,Non fictas laeto voces simulare tumultu:Vix odisse vacat Phoebea palatia completTurba Patrum, nullo cogendi iure senatus,E latebris educta suis. Non consule sacraeFulserunt sedes: non proxima lege potestasPraetor adest: vacuaeque loco cessere curules,Omnia Caesar erat. Privatae curia vocisTestis adest. Sedere Patres censere parati,Si regnum, si templa sibi, iugulumque senatus,Exsiliumque petat. Melius, quod plura iubereErubuit, quam Roma pati. Tamen exit in iram,Viribus an possent obsistere iura, per unamLibertas experta virum: pugnaxque MetellusUt videt ingenti Saturnia templa revelliMole, rapit gressus, et Caesaris agmina rumpens,Ante fores nondum reseratae constitit aedis.(Usque adeo solus ferrum mortemque timereAuri nescit amor. Pereunt discrimine nulloAmissae leges: sed, pars vilissima rerum,Certamen movistis, opes) prohibensque rapinaVictorem, clara testatur voce Tribunus:Non nisi per nostrum vobis percussa patebuntTempla latus, nullasque feres nisi sanguine sacroSparsas, raptor, opes. Certe violata potestasInvenit ista deos: Crassumque in bella secutaeSaeva tribunitiae voverunt proelia dirae.Detege iam ferrum: neque enim tibi turba verenda est,Spectatrix scelerum: deserta stamus in urbe.Non feret e nostro sceleratus praemia miles:Sunt quos prosternas populi, quae moenia dones.Pacis ad exhaustae spolium non cogit egestas:Bellum Caesar habes. His magnam victor in iramVocibus accensus: Vanam spem mortis honestaeConcipis: haud, inquit, iugulo se polluet istoNostra, Metelle, manus. Dignum te Caesaris iraNullus honos faciet. Te vindice tuta relicta estLibertas? Non usque adeo permiscuit imisLongus summa dies, ut non, si voce MetelliServantur leges, malint a Caesare tolli.Dixerat, et, nondum foribus cedente tribuno,Aerior ira subit: saevos circumspicit enses,Oblitus simulare togam. Tum Cotta MetellumCompulit audaci nimium desistere coepto.Libertas, inquit, populi, quem regna coercent,Libertate perit; cuius servaveris umbram,Si, quidquid iubeare, velis. Tot rebus iniquisParuimus victi: venia est haec sola pudoris,Degenerisque metus, nil iam potuisse negari.Ocius avertat diri mala semina belli.Damna movent populos, si quos sua iura tuentur.Non sibi, sed domino gravis est, quae servit, egestas.Protinus abducto patuerunt templa Metello.Tunc rupes Tarpeia sonat, magnoque reclusasTestatur stridore fores; tunc conditus imoEruitur templo, multis intactus ab annis,Romani census populi, quem Punica bella,Quem dederat Perses, quem victi praeda Philippi:Quod tibi, Roma, fuga Pyrrhus trepidante reliquit,Quo te Fabricius regi non vendidit auro,Quidquid parcorum mores servastis avorum,Quod dites Asiae populi misere tributum,Victorique dedit Minoia Creta Metello,Quod Cato longinqua vexit super aequora Cypro.Tunc orientis opes, captorumque ultima regumQuae Pompeianis praelata est gaza triumphisEgeritur: tristi spoliantur templa rapina;Pauperiorque fuit tunc primum Caesare Roma.
Meanwhile all nations of the earth were movedTo share in Magnus' fortunes and the war,And in his fated ruin. Graecia sent,Nearest of all, her succours to the host.From Cirrha and Parnassus' double peakAnd from Amphissa, Phocis sent her youth:From swift Cephisus' fate-declaring stream,And Theban Dirce, chiefs Boeotian came:All Pisa mustered and Alpheus' youths,Alpheus who in far Sicilian landsBeyond the billows seeks the day again:Arcadian Maenalus, and OEta lovedBy Hercules, and old Dodona's oaksAre left to silence; for the sacred trainWith all Epirus rushes to the war.Athens, deserted at the call to arms,Yet found three vessels in Apollo's portTo prove her triumph o'er the Persian king.Next seek the battle Creta's hundred tribesBeloved of Jove and rivalling the eastIn skill to wing the arrow from the bow.The walls of Dardan Oricum, the woodsWhere Athamanians wander, and the banksOf swift Absyrtus foaming to the mainAre left forsaken. Enchelaean tribesWhose king was Cadmus, and whose name recordsHis transformation, join the host; and thoseWho till Penean