---
title: "Pharsalia · De Bello Civili"
author: "Lucan"
translator: "Sir Edward Ridley"
languages: [la, en]
shelf: "Classical Latin"
section: 7 of 21
url: https://scriptura.si/works/lucan-pharsalia/7/
cite: "Lucan, tr. Sir Edward Ridley, Pharsalia · De Bello Civili, section 7. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/lucan-pharsalia/7/"
---

# 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.

## 7. Book IV · lines 1–582

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/lucan-pharsalia/7/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/lucan-pharsalia/7/#p-N

[¶0] BUT in the distant regions of the earth
Fierce Caesar warring, though in fight he dealt
No baneful slaughter, hastened on the doom
To swift fulfilment. There on Magnus' side
Afranius and Petreius held command,
Who ruled alternate, and the rampart guard
Obeyed the standard of each chief in turn.
There with the Romans in the camp were joined
Asturians swift, and Vettons lightly armed,
And Celts who, exiled from their ancient home,
Had joined 'Iberus' to their former name.
Where the rich soil in gentle slope ascends
And forms a modest hill, Ilerda stands,
Founded in ancient days; beside her glides
Not least of western rivers, Sicoris
Of placid current, by a mighty arch
Of stone o'erspanned, which not the winter floods
Shall overwhelm. Upon a rock hard by
Was Magnus' camp; but Caesar's on a hill,
Rivalling the first; and in the midst a stream.
Here boundless plains are spread beyond the range
Of human vision; Cinga girds them in
With greedy waves; forbidden to contend
With tides of ocean; for that larger flood
Who names the land, Iberus, sweeps along
The lesser stream commingled with his own.
Guiltless of war, the first day saw the hosts
In long array confronted; standard rose
Opposing standard, numberless; yet none
Attacked, through shame of strife; one bloodless day
They gave their country and her broken laws.
But Caesar, when from heaven fell the night,
Drew round a hasty trench; his foremost rank
With close array concealing those who wrought.
Then with the morn he bids them seize the hill
Which parted from the camp Ilerda's walls,
And gave them safety. But in fear and shame
On rushed the foe and seized the vantage ground,
First in the onset. From the height they held
Their hopes of conquest; but to Caesar's men
Their hearts by courage stirred, and their good swords
Promised the victory. Burdened up the ridge
The soldier climbed, and from the opposing steep
But for his comrade's shield had fallen back;
None had the space to hurl the quivering lance
Upon the foeman: spear and pike made sure
The failing foothold, and the falchion's edge
Hewed out their upward path. But Caesar saw
Ruin impending, and he bade his horse
By circuit to the left, with shielded flank,
Hold back the foe. Thus gained his troops retreat,
For none pressed on them; and the victor chiefs,
Forced to withdrawal, gained the day in vain.
Henceforth the fitful changes of the year
Governed the fates and fashioned out the war.
For stubborn frost still lay upon the land,
And northern winds, controlling all the sky,
Prisoned the rain in clouds; the hills were nipped
With snow unmelted, and the lower plains
By frosts that fled before the rising sun;
And all the land, there nearer to the sky
That whelms the stars, was hard and arid grown
By suns of winter. But when Titan neared
The Ram, who, backward gazing on the stars,
Bore perished Helle, and the hours were held
In balance, and the days again prevailed,
The earliest faded moon which in the vault
Hung with uncertain horn, from eastern wind
Received a fiery radiance; whose blast
Forced Boreas back: and breaking on the mists
Within his regions, to the Occident
Drave all that shroud Arabia and the land
Of Ganges; all that or by Caurus borne
Bedim the Orient sky, or rising suns
Permit to gather; pitiless flamed the day
Behind them, while in front the wide expanse
Was driven; nor on mid earth sank the clouds
Though weighed with vapour. North and south alike
Were showerless, for on Calpe's rock alone
All moisture gathered; here at last, forbidden
To pass that sea by Zephyr's bounds contained,
And by the furthest belt of heaven, they pause,
In masses huge convolved; the widest breadth
Of murky air scarce holds them, which divides
Earth from the heavens; till pressed by weight of sky
In densest volume to the earth they pour
Their cataracts; no lightning could endure
Such storm unquenched: though oft athwart the gloom
Gleamed its pale fire. Meanwhile a watery arch
Scarce touched with colour, in imperfect shape
Embraced the sky and drank the ocean waves,
So rendering to the clouds their flood outpoured.
And now the snows which Titan never yet
Could melt were thawed: the Pyrenaean rocks
Are wet with flowing ice; accustomed springs
Find not discharge; and from the very banks
Each stream receives a torrent. Caesar's arms
Are shipwrecked on the field, his tottering camp
Swims on the rising flood; the trench is filled
With whirling waters; and the plain no more
Yields corn or kine; for those who forage seek,
Err from the hidden furrow. Famine knocks
(First herald of o'erwhelming ills to come)
Fierce at the door; and while no foe blockades
The soldier hungers; fortunes buy not now
The meanest measure; yet, alas! is found
The fasting peasant, who, in gain of gold,
Will sell his little all! And now the hills
Are seen no more; rivers in one vast sea
Of whirlpools overwhelmed; beasts borne away
And sucked beneath the stream; their rocky dens
Sweep onwards; and the torrent's raging force
Bears back the inflowing ocean. Nor does night
Acknowledge Phoebus' rise, for all the sky
Feels her dominion and obscures its face,
And darkness joins with darkness. Thus doth lie
The lowest earth beneath the snowy zone
And never-ending winters, where the sky
Is starless ever, and no growth of herb
Sprouts from the frozen earth; but standing ice
Tempers the stars which in the middle zone
Kindle their flames. Thus, Father of the world,
And thou, O trident-god who rul'st the sea
Second in place, Neptunus, load the air
With clouds continual; forbid the tide,
Once risen, to return: forced by thy waves
Let rivers backward run in different course,
Thy shores no longer reaching; and the earth,
Shaken, make way for floods. Let Rhine o'erflow
And Rhone their banks; let torrents spread afield
Unmeasured waters: melt Rhipaean snows:
Spread lakes upon the land, and seas profound,
And snatch the groaning world from civil war.

> Latin: At procul extremis terrarum Caesar in oris
Martem saevus agit, non multa caede nocentem,
Maxima sed fati ducibus momenta daturum.
Iure pari rector castris Afranius illis
Ac Petreius erat: concordia duxit in aequas
Imperium commune vices, tutelaque valli
Pervigil alterno paret custodia signo.
His praeter Latias acies erat impiger Astur,
Vettonesque leves, profugique a gente vetusta
Gallorum Celtae, miscentes nomen Iberis.
Colle tumet modico, lenique excrevit in altum
Pingue solum tumulo: super hunc fundata vetusta
Surgit Ilerda manu: placidis praelabitur undis
Hesperios inter Sicoris non ultimus amnes;
Saxeus ingenti quem pons amplectitur arcu,
Hibernas passurus aquas. At proxima rupes
Signa tenet Magni: nec Caesar colle minore
Castra levat: medius dirimit tentoria gurges.
Explicat hinc tellus campos effusa patentes,
Vix oculo prendente modum, camposque coerces,
Cinga rapax, vetitus fluctus et litora cursu
Oceani pepulisse tuo: nam gurgite mixto,
Qui praestat terris, aufert tibi nomen Iberus.
