“Yes, my young friends,” said Eumolpus, "poetry has led many astray. As soon as a man has shaped his verse in feet and woven into it a more delicate meaning with an ingenious circumlocution, he thinks that forthwith he has scaled Helicon. In this fashion people who are tired out with forensic oratory often take refuge in the calm of poetry as in some happier haven, supposing that a poem is easier to construct than a declamation adorned with quivering epigrams. But nobler souls do not love such coxcombry, and the mind cannot conceive or bring forth its fruit unless it is steeped in the vast flood of literature. One must flee away from all diction that is, so to speak, cheap, and choose words divorced from popular use, putting into practice, “I hate the common herd and hold it afar.” Besides, one must take care that the epigrams do not stand out from the body of the speech: they must shine with a brilliancy that is woven into the material. Homer proves this, and the lyric poets, and Roman Virgil, and the studied felicity of Horace. The others either did not see the path that leads to poetry, or saw it and were afraid to walk in it For instance, anyone who attempts the vast theme of the Civil War will sink under the burden unless he is full of literature. It is not a question of recording -real events in verse; historians can do that far better. The free spirit of genius must plunge headlong into allusions and divine interpositions, and rack itself for epigrams coloured by mythology, so that what results seems rather the prophecies of an inspired seer than the exactitude of a statement made on oath before witnesses: the following effusion will show what I mean, if it take your fancy, though it has not yet received my final touches....
“Multos [inquit Eumolpos, o] iuvenes carmen decepit. Nam ut quisque versum pedibus instruxit sensumque teneriorem verborum ambitu intexuit, putavit se continuo in Heliconem venisse. Sic forensibus ministeriis exercitati frequenter ad carminis tranquillitatem tanquam ad portum feliciorem refugerunt, credentes facilius poema exstrui posse, quam controversiam sententiolis vibrantibus pictam. Ceterum neque generosior spiritus vanitatem amat, neque concipere aut edere partum mens potest nisi ingenti flumine litterarum inundata. Refugiendum est ab omni verborum, ut ita dicam, vilitate et sumendae voces a plebe semotae, ut fiat 'odi profanum vulgus et arceo.' Praeterea curandum est, ne sententiae emineant extra corpus orationis expressae, sed intexto vestibus colore niteant. Homerus testis et lyrici Romanusque Vergilius et Horatii curiosa felicitas. Ceteri enim aut non viderunt viam, qua iretur ad carmen, aut visam timuerunt calcare. Ecce belli civilis ingens opus quisquis attigerit, nisi plenus litteris, sub onere labetur. Non enim res gestae versibus comprehendendae sunt, quod longe melius historici faciunt, sed per ambages deorumque ministeria et fabulosum sententiarum tormentum praecipitandus est liber spiritus, ut potius furentis animi vaticinatio appareat quam religiosae orationis sub testibus fides: tanquam si placet hic impetus, etiam si nondum recepit ultimam manum” …
"The conquering Roman now held the whole world, sea and land and the course of sun and moon. But he was not satisfied. Now the waters were stirred and troubled by his loaded ships; if there were any hidden bay beyond, or any land that promised a yield of yellow gold, that place was Rome's enemy, fate stood ready for the sorrows of war, and the quest for wealth went on. There was no happiness in familiar joys, or in pleasures dulled by the common man's use. The soldier out at sea would praise the bronze of Corinth; bright colours dug from earth rivalled the purple; here the African curses Rome, here the Chinaman plunders his marvellous silks, and the Arabian hordes have stripped their own fields bare. "Yet again more destruction, and peace hurt and bleeding. The wild beast is searched out in the woods at a great price, and men trouble Hammon deep in Africa to supply the beast whose teeth make him precious for slaying men; strange ravening creatures freight the fleets, and the padding tiger is wheeled in a gilded palace to drink the blood of men while the crowd applauds. I shrink from speaking plain and betraying our destiny of ruin; boys whose childhood is hardly begun are kidnapped in the Persian way, and the powers the knife has shorn are forced to the service of lust, and in order that the passing of man's finest age may be hedged round with delay and hold back the hurrying years, Nature seeks for herself, and finds herself not. So all take their pleasure in harlotry, and the halting steps of a feeble body, and in flowing hair and numberless clothes of new names, everything that ensnares mankind. "Tables of citron-wood are dug out of the soil of Africa and set up, the spots on them resembling gold which is cheaper than they, their polish reflecting hordes of slaves and purple clothes, to lure the senses. Round this barren and low-born wood there gathers a crowd drowned in drink, and the soldier of fortune gorges the whole spoils of the world while his weapons rust. "Gluttony is a fine art. The wrasse is brought alive to table in sea-water from Sicily, and the oysters torn from the banks of the Lucrine lake make a dinner famous, in order to renew men's hunger by their extravagance. All the birds are now gone from the waters of Phasis; the shore is quiet; only the empty air breathes on the lonely boughs. "The same madness is in public life, the true-born Roman is bought, and changes his vote for plunder and the cry of gain. The people are corrupt, the house of senators is corrupt, their support hangs on a price. The freedom and virtue of the old men had decayed, their power was swayed by largesse, even their dignity was stained by money and trodden in the dust. "Cato is beaten and driven out by the mob; his conqueror is more unhappy than he, and is ashamed to have torn the rods of office from Cato. For the shame of the nation and the fall of their character lay in this, that here was not only one man's defeat. In his person the power and glory of Rome was humbled. So Rome in her deep disgrace was herself both price and prize, and despoiled herself without an avenger. Moreover filthy usury and the handling of money had caught the common people in a double whirlpool, and destroyed them. Not a house is safe, not a man but is mortgaged; the madness spreads through their limbs, and trouble bays and hounds them down like some disease sown in the dumb flesh. In despair they turn to violence, and bloodshed restores the good things lost by luxury. A beggar can risk everything in safety. Could the spell of healthful reason stir Rome from the filth where she rolled in heavy sleep, or only madness and war and the lust wakened by the sword?
