---
title: "Pharsalia · De Bello Civili"
author: "Lucan"
translator: "Sir Edward Ridley"
languages: [la, en]
shelf: "Classical Latin"
section: 9 of 21
url: https://scriptura.si/works/lucan-pharsalia/9/
cite: "Lucan, tr. Sir Edward Ridley, Pharsalia · De Bello Civili, section 9. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/lucan-pharsalia/9/"
---

# 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.

## 9. Book V · lines 1–475

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/lucan-pharsalia/9/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/lucan-pharsalia/9/#p-N

[¶0] THUS had the smiles of Fortune and her frowns
Brought either chief to Macedonian shores
Still equal to his foe. From cooler skies
Sank Atlas' daughters down, and Haemus' slopes
Were white with winter, and the day drew nigh
Devoted to the god who leads the months,
And marking with new names the book of Rome,
When came the Fathers from their distant posts
By both the Consuls to Epirus called
Ere yet their year was dead: a foreign land
Obscure received the magistrates of Rome;
A senate sojourning in foreign lands
Held there high questions, not in warlike camp
But hedged by all the axes of the law;
And all men gazing on the reverend ranks
Knew that no Magnus' party there was met,
But all the state; and Magnus was but one.
Mid silent sadness from his lofty seat
Thus spake the Consul: ' If your hearts still beat
' With Latian blood, and if within your breasts
' Still lives your fathers' vigour, look not now
' On this strange land that holds us, nor enquire
'How far the captured city. Know the face
Of your own company; the rulers you
In all that comes. Be this your first decree,
' Whose truth all peoples and all kings confess;
' Be this the Senate. Let the frozen wain
' Demand your presence, or the torrid zone
' Wherein the day and night with equal tread
'For ever march; still follows in your steps
' The central power of Imperial Rome.
' When flamed the Capitol with fires of Gaul,
' When Veii held Camillus, there with him
' Was Rome, nor ever though it changed its clime
' Your order lost its rights. In Caesar's hands
' Are sorrowing houses and deserted homes,
' Laws silent for a space, and forums closed
' In public fast. His Senate-house beholds
' Those Fathers only whom from Rome it drove,
' While Rome was full. Of that high order all
' Not here, are exiles. Ignorant of war,
'Its crimes and bloodshed, through long years of peace,
'Ye fled its outburst: now in session all
'Are here assembled. See ye how the gods
Weigh down Italia's loss by all the world
'Thrown in the other scale? Illyria's wave
'Rolls on our foes: in Libya's arid wastes
'Is fallen their Curio, the weightier part
'Of Caesar's senate! Lift your standards, then,
'Spur on your fates and prove your hopes to heaven.
'Let Fortune, smiling, give you courage now
'As, when ye fled, your cause. The Consuls' power
' Fails with the dying year: not so does yours;
' By your commandment for the common weal
' Decree Pompeius leader.' With applause
They heard his words, and placed their country's fates,
Nor less their own, within the chieftain's hands.
Then did they shower on people and on kings
Honours well earned-Rhodes, Mistress of the Seas,
Was decked with gifts; Athena, old in fame,
Received her praise, and the rude tribes who dwell
On cold Taygetus; Massilia's sons
Their own Phocaea's freedom; on the chiefs
Of Thracian tribes, fit honours were bestowed.
They order Libya by their high decree
To serve King Juba's sceptre; and, alas!
On Ptolemaeus, of a faithless race
The faithless sovereign, scandal to the gods,
And shame to Fortune, placed the diadem
Of Pella. Boy! against the common herd
Fierce is thy weapon. Ah, if that were all!
The fatal gift gave, too, Pompeius' life;
Bereft thy sister of her sire's bequest,
Half of the kingdom: Caesar of a crime.
Then all to arms. While soldier thus and chief,
In doubtful sort, against their hidden fate
Devised their counsel, Appius only feared
To face the chances of the war, and sought
Through Phoebus' ancient oracle to break
The silence of the gods, and know the end.

> Latin: Sic alterna duces bellorum vulnera passos
In Macetum terras, miscens adversa secundis,
Servavit fortuna pares. Iam sparserat Aemo
Bruma nives, gelidoque cadens Atlantis Olympo:
Instabatque dies, qui dat nova nomina fastis,
Quique colit primus ducentem tempora Ianum.
Dum tamen emeriti remanet pars ultima iuris,
Consul uterque vagos belli per munia Patres
Elicit Epirum. Peregrina ac sordida sedes
Romanos cepit proceres: secretaque rerum
Hospes in externis audivit curia tectis.
Nam quis castra vocet tot strictas iure secures,
Tot fasces? Docuit populos venerabilis ordo,
Non Magni partes, sed Magnum in partibus esse.
Ut primum moestum tenuere silentia coetum,
Lentulus excelsa sublimis sede profatur:
Indole si dignum Latia, si sanguine prisco
Robur inest animis, non qua tellure coacti,
Quamque procul tectis captae sedeamus ab urbis,
Cernite: sed vestrae faciem cognoscite turbae:
Cunctaque iussuri, primum hoc decernite, Patres,
Quod regnis populisque liquet, nos esse senatum.
Nam, vel Hyperboreae plaustrum glaciale sub ursae,
Vel plaga qua torrens claususque vaporibus axis
Nec patitur noctes nec iniquos crescere soles,
Si fortuna ferat, rerum nos summa sequetur,
Imperiumque comes. Tarpeia sede perusta
Gallorum facibus, Veiosque habitante Camillo,
Illic Roma fuit. Non umquam perdidit ordo
Mutato sua iura solo. Moerentia tecta
Caesar habet, vacuasque domos, legesque silentes,
Clausaque iustitio tristi fora. Curia solos
Illa videt Patres, plena quos urbe fugavit.
Ordine de tanto quisquis non exsulat, hic est.
Ignaros scelerum, longaque in pace quietos
Bellorum primus sparsi furor: omnia rursus
Membra loco redeunt. En, totis viribus orbis
Hesperiam pensant superi: iacet hostis in undis
Obrutus Illyricis: Libyae squalentibus arvis
Curio Caesarei cecidit pars magna senatus.
