Lucan: DE BELLO CIVILI SIVE PHARSALIA

At non in Pharia manes iacuere fauilla
nec cinis exiguus tantam conpescuit umbram;
prosiluit busto semustaque membra relinquens
degeneremque rogum sequitur conuexa Tonantis.
qua niger astriferis conectitur axibus aer                  5
quodque patet terras inter lunaeque meatus,
semidei manes habitant, quos ignea uirtus
innocuos uita patientes aetheris imi
fecit et aeternos animam collegit in orbes:
non illuc auro positi nec ture sepulti                  10
perueniunt. illic postquam se lumine uero
inpleuit, stellasque uagas miratus et astra
fixa polis, uidit quanta sub nocte iaceret
nostra dies risitque sui ludibria trunci.
hinc super Emathiae campos et signa cruenti                  15

But not in Pharian cinder did the shades lie,
nor did exiguous ash restrain so great a shade;
he leapt forth from the pyre, leaving his half-burnt limbs,
and, the unworthy pyre behind, he follows the Thunderer’s convex vault.
where the dark air is connected to the star-bearing axes                  5
and that space which lies open between the lands and the moon’s courses,
the demigod shades inhabit, whom a fiery virtue,
innocuous and able to endure the life of the lowest ether,
has made and has gathered the soul into eternal orbits:
they do not arrive there who are laid with gold nor buried with incense.                  10
There, after he filled himself with true light,
marveling at the wandering stars and the stars
fixed in the heavens, he saw how great a night our day lies under
and laughed at the mockeries of his own trunk.
From here, over the fields of Emathia and the standards of the bloody                  15

Caesaris ac sparsas uolitauit in aequore classes,
et scelerum uindex in sancto pectore Bruti
sedit et inuicti posuit se mente Catonis.
     ille, ubi pendebant casus dubiumque manebat
quem dominum mundi facerent ciuilia bella,                  20
oderat et Magnum, quamuis comes isset in arma
auspiciis raptus patriae ductuque senatus;
at post Thessalicas clades iam pectore toto
Pompeianus erat. patriam tutore carentem
excepit, populi trepidantia membra refouit,                  25
ignauis manibus proiectos reddidit enses,
nec regnum cupiens gessit ciuilia bella
nec seruire timens.

and he hovered over Caesar’s fleets scattered on the open sea,
and, as avenger of crimes, sat in the holy breast of Brutus,
and set himself in the mind of unconquered Cato.
     he, when the outcomes hung in the balance and it remained doubtful
whom the civil wars would make master of the world,                  20
hated even Magnus (Pompey), although he had gone as companion into arms,
swept away by the auspices of the fatherland and the guidance of the senate;
but after the Thessalian disasters he was with all his heart
a Pompeian. He took up his fatherland lacking a guardian,
revived the trembling limbs of the people,                  25
gave back the swords cast away by cowardly hands,
and he waged the civil wars neither desiring kingship
nor fearing to serve.

nil causa fecit in armis
ille sua: totae post Magni funera partes
libertatis erant. quas ne per litora fusas 30

he did nothing in arms for his own cause:
after Magnus’s funeral, the whole party was of Liberty.
which, lest they be scattered along the shores 30

colligeret rapido uictoria Caesaris actu,
Corcyrae secreta petit ac mille carinis
abstulit Emathiae secum fragmenta ruinae.
quis ratibus tantis fugientia crederet ire
agmina, quis pelagus uictas artasse carinas?                  35
     Dorida tum Malean et apertam Taenaron umbris,
inde Cythera petit, Boreaque urguente carinas
Graia fugit, Dictaea legit cedentibus undis
litora. tunc ausum classi praecludere portus
inpulit ac saeuas meritum Phycunta rapinas                  40
sparsit, et hinc placidis alto delabitur auris
in litus, Palinure, tuum (neque enim aequore tantum
Ausonio monimenta tenes, portusque quietos
testatur Libye Phrygio placuisse magistro),
cum procul ex alto tendentes uela carinae                  45