Prima dies belli cessavit Marte cruento,
Spectandasque ducum vires numerosaque signa
Exposuit. Piguit sceleris; pudor arma furentum
Continuit; patriaeque et ruptis legibus unum
Donavere diem. Prono tunc Caesar Olympo
In noctem subita circumdedit agmina fossa,
Dum primae perstant acies, hostemque fefellit,
Et prope consertis obduxit castra maniplis.
Luce nova collem subito conscendere cursu,
Qui medius tutam castris dirimebat Ilerdam,
Imperat. Huc hostem pariter terrorque pudorque
Impulit; et rapto tumulum prior agmine cepit.
His virtus ferrumque locum promittit: at illis
Ipse locus. Miles rupes oneratus in altas
Nititur: adversoque acies in monte supina
Haeret, et in tergum casura, umbone sequentis
Erigitur. Nulli telum vibrare vacabat,
Dum labat et fixo firmat vestigia pilo,
Dum scopulos stirpesque tenent, atque, hoste relicto,
Caedunt ense viam. Vidit lapsura ruina
Agmina dux, equitemque iubet succedere bello,
Munitumque latus laevo praeducere gyro.
Sic pedes ex facili, nulloque urgente, receptus,
Irritus et victor, subducto Marte, pependit.
Hactenus armorum discrimina: cetera bello
Fata dedit variis incertus motibus aer.
Pigro bruma gelu, siccis Aquilonibus haerens,
Aethere constricto pluvias in nube tenebat.
Urebant montana nives, camposque iacentes
Non duraturae conspecto sole pruinae:
Atque omnis propior mergenti sidera coelo
Aruerat tellus hiberno dura sereno.
Sed postquam vernus calidum Titana recepit
Sidera respiciens delapsae portitor Helles,
Atque iterum, aequatis ad iustae pondera Librae
Temporibus, vicere dies: tunc, sole relicto,
Cynthia quo primum cornu dubitanda refulsit,
Exclusit Boream, flammasque accepit ab Euro.
Ille suo nubes quascumque invenit in axe,
Torsit in occiduum Nabataeis flatibus orbem:
Et quas sentit Arabs, et quas Gangetica tellus
Exhalat nebulas, quidquid concrescere primus
Sol patitur, quidquid coeli fuscator Eoi
Intulerat Corus, quidquid defenderat Indos,
Incendere diem nubes, oriente remotae;
Nec medio potuere graves incumbere mundo,
Sed nimbos rapuere fuga. Vacat imbribus Arctos
Et Notus; in solam Calpen fluit humidus aer.
Hic, ubi iam Zephyri fines et summus Olympi
Cardo tenet Tethyn, vetitae transcurrere, densos
Involvere globos; congestumque aeris atri
Vix recipit spatium, quod separat aethere terram.
Iamque polo pressae largos densentur in imbres,
Spissataeque fluunt: nec servant fulmina flammas,
Quamvis crebra micent: moriuntur fulgura nimbis
Hinc imperfecto complectitur aera gyro
Arcus, vix ulla variatus luce colorem,
Oceanumque bibit, raptosque ad nubila fluctus
Pertulit, et coelo diffusum reddidit aequor.
Iamque Pyrenaeae, quas numquam solvere Titan
Evaluit, fluxere nives, fractoque madescunt
Saxa gelu. Tunc, quae solitis e fontibus exit,
Non habet unda vias: tam largas alveus omnis
A ripis accepit aquas. Iam naufraga campo
Caesaris arma natant, impulsaque gurgite multo
Castra labant: alto restagnant flumina vallo.
Non pecorum raptus faciles, non pabula mersi
Ulla ferunt sulci: tectarum errore viarum
Fallitur occultis sparsus populator in agris.
Iamque, comes semper magnorum prima malorum.
Saeva fames aderat: nulloque obsesses ab hoste
Miles eget; toto censu non prodigus emit
Exiguam Cererem. Pro lucri pallida tabes!
Non deest prolato ieiunus venditor auro.
Iam tumuli collesque latent: iam flumina cuncta
Condidit una palus, vastaque voragine mersit:
Absorpsit penitus rupes, ac tecta ferarum
Detulit, atque ipsas hausit, subitisque frementes
Vorticibus contorsit aquas et repulit aestus
Fortior Oceani. Nec Phoebum surgere sentit
Nox subiecta polo; rerum discrimina miscet
Deformis coeli facies iunctaeque tenebrae.
Sic mundi pars ima iacet, quam zona nivalis
Perpetuaeque premunt hiemes; non sidera coelo
Ulla videt, sterili non quidquam frigore gignit,
Sed glacie medios signorum temperat ignes.
Sic, o summe parens mundi, sic sorte secunda
Aequorei rector facias, Neptune, tridentis:
Et tu perpetuis impendas aera nimbis;
Tu remeare vetes quoscumque emiseris aestus.
Non habeant amnes declivem ad litora cursum,
Sed pelagi referantur aquis: concussaque tellus
Laxet iter fluviis. Hos campos Rhenus inundet,.
Hos Rhodanus: vastos obliquent flumina fontes.
Rhipaeas huc solve nives, huc stagna lacusque
Et pigras, ubicumque iacent, effunde paludes:
Et miseras bellis civilibus eripe terras.

[¶1] Thus for a little moment Fortune tried
Her darling son; then smiling to his part
Returned; and gained her pardon for the past
By greater gifts to come. For now the air
Had grown more clear, and Phoebus' warmer rays
Coped with the flood and scattered all the clouds
In fleecy masses; and the reddening east
Proclaimed the coming day; the land resumed
Its ancient marks; no more in middle air
The moisture hung, but from about the stars
Sank to the depths; the forest glad upreared
Its foliage; hills again emerged to view
And 'neath the warmth of day the plains grew firm.
When Sicoris kept his banks, the shallop light
Of hoary willow bark they build, which bent
On hides of oxen, bears the weight of man
And swims the torrent. Thus on sluggish Po
Venetians float; and on th' encircling sea
Are borne Britannia's nations; and when Nile
Fills all the land, are Memphis' thirsty reeds
Shaped into fragile boats that swim his waves.
The further bank thus gained, they haste to curve
The fallen forest, and to form the arch
By which imperious Sicoris shall be spanned.
Yet fearing he might rise in wrath anew,
Not on the nearest marge they place the beams,
But in mid-field. Thus the presumptuous stream
They tame with chastisement, parting his flood
In devious channels out; and curb his pride.
Petreius, seeing that all things gave way
To Caesar's destiny, leaves Ilerda's steep,
His trust no longer in the Roman world;
And seeks for strength amid those distant tribes,
Who, loving death, rush in upon the foe,
And win their conquests at the point of sword.
But in the dawn, when Caesar saw the camp
Stand empty on the hill, ' To arms! ' he cries:
' No bridge nor ford; but stem with brawny arms
' The foaming river.' Rushing to the fray
They dare the torrent they had feared in flight.
Their arms regained, they race until the blood
Throbs in their veins anew, and their wet limbs
Are warm again. At length the shadows fall
Short on the sward, and day is at the height.