Tollite signa, duces: fatorum impellite cursum:
Spem vestram praestate deis fortunaque tantos
Det nobis animos, quantos fugientibus hostem
Caussa dabat. Nostrum exhausto ius clauditur anno:
Vos, quorum finem non est sensura potestas,
Consulite in medium, Patres, Magnumque iubete
Esse ducem. Laeto nomen clamore senatus
Excipit: et Magno fatum patriaeque suumque
Imposuit. Tunc in reges populosque merentes
Sparsus honos, pelagique potens Phoebeia donis
Exornata Rhodos, gelidique inculta iuventus
Taygeti: fama veteres laudantur Athenae:
Massiliaeque suae donatur libera Phocis.
Tunc Sadalen, fortemque Cotyn, fidumque per arma
Deiotarum, et gelidae dominum Rhasipolin orae
Collaudant: Libyamque iubent auctore senatu
Sceptrifero parere Iubae. Pro tristia fata!
En tibi, non fidae gentis dignissime regno,
Fortunae, Ptolemaee, pudor, crimenque deorum,
Cingere Pellaeo pressos diademate crines
Permissum. Saevum in populos puer accipis ensem:
Atque utinam in populos! Donata est regia Lagi;
Accessit Magni iugulus: regnumque sorori
Ereptum est, soceroque nefas. Iam turba soluto
Arma petit coetu. Quae cum populique ducesque
Casibus incertis et caeca sorte pararent,
Solus in ancipites metuit descendere Martis
Appius eventus: finemque expromere rerum
Sollicitat superos, multosque obducta per annos
Delphica fatidici reserat penetralia Phoebi.

[¶1] Between the western belt and that which bounds
The furthest east, midway Parnassus rears
His double summit: to the Bromian god
And Paean consecrate, to whom conjoined
The Theban band leads up the Delphic feast
On each third year. This mountain, when the sea
Poured o'er the earth her billows, rose alone,
By loftiest peak scarce master of the waves,
Parting the crest of waters from the stars.
There, to avenge his mother, from her home
Chased by the angered goddess while as yet
She bore him quick within her, Paean came
(When Themis ruled the tripods and the spot)
And with unpractised darts the Python slew.
But when he saw how from the yawning cave
A godlike knowledge breathed, and all the air
Was full of voices murmured from the depths,
He took the shrine and filled the deep recess;
Henceforth a prophet. Which of all the gods
Has left heaven's light in this dark cave to hide?
What spirit that knows the secrets of the world
And things to come, here condescends to dwell,
Divine, omnipotent? bear the touch of man,
And at his bidding deigns to lift the veil?
Perchance he sings the fates; perchance his song,
Once sung, is fate. Haply some part of Jove
Sent here to rule the earth with mystic power,
Balanced upon the void immense of air,
Sounds through the caves, and in its flight returns
To that high home of thunder whence it came.
Caught in a virgin's breast, this deity
Strikes on the human spirit: then a voice
Sounds from her breast, as when the lofty peak
Of Etna boils, forced by compelling flames,
Or as Typheus on Campania's shore
Frets 'neath the pile of huge Inarime.
Though free to all that ask, denied to none,
No human passion lurks within the voice
That heralds forth the god; no whispered vow,
No evil prayer prevails; none favour gain:
Of things unchangeable the song divine;
Yet loves the just. When men have left their homes
To seek another, it has turned their steps
Aright, as with the Tyrians; and raised
The hearts of men to war, as prove the waves
Of Salamis: when earth refused her fruits
Or plague has filled the air, this voice benign
Has given fresh hope and pointed to the end.
No gift from heaven's high gods so great as this
Our centuries have lost, since Delphi's shrine
Has silent stood, and kings forbade the gods
To speak the future, fearing for their fates.
Nor does the priestess sorrow that the voice
Is heard no longer; and the silent fane
To her is happiness; for whatever breast
Contains the deity, its shattered frame
Surges with frenzy, and the soul divine
Shakes the frail breath that with the god receives,
As prize or punishment, untimely death.
These tripods Appius seeks, unmoved for years,
These soundless caverned rocks, in quest to learn
Hesperia's destinies. At his command
To loose the sacred gateways and permit
The prophetess to enter to the god,
The keeper calls Phemonoe; whose steps
Round the Castalian fount and in the grove
Were wandering careless; her he bids to pass
The portals. But the priestess feared to tread
The awful threshold, and with vain deceits
Sought to dissuade the chieftain from his zeal
To learn the future. ' What this hope,' she cried,
Roman, that moves thy breast to know the fates?
'Long has Parnassus and its silent cleft
'Stifled the god; perhaps the breath divine
'Has left its ancient gorge and through the world
'Wanders in devious paths; or else the fane,
'Consumed to ashes by barbarian fire,
'Closed up the deep recess and choked the path
'Of Phoebus; or the ancient Sibyl's books
'Disclosed enough of fate, and thus the gods
'Decreed to close the oracle; or else
'Since wicked steps are banished from the fane,
'In this our impious age the god finds none
'Whom he may answer.' But the maiden's guile
Was known, for though she would deny the gods
Her fears approved them. On her front she binds
A twisted fillet, while a shining wreath
Of Phocian laurels crowns the locks that flow
Upon her shoulders. Hesitating yet,
The priest compelled her, and she passed within.
But horror filled her of the holiest depths
From which the mystic oracle proceeds;
And resting near the doors, in breast unmoved
She dares invent the god in words confused,
Which proved no mind possessed with fire divine;
By such false chant less injuring the chief
Than faith in Phoebus and the sacred fane.