“Orbem iam totum victor Romanus habebat,qua mare, qua terrae, qua sidus currit utrumque.Nec satiatus erat. Gravidis freta pulsa carinisiam peragebantur; si quis sinus abditus ultra,si qua foret tellus, quae fulvum mitteret aurum,hostis erat, fatisque in tristia bella paratisquaerebantur opes. Non vulgo nota placebantgaudia, non usu plebeio trita voluptas.Aes Ephyreiacum laudabat miles in unda;quaesitus tellure nitor certaverat ostro;hinc Numidae accusant, illinc nova vellera Seres,atque Arabum populus sua despoliaverat arva.Ecce aliae clades et laesae vulnera pacis.Quaeritur in silvis auro fera, et ultimus HammonAfrorum excutitur, ne desit belua dentead mortes pretiosa; fames premit advena classes,tigris et aurata gradiens vectatur in aula,ut bibat humanum populo plaudente cruorem.Heu, pudet effari perituraque prodere fata,Persarum ritu male pubescentibus annissurripuere viros exsectaque viscera ferroin venerem fregere, atque ut fuga nobilis aevicircumscripta mora properantes differat annos,quaerit se natura nec invenit. Omnibus ergoscorta placent fractique enervi corpore gressuset laxi crines et tot nova nomina vestis,quaeque virum quaerunt. Ecce Afris eruta terriscitrea mensa greges servorum ostrumque renidens,ponitur ac maculis imitatur vilius aurumquae sensum trahat. Hoc sterile ac male nobile lignumturba sepulta mero circum venit, omniaque orbispraemia corruptis miles vagus esurit armis.Ingeniosa gula est. Siculo scarus aequore mersusad mensam vivus perducitur, atque Lucriniseruta litoribus vendunt conchylia cenas,ut renovent per damna famem. Iam Phasidos undaorbata est avibus, mutoque in litore tantumsolae desertis adspirant frondibus aurae.Nec minor in campo furor est, emptique Quiritesad praedam strepitumque lucri suffragia vertunt.Venalis populus, venalis curia patrum,est favor in pretio. Senibus quoque libera virtusexciderat, sparsisque opibus conversa potestasipsaque maiestas auro corrupta iacebat.Pellitur a populo victus Cato; tristior ille est,qui vicit, fascesque pudet rapuisse Catoni.Namque—hoc dedecoris populo morumque ruina—non homo pulsus erat, sed in uno victa potestasRomanumque decus. Quare tam perdita Romaipsa sui merces erat et sine vindice praeda.Praeterea gemino deprensam gurgite plebemfaenoris illuvies ususque exederat aeris.Nulla est certa domus, nullum sine pignore corpus,sed veluti tabes tacitis concepta medullisintra membra furens curis latrantibus errat.Arma placent miseris, detritaque commoda luxuvulneribus reparantur. Inops audacia tuta est.Hoc mersam caeno Romam somnoque iacentemquae poterant artes sana ratione movere,ni furor et bellum ferroque excita libido?” “
Fortune brought forth three generals, and the goddess of War and Death buried them all, each beneath a pile of arms. The Parthian has Crassus in keeping, Pompey the Great lies by the Libyan water, Julius stained ungrateful Rome with his blood; and as though the earth could not endure the burden of so many graves, she has separated their ashes. These are the wages paid by fame. "Between Parthenope and the fields of the great town of Dicarchis there lies a spot plunged deep in a cloven chasm, wet with the water of Cocytus: for the air that rushes furiously outward is laden with that baleful spray. The ground here is never green in autumn, the field does not prosper or nurture herbage on its turf, the soft thickets never ring nor are loud in springtime with the songs of rival birds, but chaos is there, and gloomy rocks of black pumice-stone lie happy in the gloom of the cypresses that mound them about. From this place the father of Dis lifted his head, lit with funeral flames and flecked with white ashes, and provoked winged Fortune with these words: "'Disposer of life in earth and heaven, Chance, always angry against power too firmly seated, everlasting lover of change and quick for saker of thy conquests, dost not thou feel thy spirit crushed under the weight of Rome, and that thou canst not further raise up the mass that is doomed to fall? The youth of Rome contemns its own strength, and groans under the wealth its own hands have heaped up. See, everywhere they squander their spoils, and the mad use of wealth brings their destruction. They have buildings of gold and thrones raised to the stars, they drive out the waters with their piers, the sea springs forth amid the fields: rebellious man turns creation's order upside down. Aye, they grasp even at my kingdom. The earth is hewn through for their madmen's foundations and gapes wide, now the mountains are hollowed out until the caves groan, and while men turn precious stones to their empty purposes, the ghosts of hell declare their hopes of winning heaven. Arise, then, Chance, change thy looks of peace to war, harry the Roman, and let my kingdom have the dead. It is long now since my lips were wet with blood, and never has my loved Tisiphone bathed her thirsty limbs since the sword of Sulla drank deep, and the earth stood thick with corn fattened on blood and thrust up to the sun.'