Then dash the horsemen on, and hold the foe
'Twixt flight and battle. In the plain arose
Two rocky heights: from each a loftier ridge
Of hills ranged onwards, sheltering in their midst
A hollow vale, whose deep and winding paths
Were safe from warfare; which, when Caesar saw
That if Petreius held, the war must pass
To lands remote by savage tribes possessed;
'Speed on,' he cries, ' and meet their flight in front;
'Fierce be your frown and battle in your glance:
' No coward's death be theirs; but as they flee
'Plunge in their breasts the sword.' They seize the pass
And place their camp. Short was the span between
Th' opposing sentinels; with eager eyes
Undimmed by space, they gazed on brothers, sons,
Or friends and fathers; and within their souls
They grasped the impious horror of the war.
Yet for a little while no voice was heard,
For fear restrained; by waving blade alone
Or gesture, spake they; but their passion grew,
And broke all discipline; and soon they leap
The hostile rampart; every hand outstretched
Embraces hand of foeman, palm in palm;
One calls by name his neighbour, one his host,
Another with his schoolmate talks again
Of olden studies: he who in the camp
Found not a comrade, was no son of Rome.
Wet are their arms with tears, and sobs break in
Upon their kisses; each, unstained by blood,
Dreads what he might have done. Why beat thy breast?
Why, madman, weep? The guilt is thine alone
To do or to abstain. Dost fear the man
Who takes his title to be feared from thee?
When Caesar's trumpets sound the call to arms
Heed not the summons; when thou seest advance
His standards, halt. The civil Fury thus
Shall fold her wings; and in a private robe
Caesar shall love his kinsman.
Holy Love
Who sway'st the universe, whose firm embrace
Binds the compacted fabric of the world;
Come, gentle Concord! these our times do now
For good or evil destiny control
The coming centuries! Ah, cruel fate!
Now have the people lost their cloak for crime:
Their hope of pardon. They have known their kin.
Woe for the respite given by the gods
Making more black the hideous guilt to come!
Now all was peaceful, and in either camp
Sweet converse held the soldiers; on the grass
They place the meal, and pour the mingled cup;
Bright glows the turf upon the friendly fire;
On mutual couch with stories of their fights,
They while the sleepless hours in talk away;
'Where stood the ranks arrayed, from whose right hand
The quivering lance was sped:' and while they boast,
Or challenge, deeds of prowess in the war,
Faith is renewed and trust. Thus envious fate
Made worse their doom, and all the crimes to be
Grew with their love. For when Petreius knew
The treaties made, himself and all his camp
Sold to the foe, he stirred his guard to work
An impious slaughter: the defenceless foe
Flung headlong forth: and parted fond embrace
By stroke of weapon and in streams of blood.
And thus in words of wrath, to stir the war:
'Of Rome forgetful, to your faith forsworn!
'And could ye not with victory gained return,
'Restorers of her liberty, to Rome?
'Lose then! but losing call not Caesar lord.
'While still your swords are yours, with blood to shed
'In doubtful battle, while the fates are hid,
'Will you like cravens to your master bear
'Doomed eagles? Will you ask upon your knees
'That Caesar deign to treat his slaves alike,
'And spare, forsooth, like yours, your leaders' lives?
'Nay! never shall our safety be the price
'Of base betrayal! Not for boon of life
'We wage a civil war. This name of peace
'Drags us to slavery. Ne'er from depths of earth,
'Fain to withdraw her wealth, should toiling men
'Draw store of iron; ne'er entrench a town;
'Ne'er should the war-horse dash into the fray
'Nor fleet with turret bulwarks breast the main,
If freedom ever could for peace be sold,
And fame unsoiled: 'tis true our foes are sworn
To cursed crime; should you whose cause is just,
And who may hope for pardon in defeat,
Hold cheap your honour? Shame upon your peace!
Thou callest, Magnus, ignorant of fate,
From all the world thy powers, and dost entreat
Monarchs of distant realms, while haply here
We in our treaties bargain for thy-life! '
Thus did he stir their minds and rouse anew
The love of impious battle. So when beasts
Grown strange to forests, long confined in dens,
Their fierceness lose, and learn to bear with man;
Once should they taste of blood, their thirsty jaws
Swell at the touch, and all the ancient rage
Comes back upon them till they hardly spare
Their keeper. Thus they rush on every crime:
And blows which dealt in blindness of affray
Might seem the crimes of chance, or of the gods
Wreaking their hate, such recent vows of love
Made monstrous, horrid. Where they lately spread
The mutual couch and banquet, and embraced
Some new-found friend, now falls the fatal blow
Upon the self-same breast; and though at first
Groaning at the fell chance, they drew the sword;
Hate rises as they strike, the murderous arm
Confirms the doubtful will: in dreadful joy
Through the wild camp they smote their kinsmen down;
And carnage raged unchecked; and each man strove,
Proud of his crime, before his leader's face
To prove his shamelessness of guilt.

> Latin: Sed parvo Fortuna viri contenta pavore,
Plena redit, solitoque magis favere secundi
Et veniam meruere dei. Iam rarior aer,
Et par Phoebus aquis, densas in vellera nubes
Sparserat, et noctes ventura luce rubebant:
Servatoque loco rerum, discessit ab astris
Humor, et ima petit, quidquid pendebat aquarum.
Tollere silva comas, stagnis emergere colles
Incipiunt, visoque die durescere valles.
Utque habuit ripas Sicoris, camposque reliquit,
Primum cana salix madefacto vimine parvam
Texitur in puppim, caesoque inducta iuvenco
Vectoris patiens tumidum superenatat amnem.
Sic Venetus stagnante Pado, fusoque Britannus
Navigat Oceano: sic, cum tenet omnis Nilus,
Conseritur bibula Memphitis cymba papyro.
His ratibus transiecta manus festinat utrinque
Succisum curvare nemus; fluviique ferocis
Incrementa timens, non primis robora ripis
Imposuit: medios pontem distendit in agros.
Ac ne quid Sicoris repetitis audeat undis,
Spargitur in sulcos, et scisso gurgite rivis
Dat poenas maioris aquae. Postquam omnia fatis
Caesaris ire videt, celsam Petreius Ilerdam
Deserit, et noti diffisus viribus orbis,
Indomitos quaerit populos et semper in arma
Mortis amore feros, et tendit in ultima mundi.
Nudatos Caesar colles desertaque castra
Conspiciens, capere arma iubet, nec quaerere pontem
Nec vada, sed duris fluvium superare lacertis.
Paretur, rapuitque ruens in proelia miles,
Quod fugiens timuisset, iter. Mox uda receptis
Membra fovent armis, gelidosque a gurgite cursu
Restituunt artus, donec decresceret umbra,
In medium surgente die. Iamque agmina summa
Carpit eques, dubiique fugae pugnaeque tenentur.
Adtollunt campo geminae iuga saxea rupes,
Valle cava media. Tellus hinc ardua celsos
Continuat colles: tutae quos inter opaco
Anfractu latuere viae. Quibus hoste potito
Faucibus, emitti terrarum in devia Martem
Inque feras gentes, Caesar videt. Ite sine ullo
Ordine, ait, raptumque fuga convertite bellum,
Et faciem pugnae vultusque inferte minaces:
Nec liceat pavidis ignava occumbere morte:
Excipiant recto fugientes pectore ferrum.
Dixit, et ad montes tendentem praevenit hostem.
Illic exiguo paullum distantia vallo
Castra locant. Postquam spatio languentia nullo
Mutua conspicuos habuerunt lumina vultus,
Et fratres natosque suos videre patresque,
Deprensum est civile nefas! Tenuere parumper
Ora metu: tantum nutu motoque salutant
Ense suos. Mox ut stimulis maioribus ardens
Rupit amor leges, audet transcendere vallum
Miles, in amplexus effusas tendere palmas.