No burst of words with tremor in their tones,
No voice re-echoing through the spacious vault
Proclaimed the deity, no bristling locks
Shook off the laurel chaplet; but the grove
Unshaken, and the summits of the shrine,
Gave proof she shunned the god. The Roman knew
The tripods yet were idle, and in rage,
'Wretch,' he exclaimed, 'to us and to the gods,
'Whose presence thou pretendest, thou shalt pay
'The punishment; unless thou enter the recess,
'And cease to speak in phrases of thine own
Of this vast conflict, of a world by war
'Convulsed and shaken.' Then by fear compelled,
At length the priestess sought the furthest depths,
And stayed beside the tripods; and there came
Into her unaccustomed breast the god,
Breathed from the living rock for centuries
Untouched; nor ever with a mightier power
Did Paean's inspiration seize the frame
Of Delphic priestess; his pervading touch
Expelled the mortal, and her former mind,
And made her wholly his. In maddened trance
She whirled throughout the cave, her locks erect
With horror, and the fillets of the god
Dashed to the ground; her steps unguided turned
To this side and to that; the tripods fell
O'erturned; within her seethed the mighty fire
Of angry Phoebus; nor with whip alone
He urged her onwards, but with curb restrained;
Nor was it given her by the god to speak
All that she knew; for into one vast mass
All time was gathered, and her panting chest
Groaned 'neath the centuries. In order long
All things lay bare: the future yet unveiled
Struggled for light; each fate required a voice;
The compass of the seas, Creation's birth,
Creation's death, the number of the sands,
All these she knew. Thus on a former day
The prophetess upon the Cuman shore,
Disdaining that her frenzy should be slave
To other nations, from the boundless threads
Chose out with pride of hand the fates of Rome.
E'en so Phemonoe, for a time oppressed
With fates unnumbered, laboured ere she found,
Beneath such mighty destinies concealed,
Thine, Appius, who alone hadst sought the god
In land Castalian; then from foaming lips
First rushed the madness forth, and murmurs loud
Uttered with panting breath and blent with groans;
Till through the spacious vault a voice at length
Broke from the virgin conquered by the god:
'From this great struggle thou, O Roman, free
'Escap'st the threats of war: alive, in peace,
'Thou shalt possess the hollow in the coast
'Of vast Euboea.' Thus she spake, no more.
Ye mystic tripods, guardians of the fates
And Paean, thou, from whom no day is hid
By heaven's high rulers, Master of the truth,
Why fear'st thou to reveal the deaths of kings,
Rome's murdered princes, and the latest doom
Of her great Empire tottering to its fall,
And all the bloodshed of that western land?
Were yet the stars in doubt on Magnus' fate
Not yet decreed, and did the gods yet shrink
From that, the greatest crime? Or wert thou dumb
That Fortune's sword for civil strife might wreak
Just vengeance, and a Brutus' arm once more
Strike down the tyrant?
From the temple doors
Rushed forth the prophetess in frenzy driven,
Not all her knowledge uttered; and her eyes,
Still troubled by the god who reigned within,
Or filled with wild affright, or fired with rage
Gaze on the wide expanse: still works her face
Convulsive; on her cheeks a crimson blush
With ghastly pallor blent, though not of fear.
Her weary heart throbs ever; and as seas
Boom swollen by northern winds, she finds in sighs,
All inarticulate, relief. But while
She hastes from that dread light in which she saw
The fates, to common day, lo! on her path
The darkness fell. Then by a Stygian draught
Of the forgetful river, Phoebus snatched
Back from her soul his secrets; and she fell
Yet hardly living. Nor did Appius dread
Approaching death, but by dark oracles
Baffled, while yet the Empire of the world
Hung in the balance, sought his promised realm
In Chalcis of Euboea. Yet to escape
All ills of earth, the crash of war-what god
Can give thee such a boon, but death alone?
For on the solitary shore a grave
Awaits thee, where Carystos' marble crags
Draw in the passage of the sea, and where
The fane of Rhamnus rises to the gods
Who hate the proud, and where the ocean strait
Boils in swift whirlpools, and Euripus draws
Deceitful in his tides, a bane to ships,
Chalcidian vessels to bleak Aulis' shore.

> Latin: Hesperio tantum, quantum submotus Eoo
Cardine, Parnasus gemino petit aethera colle,
Mons Phoebo Bromioque sacer cui numine mixto
Delphica Thebanae referunt trieterica Bacchae.
Hoc solum fluctu terras mergente cacumen
Emicuit, pontoque fuit discrimen et astris.
Tu quoque vix summam seductus ab aequore rupem
Extuleras, unoque iugo, Parnase, latebas.
Ultor ibi expulsae, premeret cum viscera partus,
Matris, adhuc rudibus Paean Pythona sagittis
Explicuit, cum regna Themis tripodasque teneret.
Ut vidit Paean vastos telluris hiatus
Divinam spirare fidem, ventosque loquaces
Exhalare solum, sacris se condidit antris,
Incubuitque adyto, vates ibi factus Apollo.
Quis latet hic superum? quod numen ab aethere pressum
Dignatur caecas inclusum habitare cavernas?
Quis terram coeli patitur deus, omnia cursus
Aeterni secreta tenens, mundique futuri
Conscius, ac populis sese proferre paratus,
Contactusque ferens hominum, magnusque potensque,
Sive canit fatum, seu, quod iubet ille canendo,
Fit fatum? Forsan terris inserta regendis,
Aere libratum vacuo quae sustinet orbem,
Totius pars magna Iovis, Cirrhaea per antra
Exit, et aetherio trahitur connexa Tonanti.
Hoc ubi virgineo conceptum est pectore numen,
Humanam feriens animam sonat, oraque vatis
Solvit, ceu Siculus flammis urgentibus Aetnam
Undat apex: Campana fremens ceu saxa vaporat
Conditus Inarimes aeterna mole Typhoeus.
Hoc tamen expositum cunctis nullique negatum
Numen ab humani solum se labe furoris
Vindicat. Haud illic tacito mala vota susurro
Concipiunt. Nam, fixa canens mutandaque nulli,
Mortales optare vetat: iustisque benignus
Saepe dedit sedem totas mutantibus urbes,
Ut Tyriis: dedit ille minas impellere belli,
Ut Salaminiacum meminit mare: sustulit iras
Telluris sterilis, monstrato fine: resolvit
Aera tabificum. Non ullo saecula dono
Nostra carent maiore deum, quam Delphica sedes
Quod siluit, postquam rege timuere futura,
Et superos vetuere loqui. Nec, voce negata,
Cirrhaeae moerent vates; templique fruuntur
Iustitio. Nam si qua deus sub pectora venit,
Numinis aut poena est mors immatura recepti,
Aut pretium: quippe stimulo fluctuque furoris
Compages humana labat, pulsusque deorum
Concutiunt fragiles animas. Sic tempore longo
Immotos tripodas vastaeque silentia rupis
Appius Hesperii scrutator ad ultima fati
Sollicitat. Iussus sedes laxare verendas
Antistes, pavidamque deis immittere vatem,
Castalios circum latices nemorumque recessus
Phemonoen errore vagam curisque vacantem
Corripuit, cogitque fores irrumpere templi.