Tres tulerat Fortuna duces, quos obruit omnesarmorum strue diversa feralis Enyo.Crassum Parthus habet, Libyco iacet aequore Magnus,Iulius ingratam perfudit sanguine Romam,et quasi non posset tot tellus ferre sepulcra,divisit cineres. Hos gloria reddit honores.Est locus exciso penitus demersus hiatuParthenopen inter magnaeque Dicarchidos arva,Cocyti perfusus aqua; nam spiritus, extraqui furit effusus, funesto spargitur aestu.Non haec autumno tellus viret aut alit herbas” “caespite laetus ager, non verno persona cantumollia discordi strepitu virgulta locuntur,sed chaos et nigro squalentia pumice saxagaudent ferali circum tumulata cupressu.Has inter sedes Ditis pater extulit orabustorum flammis et cana sparsa favilla,ac tali volucrem Fortunam voce lacessit:Rerum humanarum divinarumque potestas,Fors, cui nulla placet nimium secura potestas,quae nova semper amas et mox possessa relinquis,ecquid Romano sentis te pondere victam,nec posse ulterius perituram extollere molem?Ipsa suas vires odit Romana iuventuset quas struxit opes, male sustinet. Aspice lateluxuriam spoliorum et censum in damna furentem.Aedificant auro sedesque ad sidera mittunt,expelluntur aquae saxis, mare nascitur arvis,et permutata rerum statione rebellant.En etiam mea regna petunt. Perfossa dehiscitmolibus insanis tellus, iam montibus haustisantra gemunt, et dum vanos lapis invenit usus,inferni manes caelum sperare fatentur.Quare age, Fors, muta pacatum in proelia vultumRomanosque cie ac nostris da funera regnis.Iam pridem nullo perfundimus ora cruore,nec mea Tisiphone sitientis perluit artus,ex quo Sullanus bibit ensis et horrida tellusextulit in lucem nutritas sanguine fruges.'” “
"He spoke and ended, and strained to take her hand in his, till he broke and clove the earth asunder. Then Fortune poured forth words from her fickle heart: 'Father, whom the inmost places of Cocytus obey, thy prayer shall prosper, if at least I may foretell the truth without fear; for the anger that rises in my heart is stern as thine, and the flame that burns deep in my bones as fierce. I hate all the gifts I have made to towering Rome, and am angry at my own blessings. The god that raised up those high palaces shalldestroy them too. It will be my delight also to burn the men and feed my lust with blood. Lo, already I see Philippi's field strewn with the dead of two battles, and the blazing pyres of Thessaly and the burial of the people of Iberia. Already the crash of arms rings in my trembling ears. And in Libya I see the barriers of the Nile groan, and the people in terror at the gulf of Actium and the army loved by Apollo. Open, then, the thirsty realms of thy dominion, and summon fresh souls. The old sailor, the Ferryman, will scarcely have strength to carry over the ghosts of the men in his boat; a whole fleet is needed. And thou, pale Tisiphone, take thy fill of wide destruction, and tear the bleeding wounds; the whole world is rent in pieces and drawn down to the Stygian shades.'
Haec ubi dicta dedit, dextrae coniungere dextramconatus rupto tellurem solvit hiatu.Tune Fortuna levi defudit pectore voces:'O genitor, cui Cocyti penetralia parent,si modo vera mihi fas est impune profari,vota tibi cedent; nec enim minor ira rebellatpectore in hoc leviorque exurit flamma medullas,Omnia, quae tribui Romanis arcibus, odimuneribusque meis irascor. Destruet istasidem, qui posuit, moles deus. Et mihi cordiquippe cremare viros et sanguine pascere luxum.Cerno equidem gemina iam stratos morte PhilipposThessaliaeque rogos et funera gentis Hiberae.Iam fragor armorum trepidantes personat aures.EtLibyae cerno tua, Nile, gementia claustraActiacosque sinus et Apollinis arma timentes.Pande, age, terrarum sitientia regna tuarumatque animas accerse novas. Vix navita Porthmeussufficiet simulacra virum traducere cumba;classe opus est. Tuque ingenti satiare ruina,pallida Tisiphone, concisaque vulnera mande:ad Stygios manes laceratus ducitur orbis.'” “
"She had scarcely ceased to speak when a cloud shook and was riven by a gleam of lightning, and flashed forth a moment's burst of flame. The father of darkness sank down, closed the chasm in earth's bosom, and grew white with terror at the stroke of his brother. Straightway the slaughter of men and the destruction to come were made plain by omens from on high. For Titan was disfigured and dabbled in blood, and veiled his face in darkness: thou hadst thought that even then he gazed on civil strife. In another quarter Cynthia darkened her full face, and denied her light to the crime. The mountain-tops slid down and the peaks broke in thunder, the wandering streams were dying, and no more ranged abroad between their familiar banks. The sky is loud with the clash of arms, the trumpet shakes to the stars and rouses the War God, and at once Aetna is the prey of unaccustomed fires, and casts her lightnings high into the air. The faces of the dead are seen visible among the tombs and the unburied bones, gibbering in dreadful menace. A blazing light girt with unknown stars leads the way for the flames of cities, and the sky rains down fresh showers of blood. In a little while God made these portents plain. For now Caesar shook off all his lingering, and, spurred by the passion of revenge, threw down his arms against Gaul and took them up against Rome. "In the high Alps, where the rocks trodden by a Greek god slope downward and allow men to ap proach them, there is a place sacred to the altars of Hercules: the winter seals it with frozen snow, and heaves it up on its white top to the sky. It seems as though the sky had fallen away from there: the beams of the full sun do not soften the place, nor the breezes of the springtime, but the soil stands stiff with ice and winter's frost: its frowning shoulders could support the whole globe. When Caesar with his exultant army trod these heights and chose a place, he looked far over the fields of Hesperia from the high mountaintop, and lifted his voice and both hands to the stars and said: 'Jupiter, Lord of all, and thou land of Saturn, once proud of my victories and loaded with my triumphs, I call you to witness that I do not willingly summon the War God to these hosts, and that my hand is not raised willingly to strike. But I am driven on by wounds, by banishment from my own city, while I dye the Rhine with blood and cut off the Gauls from the Alps on their second march to our Capitol. Victory makes my exile doubly sure. My rout of the Germans and my sixty triumphs were the beginning of my offences. Yet who is it that fears my fame, who are the men that watch me fight? Base hirelings bought at a price, to whom my native Rome is a stepmother. But I think that no coward shall bind my strong arm unhurt without a blow in return. Come, men, to victory while anger is hot, come, my comrades, and plead our cause with the sword. For we are all summoned under one charge, and the same doom hangs over us all. My thanks are your due, my victory is not mine alone. Wherefore, since punishment threatens our trophies, and disgrace is the meed of conquest, let Chance decide how our lot shall fall. Raise the standard and prove your strength. My pleading at least is accomplished; armed amid so many warriors I cannot know defeat.' As he spoke these words aloud, the Delphic bird in the sky gave a happy omen, and beat the air as it flew. And from the left quarter of a gloomy grove strange voices sounded and fire flashed thereafter. Even Phoebus glowed with orb brighter than his wont, and set a burning halo of gold about his face.