Hospitis ille ciet nomen; vocat ille propinquum:
Admonet hunc studiis consors puerilibus aetas:
Nec Romanus erat, qui non agnoverat hostem.
Arma rigant lacrimis, singultibus oscula rumpunt:
Et, quamvis nullo maculatus sanguine, miles,
Quae potuit, fecisse timet. Quid pectora pulses?
Quid, vesane, gemis? fletus quid fundis inanes,
Nec te sponte tua sceleri parere fateris?
Usque adeone times, quem tu facis ipse timendum?
Classica dent bellum; saevos tu neglige cantus:
Signa ferant; cessa: iamiam civilis Erinnys
Concidet, et Caesar generum privatus amabit.
Nunc ades, aeterno complectens omnia nexu,
O rerum mixtique salus, Concordia, mundi,
Et sacer orbis amor: magnum nunc saecula nostra
Venturi discrimen habent. Periere latebrae
Tot scelerum: populo venia est erepta nocenti:
Agnovere suos. Pro numine fata sinistro,
Exigua requie tantas augentia clades!
Pax erat, et miles, castris permixtus utrisque,
Errabat: duro concordes cespite mensas
Institnunt, et permixto libamina Baccho
Gramineis fluxere focis: iunctoque cubili
Extrahit insomnes bellorum fabula noctes:
Quo primum steterint campo, qua lancea dextra
Exierit. Dum, quae gesserunt fortia, iactant,
Et dum multa negant, quod solum fata petebant,
Est miseris renovata fides, atque omne futurum
Crevit amore nefas. Nam postquam foedera pacis
Cognita Petreio, seque et sua tradita venum
Castra videt, famulas scelerata ad proelia dextras
Excitat, atque hostes turba stipatus inermes
Praecipitat castris, iunctosque amplexibus ense
Separat, et multo disturbat sanguine pacem.
Addidit ira ferox moturas proelia voces:
Immemor o patriae, signorum oblite tuorum,
Non potes hoc caussae, miles, praestare senatus,
Adsertor victo redeas ut Caesare; certe
Ut vincare, potes. Dum ferrum, incertaque fata,
Quique fluat multo non deerit vulnere sanguis,
Ibitis ad dominum, damnataque signa feretis?
Utque habeat famulos nullo discrimine, Caesar
Exorandus erit? ducibus quoque vita petenda est?
Numquam nostra salus pretium mercesque nefandae
Proditionis erit: non hoc civilia bella,
Ut vivamus, agunt. Trahimur sub nomine pacis.
Non chalybem gentes penitus fugiente metallo
Eruerent, nulli vallarent oppida muri,
Non sonipes in bella ferox, non iret in aequor
Turrigeras classis pelago sparsura carinas,
Si bene libertas umquam pro pace daretur.
Hostes nempe meos sceleri iurata nefando
Sacramenta tenent: at vobis vilior hoc est
Vestra fides, quod pro caussa pugnantibus aequa
Et veniam sperare licet. Pro dira pudoris
Foedera! Nunc toto fatorum ignarus in orbe,
Magne, paras acies, mundique extrema tenentes
Sollicitas reges, cum forsan foedere nostro
Iam tibi sit promissa salus. Sic fatur, et omnes
Concussit mentes, scelerumque reduxit amorem.
Sic, ubi desuetae silvis in carcere clauso
Mansuevere ferae, et vultus posuere minaces,
Atque hominem didicere pati: si torrida parvus
Venit in ora cruor, redeunt rabiesque furorque,
Admonitaeque tument gustato sanguine fauces;
Fervet, et a trepido vix abstinet ira magistro.
Itur in omne nefas: et quae Fortuna deorum.
Invidia caeca bellorum in nocte tulisset,
Fecit monstra fides: inter mensasque torosque,
Quae modo complexu foverunt, pectora caedunt.
Et quamvis primo ferrum strinxere gementes,
Ut dextrae iusti gladius dissuasor adhaesit,
Dum feriant, odere suos, animosque labantes
Confirmant ictu. Fervent iam castra tumultu,
[Et scelerum turba: rapiuntur colla parentum.]
Ac velut occultum pereat scelus, omnia monstra
In faciem posuere ducum: iuvat esse nocentes.

[¶2] But thou,
Caesar, though losing of thy best, dost know
The gods do favour thee. Thessalian fields
Gave thee no better fortune, nor the waves
That lave Massilia; nor on Pharos' main
Didst thou so triumph. By this crime alone
Thou from this moment of the better cause
Shalt be the Captain.
Since the troops were stained
With foulest slaughter thus, their leaders shunned
All camps with Caesar's joined, and sought again
Ilerda's lofty walls; but Caesar's horse
Seized on the plain and forced them to the hills
Reluctant. There by steepest trench shut in,
He cuts them from the river, nor permits
Their circling ramparts to enclose a spring.
By this dread path Death trapped his captive prey.
Which when they knew, fierce anger filled their souls,
And took the place of fear. They slew the steeds
Now useless grown, and rushed upon their fate;
Hopeless of life and flight. But Caesar cried:
Hold back your weapons, soldiers, from the foe,
Strike not the breast advancing; let the war
' Cost me no blood; he falls not without price
' Who with his life-blood challenges the fray.
Scorning their own base lives and hating light,
To Caesar's loss they rush upon their death,
Nor heed our blows. But let this frenzy pass,
This madman onset; let the wish for death
Die in their souls.' Thus to its embers shrank
The fire within, when battle was denied,
And fainter grew their rage until the night
Drew down her starry veil and sank the sun.
Thus keener fights the gladiator whose wound
Is recent, while the blood within the veins
Still gives the sinews motion, ere the skin
Shrinks on the bones: but as the victor stands
His fatal thrust achieved, and points the blade
Unfaltering, watching for the end, there creeps
Torpor upon the limbs, the blood congeals
About the gash, more faintly throbs the heart,
And slowly fading, ebbs the life away.
Raving for water now they dig the plain
Seeking for hidden fountains, not with spade
And mattock only searching out the depths,
But with the sword; they hack the stony heights,
In shafts that reach the level of the plain.
No further flees from light the pallid wretch
Who tears the bowels of the earth for gold.
Yet neither riven stones revealed a spring,
Nor streamlet whispered from its hidden source;
No water trickled on the gravel bed,
Nor dripped within the cavern. Worn at length
With labour huge, they crawl to light again,
After such toil to fall to thirst and heat
The readier victims: this was all they won.
All food they loathe; and 'gainst their deadly thirst
Call famine to their aid. Damp clods of earth
They squeeze upon their mouths with straining hands.
Wherever on foulest mud some stagnant slime
Or moisture lies, each dying soldier strives
With dying comrade first to lap the draught,
Loathsome had life been his. Like beasts they drain
The swollen udder, and where milk was not,
They suck the life-blood forth. From herbs and boughs
Dripping with dew, from tender shoots they press,
Nay, from the pith of trees, the juice within.
