Lucan: DE BELLO CIVILI SIVE PHARSALIA

Postquam castra duces pugnae iam mente propinquis
inposuere iugis admotaque comminus arma
parque suum uidere dei, capere omnia Caesar
moenia Graiorum spernit Martemque secundum
iam nisi de genero fatis debere recusat.                  5
funestam mundo uotis petit omnibus horam
in casum quae cuncta ferat; placet alea fati
alterutrum mersura caput. ter collibus omnis
explicuit turmas et signa minantia pugnam
testatus numquam Latiae se desse ruinae.                  10
ut uidet ad nullos exciri posse tumultus
in pugnam generum sed clauso fidere uallo,
signa mouet tectusque uia dumosa per arua
Dyrrachii praeceps rapiendas tendit ad arcis.
hoc iter aequoreo praecepit limite Magnus,                  15

After the leaders, battle now near in their minds, set up the camps,
and, with weapons brought close and ranks arrayed to hand,
and Caesar, seeing all things ready for his part, scorns the walls of the Greeks,
and, deeming Mars favorable, now refuses that he owes anything to fate but his stock.5
he seeks for the world a fatal hour with prayers for all
that may bring all things to ruin; the die of destiny pleases him
to plunge whichever head. Three times from the hills he unrolled
all his squadrons and standards threatening battle,
vowing that he would never fail Roman ruin.10
and seeing that no tumult could be summoned to battle among the sons‑in‑law but that they must trust a closed rampart,
he moves his standards and, covered, along the thorny road through the fields
rushes headlong toward the citadel of Dyrrachium to seize it.
This way Magnus ordered by the sea‑limit,15

quemque uocat collem Taulantius incola Petram
insedit castris Ephyraeaque moenia seruat
defendens tutam uel solis turribus urbem.
non opus hanc ueterum nec moles structa tuetur
humanusque labor facilis, licet ardua tollat,                  20
cedere uel bellis uel cuncta mouentibus annis,
sed munimen habet nullo quassabile ferro
naturam sedemque loci; nam clausa profundo
undique praecipiti scopulisque uomentibus aequor
exiguo debet, quod non est insula, colli.                  25
terribiles ratibus sustentant moenia cautes,
Ioniumque furens, rapido cum tollitur Austro,
templa domosque quatit, spumatque in culmina pontus.
     hic auidam belli rapuit spes inproba mentem
Caesaris, ut uastis diffusum collibus hostem                  30

each hill which the Taulantian inhabitant calls Petra
sits entrenched and keeps the walls of Ephyraea, defending the city safe even by its lone towers.
this old mass, nor any built mole, needs not guarding by human toil, though easy to raise the lofty,                   20
to yield either to wars or to the years that move all things;
but it has a bulwark not breakable by any iron — the nature and seat of the place; for, closed on every side
by the deep sea precipitous and by cliffs vomiting the waves, it owes little sea, for it is not an island but a hill.                  25
terrible crags sustain the walls like keels, and the raging Ionian, when lifted by the swift South Wind,
shakes temples and houses, and the sea foams upon the roofs.
     here the shameless hope of war seized Caesar's eager mind,
that the enemy, scattered over the vast hills,                  30

cingeret ignarum ducto procul aggere ualli.
metatur terras oculis, nec caespite tantum
contentus fragili subitos attollere muros
ingentis cautes auolsaque saxa metallis
Graiorumque domos direptaque moenia transfert.                  35
extruitur quod non aries inpellere saeuus,
quod non ulla queat uiolenti machina belli.
franguntur montes, planumque per ardua Caesar
ducit opus; pandit fossas turritaque summis
disponit castella iugis magnoque recessu                  40
amplexus fines saltus nemorosaque tesqua
et siluas uastaque feras indagine claudit.
non desunt campi, non desunt pabula Magno,
castraque Caesareo circumdatus aggere mutat:
flumina tot cursus illic exorta fatigant,                  45

he would surround the unsuspecting, the rampart led afar with a ditch;
he measures out the lands with his eyes, not content with turf alone
to raise sudden walls of frail sod, but removes huge cliffs, torn-up rocks and metals
and transfers the houses of the Greeks and the plundered walls of their cities.                  35
he builds what no savage battering-ram can drive down,
what no violent engine of war can overthrow.
Mountains are broken, and over the heights Caesar
leads a leveled work; he opens ditches and places
turreted fortresses on the summits and on the ridges with a great recess                  40
enclosing fields, glens, wooded hollows and coppices with embrace,
and shuts the vast beasts in by his enclosure.
Plains are not wanting, nor pasturage for the Great One,
and, surrounded by a Caesarean rampart, he shifts his camp:
there many a river having sprung from its course wearies its streams with so many courses,                  45

illic mersa suos; operumque ut summa reuisat
defessus Caesar mediis intermanet agris.
     nunc uetus Iliacos attollat fabula muros
ascribatque deis; fragili circumdata testa
moenia mirentur refugi Babylonia Parthi.                  50
en, quantum Tigris, quantum celer ambit Orontes,
Assyriis quantum populis telluris Eoae
sufficit in regnum, subitum bellique tumultu
raptum clausit opus. tanti periere labores.
tot potuere manus aut iungere Seston Abydo                  55
ingestoque solo Phrixeum elidere pontum,
aut Pelopis latis Ephyren abrumpere regnis
et ratibus longae flexus donare Maleae,
aut aliquem mundi, quamuis natura negasset,
in melius mutare locum. coit area belli:                  60

there his own were submerged; and, that he might review the sum of his works, weary Caesar remains in the midst of the fields.
     nunc let an old tale raise the Iliac walls
and ascribe them to the gods; the walls, girdled about with fragile tile,
let the fleeing Babylonian Parthians marvel.                   50
behold, how much the Tigris, how much the swift Orontes surrounds,
how much of the eastern earth suffices for the Assyrian peoples as a kingdom —
a sudden tumult and the outburst of war snatched up and closed the work.
So great labors perished.
so many hands could either join Sestos to Abydos
and, with earth piled in, smite away the Phrixean sea,
or from Pelops’ broad realms rend off Ephyra
and give the long bend of Malea to ships with rafts,
or change some place of the world for the better, although Nature had denied it;
the threshing-floor of war comes together:                   60

hic alitur sanguis terras fluxurus in omnis,
hic et Thessalicae clades Libycaeque tenentur;
aestuat angusta rabies ciuilis harena.
     prima quidem surgens operum structura fefellit
Pompeium, ueluti mediae qui tutus in aruis                  65
Sicaniae rabidum nescit latrare Pelorum,
aut, uaga cum Tethys Rutupinaque litora feruent,
unda Caledonios fallit turbata Britannos.
ut primum uasto saeptas uidet aggere terras,
ipse quoque a tuta deducens agmina Petra                  70
diuersis spargit tumulis, ut Caesaris arma
laxet et effuso claudentem milite tendat;
ac tantum saepti uallo sibi uindicat agri,
parua Mycenaeae quantum sacrata Dianae
distat ab excelsa nemoralis Aricia Roma,                  75

here blood is nourished to flow into all lands,
here too Thessalian slaughter and Libyan are held;
the narrow sand boils with the rabies of civil war.
     at first indeed the rising structure of works deceived
Pompeius, just as one safe in the middle of fields                  65
of Sicania knows not the rabid barking of Pelorus,
or, when the wandering Tethys and the Rutupine shores seethe,
the troubled wave deceives the Caledonian Britons.
as soon as he sees lands fenced by a vast rampart,
he himself also, leading forth columns from the secure Petra                  70
scatters them on diverse tumuli, so that he loosens Caesar’s arms
and, with soldiers poured forth, strives to enclose him;
and so much by the wall enclosed he lays claim to fields for himself,
as little as Rome—small of Mycenae, sacred to Diana—
is distant from lofty, grove-born Aricia.                  75

quoque modo terrae praelapsus moenia Thybris
in mare descendit, si nusquam torqueat amnem.
classica nulla sonant iniussaque tela uagantur
et fit saepe nefas iaculum temptante lacerto.
maior cura duces miscendis abstrahit armis:                  80
Pompeium exhaustae praebenda ad gramina terrae,
quae currens obtriuit eques gradibusque citatis
ungula frondentem discussit cornea campum.
belliger attonsis sonipes defessus in aruis,
aduectos cum plena ferant praesepia culmos,                  85
ore nouas poscens moribundus labitur herbas
et tremulo medios abrumpit poplite gyros.
corpora dum soluit tabes et digerit artus,
traxit iners caelum fluuidae contagia pestis
obscuram in nubem. tali spiramine Nesis                  90

and likewise how the walls, slipped from the land, the Tiber
descends into the sea, if nowhere it diverts the stream.
no trumpets sound and the ordered weapons roam about
and often it becomes a crime when an arm essays the javelin.
a greater care separates the leaders from mingled arms:                  80
Pompeium, a pasture yielded to the grass of the spent earth,
which, running, the horseman crushes with rapid steps
and the horny hoof rends the leafy field apart.
the war-horse, stunned and weary in the fields,
when their mangers bring in full sheaves of carried straw,                  85
with its mouth seeking new blades slides away, dying, on the grass
and with a trembling knee breaks off its circuits in mid-course.
while pestilence loosens bodies and consumes the limbs,
the sluggish sky drew the contagions of the flowing pest
into a dark cloud. With such a breath Nesis                  90

emittit Stygium nebulosis aera saxis
antraque letiferi rabiem Typhonis anhelant.
inde labant populi, caeloque paratior unda
omne pati uirus durauit uiscera caeno.
iam riget arta cutis distentaque lumina rumpit,                  95
igneaque in uoltus et sacro feruida morbo
pestis abit, fessumque caput se ferre recusat.
iam magis atque magis praeceps agit omnia fatum,
nec medii dirimunt morbi uitamque necemque,
sed languor cum morte uenit; turbaque cadentum                  100
aucta lues, dum mixta iacent incondita uiuis
corpora; nam miseros ultra tentoria ciues
spargere funus erat. tamen hos minuere labores
a tergo pelagus pulsusque Aquilonibus aer
litoraque et plenae peregrina messe carinae.                  105

it sends forth Stygian vapour from misty rocks
and the caverns of deadly Typhon pant forth madness.
thence peoples slip away, and the wave, readier than the sky,
endured every venom and hardened the entrails with mud.
now the tight skin stiffens and the distended eyes burst, 95
and a fiery pest, hot in the visage and with a sacral fever,now more and more fate drives all headlong,100
the plague increased, while mingled, disorderly, the bodies lay among the living;
for the wretched citizens had no choice but to scatter the funeral beyond the tents.
yet to lessen these labours from the rear the sea drove and the air, beaten by the North Winds,105