Vixdum finierat, cum fulgure rupta coruscointremuit nubes elisosque abscidit ignes.Subsedit pater umbrarum, gremioque reductotelluris pavitans fraternos palluit ictus.Continuo clades hominum venturaque damnaauspiciis patuere deum. Namque ore cruentodeformis Titan vultum caligine texit:civiles acies iam tum spectare putares.Parte alia plenos exstinxit Cynthia vultuset lucem sceleri subduxit. Rupta tonabantverticibus lapsis montis iuga, nec vaga passimflumina per notas ibant morientia ripas.Armorum strepitu caelum furit et tuba Martemsideribus tremefacta ciet, iamque Aetna voraturignibus insolitis et in aethera fulmina mittit.Ecce inter tumulos atque ossa carentia bustisumbrarum facies diro stridore minantur.Fax stellis comitata novis incendia ducit,sanguineoque recens descendit Iuppiter imbre.Haec ostenta brevi solvit deus. Exuit omnesquippe moras Caesar, vindictaeque actus amoreGallica proiecit, civilia sustulit arma.Alpibus aeriis, ubi Graio numine pulsaedescendunt rupes et se patiuntur adiri,” “est locus Herculeis aris sacer: hunc nive duraclaudit hiemps canoque ad sidera vertice tollit.caelum illinc cecidisse putes: non solis adultimansuescit radiis, non verni temporis aura,sedglacie concreta rigent hiemisque pruinis:totum ferre potest umeris minitantibus orbem.Haec ubi calcavit Caesar iuga milite laetooptavitque locum, summo de vertice montisHesperiae campos late prospexit et ambasintentans cum voce manus ad sidera dixit:'Iuppiter omnipotens, et te, Saturnia tellus,armis laeta meis olimque onerata triumphis,testor, ad has acies invitum accersere Martem,invitas me ferre manus. Sed vulnere cogor,pulsus ab urbe mea, dum Rhenum sanguine tinguo,dum Gallos iterum Capitolia nostra petentesAlpibus excludo, vincendo certior exsul.Sanguine Germano sexagintaque triumphisesse nocens coepi. Quanquam quos gloria terret,aut qui sunt qui bella vident? Mercedibus emptaeac viles operae, quorum est mea Roma noverca.At reor, haud impune, nec hanc sine vindice dextramvinciet ignavus. Victores ite furentes,ite mei comites, et causam dicite ferro.Namque omnes unum crimen vocat, omnibus unaimpendet clades. Reddenda est gratia vobis,non solus vici. Quare, quia poena tropaeisimminet et sordes meruit victoria nostra,iudice Fortuna cadat alea. Sumite bellumet temptate manus. Certe mea causa peracta est:inter tot fortes armatus nescio vinci.'Haec ubi personuit, de caelo Delphicus alesomina laeta dedit pepulitque meatibus auras.Nec non horrendi nemoris de parte sinistrainsolitae voces flamma sonuere sequenti.Ipse nitor Phoebi vulgato laetior orbecrevit et aurato praecinxit fulgure vultus.” “
"Heartened by these omens, Caesar advanced the standards of war, and marched first to open this strange tale of daring. At first indeed the ice and the ground fettered with white frost did not fight against them, and lay quiet in the kindly cold. But then the regiments broke the close-bound clouds, the trembling horses shattered the frozen bonds of the waters, and the snows melted. Soon new-born rivers rolled from the mountain heights, but they, too, stood still as if by some command, and the waves stopped short with ruining floods enchained, and the water that ran a moment before now halted, hard enough to cut. But then, treacherous before, it mocked their steps and failed their footing; horses and men and arms together fell heaped in misery and ruin. Lo! too, the clouds were shaken by a strong wind, and let fall their burden, and round the army were gusts of whirlwind and a sky broken by swollen hail. Now the clouds themselves burst and fell on the armed men, and a mass of ice showered upon them like a wave of the sea. Earth was overwhelmed in the deep snow, and the stars of heaven, and the rivers that clung to their banks. But Caesar was not yet overwhelmed; he leaned on his tall spear and crushed the rough ground with fearless tread, like the son of Amphitryon hastening down from a high peak of Caucasus, or the fierce countenance of Jupiter, when he descended from the heights of great Olympus and scattered the arms of the doomed Giants. "While Caesar treads down the swelling peaks in his wrath, Rumour flies swift in terror with beating wings, and seeks out the lofty top of the tall Palatine. Then she strikes all the images of the gods with her message of Roman thunder: how ships are now sweeping the sea, and the horsemen red with German blood pouring hotly over the range of the Alps. Battle, blood, slaughter, fire, and the whole picture of war flits before their eyes. Their hearts shake in confusion, and are fearfully divided between two counsels. One man chooses flight by land, another trusts rather to the water, and the open sea now safer than his own country. Some prefer to attempt a fight and turn Fate's decree to account. As deep as a man's fear is, so far he flies. In the turmoil the people themselves, a woeful sight, are led swiftly out of the deserted city, whither their stricken heart drives them. Rome is glad to flee, her true sons are cowed by war, and at a rumour's breath leave their houses to mourn. One holds his children with a shaking hand, one hides his household gods in his bosom, and weeping, leaves his door and calls down death on the unseen enemy. Some clasp their wives to them in tears, youths carry their aged sires, and, unused to burdens, take with them only what they dread to lose. The fool drags all his goods after him, and marches laden with booty to the battle: and all now is as when on high the rush of a strong south wind tumbles and drives the waters, and neither rigging nor helm avail the crews, and one girds together the heavy planks of pine, another heads for quiet inlets and a waveless shore: a third sets sail and flees, and trusts all to Chance. But why sorrow for these petty ills? Pompey the Great, who made Pontus tremble and explored fierce Hydaspes, the rock that broke the pirates, who of late, in his third triumph, shook the heart of Jupiter, to whom the troubled waters of Pontus and the conquered Sea of Bosporus bowed, flees shamefully with the two consuls and lets his imperial title drop, that fickle Chance might see the back of great Pompey himself turned in flight.