fields and turn the shareAbove Iolcos in Thessalian lands.There first men steeled their hearts to dare the wavesAnd 'gainst the rage of ocean and the stormTo match their strength, when the rude Argo sailedUpon that distant quest, and spurned the shore,Joining remotest nations in her flight,And gave the fates another form of death.Left too was Pholoe; pretended homeWhere dwelt the fabled race of double form;Arcadian Maenalus; the Thracian mountNamed Hemus; Strymon, whence, as autumn falls,Winged squadrons seek the banks of warmer Nile;And all those isles the mouths of Ister batheMixed with the tidal wave; the land through whichThe cooling eddies of Caicus flowIdalian; and Arisbe bare of glebe.The hinds of Pitane, and those who tillCelaenae's fields which mourned of yore the giftOf Pallas, and the vengeance of the god,All draw the sword; and those from Marsyas' floodFirst swift, then doubling backwards with the streamOf sinuous Meander: and from whereEarth gives Pactolus and his golden storeFree passage forth; and where with rival wealthRich Hermus parts the meads. Nor stayed the bandsOf Troy, but (doomed as in old time) they joinedPompeius' fated camp: nor held them backThe fabled past, nor Caesar's claimed descentFrom their Iulus. Syrian peoples cameFrom palmy Idumea and the wallsOf Ninus great of yore; from windy plainsOf far Damascus and from Gaza's hold,From Sidon's courts enriched with purple dye,And Tyre oft trembling with the shaken earth.All these led on by Cynosura's lightFurrow their certain path to reach the war.Phoenicians first (if story be believed)Dared to record in characters; for yetPapyrus was not fashioned, and the priestsOf Memphis, carving symbols upon wallsOf mystic sense (in shape of beast or fowl)Preserved the secrets of their magic art.Next Persean Tarsus and high Taurus' grovesAre left deserted, and Corycium's cave;And all Cilicia's ports, pirate no more,Resound with preparation. Nor the EastRefused the call, where furthest Ganges dares,Alone of rivers, to discharge his streamAgainst the sun opposing; on this shoreThe Macedonian conqueror stayed his footAnd found the world his victor; Indus rollsHere his vast torrent, by Hydaspes joinedYet scarce augmented; here from luscious reedMen draw sweet liquor; here they dye their locksWith tints of saffron, and with coloured gemsBind down their flowing garments; here are they,Who satiate of life and proud to die,Ascend the blazing pyre, and conquering fate,Scorn to live longer; but triumphant giveThe remnant of their days in flame to heaven.Nor failed to join the host a hardy bandOf Cappadocians, tilling now the soil,Once pirates of the main: nor those who dwellWhere steep Niphates hurls the avalanche,And where on Median Coatra's sidesThe giant forest rises to the sky.And you, Arabians, from your distant homeCame to a world unknown, and wondering sawThe shadows fall no longer to the left.Then fired with ardour for the Roman warOretas came, and far Carmania's chiefs,Whose clime lies southward, yet men thence descryLow down the Pole star, and Bootes runsHasting to set, part seen, his nightly course;And Ethiopians from that southern landWhich lies without the circuit of the stars,Did not the Bull with curving hoof advancedO'erstep the limit. From that mountain zoneThey came, where rising from a common fountEuphrates flows and Tigris, and did earthPermit, were joined with either name; but nowWhile like th' Egyptian flood Euphrates spreadsHis fertilising water, Tigris firstDrawn down by earth in covered depths is plungedAnd holds a secret course; then born againFlows on unhindered to the Persian sea.But warlike Parthia wavered 'twixt the chiefs,Content to have made them two; while Scythia's hordesDipped fresh their darts in poison, whom the streamOf Bactros bounds and vast Hyrcanian woods.Hence springs that rugged nation swift and fierce,Descended from the Twins' great charioteer.Nor failed Sarmatia, nor the tribes that dwellBy richest Phasis, and on