lest Caesar’s victory, with swift act, should gather them, scattered along the shores,
he seeks the secret places of Corcyra and with a thousand hulls
carried off with him the fragments of Emathia’s ruin.
Who would believe that with so great ships fleeing columns were going,
who that the sea had cramped conquered carinas?                  35
     Then he seeks the Doric sea, Malea, and Taenarum laid open to the shades,
thence he seeks Cythera; and with Boreas pressing the keels
he flees the Greek coast, he skirts the Dictaean
shores as the waves give way. Then the one who dared to shut the ports
to the fleet he drove against, and over Phycunta, deserving savage rapines,                  40
he scattered them; and from here he glides down on the deep with placid breezes
to your shore, Palinurus (for not on the Ausonian
sea only do you hold memorials; Libya bears witness that peaceful harbors
pleased the Phrygian master),
when from afar out on the deep ships stretching their sails                  45

ancipites tenuere animos, sociosne malorum
an ueherent hostes: praeceps facit omne timendum
uictor, et in nulla non creditur esse carina.
ast illae puppes luctus planctusque ferebant
et mala uel duri lacrimas motura Catonis.                  50
     nam, postquam frustra precibus Cornelia nautas
priuignique fugam tenuit, ne forte repulsus
litoribus Phariis remearet in aequora truncus,
ostenditque rogum non iusti flamma sepulchri,
'ergo indigna fui,' dixit 'Fortuna, marito                  55
accendisse rogum gelidosque effusa per artus
incubuisse uiro, laceros exurere crines
membraque dispersi pelago conponere Magni,
uolneribus cunctis largos infundere fletus,
ossibus et tepida uestes inplere fauilla,                  60

their minds were held in suspense, whether they were carrying allies in misfortunes or were conveying enemies: the victor makes everything headlong to be feared, and he is believed to be on every keel.
but those ships were bearing griefs and beatings-of-breast and woes that would move even hardy Cato to tears.                  50
     for, after Cornelia with prayers in vain held back the sailors and her stepson’s flight, lest perhaps the trunk, repulsed from the Pharian shores, should return to the waters,
and the flame of a not rightful sepulcher revealed the pyre,
'so then, Fortune,' she said, 'was I unworthy, for my husband, to have kindled the pyre and, poured out over his icy limbs, to have lain upon the man, to burn my torn hair and to set in order the limbs of Magnus, scattered on the sea, to pour copious tears upon all his wounds, and to fill his bones and garments with warm ash,'                  55
accendisse rogum gelidosque effusa per artus
incubuisse vĭro, laceros exurere crines
membraque dispersi pelago conponere Magni,
uolneribus cunctis largos infundere fletus,
ossibus et tepida uestes inplere fauilla,                  60

quidquid ab exstincto licuisset tollere busto
in templis sparsura deum. sine funeris ullo
ardet honore rogus; manus hoc Aegyptia forsan
obtulit officium graue manibus. o bene nudi
Crassorum cineres: Pompeio contigit ignis 65
inuidia maiore deum.

whatever she would have been permitted to take from the extinguished pyre
to scatter in the temples of the gods. the pyre burns without any
honor of funeral; perhaps an Egyptian hand offered this
office, grievous to the Manes. O well-bare cinders of the Crassi:
to Pompey there befell a fire by the greater envy of the gods 65

similisne malorum
sors mihi semper erit? numquam dare iusta licebit
coniugibus? numquam plenas plangemus ad urnas?

Will a fate similar in misfortunes always be mine?
Will it never be permitted to give the just rites to my husbands?
Shall we never lament at full urns?

quid porro tumulis opus est aut ulla requiris
instrumenta, dolor? non toto in pectore portas, 70
inpia, Pompeium? non imis haeret imago
uisceribus?

what furthermore is the need of tombs, or do you require
any instruments, O grief? do you not carry within your whole breast, 70
impious one, Pompey? does not the image cling in your deepest
viscera?

quaerat cineres uictura superstes.
nunc tamen, hinc longe qui fulget luce maligna,
ignis adhuc aliquid Phario de litore surgens
ostendit mihi, Magne, tui. iam flamma resedit, 75
Pompeiumque ferens uanescit solis ad ortus
fumus, et inuisi tendunt mihi carbasa uenti.

let the survivor, fated to live on, seek the ashes.
now, however, that fire, far from here, which gleams with baleful light,
still rising somewhat from the Pharian shore,
shows me, Magnus, something of you. already the flame has subsided, 75
and the smoke, bearing Pompey, vanishes toward the sun’s rising,
and the winds I detest stretch the sails for me.

