Pharsalia; Dramatic Episodes of the Civil Wars. Lucan

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       And plunged the world in darkness, so that men

       Despaired of day — like as he veiled his light

       From that fell banquet which Mycenae saw (21).

       The jaws of Etna were agape with flame

       That rose not heavenwards, but headlong fell

       In smoking stream upon the Italian flank.

       Then black Charybdis, from her boundless depth,

       Threw up a gory sea. In piteous tones

       Howled the wild dogs; the Vestal fire was snatched

       From off the altar; and the flame that crowned

       The Latin festival was split in twain,

       As on the Theban pyre (22), in ancient days;

       Earth tottered on its base: the mighty Alps

       From off their summits shook th' eternal snow (23).

       In huge upheaval Ocean raised his waves

       O'er Calpe's rock and Atlas' hoary head.

       The native gods shed tears, and holy sweat

       Dropped from the idols; gifts in temples fell:

       Foul birds defiled the day; beasts left the woods

       And made their lair among the streets of Rome.

       All this we hear; nay more: dumb oxen spake;

       Monsters were brought to birth and mothers shrieked

       At their own offspring; words of dire import

       From Cumae's prophetess were noised abroad.

       Bellona's priests with bleeding arms, and slaves

       Of Cybele's worship, with ensanguined hair,

       Howled chants of havoc and of woe to men.

       Arms clashed; and sounding in the pathless woods

       Were heard strange voices; spirits walked the earth:

       And dead men's ashes muttered from the urn.

       Those who live near the walls desert their homes,

       For lo! with hissing serpents in her hair,

       Waving in downward whirl a blazing pine,

       A fiend patrols the town, like that which erst

       At Thebes urged on Agave (24), or which hurled

       Lycurgus' bolts, or that which as he came

       From Hades seen, at haughty Juno's word,

       Brought terror to the soul of Hercules.

       Trumpets like those that summon armies forth

       Were heard re-echoing in the silent night:

       And from the earth arising Sulla's (25) ghost

       Sang gloomy oracles, and by Anio's wave

       All fled the homesteads, frighted by the shade

       Of Marius waking from his broken tomb.

      In such dismay they summon, as of yore,

       The Tuscan sages to the nation's aid.

       Aruns, the eldest, leaving his abode

       In desolate Luca, came, well versed in all

       The lore of omens; knowing what may mean

       The flight of hovering bird, the pulse that beats

       In offered victims, and the levin bolt.

       All monsters first, by most unnatural birth

       Brought into being, in accursd flames

       He bids consume (26). Then round the walls of Rome

       Each trembling citizen in turn proceeds.

       The priests, chief guardians of the public faith,

       With holy sprinkling purge the open space

       That borders on the wall; in sacred garb

       Follows the lesser crowd: the Vestals come

       By priestess led with laurel crown bedecked,

       To whom alone is given the right to see

       Minerva's effigy that came from Troy (27).

       Next come the keepers of the sacred books

       And fate's predictions; who from Almo's brook

       Bring back Cybebe laved; the augur too

       Taught to observe sinister flight of birds;

       And those who serve the banquets to the gods;

       And Titian brethren; and the priest of Mars,

       Proud of the buckler that adorns his neck;

       By him the Flamen, on his noble head

       The cap of office. While they tread the path

       That winds around the walls, the aged seer

       Collects the thunderbolts that fell from heaven,

       And lays them deep in earth, with muttered words

       Naming the spot accursed. Next a steer,

       Picked for his swelling neck and beauteous form,

       He leads to the altar, and with slanting knife

       Spreads on his brow the meal, and pours the wine.

       The victim's struggles prove the gods averse;

       But when the servers press upon his horns

      He bends the knee and yields him to the blow.

       No crimson torrent issued at the stroke,

       But from the wound a dark empoisoned stream

       Ebbed slowly downward. Aruns at the sight

       Aghast, upon the entrails of the beast

       Essayed to read the anger of the gods.

       Their very colour terrified the seer;

       Spotted they were and pale, with sable streaks

       Of lukewarm gore bespread; the liver damp

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