Halys' banks,Which sealed the doom of Croesus king; nor whereFrom far Rhipaean ranges Tanais flows,On either hand a quarter of the world,Asia and Europe, and in winding courseCarves out a continent; nor where the straitIn boiling surge pours to the Pontic deepMaeotis' waters, rivalling the prideOf those Herculean pillar-gates that guardThe entrance to an ocean. Thence with hairIn golden fillets, Arimaspians came,And fierce Massagetae, who quaff the bloodOf the brave steed on which they fight and flee.Not when great Cyrus on Memnonian realmsHis warriors poured; nor when, their weapons piled,The Persian told the number of his host;Nor when th' avenger of a brother's shameLoaded the billows with his mighty fleet,Beneath one chief so many kings made war;Nor e'er met nations varied thus in garbAnd thus in language. To Pompeius' deathThus Fortune called them: and a world in armsWitnessed his ruin. From where Afric's god,Two-horned Ammon, rears his temple, cameAll Libya ceaseless, from the wastes that touchThe bounds of Egypt to the shore that meetsThe Western Ocean. Thus, to award the prizeOf Empire at one blow, Pharsalia brought'Neath Caesar's conquering hand the banded world.
Interea totum Magni fortuna per orbemSecum casuras in proelia moverat urbes.Proxima vicino vires dat Graecia bello.Phocaicas Amphissa manus scopulosaque Cirrha,Parnasusque iugo misit desertus utroque.Boeoti coiere duces, quos impiger ambitFatidica Cephisos aqua, Cadmeaque Dirce,Pisaeaeque manus, populisque per aequora mittensSicaniis Alpheus aquas. Tunc Maenala liquitArcas, et Herculeam miles Trachinins Oeten.Thesproti, Dryopesque ruunt, quercusque silentesChaonio veteres liquerunt vertice Selloe.Exhausit totas quamvis delectus Athenae,Exiguae Phoebea tenent navalia puppes.Tresque petunt veram credi Salamiua carinae.Iam dilecta Iovi centenis venit in armaCreta vetus populis, Cnososque agitare pharetrasDocta, nec Eois peior Gortyna sagittis.Tunc qui Dardaniam tenet Oricon, et vagus altisDispersus silvis Athamas, et nomine priscoEncheliae, versi testantes funera Cadmi,Colchis et Adriacas spumans Apsyrtis in undas,Et Penei qui rura colunt, quorumque laboreThessalus Aemoniam vomer proscindit Iolcon.Inde lacessitum primo mare, cum rudis ArgoMiscuit ignotas temerato litore gentes,Primaque cum ventis pelagique furentibus undisComposuit mortale genus, fatisque per illamAccessit mors una ratem. Tunc linquitur AemusThracius, et populum Pholoe mentita biformem.Deseritur Strymon tepido committere NiloBistonias consuetus aves, et barbara ConeSarmaticas ubi perdit aquas, sparsamque profundoMultifidi Peucen unum caput adluit latri:Mysiaque, et gelido tellus perfusa CaycoIdalis, et nimium glebis exilis Arisbe.Quique colunt Pitanen, et quae tua munera PallasLugent damnatae Phoebo victore Celaenae:Qua celer et ripis descendens Marsya rectisErrantem Maeandron adit, mixtusque refertur:Passaque ab auriferis tellus exire metallisPactolon: qua culta secat non vilior Hermus.Iliacae quoque signa manus, perituraque castraOminibus petiere suis: nec fabula TroiaeContinuit, Phrygiique ferens se Caesar Iuli.Accedunt Syriae populi; desertus Orontes,Et felix, (sic fama) Ninos: ventosa Damascos,Gazaque, et arbusto palmarum dives Idume.Et Tyros instabilis, pretiosaque murice Sidon.Has ad bella rates non flexo limite ponti,Certior haud ullis duxit Cynosura carinis.Phoenices primi, famae si creditur, ausiMansuram rudibus vocem signasse figuris.Nondum flumineas Memphis contexere biblosNoverat: et saxis tantum volucresque feraequeSculptaque servabant magicas animalia linguas.Deseritur Taurique nemus, Perseaque Tarsos,Coryciumque patens exesis rupibus antrum,Mallos, et extremae resonant navalibus Aegae.Itque Cilix iusta, iam non pirata, carina.Movit et Eoos bellorum fama recessus,Qua colitur Ganges, toto qui solus in orbeOstia nascenti contraria solvere PhoeboAudet, et adversum fluctus impellit in Eurum:Hic, ubi Pellaeus, post Tethyos aequora, ductorConstitit, et magno vinci se fassus ab