Limine terrifico metuens consistere Phoebas,
Absterrere ducem noscendi ardore futura
Cassa fraude parat. Quid spes, ait, improba veri
Te, Romane, trahit? Muto Parnasus hiatu
Conticuit, pressitque deum: seu spiritus istas
Destitit fauces, mundique in devia versum
Duxit iter: seu, barbarica cum lampade Python
Arsit, in immensas oneres abiere cavernas,
Et Phoebi tenuere viam: seu sponte deorum
Cirrha silet, fatique sat est arcana futuri
Carmine longaevae vobis commissa Sibyllae:
Seu Paean, solitus templis arcere nocentes,
Ora quibus solvat, nostro non invenit aevo.
Virginei patuere doli, fecitque negatis
Numinibus metus ipse fidem. Tum torta priores
Stringit vitta comas, crinesque in terga solutos
Candida Phocaica complectitur infula lauro.
Haerentem dubiamque premens in templa sacerdos
Impulit. Illa, pavens adyti penetrale remoti
Fatidicum, prima templorum in parte resistit,
Atque, deum simulans, sub pectore ficta quieto
Verba refert, nullo confusae murmure vocis
Instinctam sacro mentem testata furore,
Haud aeque laesura ducem, cui falsa canebat,
Quam tripodas, Phoebique fidem. Non rupta trementi
Verba sono, nec vox antri complere capacis
Sufficiens spatium, nulloque horrore comarum
Excussae laurus, immotaque culmina templi,
Securumque nemus, veritam se credere Phoebo
Prodiderant. Sentit tripodas cessare, furensque
Appius: Et nobis meritas dabis, impia, poenas,
Et superis, quos fingis, ait, nisi mergeris antris,
Deque orbis trepidi tanto consulta tumultu
Desinis ipsa loqui. Tandem conterrita virgo
Confugit ad tripodas, vastisque abducta cavernis
Haesit, et insueto concepit pectore numen,
Quod non exhaustae per tot iam saecula rupis
Spiritus ingessit vati: tandemque potitus
Pectore Cirrhaeo, non umquam plenior artus
Phoebados irrupit Paean: mentemque priorem
Expulit, atque hominem toto sibi cedere iussit
Pectore. Bacchatur demens aliena per antrum
Colla ferens, vittasque dei Phoebeaque serta
Erectis discussa comis, per inania templi
Ancipiti cervice rotat, spargitque vaganti
Obstantes tripodas, magnoque exaestuat igne,
Iratum te, Phoebe, ferens. Nec verbere solo
Uteris et stimulis, flammasque in viscera mergis:
Accipit et fraenos: nec tantum prodere vati,
Quantum scire, licet. Venit aetas omnis in unam
Congeriem: miserumque premunt tot saecula pectus.
Tanta patet rerum series, atque omne futurum
Nititur in lucem: vocemque petentia fata
Luctantur: non prima dies, non ultima mundi,
Non modus Oceani, numerus non deerat arenae.
Talis in Euboico vates Cumana recessu,
Indignata suum multis servire furorem
Gentibus, ex tanta fatorum strage superba
Excerpsit Romana manu. Sic plena laborat
Phemonoe Phoebo, dum te, consultor operti
Castalia tellure dei, vix invenit, Appi,
Inter fata diu quaerens tam magna latentem.
Spumea tunc primum rabies vesana per ora
Effluit, et gemitus, et anhelo clara meatu
Murmura: tunc moestus vastis ululatus in antris,
Extremaeque sonant, domita iam virgine, voces:
Effugis ingentes, tanti discriminis expers,
Bellorum, o Romane, minas: solusque quietem
Euboici vasta lateris convalle tenebis.
Caetera suppressit, faucesque obstruxit Apollo.
Custodes tripodes fatorum, arcanaque mundi,
Tuque potens veri Paean, nullumque futuri
A superis celate diem, suprema ruentis
Imperii, caesosque duces, et funera regum,
Et tot in Hesperio collapsas sanguine gentes
Cur aperire times? An nondum numina tantum
Decrevere nefas? et adhuc dubitantibus astris
Pompeii damnare caput, tot fata tenentur?
Vindicis an gladii facinus, poenasque furoris,
Regnaque ad ultores iterum redeuntia Brutos,
Ut peragat fortuna, taces? Tunc pectore vatis
Impactae cessere fores, expulsaque templis
Prosiluit. Perstat rabies; nec cuncta locutae,
Quem non emisit, superest deus. Illa feroces
Torquet adhuc oculos, totoque vagantia coelo
Lumina, nunc vultu pavido, nunc torva minaci:
Stat numquam facies: rubor igneus inficit ora,
Liventesque genas: nec, qui solet esse timenti,
Terribilis sed pallor inest: nec fessa quiescunt
Corda; sed, ut tumidus Boreae post flamina pontus
Rauca gemit, sic muta levant suspiria vatem.
Dumque a luce sacra, qua vidit fata, refertur
Ad vulgare iubar, mediae venere tenebrae.
Immisit Stygiam Paean in viscera Lethen,
Quae raperet secreta deum. Tunc pectore verum
Fugit, et ad Phoebi tripodas rediere futura:
Vixque refecta cadit. Nec te vicinia leti
Territat, ambiguis frustratum sortibus, Appi:
Iure sed incerto mundi, subsidere regnum
Chalcidos Euboicae, vana spe rapte, parabas.
Heu demens, nullum belli sentire fragorem,
Tot mundi caruisse malis, praestare deorum
Excepta quis morte potest? Secreta tenebis
Litoris Euboici, memorando condite busto,
Qua maris angustat fauces saxosa Carystos,
Et tumidis infesta colit qua numina Rhamnus,
Arctatus rapida fervet qua gurgite pontus,
Euripusque trahit, cursum mutantibus undis,
Chalcidicas puppes ad iniquam classibus Aulim.