Happy the host that onward marching finds
Its savage enemy has fouled the wells
With murderous venom; hadst thou, Caesar, cast
The reeking filth of shambles in the stream,
And henbane dire and all the poisonous herbs
That lurk on Cretan slopes, still had they drunk
The fatal waters, rather than endure
Such lingering agony. Their bowels racked
With torments as of flame; the swollen tongue
And jaws now parched and rigid, and the veins;
Each laboured breath with anguish from the lungs
Enfeebled, moistureless, is scarcely drawn,
And scarce again returned; and yet agape,
Their panting mouths suck in the nightly dew;
They watch for showers from heaven, and in despair
Gaze on the clouds, whence lately poured a flood.
Nor were their tortures less that Meroe
Saw not their sufferings, nor Cancer's zone,
Nor where the Garamantian turns the soil;
But Sicoris and Iberus at their feet,
Two mighty floods, but far beyond their reach,
Rolled down in measureless volume to the main.

> Latin: Tu, Caesar, quamvis spoliatus milite multo,
Agnoscis superos. Neque enim tibi maior in arvis
Emathiis fortuna fuit, nec Phocidos undis
Massiliae, Phario nec tantum est aequore gestum.
Hoc siquidem solo civilis crimine belli
Dux caussae melioris eris. Polluta nefanda
Agmina caede duces iunctis committere castris
Non audent, altaeque ad moenia rursus Ilerdae
Intendere fugam. Campos eques obvius omnes
Abstulit, et siccis inclusit collibus hostem.
Tunc inopes undae praerupta cingere fossa
Caesar avet, nec castra pati contingere ripas,
Aut circum largos curvari brachia fontes.
Ut leti videre viam, conversus in iram
Praecipitem timor est. Miles, non utile clausis
Auxilium, mactavit equos: tandemque coactus
Spe posita damnare fugam, casurus in hostes
Fertur. Ut effuso Caesar decurrere passu
Vidit, et ad certam devotos tendere mortem:
Tela tene iam, miles, ait, ferrumque ruenti
Subtrahe: non ullo constet mihi sanguine bellum:
Vincitur haud gratis, iugulo qui provocat hostem.
En sibi vilis adest invisa luce iuventus,
Iam damno peritura meo. Non sentiet ictus,
Incumbet gladiis, gaudebit sanguine fuso.
Deserat hic fervor mentes, cadat impetus amens.
Perdant velle mori. Sic deflagrare minaces
Incassum et vetito passus languescere bello,
Substituit merso dum nox sua lumina Phoebo.
Inde ubi nulla data est miscendi copia Martis,
Paullatim cadit ira ferox, mentesque tepescunt;
Saucia maiores animos ut pectora gestant,
Dum dolor est ictusque recens, et mobile nervis
Conamen calidus praebet cruor, ossaque nondum
Adduxere cutem: si conscius ensis adacti
Stat victor, tenuitque manus, tunc frigidus artus
Adligat atque animum subducto robore torpor,
Postquam sicca rigens adstrinxit vulnera sanguis.
Iamque inopes undae, primum tellure refossa,
Occultos latices abstrusaque flumina quaerunt:
Nec solum rastris durisque ligonibus arva,
Sed gladiis fodere suis: puteusque cavati
Montis ad irrigui premitur fastigia campi.
Non se tam penitus, tam longe luce relicta
Merserit Asturii scrutator pallidus auri.
Non tamen aut tectis sonuerunt cursibus amnes,
Aut micuere novi, percusso pumice, fontes:
Atra nec exiguo stillant sudantia rore,
Aut impulsa levi turbatur glarea vena.
Tunc exhausta super multo sudore iuventus
Extrahitur, duris silicum lassata metallis.
Quoque minus possent siccos tolerare vapores,
Quaesitae fecistis aquae. Nec languida fessi
Corpora sustentant epulis, mensasque perosi
Auxilium fecere famem. Si mollius arvum
Prodidit humorem, pingues manus utraque glebas
Exprimit ora super. Nigro si turbida limo
Colluvies immota iacet, cadit omnis in haustus
Certatim obscoenos miles: moriensque recepit,
Quas nollet victurus, aquas: rituque ferarum
Distentas siccant pecudes, et lacte negato,
Sordidus exhausto sorbetur ab ubere sanguis.
tunc herbas frondesque terunt, et rore madentes
Destringunt ramos: ac si quos palmite crudo
Arboris aut tenera succos pressere medulla.
O fortunati, fugiens quos barbarus hostis
Fontibus immixto stravit per rura veneno.
Hos licet in fluvios saniem tabemque ferarum,
Pallida Dictaeis, Caesar, nascentia saxis
Infundas aconita palam, Romana iuventus
Non decepta bibet. Torrentur viscera flamma,
Oraque sicca rigent squamosis aspera linguis.
Iam marcent venae, nulloque humore rigatus
Aeris alternos angustat pulmo meatus,
Rescissoque nocent suspiria dura palato.
Pandunt ora tamen, nocturnumque aera captant.
Exspectant imbres, quorum modo cuncta natabant
Impulsu, et siccis vultus in nubibus haerent.
Quoque magis miseros undae ieiunia solvant,
Non super arentem Meroen Cancrique sub axe,
Qua nudi Garamantes arant, sedere: sed inter
Stagnantem Sicorim et rapidum deprensus Iberum
Spectat vicinos sitiens exercitus amnes.

[¶3] But now their leaders yield; Afranius,
Vanquished, throws down his arms, and leads his troops,
Now hardly living, to the hostile camp
Before the victor's feet, and sues for peace.
Proud is his bearing, and despite of ills,
His mien majestic, of his triumphs past
Still mindful in disaster thus he stands,
Though suppliant for grace, a leader yet;
From fearless heart thus speaking: 'Had the fates
Thrown me before some base ignoble foe,
Not, Caesar, thee; still had this arm fought on
And snatched my death. Now if I suppliant ask,
'Tis that I value still the boon of life
Given by a worthy hand. No party ties
'Roused us to arms against thee; when the war,
'This civil war, broke out, it found us chiefs;
And with our former cause we kept the faith,
So long as brave men should. The fates' decree
'No longer we withstand. Unto thy will
We yield the western tribes: the east is thine
'And all the world lies open to thy march.
'Be generous! blood nor sword nor wearied arm
'Thy conquests bought. Thou hast not to forgive
Aught but thy victory won. Nor ask we much.
'Give us repose; to lead in peace the life
'Thou shalt bestow; suppose these armed lines
'Are corpses prostrate on the field of war,
'Ne'er were it meet that thy victorious ranks
Should mix with ours, the vanquished. Destiny
'Has run for us its course: one boon I beg;
'Bid not the conquered conquer in thy train.'
Such were his words, and Caesar's gracious smile
Granted his prayer, remitting rights that war
Gives to the victor. To th' unguarded stream
The soldiers speed: prone on the bank they lie
And lap the flood or foul the crowded waves.
In many a burning throat the sudden draught
Poured in too copious, filled the empty veins
And choked the breath within: yet left unquenched
The burning pest which, though their frames were full,
Craved water for itself. Then, nerved once more,
Their strength returned. Oh, lavish luxury,
Contented never with the frugal meal!
Oh, greed that searchest over land and sea
To furnish forth the banquet! Pride that joy'st
In sumptuous tables! learn what life requires,
How little nature needs! No ruddy juice
Pressed from the vintage in some famous year,
Whose consuls are forgotten, served in cups
With gold and jewels wrought, restores the spark,
The failing spark, of life; but water pure
And simplest fruits of earth. The flood, the field
Suffice for nature. Ah! the weary lot
Of those who war! But these, their armour laid
Low at the victor's feet, with lightened breast,
Secure themselves, no longer dealing death,
Beset by care no more, seek out their homes.