at liber terrae spatiosis collibus hostis
aere non pigro nec inertibus angitur undis,
sed patitur saeuam, ueluti circumdatus arta
opsidione, famem. nondum turgentibus altam
in segetem culmis cernit miserabile uolgus                  110
in pecudum cecidisse cibos et carpere dumos
et foliis spoliare nemus letumque minantis
uellere ab ignotis dubias radicibus herbas.
quae mollire queunt flamma, quae frangere morsu,
quaeque per abrasas utero demittere fauces,                  115
plurimaque humanis ante hoc incognita mensis
diripiens miles saturum tamen obsidet hostem.
     ut primum libuit ruptis euadere claustris
Pompeio cunctasque sibi permittere terras,
non obscura petit latebrosae tempora noctis,                  120

but the free land, with its roomy hills, is vexed by a hostile force not by idle air nor by indolent waves,
but it suffers a savage hunger, as if hemmed in by a close siege. Not yet does the pitiable multitude behold the tall crop with swelling stalks                  110
that fallen into fodder for beasts, and to pluck at brambles and to despoil the grove of leaves and to tear up with unknown roots the doubtful herbs that threaten death.
Those which flame can soften, which bite can break, and which through chafed bellies descend to the jaws,                  115
and many foods before unknown to human tables—rifling these the soldier, though sated, besieges the enemy.      As soon as it pleased Pompey to burst forth from broken barriers and to permit all the lands to himself,
he does not seek the obscure hours of secretive night widely about him,                  120

et raptum furto soceri cessantibus armis
dedignatur iter: latis exire ruinis
quaerit, et inpulso turres confringere uallo,
perque omnis gladios et qua uia caede paranda est.
opportuna tamen ualli pars uisa propinqui, 125
qua Minici castella uacant, et confraga densis
arboribus dumeta tegunt. hic puluere nullo
proditus agmen agit subitusque in moenia uenit.
tot simul e campis Latiae fulsere uolucres,
tot cecinere tubae. nequid uictoria ferro 130
deberet, pauor attonitos confecerat hostes.
quod solum ualuit uirtus, iacuere perempti
debuerant quo stare loco.

and, his father‑in‑law having been seized by theft while their arms slackened, he scorns a furtive flight: he seeks to issue out through wide ruins, and with the rampart struck to break the towers, and everywhere to draw swords and where a way must be made by slaughter. opportune, however, a part of the valley seemed near, 125
where the forts of the Minici stand empty, and broken thickets cover themselves with dense trees. Here, betrayed by no dust, he drives his column and suddenly comes upon the walls. So many birds at once flashed from the Latian fields, so many trumpets sounded. Lest any victory be due to the sword, 130
fear had worn out the astonished enemies. Which virtue alone availed; the slain lay where they ought to have fallen.

qui uolnera ferrent
iam derant, et nimbus agens tot tela peribat.
tum piceos uoluunt inmissae lampades ignes, 135

who could carry wounds were already gone, and a storm driving through swept across so many spears.
then the hurled torches send forth pitchy fires, 135

tum quassae nutant turres lapsumque minantur,
roboris inpacti crebros gemit agger ad ictus.
iam Pompeianae celsi super ardua ualli
exierant aquilae, iam mundi iura patebant:
quem non mille simul turmis nec Caesare toto                  140
auferret Fortuna locum uictoribus unus
eripuit uetuitque capi, seque arma tenente
ac nondum strato Magnum uicisse negauit.
Scaeua uiro nomen: castrorum in plebe merebat
ante feras Rhodani gentes; ibi sanguine multo                  145
promotus Latiam longo gerit ordine uitem,
pronus ad omne nefas et qui nesciret in armis
quam magnum uirtus crimen ciuilibus esset.
hic ubi quaerentis socios iam Marte relicto
tuta fugae cernit, 'quo uos pauor' inquit 'adegit                  150

then the shaken towers sway and threaten collapse,
the rampart, unbent by force, groans at the repeated blows.
now the lofty eagles of Pompeian rampart had issued forth above the heights,
now the laws of the world lay open: whom neither a thousand at once in ranks nor all Caesar
would carry off from his place, Fortune snatched away, denied capture to that one victor,
and, holding his arms, he did not deny that Magnus had not yet been laid low.
Scaeva was the man’s name: among the rabble of the camp he had deserved
before the savage peoples of the Rhone; there, promoted by much blood, he bears Latium in a long line,
bent to every crime and one who would not know in war how great a virtue would be a crime in civil strife.
Here, when he sees his comrades seeking, the war already left behind, a safe route of flight, he says, “Where has fear driven you?” 150

inpius et cunctis ignotus Caesaris armis?
terga datis morti? cumulo uos desse uirorum 153
non pudet et bustis interque cadauera quaeri?
non ira saltem, iuuenes, pietate remota
stabitis? e cunctis, per quos erumperet hostis,
nos sumus electi.

Ungodly and unknown to all Caesar's arms?
Do you turn your backs to death? Are you ashamed to be wanting to the mass of men 153
and to be sought among pyres and among corpses?
Will you, young men, stand without even anger, your piety removed?
From among all, through whom the enemy might burst forth, we have been chosen.

non paruo sanguine Magni
iste dies ierit. peterem felicior umbras
Caesaris in uoltu: testem hunc fortuna negauit:
Pompeio laudante cadam. confringite tela 160
pectoris inpulsu iugulisque retundite ferrum.
iam longinqua petit puluis sonitusque ruinae,
securasque fragor concussit Caesaris aures.
uincimus, o socii: ueniet qui uindicet arces
dum morimur.' mouit tantum uox illa furorem, 165

That day will go forth with no small blood of Magnus stained upon it.
I would seek the happier shades, with Caesar's countenance: Fortune denied this witness:
I shall fall with Pompey praising. Break the weapons by a blow upon the breast 160
and blunt the iron upon throats.
Now the dust approaches from afar and the sound of ruin,
and the crash of axes has struck Caesar's ears.
We conquer, O comrades: he will come who will avenge the arces
while we die.' That voice alone stirred the fury, 165

quantum non primo succendunt classica cantu,
mirantesque uirum atque auidi spectare secuntur
scituri iuuenes, numero deprensa locoque
an plus quam mortem uirtus daret. ille ruenti
aggere consistit, primumque cadauera plenis                  170
turribus euoluit subeuntisque obruit hostis
corporibus, totaeque uiro dant tela ruinae,
roboraque et moles hosti seque ipse minatur.
nunc sude nunc duro contraria pectora conto
detrudit muris, et ualli summa tenentis                  175
amputat ense manus; caput obterit ossaque saxo
ac male defensum fragili conpage cerebrum
dissipat; alterius flamma crinesque genasque
succendit, strident oculis ardentibus ignes.
     ut primum cumulo crescente cadauera murum                  180

how much are not the trumpets first kindled by song,
and the youths, eager to behold the man, follow wondering
to learn, caught by number and place,
whether virtue would give more than death. He, rushing,
stopped at the rampart, and first rolled full corpses                  170
from the towers and the enemy overwhelmed the approaching with bodies,
and to the man the whole ruin gives weapons,
and strength and mass threaten the enemy and he himself menaces.
now he thrusts again and again with a hard club against opposing breasts
and he beats them down on the walls, and, holding the summit of the valley,                  175
cuts off hands with the sword; he crushes head and bones with a rock
and scatters the brain, ill defended by its fragile jointing;
he sets another’s hair and cheeks on fire,
the fires hiss and glow in his eyes.
     as soon as, with the heap growing, the corpses the wall                  180

admouere solo, non segnior extulit illum
saltus et in medias iecit super arma cateruas,
quam per summa rapit celerem uenabula pardum.
tunc densos inter cuneos conpressus et omni
uallatus bello uincit, quem respicit, hostem.                  185
iamque hebes et crasso non asper sanguine mucro
[percussum Scaeuae frangit, non uolnerat, hostem;]
perdidit ensis opus, frangit sine uolnere membra.
illum tota premit moles, illum omnia tela,
nulla fuit non certa manus, non lancea felix;                  190
parque nouum Fortuna uidet concurrere, bellum
atque uirum. fortis crebris sonat ictibus umbo,
et galeae fragmenta cauae conpressa perurunt
tempora, nec quicquam nudis uitalibus obstat
iam praeter stantis in summis ossibus hastas.                  195

they laid him upon the ground; no less briskly the woods raised him up and cast him into the midst of the ranks over the arms,
than hunters snatch the swift panther from the heights.
then, pressed among the dense wedges, he conquers all encircled by war—he whom he looks upon, the enemy. 185
and now the blunt blade, not rough with thick blood,
[struck Scaeva breaks, he had not wounded the enemy;]
the sword ruined its work, it breaks limbs without wounding.
a mass crushes that man wholly, all weapons strike him,
there was no certain hand, no lucky spear; 190
and Fortune sees a new pair running together, war
and the man. The brave boss rings with repeated blows,
and fragments of helmets, crushed in their bowls, scorch the temples,195

     quid nunc, uaesani, iaculis leuibusue sagittis
perditis haesuros numquam uitalibus ictus?
hunc aut tortilibus uibrata falarica neruis
obruat aut uasti muralia pondera saxi,
hunc aries ferro ballistaque limine portae                   200
promoueat. stat non fragilis pro Caesare murus
Pompeiumque tenet. iam pectora non tegit armis,
ac ueritus credi clipeo laeuaque uacasse
aut culpa uixisse sua tot uolnera belli
solus obit densamque ferens in pectore siluam                  205
iam gradibus fessis, in quem cadat, eligit hostem.
[par pelagi monstris Libycae sic belua terrae]
sic Libycus densis elephans oppressus ab armis
omne repercussum squalenti missile tergo
frangit et haerentis mota cute discutit hastas:                  210
uiscera tuta latent penitus, citraque cruorem
confixae stant tela ferae: tot facta sagittis,
tot iaculis unam non explent uolnera mortem.
Dictaea procul, ecce, manu Gortynis harundo
tenditur in Scaeuam, quae uoto certior omni                  215