Fortior ominibus movit Mavortia signaCaesar et insolitos gressu prior occupat ausus.Prima quidem glacies et cana vincta pruinanon pugnavit humus mitique horrore quievit.Sed postquam turmae nimbos fregere ligatoset pavidus quadrupes undarum vincula rupit,incaluere nives. Mox flumina montibus altisundabant modo nata, sed haec quoque—iussa putares—stabant,et vincta fluctus stupuere ruina,et paulo ante lues iam concidenda iacebat.Tum vero male fida prius vestigia lusitdecepitque pedes; pariter turmaeque viriquearmaque congesta strue deplorata iacebant.Ecce etiam rigido concussae flamine nubesexonerabantur, nec rupti turbine ventiderant aut tumida confractum grandine caelum.Ipsae iam nubes ruptae super arma cadebant,et concreta gelu ponti velut unda ruebat.Victa erat ingenti tellus nive victaque caelisidera, victa suis haerentia flumina ripis;nondum Caesar erat, sed magnam nixus in hastamhorrida securis frangebat gressibus arva,qualis Caucasea decurrens arduus arceAmphitryoniades, aut torvo Iuppiter ore,cum se verticibus magni demisit Olympiet periturorum disiecit tela Gigantum.Dum Caesar tumidas iratus deprimit arces,interea volucer motis conterrita pinnisFama volat summique petit iuga celsa Palatiatque hoc Romano tonitru ferit omnia signa:iam classes fluitare mari totasque per Alpesfervere Germano perfusas sanguine turmas.Arma, cruor, caedes, incendia totaque bellaante oculos volitant. Ergo pulsata tumultupectora perque duas scinduntur territa causas.Huic fuga per terras, illi magis unda probaturet patria pontus iam tutior. Est magis armaqui temptare velit fatisque iubentibus uti.Quantum quisque timet, tantum fugit. Ocior ipsehos inter motus populus, miserabile visu,quo mens icta iubet, deserta ducitur urbe.Gaudet Roma fuga, debellatique Quiritesrumoris sonitu maerentia tecta relinquunt.Ille manu pavida natos tenet, ille penatesoccultat gremio deploratumque relinquitlimen et absentem votis interficit hostem.Sunt qui coniugibus maerentia pectora iungant,grandaevosque patres onerisque ignara iuventusid pro quo metuit, tantum trahit. Omnia secumhic vehit imprudens praedamque in proelia ducit:” “ac velut ex alto cum magnus inhorruit austeret pulsas evertit aquas, non arma ministris,non regimen prodest, ligat alter pondera pinus,alter tuta sinus tranquillaque litora quaerit:hic dat vela fugae Fortunaeque omnia credit.Quid tam parva queror? Gemino cum consule Magnus,ille tremor Ponti saevique repertor Hydaspiset piratarum scopulus, modo quem ter ovantemluppiter horruerat, quem fracto gurgite Pontuset veneratus erat submissa Bosporos unda,pro pudor, imperii deserto nomine fugit,ut Fortuna levis Magni quoque terga videret.” “
"So great a calamity broke the power of the gods also, and dread in heaven swelled the rout. A host of gentle deities throughout the world abandon the frenzied earth in loathing, and turn aside from the doomed army of mankind. "Peace first of all, with her snow-white arms bruised, hides her vanquished head beneath her helmet, and leaves the world and turns in flight to the inexorable realm of Dis. At her side goes humble Faith and Justice with loosened hair, and Concord weeping with her cloak rent in pieces. But where the hall of Erebus is open and gapes wide, the dreadful company of Dis ranges forth, the grim Fury, and threatening Bellona, Megaera whirling her torches, and Destruction, and Treachery, and the pale presence of Death. And among them Madness, like a steed loosed when the reins snap, flings up her bloody head and shields her face, scarred by a thousand wounds, with a bloodstained helm; her left hand grips her worn martial shield, heavy with countless spear-points, her right waves a blazing brand and carries fire through the world. "Earth felt that the gods were there, the stars were shaken, and swung seeking their former poise; for the whole palace of the sky broke and tumbled to ruin, And first Dione champions the deeds of Caesar, and Pallas joins her side, and the child of Mars, who brandishes his tall spear. "The sister of Phoebus and the son of Cyllene and the hero of Tiryns, like to him in all his deeds, receive Pompey the Great. "The trumpets shook, and Discord with dishevelled hair raised her Stygian head to the upper sky. Blood had dried on her face, tears ran from her bruised eyes, her teeth were mailed with a scurf of rust, her tongue was dripping with foulness and her face beset with snakes, her clothes were torn before her writhen breasts, and she waved a red torch in her quivering hand. When she had left behind the darkness of Cocytus and Tartarus, she strode forward to the high ridges of proud Apennine, to gaze down thence upon all the earth and all its shores, and the armies streaming over the whole globe; then these words were wrung from her angry soul: 'To arms now, ye peoples, while your spirit is hot, to arms, and set your torches to the heart of cities. He that would hide him shall be lost: let no women halt, nor children, nor the old who are now wasted with age; let the earth herself quake, and the shattered houses join the fight. Thou Marcellus, hold fast the law. Thou, Curio, make the rabble quail. Thou, Lentulus, give brave Mars no check. And thou, divine Caesar, why art thou a laggard with thine arms? Crash down the gates, strip towns of their walls and seize their treasure. So Magnus knows not how to hold the hills of Rome? Let him take the bulwarks of Epidamnus and dye the bays of Thessaly with the blood of men.' Then all the commands of Discord were fulfilled upon the earth." Eumolpus poured out these lines with immense fluency, and at last we came into Croton. There we refreshed ourselves in a little inn, but on the next day we went to look for a house of greater pretensions, and fell in with a crowd of fortune-hunters, who inquired what kind of men we were, and where we had come from. Then, as arranged by our common council, a torrent of ready words burst from us, and they gave easy credence to our account of ourselves and our country. They at once quarrelled fiercely in their eagerness to heap their own riches on Eumolpus. The fortune-hunters all competed to win Eumolpus's favour with presents....