orbe est.Quaque ferens rapidum diviso gurgite fontemVastis Indus aquis mixtum non sentit Hydaspen.Quique bibunt tenera dulces ab arundine succos,Et qui tingentes croceo medicamine crinemFluxa coloratis adstringunt carbasa gemmis.Quique suas struxere pyras, vivique calentesConscendere rogos. Pro, quanta est gloria genti,Iniecisse manum fatis, vitaque repletos,Quod superest, donasse deis! Venere ferocesCappadoces; duri populus nunc cultor Amani,Armeniusque tenens volventem saxa Niphaten:Aethera tangentes silvas liquere Coatrae.Ignotum vobis, Arabes, venistis in orbem,Umbras mirati nemorum non ire sinistras.Tunc furor extremos movit Romanus Oretas,Carmanosque duces, quorum deflexus in AustrumAether, non totam mergi tamen adspicit Arcton;Lucet et exigua velox ibi nocte Bootes.Aethiopumque solum, quod non premeretur ab ullaSigniferi regione poli, nisi, poplite lapso,Ultima curvati procederet ungula Tauri.Quaque caput rapido tollit cum Tigride magnusEuphrates, quos non diversis fontibus editPersis, et incertum, tellus si misceat amnes,Quod potius sit nomen aquis. Sed sparsus in agrosFertilis Euphrates Phariae vice fungitur undae:At Tigrim subito tellus absorbet hiatu,Occultosque tegit cursus, rursusque renatumFonte novo flumen pelagi non abnegat undis.Inter Caesareas acies diversaque signaPugnaces dubium Parthi tenuere favorem,Contenti fecisse duos. Tinxere sagittasErrantes Scythiae populi, quos gurgite BactrosIncludit gelido, vastisque Hyrcania silvis.Hinc Lacedaemonii, moto gens aspera freno,Heniochi, saevisque affinis Sarmata Moschis.Colchorum qua rura secat ditissima Phasis:Qua Croeso fatalis Halys, qua vertice lapsusRhipaeo Tanais diversi nomina mundiImposuit ripis, Asiaeque et terminus idemEuropae, mediae dirimens confinia terrae,Nunc huc, nunc illuc, qua flectitur, ampliat orbem.Quaque fretum torrens Maeotidos egerit undas,Pontus et Herculeis aufertur gloria metis,Oceanumque negat solas admittere Gades.Hinc Essedoniae gentes, auroque ligatasSubstringens, Arimaspe, comas: hinc fortis Arius,Longaque Sarmatici solvens ieiunia belliMassagetes quo fugit equo; volucresque Geloni.Non, cum Memnoniis deducens agmina regnisCyrus, et effusis numerato milite telisDescendit Perses, fraternique ultor amorisAequora cum tantis percussit classibus, unumTot reges habuere ducem. Colere nec umquamTam variae cultu gentes, tam dissona vulgiOra. Tot immensae comites missura ruinaeExcivit populos, et dignas funere MagniExsequias Fortuna dedit. Non corniger HammonMittere Marmaridas cessavit in arma catervas:Quidquid ab occiduis Libye patet arida Mauris,Usque Paraetonias Eoa ad litora Syrtes.Acciperet felix ne non semel omnia Caesar,Vincendum pariter Pharsalia praestitit orbem.
Now Caesar left the walls of trembling RomeAnd swift across the cloudy Alpine topsHe winged his march; but while all others fledFar from his path, in terror of his name,Phocaea's manhood with un-Grecian faithHeld to their pledged obedience, and daredTo follow right, not fate; but first of allWith olive boughs of truce before them borneThe chieftain they approach, with peaceful wordsIn hope to alter his unbending willAnd tame his fury. 'Search the ancient booksWhich chronicle the deeds of Latian fame;Thou'lt ever find, when foreign foes pressed hard,Massilia's prowess on the side of Rome.And now, if triumphs in an unknown worldThou seekest, Caesar, here our arms and swordsAccept in aid: but if, in impious strifeOf civil discord, with a Roman foeThou arm'st for battle, tears we give thee thenAnd hold aloof: no stranger hand may touchCelestial wounds. Should all Olympus' hostsHave rushed to war, or should the giant broodAssault the stars, yet men would not presumeOr by their prayers or arms to help the gods:And, ignorant of the fortunes of the sky,Taught by the thunderbolts alone, would knowThat Jupiter supreme still held the throne.Add that unnumbered nations join the fray:Nor shrinks the world so much from taint of crimeThat civil wars reluctant swords require.But