     what now, O madman, will you, with light javelins or arrows lost,
aim to stick into the never-to-be-healed vitals by blows?
may a twisted spear splinter him with its sinew-whirled shaft,
or may vast weights of wall-stone crush him down,
may a battering-ram or the ballista push him from the gate-threshold                   200
forward. No fragile wall stands for Caesar;
it holds Pompeius. Now arms no longer cover the breast,
and fearing to be believed to have lacked shield and left side
or to have lived through so many wounds by his own fault,
he alone dies bearing in his breast a dense wood of wounds                  205
now choosing, with steps weary, the foe upon whom he shall fall.
[as a beast of the Libyan land so the sea's peerless monsters]
thus an Libyan elephant, oppressed by dense arms,
bends back every hurled shaft on its bristling back
and breaks the missiles, and, its hide moved, shakes off the sticking spears:                  210
its inward parts lie safe far within, and the weapons stand fixed without blood;
so many shafts, so many javelins do not fill one wound with death.
Behold, from far Dictean Gortynian reed is stretched at Scaeva by hand,
which becomes more certain than any vow to Scaeva                  215

in caput atque oculi laeuom descendit in orbem.
ille moras ferri neruorum et uincula rumpit
adfixam uellens oculo pendente sagittam
intrepidus, telumque suo cum lumine calcat.
Pannonis haud aliter post ictum saeuior ursa,                  220
cum iaculum parua Libys ammentauit habena,
se rotat in uolnus telumque irata receptum
inpetit et secum fugientem circumit hastam.
perdiderat uoltum rabies, stetit imbre cruento
informis facies. laetus fragor aethera pulsat                  225
uictorum: maiora uiris e sanguine paruo
gaudia non faceret conspectum in Caesare uolnus.
ille tegens alta suppressum mente furorem,
mitis et a uoltu penitus uirtute remota,
'parcite', ait 'ciues; procul hinc auertite ferrum.                  230

into the head and into the left eye's orbit it descended.
he breaks the delays of sinews and the bonds
tearing out the arrow fixed with the hanging eye,
undaunted, and with his own light treads on the weapon.
Not otherwise a Pannonian she‑bear, sterner after a blow, 220
when a little Libyan reed has hurled a javelin with its thong,
turns herself into the wound and, enraged, attacks the received shaft
and circles the fleeing spear along with it.
Rage had effaced her face, she stood with a bloody shower
a misshapen visage. Joyful clamor strikes the aether 225
of the victors: greater joys for men from little blood
would not make a wound in the sight of Caesar.
He, repressing the madness deep in his mind,230

conlatura meae nil sunt iam uolnera morti:
non eget ingestis sed uolsis pectore telis.
tollite et in Magni uiuentem ponite castris.
hoc uestro praestate duci: sit Scaeua relicti
Caesaris exemplum potius quam mortis honestae.'                  235
credidit infelix simulatis uocibus Aulus
nec uidit recto gladium mucrone tenentem,
membraque captiui pariter laturus et arma
fulmineum mediis excepit faucibus ensem.
incaluit uirtus, atque una caede refectus                  240
'soluat' ait 'poenas, Scaeuam quicumque subactum
sperauit. pacem gladio si quaerit ab isto
Magnus, adorato summittat Caesare signa.
an similem uestri segnemque ad fata putatis?
Pompei uobis minor est causaeque senatus                  245

my wounds are nothing now to be merged into death:
they do not need to be borne off but to be torn by a breast of weapons.
lift me up and set me living within the camp of Magnus.
grant this to your general: let Scaeua be left as an example
of Caesar rather than as an honorable death.' 235
unhappy Aulus believed the feigned words at once
and did not see him holding the sword point straight,240
'let him pay,' he said, 'whoever hoped Scaeua subdued.245

quam mihi mortis amor.' simul haec effatur, et altus
Caesareas puluis testatur adesse cohortes.
dedecus hic belli Magno crimenque remisit,
ne solum totae fugerent, te Scaeua, cateruae.
subducto qui Marte ruis; nam sanguine fuso                  250
uires pugna dabat. labentem turba suorum
excipit atque umeris defectum inponere gaudet;
ac uelut inclusum perfosso in pectore numen
et uiuam magnae speciem Virtutis adorant;
telaque confixis certant euellere membris,                  255
exornantque deos ac nudum pectore Martem
armis, Scaeua, tuis: felix hoc nomine famae,
si tibi durus Hiber aut si tibi terga dedisset
Cantaber exiguis aut longis Teutonus armis.
non tu bellorum spoliis ornare Tonantis                  260

“than the love of death to me.” At once he utters these words, and the deep Caesarine dust testifies that the cohorts are present.
He pardoned this disgrace of war and the crime to Magnus, lest you alone, Scaeva, of the whole band should flee.
You who rush forward with Mars withdrawn; for with blood shed he gave strength to the fight.
The throng catches the one slipping and rejoices to place the fallen upon their shoulders;
and as one would worship a divinity enclosed and pierced in the breast, they adore the living semblance of great Virtus;
and strive to wrench the weapons from his transfixed limbs,
and they deck the gods and Mars, bare of breast, with arms, Scaeva, yours: fortunate in this name of fame,
if a stern Iberian or if a Cantabrian had turned his back to you with scanty arms, or a Teuton with long arms.
You do not adorn the spoils of War of the Thunderer

templa potes, non tu laetis ululare triumphis.
infelix, quanta dominum uirtute parasti!
     nec magis hac Magnus castrorum parte repulsus
intra claustra piger dilato Marte quieuit,
quam mare lassatur, cum se tollentibus Euris                  265
frangentem fluctus scopulum ferit aut latus alti
montis adest seramque sibi parat unda ruinam.
hinc uicina petens placido castella profundo
incursu gemini Martis rapit, armaque late
spargit et effuso laxat tentoria campo,                  270
mutandaeque iuuat permissa licentia terrae.
sic pleno Padus ore tumens super aggere tutas
excurrit ripas et totos concutit agros;
succubuit siqua tellus cumuloque furentem
undarum non passa ruit, tum flumine toto                  275

you can adorn temples, not you to howl with joyous triumphs.
unhappy one, with what valor you prepared a master!
     nor was Magnus more driven back from this side of the camp
idle within the palisades, Mars delayed having been put off,
than the sea grows weary, when the East Winds raise themselves                  265
and, striking the rock that breaks the waves, or the flank of a deep
mountain is present and the wave prepares a late ruin for itself.
thence seeking nearby strongholds with a placid deepside
the twin onslaughts of Mars seize them, and scatter arms far and wide
and loosen the tents across the poured-out plain,                  270
and licence given the land delights in being changed.
thus the swelling Padus with a full mouth rushing over its bank
runs forth upon secure shores and shakes whole fields;
if any earth gave way and, not suffering the raging heap
of waves, collapsed, then with the whole river                  275

transit et ignotos operit sibi gurgite campos:
illos terra fugit dominos, his rura colonis
accedunt donante Pado. uix proelia Caesar
senserat, elatus specula quae prodidit ignis:
inuenit inpulsos presso iam puluere muros,                  280
frigidaque, ut ueteris, deprendit signa ruinae.
accendit pax ipsa loci, mouitque furorem
Pompeiana quies et uicto Caesare somnus.
ire uel in clades properat dum gaudia turbet.
Torquato ruit inde minax, qui Caesaris arma                  285
segnius haud uidit, quam malo nauta tremente
omnia subducit Circaeae uela procellae;
agminaque interius muro breuiore recepit,
densius ut parua disponeret arma corona.
transierat primi Caesar munimina ualli,                  290

it crosses and covers unknown fields for itself with the surge:
those lands flee their masters, to these the farms draw near as Pado gives them.
scarcely had Caesar perceived the battles, which the lofty watchfire had disclosed:
he found the walls driven back, already pressed with dust,280
and, like tokens of some ancient doom, he detected cold signs of ruin.
the very peace of the place kindled him, and Pompeian quiet stirred a fury
and the sleep of Caesar, now overthrown. He even hastens to go into the wreck while joys are thrown into confusion.
thence Torquatus rushes on, threatening, who saw Caesar’s arms no more slowly
than a sailor, trembling at an ill wind, takes in all the sails of a Circean gale;
and he drew his columns back within a shorter wall,
that he might set out his arms more closely in a small crown.
Caesar had passed the foremost defenses of the rampart,290

cum super e totis immisit collibus arma
effuditque acies obsaeptum Magnus in hostem.
non sic Hennaeis habitans in uallibus horret
Enceladum spirante Noto, cum tota cauernas
egerit et torrens in campos defluit Aetna, 295
Caesaris ut miles glomerato puluere uictus
ante aciem caeci trepidus sub nube timoris
hostibus occurrit fugiens inque ipsa pauendo
fata ruit. totus mitti ciuilibus armis
usque uel in pacem potuit cruor: ipse furentis 300
dux tenuit gladios. felix ac libera regum,
Roma, fores iurisque tui, uicisset in illo
si tibi Sulla loco.

when from the whole hills he hurled his arms down upon them,
and Magnus poured forth his battle-line against the beset enemy.
not thus does one dwelling in the Hennæan valleys shudder
at Enceladus breathing the South Wind, when all the caves
have been emptied and Aetna, a torrent, flows into the fields, 295
as the soldier of Caesar, beaten by the gathered dust,
rashly meets the enemy before the line, blind beneath a cloud of fear,
and, fleeing, rushes into his doom even in his panic.
so much blood was sent even into civic arms
up to peace: the furious commander himself held the swords of the raging men. 300
fortunate and free with kings, Rome, your gates and your justice would have triumphed in that hour
if Sulla had stood in your place.