Ergo tanta lues divum quoque numina vicit,consensitque fugae caeli timor. Ecce per orbemmitis turba deum terras exosa furentesdeserit atque hominum damnatum avertitur agmen.Pax prima ante alias niveos pulsata lacertosabscondit galea victum caput atque relictoorbe fugax Ditis petit inplacabile regnum.Huic comes it submissa Fides et crine solutoIustitia ac maerens lacera Concordia palla.At contra, sedes Erebi qua rupta dehiscit,emergit late Ditis chorus, horrida Erinyset Bellona minax facibusque armata MegaeraLetumque Insidiaeque et lurida Mortis imago.Quas inter Furor, abruptis ceu liber habenis,sanguineum late tollit caput oraque millevulneribus confossa cruenta casside velat;haeret detritus laevae Mavortius umboinnumerabilibus telis gravis, atque flagrantistipite dextra minax terris incendia portat.Sentit terra deos mutataque sidera pondusquaesivere suum; namque omnis regia caeliin partes diducta ruit. Primumque DioneCaesaris acta sui ducit, comes additur illiPallas et ingentem quatiens Mavortius hastam.Magnum cum Phoebo soror et Cyllenia prolesexcipit ac totis similis Tirynthius actis.Intremuere tubae ac scisso Discordia crineextulit ad superos Stygium caput. Huius in oreconcretus sanguis, contusaque lumina flebant,stabant aerati scabra rubigine dentes,tabo lingua fluens, obsessa draconibus ora,atque inter torto laceratam pectore vestemsanguineam tremula quatiebat lampada dextra.” “” “Haec ut Cocyti tenebras et Tartara liquit,alta petit gradiens iuga nobilis Appennini,unde omnes terras atque omnia litora possetaspicere ac toto fluitantes orbe catervas,atque has erumpit furibundo pectore voces:Sumite nunc gentes accensis mentibus arma,sumite et in medias immittite lampadasurbes.Vincetur, quicunque latet; non femina cesset,non puer aut aevo iam desolata senectus;ipsa tremat tellus lacerataque tecta rebellent.Tu legem, Marcelle, tene. Tu concute plebem,Curio. Tu fortem ne supprime, Lentule, Martem.Quid porro tu, dive, tuis cunctaris in armis,non frangis portas, non muris oppida solvisthesaurosque rapis? Nescis tu, Magne, tueriRomanas arces? Epidamni moenia quaereThessalicosque sinus humano sanguine tingue.'Factum est in terris, quicquid Discordia iussit.” “” Cum haec Eumolpos ingenti volubilitate verborum effudisset, tandem Crotona intravimus. Ubi quidem parvo deversorio refecti, postero die amplioris fortunae domum quaerentes incidimus in turbam heredipetarum sciscitantium, quod genus hominum aut unde veniremus. Ex praescripto ergo consilii communis exaggerata verborum volubilitate, unde aut qui essemus, haud dubie credentibus indicavimus. Qui statim opes suas summo cum certamine in Eumolpum congesserunt. Certatim omnes heredipetae muneribus gratiam Eumolpi sollicitant …
This went on for a long while in Croton,.... Eumolpus was flushed with success, and so far forgot the former state of his fortunes as to boast to his intimates that no one there could cross his good pleasure, and that his own dependants would escape unpunished by the kindness of his friends if they committed any crime in that city. But though I had lined my belly well every day with the ever-growing supply of good things, and believed that Fortune had turned away her face from keeping a watch on me, still I often thought over my old life and my history, and kept saying to myself, Supposing some cunning legacy-hunter sends a spy over to Africa and finds out our lies? Or supposing the servant grows weary of his present luck and gives his friends a hint, or betrays us out of spite, and exposes the whole plot? Of course we shall have to run away again; we must start afresh as beggars, and call back the poverty we have now at last driven out. Ah! gods and goddesses! the outlaw has a hard life; he is always waiting to get what he deserves."..