[¶2] But Caesar carried from the conquered west
His eagles to another world of war;
When envying his victorious course the gods
Almost turned back the prosperous tide of fate.
Not on the battle-field borne down by arms,
But in his tents, within the rampart lines,
The hoped-for prize of this unholy war
Seemed for a moment gone. That faithful host,
His comrades trusted in a hundred fields,
Almost forsook him. The sad trump perchance
Mute for a moment, and the blade in sheath
Grown cold, had tamed their frenzy for the war;
Or else in hope of greater gifts, their cause
And leader they betrayed, and sold the sword
Still soiled with murder. By no other risk
Caesar more surely learned how as he looked
O'er all things else, the height on which he stood
Trembled beneath him. But a moment since
His high behest drew nations to the war;
Now, maimed of all who smote, no weapon left
Saving his own, he knows that swords unsheathed
Are wielded by the soldier, not the chief.
No timorous voice was there; no silent wrath
Concealed; nor doubting mind, as though alone
Indignant at the wrong, and in distrust
Of those in turn distrusting. Fear in each
Had fled before the boldness of the host:
The crime is free where thousands bear the guilt.
They hurled their menace: 'Caesar, give us leave
'To quit thy crimes; thou seek'st by land and sea
'The sword to slay us; let the fields of Gaul
And far Iberia, and the world proclaim
'How for thy victories our comrades fell.
'What boots it us that by an army's blood
'The Rhine and Rhone and all the northern lands
'Thou hast subdued? Thou giv'st us civil war
'For all these battles; such the prize. When fled
'The Senate trembling, and when Rome was ours
'What homes or temples did we spoil? Our hands
'Reek with offence! Aye, but our poverty
'Proclaims our innocence! What end shall be
Of arms and armies? What shall be enough
'If Rome suffice not? and what lies beyond?
'Behold these silvered locks, these nerveless hands
'And shrunken arms, once stalwart! In thy wars
'Gone is the strength of life, gone all its pride!
'Dismiss thine aged soldiers to their deaths.
'How shameless is our prayer! Not on hard turf
'To stretch our dying limbs; nor seek in vain,
' When parts the soul, a hand to close our eyes;
'Not with the helm to strike the stony ground:
' Rather to feel the dear one's last embrace,
' And gain a humble but a separate tomb.
'Let sickness end old age. If Caesar's slaves,
' Let something more than battle be our doom.
' Deem'st thou we are thy dupes? that we alone
' In civil war are ignorant what crime
' Will fetch the highest price? What thou canst dare
' These years have proved, or nothing; law divine
' Nor human ordinance shall hold thine hand.
'He was our leader on the banks of Rhine;
' Now is our equal; for the stain of crime
' Makes all men like. And for a judge ingrate
' We waste our valour; for as fortune's gift
' He takes the victory which our arms have won:
'But we his fortunes are, his fates are ours
'To fashion as we will. Boast that the gods
' Shall do thy bidding! Nay, thy soldiers' will
' Shall close the war.' With threatening mien and speech
Thus through the camp the troops demand their chief.
When faith and loyalty are fled, and hope
For aught but evil, thus may civil war
In mutiny and discord find its end!
What general had not feared at such revolt?
But mighty Caesar trusting on the throw,
As was his wont, his fortune, and o'erjoyed
To front their anger raging at its height
Unflinching comes. No temples of the gods,
Not Jove's high fane on the Tarpeian rock,
Not Rome's high dames nor maidens had he grudged
To their most savage lust: that they should ask
The worst, his wish, and love the spoils of war.
Nor feared he aught save order at the hands
Of that unconquered host. Art thou not shamed
That strife should please thee only, now condemned
Even by thy minions? Shall they shrink from blood,
They from the sword recoil? and thou rush on
Heedless of guilt, through right and through unright,
Nor learn that men may lay their arms aside
Yet bear to live? This civil butchery
Escapes thy grasp. Stay thou thy crimes at length;
Nor force thy will on those who will no more.
Upon a turfy mound unmoved he stood
And, since he feared not, worthy to be feared;
And thus while anger stirred his soul began:
' Thou that with voice and hand didst rage but now
' Against thine absent chief, behold me here;
Plunge in this breast, all ready for the wound
And bare, thy sword; and end the war and flee.
This mutiny devoid of daring deed
Betrays your coward souls, betrays the youth
' Who tires of victories which gild the arms
Of an unconquered chief, and yearns for flight.
Leave me to fate; with that I'll wage the war
You I cast forth. For every weapon left,
Fortune shall find a man, to wield it well.
Shall Magnus in his flight with such a fleet
Draw nations in his train; and not to me
' My victories bring legions? They shall reap
' For its mere close the prizes of the war
' Won by your toil, and scatheless join the train
'That leads my chariot to the sacred hill:
' While you, despised in age and battle worn,
' Gaze on our triumph from the civic crowd.
' Think you your dastard flight shall give me pause?
' If all the rivers that now seek the sea
' Were to withdraw their waters, it would fail
' By not one inch, no more than by their flow
'It rises now. Have then your efforts given
' Strength to my cause? Not so: the heavenly gods
' Stoop not so low; fate has no time to judge
' Your lives and deaths. The fortunes of the world
' Follow heroic souls: for the fit few
'The many live; and you who terrified
' With me the northern and Iberian worlds,
' Would flee when led by Magnus. Strong with me
' Was Labienus: vile deserter now;
' A homeless exile with his chief preferred.
' Nor were your faith more firm if, neither side
'Espoused, you ceased from arms. Who leaves me once,
'Though not to fight against me with the foe,
'Joins not my ranks again. Surely the gods
'Smile on these arms who for so great a war
'Grant me fresh soldiers. From what heavy load
'Fortune relieves me! for the hands which aimed
'At all, to which the world did not suffice,
'I now disarm, and for myself alone
'Reserve the conflict. Quit ye, then, my camp,
'And leave my standards to the grasp of men,
'Coward Quirites! But some guilty few
'I keep, not as their captain, but their judge.