dolet, heu, semperque dolebit
quod scelerum, Caesar, prodest tibi summa tuorum,
cum genero pugnasse pio. pro tristia fata! 305

it grieves, alas, and will always grieve
that the crimes of your foremost men, Caesar, profit you,
when you fought against a dutiful son-in-law. O for mournful fates! 305

non Vticae Libye clades, Hispania Mundae
flesset et infando pollutus sanguine Nilus
nobilius Phario gestasset rege cadauer,
nec Iuba Marmaricas nudus pressisset harenas
Poenorumque umbras placasset sanguine fuso                  310
Scipio, nec sancto caruisset uita Catone.
ultimus esse dies potuit tibi Roma malorum,
exire e mediis potuit Pharsalia fatis.
     deserit auerso possessam numine sedem
Caesar et Emathias lacero petit agmine terras.                   315
arma secuturum soceri, quacumque fugasset,
temptauere suo comites deuertere Magnum
hortatu, patrias sedes atque hoste carentem
Ausoniam peteret. 'numquam me Caesaris' inquit
'exemplo reddam patriae, numquamque uidebit                  320
me nisi dimisso redeuntem milite Roma.
Hesperiam potui motu surgente tenere,
si uellem patriis aciem committere templis
ac medio pugnare foro. dum bella relegem,
extremum Scythici transcendam frigoris orbem                  325

not the disaster of Utica in Libya, nor would Hispania of Munda
have wept, nor the Nile, polluted with unspeakable blood,
have borne the more noble corpse of king Phario,
nor would Iuba, stripped, have pressed the Marmarican sands
and Scipio appeased the shades of the Poeni with blood poured forth                  310
nor would life have been wanting to the holy Cato.
Rome could have been the last day of your evils,
Pharsalia could have gone forth from among the fates.
     Caesar, his divine favor having turned away, abandons the seat he possessed
and with his host rent seeks the Emathian lands.                   315
His comrades tried to persuade Great to turn back
to follow the arms of his father‑in‑law, wherever he had fled,
to seek his native seats and Ausonia free from the enemy.
'I will never,' he says, 'render myself to my country in Caesar's example,
nor will Rome ever see me return except with my soldier dismissed.'                  320
I could have held Hesperia by a rising motion,
if I wished to commit the line to my native temples
and to fight in the middle of the forum. While I should marshal wars,
I would cross beyond the uttermost circle of Scythian cold.                  325

ardentisque plagas. uictor tibi, Roma, quietem
eripiam, qui, ne premerent te proelia, fugi?
a potius, nequid bello patiaris in isto,
te Caesar putet esse suam.' sic fatus in ortus
Phoebeos condixit iter, terraeque secutus                  330
deuia, qua uastos aperit Candauia saltus,
contigit Emathiam, bello quam fata parabant.
     Thessaliam, qua parte diem brumalibus horis
attollit Titan, rupes Ossaea coercet;
cum per summa poli Phoebum trahit altior aestas,                  335
Pelion opponit radiis nascentibus umbras;
at medios ignes caeli rapidique Leonis
solstitiale caput nemorosus summouet Othrys.
excipit aduersos Zephyros et Iapyga Pindus
et maturato praecidit uespere lucem;                  340

and the burning regions. 'Victorious for you, Rome, shall I snatch away repose,
who, that battles might not press upon you, fled?
or rather, lest you suffer anything in that war,
that Caesar may deem you to be his.' Thus having spoken he set his course for the Phoebean rising,
and following the devious ways of the land                  330
by which Candauia opens vast glades,
he reached Emathia, which the fates were preparing for war.
     Thessaly, on that side where Titan raises the day in wintry hours,
the Ossaean cliff restrains;
when higher summer draws Phoebus across the heights of the sky,                  335
Pelion sets shadows against the newly-rising rays;
but leafy Othrys puts aside the fires of mid-heaven and the swift head of Leo of the sky at the solstice.
Pindus receives the adverse Zephyrs and the Iapygian winds
and with ripened evening cuts off the light;                  340

nec metuens imi Borean habitator Olympi
lucentem totis ignorat noctibus Arcton.
hos inter montis media qui ualle premuntur,
perpetuis quondam latuere paludibus agri,
flumina dum campi retinent nec peruia Tempe                  345
dant aditus pelagi, stagnumque inplentibus unum
crescere cursus erat. postquam discessit Olympo
Herculea grauis Ossa manu subitaeque ruinam
sensit aquae Nereus, melius mansura sub undis
Emathis aequorei regnum Pharsalos Achillis                  350
eminet et, prima Rhoeteia litora pinu
quae tetigit, Phylace Pteleosque et Dorion ira
flebile Pieridum; Trachin pretioque nefandae
lampados Herculeis fortis Meliboea pharetris
atque olim Larisa potens; ubi nobile quondam                  355

nor, fearing the low Borean, does the inhabitant of Olympus fail to know the Arcton shining through all the nights.
Among these, those pressed in the midst of the mountains by the valley once lay hidden in perpetual marshes, while the plains' rivers detained their courses and Tempe, not a pass, gave no access to the sea, and one pool, fed by the filling streams, was increasing in breadth. 345
After Hercules departed from Olympus, Ossa, heavy from the Herculean hand, felt a sudden ruin, and Nereus perceived the waters,—better to remain beneath the waves—yet Pharsalos, the sea-kingdom of watery Emathia, rises forth and stands prominent; and the first Rhoetian shore which the pine touched, Phylace and Pteleus and Dorion, the Pierids' mournful wrath;
Trachin, and by price of the accursed lamp the brave Meliboea with Herculean quivers, and Larisa once powerful; where once noble 355

nunc super Argos arant, ueteres ubi fabula Thebas
monstrat Echionias, ubi quondam Pentheos exul
colla caputque ferens supremo tradidit igni
questa quod hoc solum nato rapuisset Agaue.
ergo abrupta palus multos discessit in amnes.                  360
purus in occasus, parui sed gurgitis, Aeas
Ionio fluit inde mari, nec fortior undis
labitur auectae pater Isidis, et tuus, Oeneu,
paene gener crassis oblimat Echinadas undis,
et Meleagream maculatus sanguine Nessi                  365
Euhenos Calydona secat. ferit amne citato
Maliacas Spercheos aquas, et flumine puro
inrigat Amphrysos famulantis pascua Phoebi.
accipit Asopos cursus Phoenixque Melasque                  374

now they plough above Argos, where the ancient tale points to Thebes of the Echionians,
where once Pentheus the exile, bearing neck and head, delivered them to the final fire,
having complained that Agave alone had snatched this from her son.
therefore the marsh, torn away, departed into many rivers.                   360
clear toward the west, yet of a small stream, the Aias
flows thence into the Ionian sea, nor does the sire of Isis glide stronger
on the borne waves, and yours, Oeneus,
almost wets the Echinades with thick waves as a son-in-law,
and Meleagros, stained with the blood of Nessus,                  365
the Euenos of Calydon cuts through. The swift stream strikes
the Malian Spercheios’s waters, and with a pure river
waters Amphrysos, tending the pastures of Phoebus.
it receives the courses of Asopus, and Phoenix and Melas                  374

quique nec umentis nebulas nec rore madentem                  369
aera nec tenues uentos suspirat Anauros,
et quisquis pelago per se non cognitus amnis
Peneo donauit aquas: it gurgite rapto
Apidanos numquamque celer nisi mixtus Enipeus;
solus, in alterius nomen cum uenerit undae,                  375
defendit Titaresos aquas lapsusque superne
gurgite Penei pro siccis utitur aruis.
hunc fama est Stygiis manare paludibus amnem
et capitis memorem fluuii contagia uilis
nolle pati superumque sibi seruare timorem.                  380

and Anauros, who breathes neither the air damp with mists nor the sky wet with dew                  369
nor sighs the thin winds, and whoever river not known to the sea by itself
has given its waters to the Peneus: the Apidanus goes swept by the current
and is never swift unless mingled with the Enipeus;
alone, when the waves come under another’s name,                  375
it guards the Titaresian streams, and having slipped down from the upper surge
of the Peneus it uses fields as if they were dry land.
They say that this river flows from Stygian marshes
and will not suffer the base contagion of a river mindful of its head, but keeps the fear of the gods to itself.                  380

     ut primum emissis patuerunt amnibus arua,
pinguis Bebrycio discessit uomere sulcus;
mox Lelegum dextra pressum descendit aratrum,
Aeolidae Dolopesque solum fregere coloni
et Magnetes equis, Minyae gens cognita remis.                  385
illic semiferos Ixionidas Centauros
feta Pelethroniis nubes effudit in antris:
aspera te Pholoes frangentem, Monyche, saxa,
teque sub Oetaeo torquentem uertice uolsas,
Rhoece ferox, quas uix Boreas inuerteret ornos,                  390
hospes et Alcidae magni Phole, teque, per amnem
inprobe Lernaeas uector passure sagittas,
teque, senex Chiron, gelido qui sidere fulgens
inpetis Haemonio maiorem Scorpion arcu.
     hac tellure feri micuerunt semina Martis.                   395
primus ab aequorea percussis cuspide saxis
Thessalicus sonipes, bellis feralibus omen,
exiluit, primus chalybem frenosque momordit
spumauitque nouis Lapithae domitoris habenis.
prima fretum scindens Pagasaeo litore pinus                  400

     as soon as with the waters let loose the fields lay open,
the rich furrow departed from the Bebrycian plow;
soon the right hand of the Leleges let fall the pressed plough,
Aeolid Dolopes broke the soil as settlers
and the Magnetes with horses, the Minyae people known by oars.                  385
there the half‑wild Ixionid Centaurs
a cloud brought forth in the Pelethronian caves, bearing foals:
rough Pholus, Monyche, breaking rocks,390
guest and of great Alcidas the Pholus, and you, who through the river     on this land the seeds of savage Mars flashed forth.                  395
first from the sea, with his spear striking the rocks,400

terrenum ignotas hominem proiecit in undas.
primus Thessalicae rector telluris Ionos
in formam calidae percussit pondera massae
fudit et argentum flammis aurumque moneta
fregit et inmensis coxit fornacibus aera.                  405
illic, quod populos scelerata inpegit in arma,
diuitias numerare datum est. hinc maxima serpens
descendit Python Cirrhaeaque fluxit in arua,
unde et Thessalicae ueniunt ad Pythia laurus.
inpius hinc prolem superis inmisit Aloeus,                  410
inseruit celsis prope se cum Pelion astris
sideribusque uias incurrens abstulit Ossa.
     hac ubi damnata fatis tellure locarunt
castra duces, cunctos belli praesaga futuri
mens agitat, summique grauem discriminis horam                  415

he hurled the earth-born man into unknown waves.
the first ruler of the Thessalian land struck the Ionian metals into the form of a heated mass,
and he melted silver with flames and coined gold,
and broke bronze and tempered it in immense furnaces.                  405
there, because wickedness impelled peoples into arms,
it was given to reckon riches. From here the great serpent
Python descended and flowed into the Cirrhaean fields,
whence Thessalian laurels come to the Pythia.
from here impious Aloeus sent forth offspring against the gods,                  410
he set Ossa near lofty Pelion and, rushing into the ways of the stars,
carried off those heights.      when by fate they had placed their camp on this damned land
the leaders, a mind foreboding the war to come, stirred all; the heavy hour
and the grave crisis of the supreme moment weighed upon them.                  415

aduentare palam est, propius iam fata moueri.
degeneres trepidant animi peioraque uersant;
ad dubios pauci praesumpto robore casus
spemque metumque ferunt. turbae sed mixtus inerti
Sextus erat, Magno proles indigna parente,                  420
cui mox Scyllaeis exul grassatus in undis
polluit aequoreos Siculus pirata triumphos.
qui stimulante metu fati praenoscere cursus,
inpatiensque morae uenturisque omnibus aeger,
non tripodas Deli, non Pythia consulit antra,                  425
nec quaesisse libet primis quid frugibus altrix
aere Iouis Dodona sonet, quis noscere fibra
fata queat, quis prodat aues, quis fulgura caeli
seruet et Assyria scrutetur sidera cura,
aut siquid tacitum sed fas erat. ille supernis                  430