dum haec magno tempore Crotone aguntur … et Eumolpus felicitate plenus prioris fortunae esset oblitus statim adeo, ut suis iactaret, neminem gratiae suae ibi posse resistere impuneque suos, si quid deliquissent in ea urbe, beneficio amicorum laturos. Ceterum ego, etsi quotidie magis magisque superfluentibus bonis saginatum corpus impleveram putabamque a custodia mei removisse vultum Fortunam, tamen saepius tam consuetudinem meam cogitabam quam causam, et “quid” aiebam “si callidus captator exploratorem in Africam miserit mendaciumque deprehenderit nostrum? Quid, si etiam mercennarius [Eumolpi] praesenti felicitate lassus indicium ad amicos detulerit totamque fallaciam invidiosa proditione detexerit? Nempe rursus fugiendum erit et tandem expugnata paupertas nova mendicitate revocanda. Dii deaeque, quam male est extra legem viventibus: quicquid meruerunt, semper exspectant. …
“Because you know your beauty you are haughty, and do not bestow your embraces, but sell them. What is the object of your nicely combed hair, your face plastered with dyes, and the soft fondness even in your glance, and your walk arranged by art so that lever a footstep strays from its place? It means of course that you offer your comeliness freely for sale. Look at me; I know nothing of omens, and I never attend to the astrologer's sky, but I read character in a man's face, and when I see him walk I know his thoughts. So if you will sell us what I want, there is a buyer ready: if you will be more gracious and bestow it upon us, let us be indebted to you for a favour. For when you admit that you are a slave of low degree, you fan the passion of a lady who burns for you. Some women kindle for vile fellows, and cannot rouse any desire unless they have a slave or a servant in short garments in their eye. Some burn for a gladiator, or a muleteer smothered in dust, or an actor disgraced by exhibiting himself on the stage. My mistress is of this class; she skips fourteen rows away from the orchestra, and hunts for a lover among the low people at the back.” With my ears full of her winning words I then said, “It is not you, I suppose, who love me so?” The girl laughed loudly at such a clumsy turn of speech, and said, “Pray do not be so conceited. I never yielded to a slave yet, and God forbid that I should throw my arms round a gallows-bird. The married women may see to that, and kiss the scars of a flogging; I may be only a lady's maid, for all that I never sit down in any seats but the knights'.” I began to marvel at their contrary passions, and to count them as portents, the maid having the pride of a married lady, and the married lady the low tastes of a wench. Then as our jokes proceeded further, I asked the maid to bring her mistress into the grove of planetrees. The plan pleased the girl. So she gathered her skirts up higher, and turned into the laurel grove which grew close to our path. She was not long away before she led the lady out of her hidingplace, and brought her to my side. The woman was more perfect than any artist's dream. There are no words that can include all her beauty, and whatever I write must fall short of her. Her hair grew in natural waves and flowed all over her shoulders, her forehead was small, and the roots of her hair brushed back from it, her brows ran to the edge of her cheekbones and almost met again close beside her eyes, and those eyes were brighter than stars far from the moon, and her nose had a little curve, and her mouth was the kind that Praxiteles dreamed Diana had. And her chin and her neck, and her hands, and the gleam of her foot under a light band of gold! She had turned the marble of Paros dull. So then at last I put my old passion for Doris to despite.... “What is come to pass, Jupiter, that thou hast cast away thine armour, and now art silent in heaven and become an idle tale? Now were a time for thee to let the horns sprout on thy lowering forehead, or hide thy white hair under a swan's feathers. This is the true Danae. Dare only to touch her body, and all thy limbs shall be loosened with fiery heat.”...
Quia nosti venerem tuam, superbiam captas vendisque amplexus, non commodas. Quo enim spectant flexae pectine comae, quo facies medicamine attrita et oculorum quoque mollis petulantia, quo incessus arte compositus et ne vestigia quidem pedum extra mensuram aberrantia, nisi quod formam prostituis, ut vendas? Vides me: nec auguria novi nec mathematicorum caelum curare soleo, ex vultibus tamen hominum mores colligo, et cum spatiantem vidi, quid cogitet scio. Sive ergo nobis vendis quod peto, mercator paratus est, sive quod humanius est, commodas, effice ut beneficium debeamus. Nam quod servum te et humilem fateris, accendis desiderium aestuantis. Quaedam enim feminae sordibus calent, nec libidinem concitant, nisi aut servos viderint aut statores altius cinctos. Harena alias accendit aut perfusus pulvere mulio aut histrio scaenae ostentatione traductus. Ex hac nota domina est mea: usque ab orchestra quattuordecim transilit et in extrema plebe quaerit quod diligat.” Itaque oratione blandissima plenus “rogo” inquam “numquid illa, quae me amat, tu es?” Multum risit ancilla post; tam frigidum schema et “nolo” inquit “tibi tam valde placeas. Ego adhuc servo nunquam succubui, nec hoc dii sinant, ut amplexus meos in crucem mittam. Viderint matronae, quae flagellorum vestigia osculantur; ego etiam si ancilla sum, nunquam tamen nisi in equestribus sedeo.” Mirari equidem tam discordem libidinem coepi atque inter monstra numerare, quod ancilla haberet matronae superbiam et matrona ancillae humilitatem. Procedentibus deinde longius iocis rogavi ancillam, ut in platanona perduceret dominam. Placuit puellae consilium. Itaque collegit altius tunicam flexitque se in eum daphnona, qui ambulationi haerebat. Nec diu morata dominam producit e latebris laterique meo applicat, mulierem omnibus simulacris emendatiorem. Nulla vox est quae formam eius possit comprehendere, nam quicquid dixero, minus erit. Crines ingenio suo flexi per totos se umeros effuderant, frons minima et quae radices capillorum retro flexerat, supercilia usque ad malarum scripturam currentia et rursus confinio luminum paene permixta, oculi clariores stellis extra lunam fulgentibus, nares paululum inflexae et osculum quale Praxiteles habere Dianam credidit. Iam mentum, iam cervix, iam manus, iam pedum candor intra auri gracile vinculum positus: Parium marmor exstinxerat. Itaque tunc primum Dorida vetus amator contempsi … “Quid factum est, quod tu proiectis, Iuppiter, armisinter caelicolas fabula muta taces?Nunc erat a torva submittere cornua fronte,nunc pluma canos dissimulare tuos.Haec vera est Danae. Tempta modo tangere corpus,iam tua flammifero membra calore fluent …”
She was happy, and smiled so sweetly that I thought the full moon had shown me her face from behind a cloud. Then she said, letting the words escape through her fingers, “If you do not despise a rich woman who has known a man first this very year, dear youth, I will give you a new sister. True, you have a brother, too, for I made bold to inquire, but why should you not take to yourself a sister as well? I will come as the same kind of relation. Deign only to recognize my kiss also when it is your good pleasure.” “I should rather implore you by your beauty,” I replied, “not to scorn to enrol a stranger among your worshippers. You will find me a true votary, if you allow me to kneel before you. And do not think that I would enter this shrine of Love without an offering; I will give you my own brother.” “What,” she said, “you give me the one without whom you cannot live, on whose lips you hang, whom you love as I would have you love me?” Even as she spoke grace made her words so attractive, the sweet noise fell so softly upon the listening air, that you seemed to have the harmony of the Sirens ringing in the breeze. So as I marvelled, and all the light of the sky somehow fell brighter upon me, I was moved to ask my goddess her name. “Then my maid did not tell you that I am called Circe?” she said. “I am not the Sun-child indeed, and my mother has never stayed the moving world in its course while she will. But I shall have a debt to pay to Heaven if fate brings you and me together. Surely now, the Gods with their quiet thoughts have some plan in the making. Circe does not love Polyaenus without good reason; when these two names meet, a great fire is always set ablaze. Then take me in your embrace if you like. You need have no fear of any spy; your brother is far away from here.” Circe was silent, folded me in two arms softer than a bird's wing, and drew me to the ground on a carpet of coloured flowers. “Such flowers as Earth, our mother, spread on Ida's top when Jupiter embraced her and she yielded her love, and all his heart was kindled with fire: roses glowed there, and violets, and the tender flowering rush; and white lilies laughed from the green grass: such a soil summoned Venus to the soft grasses, and the day grew brighter and looked kindly on their hidden pleasure.” We lay together there among the flowers and exchanged a thousand light kisses, but we looked for sterner play....