grant that strangers shun thy destiniesAnd only Romans fight-shall not the sonShrink ere he strike his father? on both sidesBrothers forbid the weapon to be hurled?The world's end comes when other hands are armed' Than those which custom and the gods allow.' For us, this is our prayer: Leave, Caesar, here' Thy dreadful eagles, keep thy hostile signs' Back from our gates, but enter thou in peace' Massilia's ramparts; let our city rest' Withdrawn from crime, to Magnus and to thee' Safe: and should favouring fate preserve our walls' Inviolate, when both shall wish for peace' Here meet unarmed. Why hither dost thou turn' Thy rapid march, when to Iberian fights'The war commands thee? Weight nor power have we' To sway the mighty conflicts of the world.' We boast no victories since our fatherland'We left in exile: when Phocaea's fort' Perished in flames, we sought another here;'And here on foreign shores, in narrow bounds' Confined and safe, our boast is sturdy faith;' Nought else. But if our city to blockade' Is now thy mind-to force the gates, and hurl' Javelin and blazing torch upon our homes-' Do what thou wilt: cut off the source that fills' Our foaming river, force us, prone in thirst,' To dig the earth and lap the scanty pool;' Seize on our corn and leave us food abhorred:' This people shall not shun, for freedom's sake,' The ills Saguntum bore in Punic siege;' Torn, vainly clinging, from the shrunken breast' The starving babe shall perish in the flames.' Wives at their husbands' hands shall pray their fate,' And brothers' weapons deal a mutual death.' Such be our civil war; not, Caesar, thine.'But Caesar's visage stern betrayed his ireWhich thus broke forth in words: ' Vain is the hopeYe rest upon my march: speed though I mayTowards my western goal, time still remainsTo blot Massilia out. Rejoice, my troops!' Unsought the war ye longed for meets you now:The fates concede it. As the tempests loseTheir strength by sturdy forests unopposed,And as the fire that finds no fuel dies,Even so to find no foe is Caesar's ill.When those who may be conquered will not fight,That is defeat. Degenerate, disarmedTheir gates admit me! Not content, forsooth,With shutting Caesar out they shut him in!They shun the taint of war! Such prayer for peaceBrings with it chastisement. In Caesar's ageLearn that not peace, but war within his ranksAlone can make you safe.'He turns his marchUpon the fearless city, and beholdsFast barred the gate-ways, while in arms the youthsStand on the battlements. Hard by the wallsA hillock rose, upon the further sideExpanding in a plain of gentle slope,Fit (as he deemed it) for a camp with ditchAnd mound encircling. To a lofty heightThe nearest portion of the city rose,While intervening valleys lay between.These summits with a mighty trench to bindThe chief resolves, gigantic though the toil.But first, from furthest boundaries of his camp,Enclosing streams and meadows, to the seaTo draw a rampart, upon either handHeaved up with earthy sod; with lofty towersCrowned; and to shut Massilia from the land.Then did the Grecian city win renownEternal, deathless, for that uncompelledNor fearing for herself, but free to actShe made the conqueror pause: and he who seizedAll in resistless course found here delay:And Fortune, hastening to lay the worldLow at her favourite's feet, was forced to stayFor these few moments her impatient hand.Now fell the forests far and wide, despoiledOf all their giant trunks: for as the moundOn earth and brushwood stood, a timber frameHeld firm the soil, lest pressed beneath its towersThe mass might topple down.