It is plain they are approaching, the fates now moved nearer.
degenerate minds tremble and turn to worse courses;
to dubious dangers few bring presumptuous strength,
and they bear both hope and fear. But mixed with the inert crowd
was Sextus, a offspring unworthy of Magnus the parent,                  420
who soon, roaming as an exile on Scyllaean waves,
defiled with his Sicilian piracy the sea-born triumphs.
He, fear urging him to foreknow the courses of fate,
and impatient of delay and sick for all that is to come,
consulted neither the tripods of Delos nor the caves of Pythia,                  425
nor cared to ask what Dodona, nourisher of first fruits,
would utter by the bronze of Jupiter, who can learn by entrails the fates,
who will reveal the birds, who will keep the thunderbolts of heaven
and, with care, search the Assyrian stars,
or anything silent, if indeed it were lawful. He, from on high                  430

detestanda deis saeuorum arcana magorum
nouerat et tristis sacris feralibus aras,
umbrarum Ditisque fidem, miseroque liquebat
scire parum superos. uanum saeuumque furorem
adiuuat ipse locus uicinaque moenia castris                  435
Haemonidum, ficti quas nulla licentia monstri
transierit, quarum quidquid non creditur ars est.
Thessala quin etiam tellus herbasque nocentes
rupibus ingenuit sensuraque saxa canentes
arcanum ferale magos. ibi plurima surgunt                  440
uim factura deis, et terris hospita Colchis
legit in Haemoniis quas non aduexerat herbas.
inpia tot populis, tot surdas gentibus aures
caelicolum dirae conuertunt carmina gentis.
una per aetherios exit uox illa recessus                  445

he had learned the detestable-to-the-gods arcana of savage magi
and the sad altars of funeral rites,
the faith of the shades and of Dis, and it remained for the wretched man
to know the gods too little. The place itself fosters a vain and cruel madness
and the walls nearby the Haemonian camps, 435
of invented monsters, which no licence of fiction has passed through, of which whatever is not believed is art.
Moreover the Thessalian land produced noxious herbs
and rocks born on cliffs and sensing stones that sing,440
powers to be wrought against the gods, and Colchis, a guest upon these lands,
gathers in the Haemonian fields herbs which it had not brought with it.
With so many peoples impious and so many peoples deaf to warnings
the dread songs of that nation turn the ears of the sky-dwellers. One voice together issues forth through the ethereal recesses 445

uerbaque ad inuitum perfert cogentia numen,
quod non cura poli caelique uolubilis umquam
auocat. infandum tetigit cum sidera murmur,
tum, Babylon Persea licet secretaque Memphis
omne uetustorum soluat penetrale magorum, 450
abducet superos alienis Thessalis aris.
carmine Thessalidum dura in praecordia fluxit
non fatis adductus amor, flammisque seueri
inlicitis arsere senes. nec noxia tantum
pocula proficiunt aut cum turgentia suco 455
frontis amaturae subducunt pignora fetae:
mens hausti nulla sanie polluta ueneni
excantata perit.

and words that compel, bearing a numen against the will,
which neither the care of the pole nor the revolving heaven ever calls away. when the murmur touched the unspeakable stars,
then, though Persian Babylon and secret Memphis may unloose every inner shrine of the ancient magi, 450
the Thessalian will lead the gods off to alien altars.
by the Thessalian song a hard love flowed into their breasts,
not driven by the fates, and the old men burned in severe
fires when ensnared. nor do only noxious
cups avail, or when, with the swelling juice of the beloved’s brow, 455
they steal away the pledges bearing offspring: a mind, roused by a draught,
stained by no gore of poison, perishes.

quos non concordia mixti
alligat ulla tori blandaeque potentia formae
traxerunt torti magica uertigine fili. 460

whom no mingled concord binds to any couch, nor the blandishing power of an alluring form;
the sons, twisted, have drawn them by a magic whirl. 460

cessauere uices rerum, dilataque longa
haesit nocte dies. legi non paruit aether,
torpuit et praeceps audito carmine mundus,
axibus et rapidis inpulsos Iuppiter urguens
miratur non ire polos. nunc omnia conplent 465
imbribus et calido praeducunt nubila Phoebo,
et tonat ignaro caelum Ioue: uocibus isdem
umentis late nebulas nimbosque solutis
excussere comis.

the vicissitudes of things ceased, and with time prolonged the long day stuck fast in night,
the aether did not yield to law, and the world, headlong, grew numb at the song heard,
and Jupiter urging those driven on swift axles, marvels that the poles do not move.
now all things they fill with rains and, for warm Phoebus, lead on the clouds, 465
and the sky thunders to unsuspecting Jove: with the same moist voices
they shook far and wide the mists and storms, their locks cast loose.

uentis cessantibus aequor
intumuit, rursus uetitum sentire procellas 470
conticuit turbante Noto; puppemque ferentes
in uentum tumuere sinus. de rupe pependit
abscisa fixus torrens, amnisque cucurrit
non qua pronus erat. Nilum non extulit aestas,
Maeander derexit aquas, Rhodanumque morantem 475

when the winds ceased the sea swelled, again forbidden to feel storms 470
it fell silent with the South Wind perturbing; and the sails, carrying the stern
swelled into the wind. From the cliff a torrent, severed, hung fixed,
and a river ran not where it was inclined. No Nile did summer fail to raise,
the Maeander turned aside its waters, and the delaying Rhone 475

praecipitauit Arar. summisso uertice montes
explicuere iugum, nubes suspexit Olympus,
solibus et nullis Scythicae, cum bruma rigeret,
dimaduere niues. inpulsam sidere Tethyn
reppulit Haemonium defenso litore carmen.                  480
terra quoque inmoti concussit ponderis axes,
et medium uergens titubauit nisus in orbem.
tantae molis onus percussum uoce recessit
perspectumque dedit circum labentis Olympi.
omne potens animal leti genitumque nocere                  485
et pauet Haemonias et mortibus instruit artes.
has auidae tigres et nobilis ira leonum
ore fouent blando; gelidos his explicat orbes
inque pruinoso coluber distenditur aruo;
uiperei coeunt abrupto corpore nodi,                  490

Arar hurled headlong. With bent head the mountains unfolded their ridge,
Olympus uplifted a cloud; with Scythian suns and with none, when winter stiffened,
to melt away the snows. Tethys, struck by a star, repelled the surge driven upon
the Haemonian coast, her shore defended by enchantment. 480
the earth too shook the immobile axes of its weight,
and leaning toward the middle the striving staggered into the circle.
The burden of so great a mass, smitten, receded with a cry
and revealed the sight around of Olympus slipping away.
Every puissant beast, born to harm and to death, both dreads the Haemonian lands and fashions
for itself deadly arts. Greedy tigers and the noble wrath of lions
cherish these with flattering mouth; the serpent uncoils cold coils for them
and in the frosty field the snake is stretched out; venomous knots of viperine body meet together, 490

humanoque cadit serpens adflata ueneno.
quis labor hic superis cantus herbasque sequendi
spernendique timor? cuius commercia pacti
obstrictos habuere deos? parere necesse est,
an iuuat?

and the serpent, breathed upon with human venom, falls.
what labour is this for the gods — to sing and to shun the herbs and the fear of following them?
what commerce of a pact held the gods bound?
is it necessary to obey, or does it profit?

ignota tantum pietate merentur,                  495
an tacitis ualuere minis? hoc iuris in omnis
est illis superos, an habent haec carmina certum
imperiosa deum, qui mundum cogere quidquid
cogitur ipse potest? illis et sidera primum
praecipiti deducta polo, Phoebeque serena                  500
non aliter diris uerborum obsessa uenenis
palluit et nigris terrenisque ignibus arsit,
quam si fraterna prohiberet imagine tellus
insereretque suas flammis caelestibus umbras;
et patitur tantos cantu depressa labores                  505

do they merit only by unknown piety,                  495
or have they prevailed by silent threats? Is this right over all
the gods theirs, or do these songs possess a certain
imperious power over a god who himself is able to force whatever
the world is forced to do? To them even the stars first
drawn down from the headmost sky, and calm Phoebus                  500
no less, beset by the dire poisons of words, grew pale and burned
with black and terrestrial fires, than if the earth, forbidding by a brother’s likeness,
would plant its own shades into the heavenly flames;
and he endures such great toils, depressed by the song                  505

donec suppositas propior despumet in herbas.
     hos scelerum ritus, haec dirae crimina gentis
effera damnarat nimiae pietatis Erictho
inque nouos ritus pollutam duxerat artem.
illi namque nefas urbis summittere tecto                  510
aut laribus ferale caput, desertaque busta
incolit et tumulos expulsis obtinet umbris
grata deis Erebi. coetus audire silentum,
nosse domos Stygias arcanaque Ditis operti
non superi, non uita uetat. tenet ora profanae                  515
foeda situ macies, caeloque ignota sereno
terribilis Stygio facies pallore grauatur
inpexis onerata comis: si nimbus et atrae
sidera subducunt nubes, tunc Thessala nudis
egreditur bustis nocturnaque fulmina captat.                  520

until she foams over the herbs laid nearby.
     Erictho, fierce from excessive pietas, had condemned these rites of crimes, these dire crimes of the people,
and had led the corrupted art into new rites.
for she inhabits those impieties: to hide a nefas beneath the city’s roof                  510
or a funeral skull among the household gods, and she dwells the deserted pyres
and holds the tumuli with expelled shades, pleasing to the gods of Erebus. to hear the silent gatherings,
to know the Stygian houses and the secrets of Dis closed up                  515
the gods above, nor life, forbid not. her face bears the profane
foul leanness of decay, and a visage terrible with Stygian pallor unknown to serene sky,
her uncombed hair weighed down: if a storm and the dark stars draw up clouds, then the Thessalian issues forth from naked
pyres and seizes the nocturnal thunderbolts.                  520