Delectata illa risit tam blandum, ut videretur mihi plenum os extra nubem luna proferre. Mox digitis gubernantibus vocem “Si non fastidis” inquit “femi nam ornatam et hoc primum anno virum expertam, concilio tibi, o iuvenis, sororem. Habes tu quidem et fratrem, neque enim me piguit inquirere, sed quid prohibet et sororem adoptare? Eodem gradu venio. Tu tantum dignare et meum osculum, cum libuerit, agnoscere.” “Immo” inquam ego “per formam tuam te rogo, ne fastidias hominem peregrinum inter cultores admittere. Invenies religiosum, si te adorari permiseris. Ac ne me iudices ad hoc templum Amoris gratis accedere, dono tibi fratrem meum.” “Quid? tu” inquit illa “donas mihi eum, sine quo non potes vivere, ex cuius osculo pendes, quem sic tu amas, quemadmodum ego te volo?” Haec ipsa cum diceret, tanta gratia conciliabat vocem loquentis, tam dulcis sonus pertemptatum mulcebat aëra, ut putares inter auras canere Sirenum concordiam. Itaque miranti [et] toto mihi caelo clarius nescio quid relucente libuit deae nomen quaerere. “Ita” inquit “non dixit tibi ancilla mea me Circen vocari? Non sum quidem Solis progenies, nec mea mater, dum placet, labentis mundi cursum detinuit. Habebo tamen quod caelo imputem, si nos fata coniunxerint. Immo iam nescio quid tacitis cogitationibus deus agit. Nec sine causa Polyaenon Circe amat: semper inter haec nomina magna fax surgit. Sume ergo amplexum, si placet. Neque est quod curiosum aliquem extimescas: longe ab hoc loco frater est.” Dixit haec Circe, implicitumque me brachiis mollioribus pluma deduxit in terram vario gramine indutam. “Idaeo quales fudit de vertice floresterra parens, cum se concesso iunxit amoriIuppiter et toto concepit pectore flammas:emicuere rosae violaeque et molle cyperon,albaque de viridi riserunt lilia prato:talis humus Venerem molles clamavit in herbas,candidiorque dies secreto favit amori.” In hoc gramine pariter compositi mille osculis lusimus, quaerentes voluptatem robustam …
“Tell me,” she cried, “do you find no joy in my lips? Nor in the breath that faints with hunger? Nor in my body wet with heat? If it is none of these, are you afraid of Giton?” I crimsoned with blushes under her eyes, and lost any strength I might have had before, and cried as though there were no whole part in my body, “Dear lady, have mercy, do not mock my grief. Some poison has infected me.”. “Speak to me, Chrysis, tell me true: am I ugly or untidy? Is there some natural blemish that darkens my beauty? Do not deceive your own mistress. I know not how, but I have sinned.” She then snatched a glass from the silent girl, and after trying every look that raises a smile to most lovers' lips, she shook out the cloak the earth had stained, and hurried into the temple of Venus. But I was lost and horror-stricken as if I had seen a ghost, and began to inquire of my heart whether I was cheated of my true delight. As when dreams deceive our wandering eyes in the heavy slumber of night, and under the spade the earth yields gold to the light of day: our greedy hands finger the spoil and snatch at the treasure, sweat too runs down our face, and a deep fear grips our heart that maybe some one will shake out our laden bosom, where he knows the gold is hid: soon, when these pleasures flee from the brain they mocked, and the true shape of things comes back, our mind is eager for what is lost, and moves with all its force among the shadows of the past.. “So in his name I give you thanks for loving me as true as Socrates. Alcibiades never lay so unspotted in his master's bed.”..
“Quid est?” inquit “numquid te osculum meum offendit? Numquid spiritus ieiunio marcens? Numquid alarum negligens sudor? Aut si haec non sunt, numquid Gitona times?” Perfusus ego rubore manifesto etiam si quid habueram virium, perdidi, totoque corpore velut luxato quaeso “inquam regina, noli suggillare miserias. Veneficio contactus sum” … “Dic, Chrysis, sed verum: numquid indecens sum? Numquid incompta? Numquid ab aliquo naturali vitio formam meam excaeco? Noli decipere dominam tuam. Nescio quid peccavimus.” Rapuit deinde tacenti speculum, et postquam omnes vultus temptavit, quos solet inter amantes risus fingere, excussit vexatam solo vestem raptimque aedem Veneris intravit. Ego contra damnatus et quasi quodam visu in horrorem perductus interrogare animum meum coepi, an vera voluptate fraudatus essem. “Nocte soporifera veluti cum somnia ludunterrantes oculos effossaque protulit aurumin lucem tellus: versat manus improba furtumthesaurosque rapit, sudor quoque perluit oraet mentem timor altus habet, ne forte gravatumexcutiat gremium secreti conscius auri:mox ubi fugerunt elusam gaudia mentemveraque forma redit, animus, quod perdidit, optatatque in praeterita se totus imagine versat …” “Itaque hoc nomine tibi gratias ago, quod me Socratica fide diligis. Non tam intactus Alcibiades in praeceptoris sui lecto iacuit” …