What priceless gift in peace had they secured!
How grieved it now their souls to have poised the dart
With arm outstretched; to have felt their raving thirst;
And prayed the gods for victory in vain!
Nay, hard they think the victor's lot, for whom
A thousand risks and battles still remain;
If fortune never is to leave his side,
How often must he triumph! and how oft
Pour out his blood where'er great Caesar leads!
Happy, thrice happy, he who, when the world
Is nodding to its ruin, knows the spot
Where he himself shall, though in ruin, lie!
No trumpet call shall break his sleep again:
But in his humble home, with faithful spouse
And sons unlettered, Fortune leaves him free
From rage of party; for if life he owes
To Caesar, Magnus sometime was his lord.
Thus happy they alone live on apart,
Nor hope nor dread the event of civil war.

> Latin: Iam domiti cessere duces, pacisque petendae
Auctor damnatis supplex Afranius armis,
Semianimes in castra trahens hostilia turmas,
Victoris stetit ante pedes. Servata precanti
Maiestas, non fracta malis, interque priorem
Fortunam casusque novos gerit omnia victi,
Sed ducis, et veniam securo pectore poscit:
Si me degeneri stravissent fata sub hoste
Non deerat fortis rapiendo dextera leto:
At nunc sola mihi est orandae caussa salutis,
Dignum donanda, Caesar, te credere vita.
Non partis studiis agimur, nec sumsimus arma
Consiliis inimica tuis. Nos denique bellum
Invenit civile duces; caussaeque priori,
Dum potuit, servata fides. Nil fata moramur:
Tradimus Hesperias gentes, aperimus Eoas,
Securumque orbis patimur post terga relicti.
Nec cruor effusus campis tibi bella peregit,
Nec ferrum lassaeque manus. Hoc hostibus unum,
Quod vincas, ignosce tuis. Nec magna petuntur.
Otia des fessis, vitam patiaris inermes
Degere, quam tribuis: campis prostrata iacere
Agmina nostra putes: neque enim felicibus armis
Misceri damnata decet, partemque triumphi
Captos ferre tui: turba haec sua fata peregit.
Hoc petimus, victos ne tecum vincere cogas.
Dixerat: at facilis Caesar vultuque serenus
Flectitur, atque usum belli poenamque remittit.
Ut primum iustae placuerunt foedera pacis,
Incustoditos decurrit miles ad amnes;
Incumbit ripis, permissaque flumina turbat.
Continuus multis subitarum tractus aquarum,
Aera non passus vacuis discurrere venis,
Arctavit clausitque animam: nec fervida pestis
Cedit adhuc: sed morbus egens iam gurgite plenis
Visceribus sibi poscit aquas. Mox robora nervis
Et vires rediere viris. O prodiga rerum
Luxuries, numquam parvo contenta parato,
Et quaesitorum terra pelagoque ciborum
Ambitiosa fames, et lautae gloria mensae,
Discite, quam parvo liceat producere vitam,
Et quantum natura petat. Non erigit aegros
Nobilis ignoto diffusus consule Bacchus:
Non auro murrhaque bibunt; sed gurgite puro
Vita redit. Satis est populis fluviusque Ceresque.
Heu miseri, qui bella gerunt! Tunc, arma relinquens
Victori, miles spoliato pectore tutus
Innocuusque suas, curarum liber, in urbes
Spargitur. O quantum donata pace potitos
Excussis umquam ferrum librasse lacertis
Poenituit, tolerasse sitim, frustraque rogasse
Prospera bella deos. Nempe usis Marte secundo
Tot dubiae restant acies, tot in orbe labores:
Ut numquam fortuna labet successibus anceps,
Vincendum toties, terras fundendus in omnes
Est cruor, et Caesar per tot sua fata sequendus.
Felix, qui potuit, mundi nutante ruina,
Quo iaceat iam scire loco. Non proelia fessos
Ulla vocant, certos non rumpunt classica somnos.
Iam coniux natique rudes et sordida tecta
Et non deductos recipit sua terra colonos.
Hoc quoque securis oneris fortuna remisit,
Sollicitus menti quod abest favor. Ille salutis
Est auctor, dux ille fuit. Sic proelia soli
Felices nullo spectant civilia voto.

[¶4] Not thus did Fortune upon Caesar smile
In all the parts of earth; but 'gainst his arms
Dared somewhat, where Salona's lengthy waste
Is laved by Hadria, and Iadar warm
Meets with his waves the breezes of the west.
There brave Curectae dwell, whose island home
Is girded by the main; on whom relied
Antonius, and, beleaguered by the foe,
Upon the furthest margin of the shore
(Safe from all ills but famine) placed his camp.
But for his steeds the earth no forage gave,
Nor golden Ceres harvest; and his troops
Gnawed the dry herbage of the scanty turf
Within their rampart lines. But when they knew
That Basilus was on th' opposing shore
With friendly force, by novel mode of flight
They aim to reach him. Not the accustomed keel
They lay, nor build the ship, but shapeless rafts
Of timbers knit together, strong to bear
All ponderous weight; on empty casks beneath
By tightened chains made firm, in double rows
Supported; nor upon the deck were placed
The oarsmen, to the hostile dart exposed,
But in a hidden space, by beams concealed.
And thus the eye amazed beheld the mass
Move silent on its path across the sea,
By neither sail nor stalwart arm propelled.
They watch the main until the refluent waves
Ebb from the growing sands; then, on the tide
Receding, launch their vessel; thus she floats
With comrades twin: and rises over each
With quivering battlements a lofty tower.
Octavius, guardian of Illyrian seas,
Restrained his swifter keels, and left the rafts
Free from attack, in hope of larger spoil
From fresh adventures; for the peaceful sea
Might tempt them, and their goal in safety reached,
To dare a second voyage. Round the stag
Thus will the cunning hunter draw a line
Of tainted feathers poisoning the air;
Or spread the mesh, and muzzle in his grasp
The straining jaws of the Molossian hound,
And leash the Spartan pack; nor is the brake
Trusted to any dog but such as tracks
The scent with lowered nostrils, and refrains
From giving tongue the while; content to mark
By shaking cord the covert of the prey.
Ere long they manned the rafts in eager wish
To quit the island, when the latest glow
Still parted day from night. But Magnus' troops,
Cilician once, taught by their ancient art,
In fraudulent deceit had left the sea
To view unguarded; but with chains unseen
Fast to Illyrian shores, and hanging loose,
They blocked the outlet in the waves beneath.
The leading rafts passed safely, but the third,
Caught by the rope, was drawn beneath the rocks.
These, hollowed by the sea, in ponderous mass
O'erhanging, seemed upon the point to fall;
And trees made dark the wave. Here oft the main
Within the deep recess sweeps broken wrecks
And bodies of the drowned, till ebbing tides
Return the spoil. Then from the cavernous arch
Is belched the ocean forth in such turmoil
Of swirling billows, as excels the rage
Of that famed whirlpool on Sicilian shores.
Here, with Venetian settlers for its load,
Stood motionless the raft. Octavius' ships
Gathered around, while foemen on the land
Filled all the shore. But well the captain knew,
Volteius, how the secret fraud was planned,
And tried in vain with sword and steel to burst
The chains that held them; without hope he fights,
Uncertain where to avoid or front the foe.