semina fecundae segetis calcata perussit
et non letiferas spirando perdidit auras.
nec superos orat nec cantu supplice numen
auxiliare uocat nec fibras illa litantis
nouit: funereas aris inponere flammas                  525
gaudet et accenso rapuit quae tura sepulchro.
omne nefas superi prima iam uoce precantis
concedunt carmenque timent audire secundum.
uiuentis animas et adhuc sua membra regentis
infodit busto, fatis debentibus annos                  530
mors inuita subit; peruersa funera pompa
rettulit a tumulis, fugere cadauera letum.
fumantis iuuenum cineres ardentiaque ossa
e mediis rapit illa rogis ipsamque parentes
quam tenuere facem, nigroque uolantia fumo                  535

she scorched the seeds of the fruitful crop trodden down
and by breathing wasted the not-deadly airs.
nor does she pray to the gods nor with supplicating song
call the divine power to aid, nor does that woman
learn the entrails of the sacrificer: she delights to place
funereal flames upon altars and, the incense kindled, snatches what was for the tomb.                  525
the gods grant every wickedness now at the first voice of the suppliant,
and they fear to hear the following song. She buries
the souls of the living and the body still ruling its members
in a tomb; death, owing years to the fates, comes unwillingly;                  530
a perverse funeral pomp she restored from the mounds; corpses fled death.
She snatches from the midst of pyres the smoking ashes of youths and their burning bones,
and the very parents who had held the brand, and things flying in black smoke                  535

feralis fragmenta tori uestesque fluentis
colligit in cineres et olentis membra fauillas.
ast, ubi seruantur saxis, quibus intimus umor
ducitur, et tracta durescunt tabe medullae
corpora, tunc omnis auide desaeuit in artus                   540
inmergitque manus oculis gaudetque gelatos
effodisse orbes et siccae pallida rodit
excrementa manus. laqueum nodosque nocentis
ore suo rupit, pendentia corpora carpsit
abrasitque cruces percussaque uiscera nimbis                  545
uolsit et incoctas admisso sole medullas.
insertum manibus chalybem nigramque per artus
stintis tabi saniem uirusque coactum
sustulit et neruo morsus retinente pependit.
et, quodcumque iacet nuda tellure cadauer,                  550
ante feras uolucresque sedet; nec carpere membra
uolt ferro manibusque suis, morsusque luporum
expectat siccis raptura e faucibus artus.
nec cessant a caede manus, si sanguine uiuo
est opus, erumpat iugulo qui primus aperto,                  555

she gathers the funeral fragments of the couch and the flowing garments
into ashes, and the limbs into smouldering, smelling embers.
but where they are kept in the rocks to which the innermost moisture
is drawn, and the marrows, sucked out, harden with rottenness,
bodies, then she greedily thirsts into the limbs                   540
and plunges her hands and rejoices to have dug out the frozen
orbs and the pale, dry hands gnaw at the excretions.
She breaks the noose and the harmful knots with her mouth,
she plucks the hanging bodies and scrapes off the flesh, and rolls the struck entrails in storms                  545
and, with the sun admitted, boils the uncooked marrows.
With her hands she thrusts in iron and black steel through the limbs,
stanches the putrid gore and the forced poison she has gathered
and lifted up, and with a sinew holding fast the bite it hung suspended.
and whatever corpse lies naked upon the earth she sits before beasts and birds;                  550
nor does she wish to tear at the limbs with iron and her hands, but waits for the wolves’ bitesnor do her hands cease from slaughter; if work demands fresh blood,
let him burst forth at the throat who first opens it,                   555

[nec refugit caedes, uiuum si sacra cruorem]
extaque funereae poscunt trepidantia mensae.
uolnere sic uentris, non qua natura uocabat,
extrahitur partus calidis ponendus in aris;
et quotiens saeuis opus est ac fortibus umbris                  560
ipsa facit manes. hominum mors omnis in usu est.
illa genae florem primaeuo corpore uolsit,
illa comam laeua morienti abscidit ephebo.
saepe etiam caris cognato in funere dira
Thessalis incubuit membris atque oscula figens                  565
truncauitque caput conpressaque dentibus ora
laxauit siccoque haerentem gutture linguam
praemordens gelidis infudit murmura labris
arcanumque nefas Stygias mandauit ad umbras.
     hanc ut fama loci Pompeio prodidit, alta                  570

[nor does slaughter shrink back, if the sacred rites demand the living's blood]
and the trembling funeral tables demand entrails.
thus from a wound of the belly, not as nature had called,
an offspring is drawn forth to be placed on the hot altars;
and whenever the work is for savage and mighty shades                  560
the manes themselves enact it. every human death is in use.
she plucked the bloom of the cheek from the youthful body,
she cut away the hair from the left side of the dying youth.
often too, upon a dear kinsman in a dreadful funeral
she reclined across the limbs and, fixing kisses,                  565
she tore off the head and, with teeth pressed, unloosed the mouth,
and, the tongue clinging to the dry throat, she prebitten,
poured murmurs into the icy lips
and committed the hidden crime to the Stygian shades.
     as the rumor of the place reported this to Pompeius, the lofty                  570

nocte poli, Titan medium quo tempore ducit
sub nostra tellure diem, deserta per arua
carpit iter. fidi scelerum suetique ministri
effractos circum tumulos ac busta uagati
conspexere procul praerupta in caute sedentem,                  575
qua iuga deuexus Pharsalica porrigit Haemus.
illa magis magicisque deis incognita uerba
temptabat carmenque nouos fingebat in usus.
namque timens, ne Mars alium uagus iret in orbem
Emathis et tellus tam multa caede careret,                  580
pollutos cantu dirisque uenefica sucis
conspersos uetuit transmittere bella Philippos,
tot mortes habitura suas usuraque mundi
sanguine: caesorum truncare cadauera regum
sperat et Hesperiae cineres auertere gentis                  585

at the night's pole, when Titan conducts the mid-day beneath our earth,
he traverses desolate fields. the faithful ministers of crime and of custom,
wandering around shattered tumuli and tombs, beheld from afar one seated steeply on a rock,                  575
to whose slope Haemus, descending, stretches the Pharsalian ridges.
she, more unknown to the magic gods, was testing words and shaping a song for new uses.
for fearing lest Mars roam elsewhere through the Emathian orb
and the land be bereft of so great a slaughter,                  580
she forbade by chant that wars be carried across the polluted Philippos, sprinkled with dire venoms,
for they would hold so many deaths and the world's usury in blood:
she hopes to hack off the slain carcasses of kings and to overturn the ashes of the Hesperian nation                  585

ossaque nobilium tantosque adquirere manes.
hic ardor solusque labor, quid corpore Magni
proiecto rapiat, quos Caesaris inuolet artus.
     quam prior adfatur Pompei ignaua propago.
'o decus Haemonidum, populis quae pandere fata                  590
quaeque suo uentura potes deuertere cursu,
te precor ut certum liceat mihi noscere finem
quem belli fortuna paret. non ultima turbae
pars ego Romanae, Magni clarissima proles,
uel dominus rerum uel tanti funeris heres.                  595
mens dubiis perculsa pauet rursusque parata est
certos ferre metus: hoc casibus eripe iuris,
ne subiti caecique ruant. uel numina torque
uel tu parce deis et manibus exprime uerum.
Elysias resera sedes ipsamque uocatam,                  600

and to acquire the bones of nobles and so mighty a host of shades.
this alone is the ardor and the sole labor: what will it seize from the fallen body of Magnus,
which limbs of Caesar will it violate?
     whereupon the lazy offspring of Pompey first addresses her.
'O glory of the Haemonids, who can unseal to peoples the fates                  590
and who can turn aside what is coming in its destined course,
I pray you that it be permitted for me to know the certain end
which the fortune of war prepares. I am not the last part
of the Roman crowd, the most illustrious offspring of Magnus,
whether lord of things or heir of so great a funeral.                  595
a mind struck by doubts is aghast and again prepared
to bear fixed fears: take this away from the hazards of fate,
lest they fall sudden and blind. Either twist the numina
or spare the gods and press out the truth from the shades.
unlock the Elysian seats and the very called place,                  600

quos petat e nobis, Mortem mihi coge fateri.
non humilis labor est: dignum, quod quaerere cures
uel tibi, quo tanti praeponderet alea fati.'
inpia laetatur uulgato nomine famae
Thessalis, et contra 'si fata minora moueres,                  605
pronum erat, o iuuenis, quos uelles' inquit 'in actus
inuitos praebere deos. conceditur arti,
unam cum radiis presserunt sidera mortem,
inseruisse moras; et, quamuis fecerit omnis
stella senem, medios herbis abrumpimus annos.                  610
at, simul a prima descendit origine mundi
causarum series, atque omnia fata laborant
si quicquam mutare uelis, unoque sub ictu
stat genus humanum, tum, Thessala turba fatemur,
plus Fortuna potest. sed, si praenoscere casus                  615