'Lie, traitors, prone on earth, stretch out the neck
'And take th' avenging blow. And thou whose strength
'Shall now support me, young and yet untaught,
'Behold the doom and learn to strike and die.'
Such were his words of ire, and all the host
Drew back and trembled at the voice of him
They would depose, as though their very swords
Would from their scabbards leap at his command
Themselves unwilling; but he only feared
Lest hand and blade to satisfy the doom
Might be denied; till they submitting pledged
Their lives and swords alike, beyond his hope.
To strike and suffer holds in surest thrall
The heart inured to guilt; and Caesar kept,
By dreadful compact ratified in blood,
Those whom he feared to lose.

> Latin: Interea domitis Caesar remeabat Iberis,
Victrices aquilas alium laturus in orbem:
Cum prope fatorum tantos per prospera cursus
Avertere dei. Nullo nam Marte subactus,
Intra castrorum timuit tentoria ductor
Perdere successus scelerum: cum paene fideles
Per tot bella manus, satiatae sanguine, tandem
Destituere ducem: seu moesto classica paullum
Intermissa sono, claususque et frigidus ensis
Expulerat belli furias: seu praemia miles
Dum maiora petit, damnat caussamque ducemque,
Et scelere imbutos etiamnunc venditat enses.
Haud magis expertus discrimine Caesar in ullo est,
Quam non e stabili, tremulo sed culmine cuncta
Despiceret, staretque super titubantia fultus:
Tot raptis truncus manibus, gladioque relictus
Paene suo, qui tot gentes in bella trahebat,
Scit non esse ducis strictos, sed militis, enses.
Non pavidum iam murmur erat, nec pectore tecto
Ira latens: nam quae dubias constringere mentes
Caussa solet, dum quisque pavet, quibus ipse timori est,
Seque putat solum regnorum iniusta gravari,
Haud retinet. Quippe ipsa metus exsolverat audax
Turba suos. Quidquid multis peccatur, inultum est.
Effudere minas: Liceat discedere, Caesar,
A rabie scelerum. Quaeris terraque marique
His ferrum iugulis, animasque effundere viles
Quolibet hoste paras. Partem tibi Gallia nostri
Eripuit: partem duris Hispania bellis:
Pars iacet Hesperia: totoque exercitus orbe
Te vincente perit. Terris fudisse cruorem
Quid iuvat Arctois, Rhodano Rhenoque subactis?
Tot mihi pro bellis bellum civile dedisti.
Cepimus expulso patriae cum tecta senatu,
Quos hominum, vel quos licuit spoliare deorum?
Imus in omne nefas, manibus ferroque nocentes,
Paupertate pii. Finis quis quaeritur armis?
Quid satis est, si Roma parum? Iam respice canos,
Invalidasque manus, et inanes cerne lacertos.
Usus abit vitae, bellis consumsimus aevum:
Ad mortem dimitte senes. En, improba vota!
Non duro liceat morientia cespite membra
Ponere, non anima glebam fugiente ferire,
Atque oculos morti clausuram quaerere dextram
Coniugis illabi lacrimis, unique paratum
Scire rogum. Liceat morbis finire senectam.
Sit praeter gladios aliquod sub Caesare fatum.
Quid, velut ignaros ad quae portenta paremur,
Spe trahis? Usque adeo soli civilibus armis
Nescimus cuius sceleris sit maxima merces?
Nil actum est bellis, si nondum comperit, istas
Omnia posse manus. Nec fas nec vincula iuris
Hoc audere vetant. Rheni mihi Caesar in undis
Dux erat, hic socius. Facinus quos inquinat, aequat.
Adde, quod ingrato meritorum iudice virtus
Nostra perit. Quidquid gerimus, fortuna vocatur.
Nos fatum sciat esse suum. Licet omne deorum
Obsequium speres: irato milite, Caesar,
Pax erit. Haec fatus, totis discurrere castris
Coeperat, infestoque ducem deposcere vultu.
Sic eat, o superi! quando pietasque fidesque
Destituunt, moresque malos sperare relictum est,
Finem civili faciat discordia bello.
Quem non ille ducem potuit terrere tumultus?
Fata sed in praeceps solitus demittere Caesar,
Fortunamque suam per summa pericula gaudens
Exercere, venit: nec, dum desaeviat ira,
Expectat; medios properat tentare furores.
Non illis urbes spoliandaque templa negasset,
Tarpeiamque Iovis sedem, matresque senatus,
Passurasque infanda nurus. Vult omnia certe
A se saeva peti, vult praemia Martis amari:
Militia indomiti tantum mens sana timetur.
Non pudet heu, Caesar, soli tibi bella placere
Iam manibus damnata tuis? hos ante pigebit
Sanguinis? his ferri grave ins erit ipse per omne
Fasque nefasque rues Lassare, et disce sine armis
Posse pati: liceat scelerum tibi ponere finem.
Saeve, quid insequeris quid iam nolentibus instas?
Bellum te civile fugit. Stetit aggere fulti
Cespitis, intrepidus vultu, meruitque timeri
Non metuens: atque haec ira dictante profatur:
Qui modo in absentem vultu dextraque furebas,
Miles, habes nudum promtumque ad vulnera pectus.
Hic fuge, si belli finis placet, ense relicto.
Detegit imbelles animos nil fortiter ausa
Seditio, tantumque fugam meditata iuventus,
Ac ducis invicti rebus lassata secundis.
Vadite, meque meis ad bella relinquite fatis:
Invenient haec arma manus, vobisque repulsis
Tot reddet Fortuna viros, quot tela vacabunt.
Anne fugam Magni tanta cum classe sequuntur
Hesperiae gentes, nobis victoria turbam
Non dabit, impulsi tantum quae praemia belli
Auferat et, vestri rapta mercede laboris,
Lauriferos nullo comitetur vulnere currus?
Vos despecta, senes, exhaustaque sanguine turba
Cernetis nostros iam plebs Romana triumphos.