Caught in the strait they strove as brave men should
Against opposing hosts; nor long the fight,
For fallen darkness brought a truce to arms.
Then to his men disheartened and in fear
Of coming fate Volteius, great of soul,
Thus spake in tones commanding: ' Free no more,
'Save for this little night, consult ye now
'In this last moment, soldiers, how to face
'Your final fortunes. No man's life is short
' Who can take thought for death, nor is your fame
' Less than a conqueror's, if with breast advanced
'Ye meet your destined doom. None know how long
'The life that waits them. Summon your own fate,
'And equal is your praise, whether the hand
'Quench the last flicker of departing light,
' Or shear the hope of years. But choice to die
'Is thrust not on the mind-we cannot flee;
'See at our throats, e'en now, our kinsmen's swords.
' Then choose for death; desire what fate decrees.
'At least in war's blind cloud we shall not fall;
' Nor when the flying weapons hide the day,
'And slaughtered heaps of foemen load the field,
'And death is common, and the brave man sinks
'Unknown, inglorious. Us within this ship,
'Seen of both friends and foes, the gods have placed;
'Both land and sea and island cliffs shall bear,
'From either shore, their witness to our death,
'In which some great and memorable fame
'Thou, Fortune, dost prepare. What glorious deeds
' Of warlike heroism, of noble faith,
'Time's annals show! All these shall we surpass.
'True, Caesar, that to fall upon our swords
'For thee is little; yet beleaguered thus,
'With neither sons nor parents at our sides,
'Shorn of the glory that we might have earned,
'We give thee here the only pledge we may.
'Yet let these hostile thousands fear the souls
'That rage for battle and that welcome death,
'And know us for invincible, and joy
'That no more rafts were stayed. They'll offer terms,
'And tempt us with a base unhonoured life.
'Would that, to give that death which shall be ours
'The greater glory, they may bid us hope
'For pardon and for life! lest when our swords
'Are reeking with our hearts'-blood, they may say
'This was despair of living. Great must be
'The prowess of our end, if in the hosts
'That fight his battles, Caesar is to mourn
'This little handful lost. For me, should fate
'Grant us retreat-myself would scorn to shun
'The coming onset. Life I cast away,
'The frenzy of the death that comes apace
'Controls my being. Those whose end is near
'Alone may know the happiness of death;
'Which pitying heaven from all else conceals
'That men may bear to live.' His stirring words
Warmed his brave comrades' hearts-they who with fear
And tearful eyes had looked upon the Wain,
Turning his nightly course, now hoped for day,
Such precepts deep within them. Nor delayed
The sky to dip the stars below the main;
For Phoebus in the Twins his chariot drave
At noon near Cancer; and the hours of night
Were shortened by the Archer.
When day broke,
Lo! on the rocks the Istrians; while the sea
Swarmed with the galleys and their Grecian fleet
All armed for fight: but first the war was stayed
And terms proposed: life to the foe they thought
Would seem the sweeter, by delay of death
Thus granted. But the band devoted stood,
Proud of their promised end, life all forsworn,
And careless of the fight: no jarring note
Opposed their high resolve. In numbers few
'Gainst foemen numberless by land and sea,
They wage the desperate war; then satiate
Turn from the foe. And first demanding death
Volteius bared his throat. ' What youth,' he cries,
' Dares strike me down, and through his captain's wounds
'Attest his love for death? ' Then through his side
Plunge blades uncounted on the moment drawn.
He praises all: but him who struck the first
Grateful, with dying strength, he does to death.
They rush together, and without a foe
Work all the guilt of battle. Thus of yore,
Rose up the glittering Dircaean band
From seed by Cadmus sown, and fought and died,
Dire omen for the brother kings of Thebes.
And so in Phasis' fields the sons of earth,
Born of the sleepless dragon, all inflamed
By magic incantations, with their blood
Deluged the monstrous furrow, while the Queen
Feared at the spells she wrought. Devoted thus
To death, they fall, yet in their death itself
Less valour show than in the fatal wounds
They take and give; for e'en the dying hand
Missed not a blow nor did the stroke alone
Inflict the wound, but rushing on the sword
Their throat or breast received it to the hilt;
And when by fatal chance or sire with son,
Or brothers met, yet with unfaltering weight
Down flashed the pitiless sword: this proved their love,
To give no second blow. Half living now
They dragged their mangled bodies to the side,
Whence flowed into the sea a crimson stream
Of slaughter. 'Twas their pleasure yet to see
The light they scorned; with haughty looks to scan
The faces of their victors, and to feel
The death approaching. But the raft was now
Piled up with dead; which, when the foemen saw,
Wondering at such a chief and such a deed,
They gave them burial. Never through the world
Of any brave achievement was the fame
More widely blazed. Yet meaner men, untaught
By such examples, see not that the hand
Which frees from slavery needs no valiant mind
To guide the stroke. But tyranny is feared
As dealing death; and Freedom's self is galled
By ruthless arms; and knows not that the sword
Was given for this, that none need live a slave.
Ah Death! wouldst thou but let the coward live
And grant the brave alone the prize to die!
Nor less were Libyan fields ablaze with war.

> Latin: Non eadem belli totum fortuna per orbem
Constitit: in partes aliquid sed Caesaris ausa eat,
Qua maria Hadriaci longas ferit unda Salonas,
Et tepidum in molles Zephyros excurrit Iader.
Illic, bellaci confisus gente Curictum,
Quos alit Hadriaco tellus circumflua ponto,
Clauditur extrema residens Antonius ora,
Cautus ab incursu belli, si sola recedat,
Expugnat quae tuta, fames. Non pabula tellus
Pascendis submittit equis, non proserit ullam
Flava Ceres segetem: spoliabat gramine campum
Miles, et adtonso miseris iam dentibus arvo
Castrorum siccas de cespite vulserat herbas,
Ut primum adversae socios in litore terrae
Et Basilum videre ducem: nova furta per aequor
Exquisita fugae. Neque enim de more carinas
Extendunt, puppesque levant, sed firma gerendis
Molibus insolito contexunt robora ductu.
Namque ratem vacuae sustentant undique cuppae,
Quarum porrectis series constricta catenis
Ordinibus geminis obliquas excipit alnos.
Nec gerit expositum telis in fronte patenti
Remigium: sed, quod trabibus circumdedit aequor,
Hoc ferit, et taciti praebet miracula cursus,
Quod nec vela ferat, nec apertas verberet undas.
Tunc freta servantur, dum se declivibus undis
Aestus agat, refluoque mari nudentur arenae.
Iamque relabenti crescebant litora ponto;
Missa ratis prono defertur lapsa profundo,
Et geminae comites. Cunctas super ardua turris
Eminet, et tremulis tabulata minantia pinnis.
Noluit Illyricae custos Octavius undae
Confestim tentare ratem, celeresque carinas
Continuit, cursu crescat dum praeda secundo:
Et temere ingressos repetendum invitat ad aequor
Pace maris. Sic dum pavidos formidine cervos
Claudat odoratae metuentes aera pennae,
Aut dum dispositis adtollat retia varis
Venator, tenet ora levis clamosa Molossi,
Spartanos Cretasque ligat: nec creditur ulli
Silva cani, nisi qui presso vestigia rostro
Colligit, et praeda nescit latrare reperta,
Contentus tremulo monstrasse cubilia loro.