Make me confess whom Death seeks from us.
It is no humble task: worthy of that which you care to ask,
whether for yourself, by which the alea of fate might so greatly preponderate.'
the impious Thessalian, rejoicing in her fame made common,
and in reply: 'If you were moving lesser fates,605
it had been easy, O youth, to bring gods you wished
into unwilling acts. The art permits it;
when the stars pressed death with their rays they implanted delays;
and although every star will make a man old, with herbs we snatch away the middle years.610
But, as soon as from the first origin of the world
the series of causes descends, and all the fates are at work,
if you would change anything, and the human race stands under one blow,
then, we Thessalian throng confess, Fortune has more power.
But, if to foresee chances615

contentus, facilesque aditus multique patebunt
ad uerum: tellus nobis aetherque chaosque
aequoraque et campi Rhodopaeaque saxa loquentur.
sed pronum, cum tanta nouae sit copia mortis,
Emathiis unum campis attollere corpus,                  620
ut modo defuncti tepidique cadaueris ora
plena uoce sonent, nec membris sole perustis
auribus incertum feralis strideat umbra.'
     dixerat, et noctis geminatis arte tenebris
maestum tecta caput squalenti nube pererrat                  625
corpora caesorum tumulis proiecta negatis.
continuo fugere lupi, fugere reuolsis
unguibus inpastae uolucres, dum Thessala uatem
eligit et gelidas leto scrutata medullas
pulmonis rigidi stantis sine uolnere fibras                  630

be content, and facile approaches and many paths will lie open
to the truth: earth to us, and ether, and Chaos,
and the seas and the plains and the Rhodopaean rocks will speak.
but prone to risk, since there is so great a plentitude of new death,
to raise one body upon the Emathian fields,                  620
that the mouths of the newly dead and of the warm corpse
may sound with full voice, nor with members scorched by the sun
may the funereal shade hiss uncertain in the ears.'
     he had spoken, and by the art of twin night-shadows
the sorrowful roof wanders its head through a sordid cloud                  625
bodies of the slain cast upon the tombs denied.
Straightaway the wolves flee, the birds that have been soiled flee with torn
claws, while the Thessalian selects a prophet
and, having searched the cold marrow for death,
630

inuenit et uocem defuncto in corpore quaerit.
fata peremptorum pendent iam multa uirorum,
quem superis reuocasse uelit. si tollere totas
temptasset campis acies et reddere bello,
cessissent leges Erebi, monstroque potenti                  635
extractus Stygio populus pugnasset Auerno.
electum tandem traiecto gutture corpus
ducit, et inserto laqueis feralibus unco
per scopulos miserum trahitur per saxa cadauer
uicturum, montisque caui, quem tristis Erictho                  640
damnarat sacris, alta sub rupe locatur.
     haud procul a Ditis caecis depressa cauernis
in praeceps subsedit humus, quam pallida pronis
urguet silua comis et nullo uertice caelum
suspiciens Phoebo non peruia taxus opacat.                  645

he finds and seeks a voice in the dead body.
Many fates of the slain now hang over those men,
whom he would wish the gods above to recall. If he had tried
to lift whole ranks from the fields and give them back to war,
the laws of Erebus would have yielded, and, by that potent monster                  635
the people drawn from the Stygian pool would have fought at Avernus.
At last he leads forth the chosen body with its throat pierced,
and with funeral nooses cast in hooks it is dragged
over crags, a wretched corpse wrenched through the rocks
to live, and is placed beneath a hollow of the mountain, him whom grim Erictho                  640
had condemned by her sacred rites, under a high cliff.
     Not far from Pluto’s blind caverns a hollowed ground
sank down precipitous, which the pale forest presses with its drooping locks
and the yew, looking up at the sky with no summit and shading the way to Phoebus,
grows dense and darkens what would be passable.                  645

marcentes intus tenebrae pallensque sub antris
longa nocte situs numquam nisi carmine factum
lumen habet. non Taenariis sic faucibus aer
sedit iners, maestum mundi confine latentis
ac nostri, quo non metuant admittere manes                  650
Tartarei reges. nam, quamuis Thessala uates
uim faciat fatis, dubium est, quod traxerit illuc
aspiciat Stygias an quod descenderit umbras.
discolor et uario furialis cultus amictu
induitur, uoltusque aperitur crine remoto,                  655
et coma uipereis substringitur horrida sertis.
ut pauidos iuuenis comites ipsumque trementem
conspicit exanimi defixum lumina uoltu,
'ponite' ait 'trepida conceptos mente timores:
iam noua, iam uera reddetur uita figura,                  660

fading shadows within and pale beneath the caverns
laid by long night, he has no light except that made by song.
not in the jaws of Taenarum does the air so inertly sit,
sad at the boundary of the hidden world and our own, which the kings of Tartarus
do not fear to admit their spirits.                  650
for, although the Thessalian seer exerts force with the fates, it is doubtful whether what she has drawn thither
will behold the Stygian things or whether she has descended to the shades.
she is garbed in a sallow and manifold, fury-like raiment,
and her face is revealed with hair thrown back,                  655
and her locks are girded with horrid, viperous wreaths.
when she beholds the trembling youth, his companions, and himself fixed
with lifeless eyes cast down by his countenance,
'lay aside,' she says, 'the fears conceived in your trembling mind:
now a new, now a true form of life shall be restored,'                  660

ut quamuis pauidi possint audire loquentem.
si uero Stygiosque lacus ripamque sonantem
ignibus ostendam, si me praebente uideri
Eumenides possint uillosaque colla colubris
Cerberus excutiens et uincti terga gigantes,                  665
quis timor, ignaui, metuentis cernere manes?'
     pectora tum primum feruenti sanguine supplet
uolneribus laxata nouis taboque medullas
abluit et uirus large lunare ministrat.
huc quidquid fetu genuit natura sinistro                  670
miscetur: non spuma canum quibus unda timori est,
uiscera non lyncis, non durae nodus hyaenae
defuit et cerui pastae serpente medullae,
non puppem retinens Euro tendente rudentis
in mediis echenais aquis oculique draconum                  675

so that though fearful they may yet be able to hear me speaking.
but if I show the Stygian lake and its shore sounding with fires,
if, with me present, the Eumenides and the shaggy necks of snakes
Cerberus shaking and the bound backs of giants can be seen,                                 665
what fear, you cowards, of those who dread to behold the shades?'
     then for the first time he fills his breasts with boiling blood;
loosened by fresh wounds and by corruption he washes out the marrows
and a baneful draught lavishly supplies a lunar poison.
to this is mixed whatever nature has borne in a left‑handed birth,                                670
—not lacking the foam of dogs whose wave is fear,—
not the entrails of the lynx, nor the hard knot of the hyena,
nor the marrows of a stag fed on serpent,—
not absent the stern that holds fast when Eurus strains the ropes
in mid shoaling waters, and the eyes of dragons.                                                675

quaeque sonant feta tepefacta sub alite saxa,
non Arabum uolucer serpens innataque rubris
aequoribus custos pretiosae uipera conchae
aut uiuentis adhuc Libyci membrana cerastae
aut cinis Eoa positi phoenicis in ara.                  680
quo postquam uiles et habentis nomina pestis
contulit, infando saturatas carmine frondis
et, quibus os dirum nascentibus inspuit, herbas
addidit et quidquid mundo dedit ipsa ueneni.
tum uox Lethaeos cunctis pollentior herbis                  685
excantare deos confundit murmura primum
dissona et humanae multum discordia linguae.
latratus habet illa canum gemitusque luporum,
quod trepidus bubo, quod strix nocturna queruntur,
quod strident ululantque ferae, quod sibilat anguis;                  690

and whatever clangs, swollen beneath the feathered rock,
or the winged serpent of the Arabs or the viper born in red
seas, guardian of the precious shell, or the still-living membrane
of Libyan cerastes, or the ash of the Phoenician placed on an eastern altar. 680
whence, after she had gathered cheap things and plagues bearing a name,
she saturated them with the unspeakable charm of her leafy spell,
and added the herbs which she spat upon as they were born, and whatever poison Nature herself had given to the world.
then a voice, stronger than all Lethean herbs, 685
confounded the murmurs that first chant the gods,
dissonant and greatly at variance with the human tongue.
that voice has the barking of dogs and the howls of wolves,690

exprimit et planctus inlisae cautibus undae
siluarumque sonum fractaeque tonitrua nubis:
tot rerum uox una fuit. mox cetera cantu
explicat Haemonio penetratque in Tartara lingua.
'Eumenides Stygiumque nefas Poenaeque nocentum                  695
et Chaos innumeros auidum confundere mundos
et rector terrae, quem longa in saecula torquet
mors dilata deum; Styx et quos nulla meretur
Thessalis Elysios; caelum matremque perosa
Persephone, nostraeque Hecates pars ultima, per quam                  700
manibus et mihi sunt tacitae commercia linguae,
ianitor et sedis laxae, qui uiscera saeuo
spargis nostra cani, repetitaque fila sorores
tracturae, tuque o flagrantis portitor undae,
iam lassate senex ad me redeuntibus umbris,                  705

and it utters lamentation on the rocks smitten by waves
and the sound of woods and the cracked thunder of cloud:
the voice of so many things was one. Soon the rest in song
unfolds and with a Haemonian tongue it pierces Tartarus.
'Eumenides and the Stygian crime and the Punishment of the guilty                  695
and Chaos to confound innumerable eager worlds
and the ruler of the earth, whom prolonged death torments
for long ages of the gods; the Styx and those whom no Thessalian earns
the Elysian ones; Heaven and Persephone, gnawing at her mother,
and Hecate, the last part of our realm, through whom                  700
with hands and with silent tongues there are dealings for me,
the doorkeeper and of the loosened seat, who dost scatter
our entrails to the savage dog, and the sisters, the spun threads
to be drawn back, and thou, o ferryman of the blazing wave,
now, weary old man, return to me with the shades that come back,                  705

exaudite preces. si uos satis ore nefando
pollutoque uoco, si numquam haec carmina fibris
humanis ieiuna cano, si pectora plena
saepe deo laui calido prosecta cerebro,
si quisquis uestris caput extaque lancibus infans                  710
inposuit uicturus erat, parete precanti.
non in Tartareo latitantem poscimus antro
adsuetamque diu tenebris, modo luce fugata
descendentem animam; primo pallentis hiatu
haeret adhuc Orci, licet has exaudiat herbas,                  715
ad manes uentura semel. ducis omnia nato
Pompeiana canat nostri modo militis umbra,
si bene de uobis ciuilia bella merentur.'
     haec ubi fata caput spumantiaque ora leuauit,
aspicit astantem proiecti corporis umbram,                  720

hear my prayers. If you, satisfied by my impious mouth and defiled voice — if I ever chant these songs fasting of human entrails, if I have often washed my breasts in hot fat for the god, carved with brain, if any one has placed on your altars the head and entrails of an infant who was to live, obey the suppliant. We do not ask one hiding in a Tartarean cave and long accustomed to darkness, now driven out by the light, a soul descending; at first, with a pallid gape, it still clings to Orcus, although it may have heard these herbs, and is fated once to come to the manes. Let the Pompeian shade sing all things of my son, even now the ghost of our soldier, if well for you the civil wars deserve.'
When she had raised her head and her foaming mouth these words, she beholds the standing shade of the prostrate body, 720

exanimis artus inuisaque claustra timentem
carceris antiqui. pauet ire in pectus apertum
uisceraque et ruptas letali uolnere fibras.
a miser, extremum cui mortis munus inique
eripitur, non posse mori. miratur Erictho 725
has fatis licuisse moras, irataque morti
uerberat inmotum uiuo serpente cadauer,
perque cauas terrae, quas egit carmine, rimas
manibus inlatrat regnique silentia rumpit.
'Tisiphone uocisque meae secura Megaera, 730
non agitis saeuis Erebi per inane flagellis
infelicem animam?