Caesaris an cursus vestrae sentire putatis
Damnum posse fugae? veluti, si cuncta minentur
Flumina, quos miscent pelago, subducere fontes,
Non magis ablatis umquam descenderet aequor,
Quam nunc crescit, aquis. An vos momenta putatis
Ulla dedisse mihi? Numquam sic cura deorum
Se premit, ut vestrae morti vestraeque saluti
Fata vacent. Procerum motus haec cuncta sequuntur.
Humanum paucis vivit genus. Orbis Iberi
Horror et Arctoi nostro sub nomine miles,
Pompeio certe fugeres duce. Fortis in armis
Caesareis Labienus erat: nunc, transfuga vilis,
Cum duce praelato terras atque aequora lustrat.
Nec melior mihi vestra fides, si bella nec hoste
Nec duce me geritis. Quisquis mea signa relinquit,
Nec Pompeianis tradit sua partibus arma,
Hic numquam vult esse meus. Sunt ista profecto
Curae castra deis, qui me committere tantis
Non nisi mutato voluerunt milite bellis.
Heu, quantum Fortuna humeris iam pondera fessis
Amolitur onus! sperantes omnia dextras
Exarmare datur, quibus hic non sufficit orbis.
Iam certe mihi bella geram: discedite castris,
Tradite nostra viris ignavi signa Quirites.
At paucos, quibus haec rabies auctoribus arsit,
Non Caesar, sed poena tenet. Procumbite terra,
Infidumque caput feriendaque tendite colla.
Et tu, quo solo stabunt iam robore castra,
Tiro rudis, specta poenas, et disce ferire,
Disce mori. Tremuit saeva sub voce minantis
Vulgus iners: unumque caput tam magna iuventus
Privatum factura timet: velut ensibus ipsis
Imperet, invito moturus milite ferrum.
Ipse pavet, ne tela sibi dextraeque negentur
Ad scelus hoc Caesar: vicit patientia saevi
Spem ducis, et iugulos, non tantum praestitit enses.
Nil magis, adsuetas sceleri quam perdere mentes,
Atque perire timet; tam diro foederis ictu
Parta quies, poenaque redit placata iuventus.

[¶3] He bids them reach
In ten days' march Brundusium, and recall
From old Tarentum and from Hydrus lone
His navy, and from Leucas' point remote,
And the Salapian marsh where Sipus lies
By rich Garganus, jutting from the shore
In huge escarpment that divides the waves
Of Hadria; on each hand, his seaward slopes
Buffeted by the winds; or Auster borne
From sweet Apulia, or the sterner blast
Of Boreas rushing from Dalmatian strands.
But Caesar entered safe without a guard
Rome, trembling, taught to serve the garb of peace,
Dictator named, to grant their prayers, forsooth:
Consul, in honour of the roll of Rome.
Then first of all the names by which we now
Lie to our masters, men found out the use:
For to preserve his right to wield the sword
He mixed the civil axes with his brands;
With eagles, fasces; with an empty word
Clothing his power; and stamped upon the time
A worthy designation; for what name
Could better mark the dread Pharsalian year
Than 'Caesar, Consul'? Now the famous field
Pretends its ancient ceremonies: calls
The tribes in order and divides the votes
In vain solemnity of empty urns.
Nor did they heed the portents of the sky:
Deaf were the augurs to the thunder roll;
The owl flew on the left; yet were the birds
Propitious sworn. Then was the ancient name
Degraded first; and monthly Consuls, now
Shorn of their rank, were chosen to mark the years.
And Trojan Alba's god (since Latium's fall
Deserving not) beheld the wonted fires
Blaze from his altars on the festal night.
Then through Apulia's fallows, which her hinds
Left all untilled, to sluggish weeds a prey
Passed Caesar onward, swifter than the fire
Of heaven, or tigress dam: until he reached
Brundusium's winding ramparts, built of old
By Cretan colonists. There icy winds
Constrained the billows, and his trembling fleet
Feared for the winter storms nor dared the main.
But Caesar's soul burned at the moments lost
For speedy battle, nor could brook delay
Within the port, indignant that the sea
Should give safe passage to his routed foe:
And thus he stirred his troops, in seas unskilled,
With words of courage: 'When the winter wind
'Has seized on sky and ocean, firm its hold;
But the inconstancy of cloudy spring
'Permits no certain breezes to prevail
'Upon the billows. Straight shall be our course.
'No winding nooks of coast, but open seas
Struck by the northern wind alone we plough,
'And may he bend the spars, and bear us swift
'To Grecian cities; else Pompeius' ships
'From coasts Phaeacian, with their swifter oars
May catch our flagging sails. Cast loose the ropes
'From our victorious prows. Too long we waste
'Tempests that blow to bear us to our goal.'
Now sank the sun to rest; the evening star
Shone on the darkening heaven, and the moon
Reigned with her paler light, when all the fleet
Freed from retaining cables seized the main.
With slackened sheet the canvas wooed the breeze,
Which rose and fell and fitful died away,
Till motionless the sails, and all the waves
Were still as deepest pool, where never wind
Ripples the surface. Thus in Scythian climes
Cimmerian Bosphorus restrains the deep
Bound fast in frosty fetters; Ister's streams
No more impel the main, and ships constrained
Stand fast in ice; and while in depths below
The waves still murmur, loud the charger's hoof
Sounds on the surface, and the travelling wheel
Furrows a track upon the frozen marsh.
Cruel as tempest was the calm that lay
In stagnant pools upon the mournful deep:
Against the course of nature lay outstretched
A rigid ocean: 'twas as if the sea
Forgat its ancient ways and knew no more
The ceaseless tides, nor any breeze of heaven,
Nor quivered at the image of the sun,
Mirrored upon its wave. For while the fleet
Hung in mid passage motionless, the foe
Might hurry to attack, with sturdy stroke
Churning the deep; or famine's deadly grip
Might seize the ships becalmed. For dangers new
New vows they found: for tempests was their prayer,
To rouse the billows till the watery plain
Freed from its torpor should be sea once more.
But cloudless was the sky and calm the deep,
All hope of shipwreck gone, till night was fled,
And marred by gathering mist the day arose
And stirred the depths, and moved the fleet along
Towards the Ceraunian headland; and the waves
And favouring breezes followed on the ships,
Now speeding faster, till (their goal attained)
They cast their anchors on Palaeste's shore.