Nec mora: complentur moles, avideque petitis
Insula deseritur ratibus, quo tempore primas
Impedit ad noctem iam lux extrema tenebras.
At Pompeianus fraudes innectere ponto
Antiqua parat arte Cilix, passusque vacare
Summa freti, medio suspendit vincula ponto,
Et laxas fluitare sinit religatque catenas
Rupis ab Illyricae scopulis. Nec prima, nec illa,
Quae sequitur, tardata ratis: sed tertia moles
Haesit, et ad cautes adducto fune secuta est.
Impendent cava saxa mari, ruituraque semper
Stat (mirum) moles, et silvis aequor inumbrat.
Huc fractas Aquilone rates submersaque pontus
Corpora saepe tulit, caecisque abscondit in antris:
Restituit raptus tectum mare: quumque cavernae
Evomuere fretum, contorti verticis undae
Tauromenitanam vincunt fervore Charybdin.
Hic Opiterginis moles onerata colonis
Constitit: hanc omni puppes statione solutae
Circumeunt: alii rupes ac litora complent.
Vulteius tacitas sensit sub gurgite fraudes;
(Dux erat ille ratis,) frustra qui vincula ferro
Rumpere conatus, poscit spe proelia nulla,
Incertus qua terga daret, qua pectora bello.
Hoc tamen in casu, quantum deprensa valebat,
Effecit virtus: inter tot millia captae
Circumfusa rati et plenam vix inde cohortem
Pugna fuit; non longa quidem: nam condidit atra
Nox lucem dubiam, pacemque habuere tenebrae.
Tunc sic adtonitam venturaque fata paventem
Rexit magnanima Vulteius voce cohortem:
Libera non ultra, parva quam nocte, iuventus,
Consulite extremis angusto tempore rebus.
Vita brevis nulli super est, qui tempus in illa
Quaerendae sibi mortis habet: nec gloria leti
Inferior, iuvenes, admoto occurrere fato.
Omnibus incerto venturae tempore vitae,
Par animi laus est, et quos speraveris annos
Perdere, et extremae momentum abrumpere lucis,
Accersas dum fata manu. Non cogitur ullus
Velle mori. Fuga nulla patet: stant undique nostris
Intenti cives iugulis. Decernite letum,
Et metus omnis abest: cupias quodcumque necesse est.
Non tamen in caeca bellorum nube cadendum est,
Aut cum permixtis acies sua tela tenebris
Involvunt, conserta iacent cum corpora campo,
In medium mors omnis abit, perit obruta virtus.
Nos in conspicua sociis hostique carina
Constituere dei. Praebebunt aequora testes,
Praebebunt terrae, summis dabit insula saxis:
Spectabunt geminae diverso e litore partes.
Nescio quod nostris magnum et memorabile fatis
Exemplum, Fortuna, paras. Quaecumque per aevum
Exhibuit monumenta fides, servataque ferro
Militiae pietas, transibit nostra iuventus.
Namque suis pro te gladiis incumbere, Caesar,
Esse parum scimus: sed non maiora supersunt
Obsessis, tanti quae pignora demus amoris.
Abscidit nostrae multum sors invida laudi,
Quod non cum senibus capti natisque tenemur.
Indomitos sciat esse viros, timeatque furentes
Et morti faciles animos, et gaudeat hostis
Non plures haesisse rates. Tentare parabunt
Foederibus, turpique volent corrumpere vita.
O utinam, quo plus habeat mors unica famae,
Promittant veniam, iubeant sperare salutem:
Ne nos, cum calido fodiemus viscera ferro,
Desperasse putent. Magna virtute merendum est,
Caesar ut, amissis inter tot millia paucis,
Hoc damnum clademque vocet. Dent fata recessum
Emittantque licet, vitare instantia nolim.
Proieci vitam, comites, totusque futurae
Mortis agor stimulis: furor est. Agnoscere solis
Permissum est, quos iam tangit vicinia fati,
Victurosque dei celant, ut vivere durent,
Felix esse mori. Sic cunctas sustulit ardor
Nobilium mentes iuvenum: cum sidera coeli
Ante ducis voces oculis humentibus omnes
Adspicerent, flexoque Ursae temone paverent,
Iidem, cum fortes animos praecepta subissent,
Optavere diem. Nec segnis mergere ponto
Tunc erat astra polus: nam sol Ledaea tenebat
Sidera, vicino cum lux altissima Cancro est:
Nox tum Thessalicas urgebat parva sagittas.
Detegit orta dies stantes in rupibus Istros,
Pugnacesque mari Graia cum classe Liburnos.
Tentavere prius suspenso vincere bello
Foederibus, fieret captis si dulcior ipsa
Mortis vita mora. Stabat devota inventus,
Damnata iam luce ferox, securaque pugnae
Promisso sibi fine manu: nullique tumultus
Excussere viris mentes ad summa paratas:
Innumerasque simul pauci terraque marique
Sustinuere manus: tanta est fiducia mortis.
Utque satis bello visum est fluxisse cruoris,
Versus ab hoste furor. Primus dux ipse carinae
Vulteius, iugulo poscens iam fata retecto,
Ecquis, ait, iuvenum est, cuius sit dextra cruore
Digna meo, certaque fide per vulnera nostra
Testetur se velle mori? Nec plura locuto
Viscera non unus iamdudum transigit ensis.
Collaudat cunctos: sed eum, cui vulnera prima
Debebat, grato moriens interficit ictu.
Concurrent alii, totamque in partibus unis
Bellorum fecere nefas. Sic semine Cadmi
Emicuit Dircaea cohors, ceciditque suorum
Vulneribus, dirum Thebanis fratribus omen:
Phasidos et campis insomni dente creati
Terrigenae, missa magicis e cantibus ira,
Cognato tantos complerunt sanguine sulcos:
Ipsaque, inexpertis quod primum fecerat herbis,
Expavit Medea nefas. Sic mutua pacti
Fata cadunt iuvenes: nimiumque in morte virorum
Mors virtutis habet: pariter sternuntque caduntque
Vulnere letali: nec quemquam dextra fefellit,
Cum feriat moriente manu. Nec vulnus adactis
Debetur gladiis: percussum est pectore ferrum,
Et iugulis pressere manum. Cum sorte cruenta
Fratribus incurrant fratres, natusque parenti,
Haud trepidante tamen toto cum pondere dextra
Exegere enses. Pietas ferientibus una,
Non repetisse, fuit. Iam latis viscera lapsa
Semianimes traxere foris, multumque cruoris
Infudere mari. Despectam cernere lucem,
Victoresque suos vultu spectare superbo,
Et mortem sentire iuvat. Iam strage cruenta
Conspicitur cumulata ratis: bustisque remittunt
Corpora victores, ducibus mirantibus, ulli
Esse ducem tanti. Nullam maiore locuta est
Ore ratem totum discurrens fama per orbem.
Non tamen ignavae post haec exempla virorum
Percipient gentes, quam sit non ardua virtus
Servitium fugisse manu. Sed regna timentur
Ob ferrum, et saevis libertas uritur armis:
Ignoratque datos, ne quisquam serviat, enses.
Mors, utinam pavidos vitae subducere nolles,
Sed virtus te sola daret! Non segnior illo
Marte fuit, qui tunc Libycis exarsit in arvis.