lifeless limbs and the hated bonds fearing
of the ancient prison. He dreads to enter the open breast
and the viscera and the fibres torn by a lethal wound.
Ah wretched man, to whom the last gift of death is unjustly
snatched away, to be unable to die. Erictho marvels 725
that these delays were permitted by the fates, and, enraged at death,
she beats the corpse unmoved with a living serpent,
and through the hollow seams of the earth, which she drives with incantation,
she bites at them with her hands and rends the silence of the kingdom.
'Tisiphone and my voice, Megaera secure, 730
do you not drive, with your savage whips through the void of Erebus,
a wretched soul?

iam uos ego nomine uero
eliciam Stygiasque canes in luce superna
destituam; per busta sequar per funera custos,
expellam tumulis, abigam uos omnibus urnis. 735
teque deis, ad quos alio procedere uoltu
ficta soles, Hecate pallenti tabida forma,
ostendam faciemque Erebi mutare uetabo.
eloquar inmenso terrae sub pondere quae te
contineant, Hennaea, dapes, quo foedere maestum 740

now I will indeed call you out by name
and will abandon the Stygian dogs in the heavenly light;
I will follow through tombs, through funerals as guardian,
I will expel you from the mounds, I will drive you away from all urns. 735
and to the gods, before whom you are wont to advance in another guise,I will recount the Hennaean feasts, which hold you under the immense weight of the earth, by what covenant mournful

regem noctis ames, quae te contagia passam
noluerit reuocare Ceres. tibi, pessime mundi
arbiter, inmittam ruptis Titana cauernis,
et subito feriere die. paretis, an ille
conpellandus erit, quo numquam terra uocato 745
non concussa tremit, qui Gorgona cernit apertam
uerberibusque suis trepidam castigat Erinyn,
indespecta tenet uobis qui Tartara, cuius
uos estis superi, Stygias qui perierat undas?'
protinus astrictus caluit cruor atraque fouit 750
uolnera et in uenas extremaque membra cucurrit.
percussae gelido trepidant sub pectore fibrae,
et noua desuetis subrepens uita medullis
miscetur morti.

love the king of night, who Ceres, having suffered your contagion,
would not recall you back. To you, worst arbiter of the world,
I will send into the shattered caverns of the Titans,
and strike you suddenly by day. Will you obey, or must he
be addressed — he who, when the earth is called, never trembles unshaken 745
who sees the Gorgon uncovered and with his blows chastises the trembling Erinys,
who, unobserved, holds Tartarus for you, whose
you are the superiors, who had perished beneath the Stygian waves?'
Immediately the constrained gore dried and the black blood nourished 750
the wounds, and ran into the veins and along the farthest limbs.
The struck fibres tremble under the cold heart,
and a new life, creeping into marrow unused to it, is mingled with death.

tunc omnis palpitat artus,
tenduntur nerui; nec se tellure cadauer 755

then every limb quivers, the nerves are stretched; nor does the corpse sink to the earth 755

paulatim per membra leuat, terraque repulsum est
erectumque semel. distento lumina rictu
nudantur. nondum facies uiuentis in illo,
iam morientis erat: remanet pallorque rigorque,
et stupet inlatus mundo.

gradually it raises through the limbs, and the earth was thrust back and once he stood erect.
with a distended gape the eyes are bared.
not yet was the face of a living one in him; already it was that of one dying:
paleness and rigidity remain,
and he, borne into the world, stands stupefied.

set murmure nullo                  760
ora astricta sonant: uox illi linguaque tantum
responsura datur. 'dic' inquit Thessala 'magna,
quod iubeo, mercede mihi; nam uera locutum
inmunem toto mundi praestabimus aeuo
artibus Haemoniis: tali tua membra sepulchro,                  765
talibus exuram Stygio cum carmine siluis,
ut nullos cantata magos exaudiat umbra.
sit tanti uixisse iterum: nec uerba nec herbae
audebunt longae somnum tibi soluere Lethes
a me morte data. tripodas uatesque deorum                  770

but with no murmur                  760
the lips bound sound: to him only a voice and a tongue
about to answer are granted. "Speak," says the Thessalian, "great one,
what I command, for a reward to me; for having spoken the truth
we will make you immune through the whole age of the world
by Haemonian arts: with such a tomb for your limbs,                  765
with such a Stygian song I will burn you in the woods,
so that no sung shade may hearken to any magus.
May it be worth living again: neither words nor herbs
will dare to unbind for you the long sleep of Lethe
given by me as death. Tripods and prophets of the gods                  770

sors obscura decet: certus discedat, ab umbris
quisquis uera petit duraeque oracula mortis
fortis adit. ne parce, precor: da nomina rebus,
da loca; da uocem qua mecum fata loquantur.'
addidit et carmen, quo, quidquid consulit, umbram 775
scire dedit. maestum fletu manante cadauer
'tristia non equidem Parcarum stamina' dixit
'aspexi tacitae reuocatus ab aggere ripae;
quod tamen e cunctis mihi noscere contigit umbris
effera Romanos agitat discordia manes 780
inpiaque infernam ruperunt arma quietem;
Elysias Latii sedes ac Tartara maesta
diuersi liquere duces.

A dark lot is fitting: let the certain one depart from the shades
whoever seeks the true things and the oracles of harsh death
let the brave approach. Spare not, I pray: give names to things,
give places; give the voice by which the fates will speak with me.'
and he added a charm, by which, whatever he sought, he gave the shade 775
to know. The corpse, flowing with sorrowful weeping,
'I for my part did not behold the sad threads of the Parcae,' he said,which, however, among all things it fell to me to learn from the shades,
a fierce discord agitates the Roman shades 780
and impious arms have broken the infernal quiet;
the Elysian seats of Latium and doleful Tartarus
the leaders left, scattered.

quid fata pararent
hi fecere palam. tristis felicibus umbris
uoltus erat: uidi Decios natumque patremque, 785

they revealed what the fates were preparing.
his countenance was sad among the happy shades:
I saw the Decii, both son and father, 785

lustrales bellis animas, flentemque Camillum
et Curios, Sullam de te, Fortuna, querentem;
deplorat Libycis perituram Scipio terris
infaustam subolem; maior Carthaginis hostis
non seruituri maeret Cato fata nepotis:                  790
solum te, consul depulsis prime tyrannis
Brute, pias inter gaudentem uidimus umbras.
abruptis Catilina minax fractisque catenis
exultat Mariique truces nudique Cethegi;
uidi ego laetantis, popularia nomina, Drusos                  795
legibus inmodicos ausosque ingentia Gracchos;
aeternis chalybis nodis et carcere Ditis
constrictae plausere manus, camposque piorum
poscit turba nocens. regni possessor inertis
pallentis aperit sedes, abruptaque saxa                  800

the souls made lustral by wars, and Camillus weeping
and the Curii, Sulla complaining of you, Fortune;
Scipio laments an offspring doomed to perish in Libyan lands,
an ill-omened stock; Cato, the greater enemy of Carthage,
mourns the fate that his grandson will not serve: 790
only you, Brutus, consul, first having driven off tyrants,
we saw rejoicing among the pious shades.
with Catiline's threats torn away and his chains broken
Marius exults and the fierce, naked Cethegus;
I saw, rejoicing — popular names — the Drusi,795
lawless by the statutes and the Gracchi, who dared mighty things;
hands bound by everlasting steel-knots and the prison of Dis
even clapped, and the guilty throng demands the fields of the pious.
The possessor of the inert realm uncovers the pallid seats, and the shattered rocks 800

asperat et durum uinclis adamanta, paratque
poenam uictori. refer haec solacia tecum,
o iuuenis, placido manes patremque domumque
expectare sinu regnique in parte serena
Pompeis seruare locum. nec gloria paruae 805
sollicitet uitae: ueniet quae misceat omnis
hora duces.

he roughens even the hard adamant with bonds, and prepares
punishment for the victor. Take these consolations with you,
O youth, that in a placid embrace you may await the shades and your father and your home
and preserve a place in the serene part of the Pompeian realm. 805
Nor let the glory of a small life
trouble you: the hour will come that mixes together all
leaders.

properate mori, magnoque superbi
quamuis e paruis animo descendite bustis
et Romanorum manes calcate deorum.
quem tumulum Nili, quem Thybridis adluat unda 810
quaeritur, et ducibus tantum de funere pugna est.
tu fatum ne quaere tuum: cognoscere Parcae
me reticente dabunt; tibi certior omnia uates
ipse canet Siculis genitor Pompeius in aruis,
ille quoque incertus quo te uocet, unde repellat, 815

hasten to die, and proud though great,
though of a small spirit descend to humble pyres
and tread upon the manes of Roman gods.
which tomb the Nile, which the wave of the Tiber bathes 810
is sought, and the strife concerns funerals only for leaders.
do not seek your fate: the Parcae, with me withholding speech,
will grant you to know it; the prophet himself will sing to you all things more certain—Pompey the father in the Sicilian fields will sing,
he too uncertain by what call he summons you, or from what source he drives you away, 815

quas iubeat uitare plagas, quae sidera mundi.
Europam, miseri, Libyamque Asiamque timete:
distribuit tumulos uestris fortuna triumphis.
o miseranda domus, toto nil orbe uidebis
tutius Emathia.' sic postquam fata peregit,                  820
stat uoltu maestus tacito mortemque reposcit.
carminibus magicis opus est herbisque, cadauer
ut cadat, et nequeunt animam sibi reddere fata
consumpto iam iure semel. tunc robore multo
extruit illa rogum; uenit defunctus ad ignes.                  825
accensa iuuenem positum strue liquit Erictho
tandem passa mori, Sextoque ad castra parentis
it comes; et caelo lucis ducente colorem,
dum ferrent tutos intra tentoria gressus,
iussa tenere diem densas nox praestitit umbras.                  830

which blows to avoid, which stars of the world.
Europe, wretches, and Libya and Asia fear:
fortune distributes tombs for your triumphs.
O pitiable house, nowhere in the whole orb will you see
Emathia safer.' Thus, when he had fulfilled the fates,820
he stands sorrowful with silent countenance and demands death.
There is need of magic chants and of herbs, that the corpse may fall, and the fates cannot
restore the soul to itself once the law has already consumed it.
Then with much timber she erects the pyre; the deceased came to the flames.825
The pyre kindled, Erictho at last, having suffered, left the youth laid there to die,
and as companion he goes to his father's camp with Sextus;
and with the sky leading the hue of light, while they bore safe steps within the tents,830