This land first saw the chiefs in neighbouring camps
Confronted, which the streams of Apsus bound
And swifter Genusus; a lengthy course
Is run by neither, but on Apsus' waves
Scarce flowing from a marsh, the frequent boat
Finds room to swim; while on the foamy bed
Of Genusus by sun or shower compelled
The melted snows pour seawards. Here were met
(So Fortune ordered it) the mighty pair;
And in its woes the world yet vainly hoped
That, brought to nearer touch, their crime itself
Might breed abhorrence: for from either camp
Voices were clearly heard and features seen.
Nor e'er, Pompeius, since that distant day
When Caesar's daughter and thy spouse was reft
By pitiless fate away, nor left a pledge,
Did thy loved kinsman (save on sands of Nile)
So nearly look upon thy face again.

> Latin: Brundusium decimis iubet hanc adtingere castris,
Et cunctas revocare rates, quas avius Hydrus,
Antiquusque Taras, secretaque litora Leucae,
Quas recipit Salapina palus, et subdita Sipus
Montibus: Ausoniam qua torquens frugifer oram,
Dalmatico Boreae, Calabroque obnoxius Austro
Appulus Hadriacas exit Garganus in undas.
Ipse petit trepidam tutus sine milite Romam,
Iam doctam servire togae: populoque precanti
Scilicet indulgens, summum dictator honorem
Contigit, et laetos fecit se console fastos.
Namque omnes voces, per quas iam tempore tanto
Mentimur dominis, haec primum reperit aetas,
Qua sibi ne ferri ius ullum Caesar abesset,
Ausonias voluit gladiis miscere secures.
Addidit et fasces aquilis, et nomen inane
Imperii rapiens, signavit tempora digna
Moesta nota. Nam quo melius Pharsalicus annus
Consule notus erit? Fingit solemnis Campus,
Et non admissae dirimit suffragia plebis,
Decantatque tribus, et vana versat in urna.
Nec coelum servare licet: tonat augure surdo,
Et laetae iurantur aves, bubone sinistro.
Inde perit primum quondam veneranda potestas
Iuris inops: careat tantum ne nomine tempus,
Menstruus in fastos distinguit saecula consul.
Nec non Iliacae numen quod praesidet Albae,
Haud meritum Latio sollemnia sacra subacto,
Vidit flammifera confectas nocte Latinas.
Inde rapit cursus, et, quae piger Appulus arva
Deseruit rastris, et inerti tradidit herbae,
Ocior et coeli flammis et tigride foeta
Transcurrit; curvique tenens Minoia tecta
Brundusii, clausas ventis brumalibus undas
Invenit, et pavidas hiberno sidere classes.
Turpe duci visum, rapiendi tempora belli
In segnes exisse moras, portuque teneri,
Dum pateat tutum vel non felicibus aequor.
Expertes animos pelagi sic robore complet:
Fortius hiberni flatus, coelumque fretumque
Cum cepere, tenent, quam quos incumbere certos
Perfida nubiferi vetat inconstantia veris.
Nec maris anfractus lustrandaque litora nobis,
Sed recti fluctus soloque Aquilone secandi.
Hic utinam summi curvet carchesia mali,
Incumbatque furens, et Graia ad moenia perflet,
Ne Pompeiani Phaeacum e litore toto
Languida iactatis comprendant carbasa remis:
Rumpite, quae retinent felices vincula proras.
Iamdudum nubes et saevas perdimus undas.
Sidera prima poli, Phoebo labente sub undas,
Exierant, et luna suas iam fecerat umbras,
Cum pariter solvere rates, totosque rudentes
Laxavere sinus: et flexo navita cornu
Obliquat laevo pede carbasa, summaque pandens
Suppara velorum perituras colligit auras.
Ut primum levior propellere lintea ventus
Incipit, exiguumque tument, mox reddita malo
In mediam cecidere ratem: terraque relicta,
Non valet ipsa sequi puppes, quae vexerat aura.
Aequora lenta iacent, alto torpore ligata.
Pigrius immotis haesere paludibus undae.
Sic stat iners Scythicas adstringens Bosporus undas,
Cum, glacie retinente, fretum non impulit Ister,
Immensumque gelu tegitur mare: comprimit unda,
Deprendit quascunque rates: nec pervia velis
Aequora frangit eques, fluctuque latente sonantem
Orbita migrantis scindit Maeotida Bessi.
Saeva quies pelagi, moestoque ignava profundo
Stagna iacentis aquae: veluti deserta rigente
Aequora natura cessant, pontusque vetustas
Oblitus servare vices, non commeat aestu,
Non horrore tremit, non solis imagine vibrat
Casibus innumeris fixae patuere carinae,
Illinc infestae classes et inertia tonsis
Aequora moturae; gravis hinc languore profundi
Obsessis ventura fames. Nova vota timori
Sunt inventa novo, fluctus nimiasque precari
Ventorum vires, dum se torpentibus unda
Excutiat stagnis, et sit mare. Nubila nusquam
Undarumque minae: coelo languente fretoque,
Naufragii spes omnis abit. Sed nocte fugata,
Laesum nube dies iubar extulit, imaque sensim
Concussit pelagi, movitque Ceraunia nautis.
Inde rapi coepere rates, atque aequora classem
Curva sequi, quae iam vento fluctuque secundo
Lapsa Palaestinas uncis confixit arenas.
Prima duces vidit iunctis consistere castris
Tellus, quam volucer Genusus, quam mollior Apsus
Circueunt ripis. Apso gestare carinas
Caussa palus, leni quam fallens egerit unda.
At Genusum nunc sole nives, nunc imbre solutae
Praecipitant: neuter longo se gurgite lassat,
Sed minimum terrae, vicino litore, novit.
Hoc fortuna loco tantae duo nomina famae
Composuit: miserique fuit spes irrita mundi
Posse duces parva campi statione diremtos
Admotum damnare nefas. Nam cernere vultus
Et voces audire datur: multosque per annos
Dilectus tibi, Magne, socer, post pignera tanta
Sanguinis, infausti sobolem mortemque nepotis,
Te nisi Niliaca propias non vidit arena.