Ille ubi deseruit trepidantis moenia Romae,Agmine nubiferam rapto superevolat Alpem:Cumque ali famae populi terrore paverent,Phocais in dubiis ausa est servare iuventusNon Graia levitate fidem, signataque iura,Et caussas, non fata, sequi. Tamen ante furoremIndomitum duramque viri deflectere mentemPacifico sermone parant, hostemque propincumOrant Cecropiae praelata fronde Minervae:Semper in externis populo communia vestroMassiliam bellis testatur fata tulisse,Comprensa est Latiis quaecunque annalibus aetas.Et nunc, ignoto si quos petis orbe triumphos,Accipe devotas externa in proelia dextras.At si funestas acies, si dira paratisProelia discordes, lacrimas civilibus armisSecretumque damus. Tractentur vulnera nullaSacra manu. Si coelicolis furor arma dedisset,Aut si terrigenae tentarent astra Gigantes,Non tamen auderet pietas humana vel armisVel votis prodesse Iovi; sortisque deorumIgnarum mortale genus, per fulmina tantumSciret adhuc coelo solum regnare Tonantem.Adde quod innumerae concurrunt undique gentes,Nec sic horret iners scelerum contagia mundus,Ut gladiis egeant civilia bella coactis.Sit mens ista quidem cunctis, ut vestra recusentFata, nec haec alius committat proelia miles.Cui non conspecto languebit dextra parente?Telaque diversi prohibebunt spargere fratres.Finis adest rerum, si non committitis illisArma, quibus fas est. Nobis haec summa precandi:Terribiles aquilas infestaque signa relinquasUrbe procul, nostrisque velis te credere muris,Excludique sinas, admisso Caesare, bellum.Sit locus exceptus sceleri, Magnoque tibiqueTutus, ut, invictae fatum si consulat urbi,Foedera si placeant, sit, quo veniatis inermes.Vel, cum tanta vocent discrimina Martis Iberi,Quid rapidum deflectis iter? Non pondera rerum,Non momenta sumus, numquam felicibus armisUsa manus, patriae primis a sedibus exsul,Et post translatas exustae Phocidos arcesMoenibus exiguis alieno in litore tuti,Illustrat quos sola fides. Si claudere murosObsidione paras, et vi perfringere portas:Excepisse faces tectis et tela parati,Undarum raptos aversis fontibus haustusQuaerere, et effossam sitientes lambere terram:Et, desit si larga Ceres, tunc horrida cerni,Foedaque contingi maculato carpere morsu.Nec pavet hic populus pro libertate subire,Obsessum Poeno gessit quod Marte Saguntum.Pectoribus rapti matrum, frustraque trahentesUbera sicca fame medios mittentur in ignes;Uxor et a caro poscet sibi fata marito.Vulnera miscebunt fratres, bellumque coactiHoc potius civile gerent. Sic Graia iuventusFinierat: quum, turbato iam prodita vultu,Ira ducis tandem testata est voce dolorem.Vana movet Graios nostri fiducia cursus.Quamvis Hesperium mundi properemus ad axem,Massiliam delere vacat. Gaudete cohortes:Obvia praebentur fatorum munere bella.Ventus ut amittit vires, nisi robore densaeOccurrant silvae, spatio diffsus inani:Utque perit magnus nullis obstantibus ignis,Sic hostes mihi desse nocet: damnumque putamusArmorum, nisi, qui vinci potuere, rebellent.Sed si solus eam, dimissis degener armis,Tunc mihi tecta patent. Iam non exscudere tantum,Inclusisse volunt. At enim contagia belliDira fugant. Dabitis poenas pro pace petita:Et nihil esse meo discetis tutius aevo,Quam duce me bellum. Sic postquam fatus, ad urbemHaud trepidam convertit iter: tunc moenia clausaConspicit: et densa iuvenum vallata corona.Haud procul a muris tumulas surgentis in altumTelluris parvum diffuso vertice campumExplicat: haec patiens longo munimine cingiVisa duci rapes, tutisque aptissima castris.Proxima pars urbis celsam consurgit in arcem,Par tumulo, mediisque sedent convallibus arva.Tunc res immenso placuit statura labore,Aggere diversos vasto committere colles.Sed prius ut totam, qua terra cingitur, urbemClauderet, a summis perduxit ad aequora castrisLongum Caesar opus, fontesque et pabula campiAmplexus fossa, densas tollentia pinnasCespitibus, crudaque exstruxit brachia terra.Iam satis hoc Graiae memorandum contigit urbi,Aeternumque decus, quod non impulsa, nec ipsoStrata metu, tenuit flagrantis in omnia belliPraecipitem cursum: raptisque a Caesare cunctis,Vincitur una mora. Quantum est, quod fata tenentur!Quodque virum toti properans imponere mundoHos perdit Fortuna dies! Tunc omnia lateProcumbunt nemora, et spoliantur robore silvae,Ut, cum terra levis mediam virgultaque molemSuspendant, structa laterum compage ligatamArctet humum, pressus ne cedat turribus agger.