Pharsalia; Dramatic Episodes of the Civil Wars. Lucan

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       Bristles his mane: deep from his gaping jaws

       Resounds a muttered growl, and should a lance

       Or javelin reach him from the hunter's ring,

       Scorning the puny scratch he bounds afield.

      From modest fountain blood-red Rubicon

       In summer's heat flows on; his pigmy tide

       Creeps through the valleys and with slender marge

       Divides the Italian peasant from the Gaul.

       Then winter gave him strength, and fraught with rain

       The third day's crescent moon; while Eastern winds

       Thawed from the Alpine slopes the yielding snow.

       The cavalry first form across the stream '

       To break the torrent's force; the rest with ease

       Beneath their shelter gain the further bank.

       When Csesar crossed and trod beneath his feet

       The soil of Italy's forbidden fields,

       "Here," spake he, "peace, here broken laws be left;

       Farewell to treaties. Fortune, lead me on;

       War is our judge, and in the fates our trust."

       Then in the shades of night he leads the troops

       Swifter than Balearic sling or shaft

       Winged by retreating Parthian, to the walls

       Of threatened Rimini, while fled the stars,

       Save Lucifer, before the coming sun,

       Whose fires were veiled in clouds, by south wind driven,

       Or else at heaven's command: and thus drew on

       The first dark morning of the civil war.

      Now stand the troops within the captured town,

       Their standards planted; and the trumpet clang

       Rings forth in harsh alarums, giving note

       Of impious strife: roused from their sleep the men

       Rush to the hall and snatch the ancient arms

       Long hanging through the years of peace; the shield

       With crumbling frame; dark with the tooth of rust

       Their swords (10); and javelins with blunted point.

       But when the well-known signs and eagles shone,

       And Caesar towering o'er the throng was seen,

       They shook for terror, fear possessed their limbs,

       And thoughts unuttered stirred within their souls.

       "O miserable those to whom their home

       Denies the peace that all men else enjoy!

       Placed as we are beside the Northern bounds

       And scarce a footstep from the restless Gaul,

       We fall the first; would that our lot had been

       Beneath the Eastern sky, or frozen North,

       To lead a wandering life, rather than keep

       The gates of Latium. Brennus sacked the town

       And Hannibal, and all the Teuton hosts.

       For when the fate of Rome is in the scale

       By this path war advances." Thus they moan

       Their fears but speak them not; no sound is heard

       Giving their anguish utterance: as when

       In depth of winter all the fields are still,

       The birds are voiceless and no sound is heard

       To break the silence of the central sea.

       But when the day had broken through the shades

       Of chilly darkness, lo! the torch of war!

       For by the hand of Fate is swift dispersed

       All Caesar's shame of battle, and his mind

       Scarce doubted more; and Fortune toiled to make

       His action just and give him cause for arms.

       For while Rome doubted and the tongues of men

       Spoke of the chiefs who won them rights of yore,

       The hostile Senate, in contempt of right,

       Drove out the Tribunes. They to Caesar's camp

       With Curio hasten, who of venal tongue,

       Bold, prompt, persuasive, had been wont to preach

       Of Freedom to the people, and to call

       Upon the chiefs to lay their weapons down (11).

       And when he saw how deeply Caesar mused,

       "While from the rostrum I had power," he said,

       To call the populace to aid thy cause,

       By this my voice against the Senate's will

       Was thy command prolonged. But silenced now

       Are laws in war: we driven from our homes;

       Yet is our exile willing; for thine arms

       Shall make us citizens of Rome again.

       Strike; for no strength as yet the foe hath gained.

       Occasion calls, delay shall mar it soon:

       Like risk, like labour, thou hast known before,

       But never such reward. Could Gallia hold

       Thine armies ten long years ere victory came,

       That little nook of earth? One paltry fight

       Or twain, fought out by thy resistless hand,

       And Rome for thee shall have subdued the world:

       'Tis true no triumph now would bring thee home;

       No captive tribes would grace thy chariot wheels

       Winding in pomp around the ancient hill.

       Spite gnaws the factions; for thy СКАЧАТЬ