linquere, siqua fides, Pelusia litora nolo. 83

I do not wish to leave, if there is any faith, the Pelusian shores. 83

non mihi nunc tellus Pompeio siqua triumphos                  78
uicta dedit, non alta terens Capitolia currus
gratior; elapsus felix de pectore Magnus:
hunc uolumus quem Nilus habet, terraeque nocenti
non haerere queror; crimen commendat harenas.
tu pete bellorum casus et signa per orbem,                  84
Sexte, paterna moue; namque haec mandata reliquit
Pompeius uobis in nostra condita cura:
"me cum fatalis leto damnauerit hora,
excipite, o nati, bellum ciuile, nec umquam,
dum terris aliquis nostra de stirpe manebit,
Caesaribus regnare uacet. uel sceptra uel urbes                  90

not now to me is any land, which, conquered, gave triumphs to Pompey, more pleasing,                  78
nor the chariot grinding the lofty Capitolia; happy Magnus has slipped from my breast:
this one we desire whom the Nile holds, nor do I complain of clinging to the guilty land;
the crime commends the sands. You seek the chances of wars and the standards through the orb,                  84
Sextus, rally your father’s; for Pompey left these mandates to you, entrusted to my care:
“When the fated hour shall have condemned me to death,
take up, O sons, the civil war, and never,
so long as someone of our stock shall remain upon the lands,
let there be room for the Caesars to reign. Either scepters or cities                  90

libertate sua ualidas inpellite fama
nominis: has uobis partes, haec arma relinquo.
inueniet classes quisquis Pompeius in undas
uenerit, et noster nullis non gentibus heres
bella dabit: tantum indomitos memoresque paterni 95
iuris habete animos. uni parere decebit,
si faciet partes pro libertate, Catoni."
exsolui tibi, Magne, fidem, mandata peregi;
insidiae ualuere tuae, deceptaque uixi
ne mihi commissas auferrem perfida uoces. 100
iam nunc te per inane chaos, per Tartara, coniunx,
si sunt ulla, sequar, quam longo tradita leto
incertum est: poenas animae uiuacis ab ipsa
ante feram.

with your own liberty, smite, strong, the fame of the name:
these parts I leave to you, these arms.
whoever as a Pompeius shall come upon the waves will find fleets,
and our heir will give wars to no nations not at all;
only have spirits untamed and mindful of a father’s 95
right. it will be fitting to obey one alone,
if he will take the side for liberty, to Cato."
I have discharged my faith to you, Magnus, I have performed the commands;
your snares prevailed, and I lived, deceived,
lest I, faithless, carry off the words entrusted to me. 100
now at once I will follow you through void Chaos, through Tartarus, husband,
if there are any; how long you have been handed over to death is uncertain:
I shall bear beforehand the penalties from my very living soul itself.
before I shall bear them.

potuit cernens tua funera, Magne,
non fugere in mortem: planctu contusa peribit, 105

she could, seeing your funeral rites, Magnus, not flee into death: bruised by lamentation she will perish, 105

effluet in lacrimas: numquam ueniemus ad enses
aut laqueos aut praecipites per inania iactus:
turpe mori post te solo non posse dolore.'
sic ubi fata, caput ferali obduxit amictu
decreuitque pati tenebras puppisque cauernis                  110
delituit, saeuumque arte conplexa dolorem
perfruitur lacrimis et amat pro coniuge luctum.
illam non fluctus stridensque rudentibus Eurus
mouit et exurgens ad summa pericula clamor,
uotaque sollicitis faciens contraria nautis                  115
conposita in mortem iacuit fauitque procellis.
     prima ratem Cypros spumantibus accipit undis;
inde tenens pelagus, sed iam moderatior, Eurus
in Libycas egit sedes et castra Catonis.

it will flow out into tears: never shall we come to swords
or to nooses or to headlong flings through the void:
shameful to be unable to die after you by grief alone.'
thus when she had spoken, she covered her head with a funereal mantle
and resolved to endure the darkness, and in the ship’s caverns she hid,                  110
and, artfully embracing her savage grief,
she takes full enjoyment in tears and loves mourning in place of her spouse.
her not the billow nor the eurus shrieking through the ropes
moved, nor the clamor rising toward utmost perils,
and, making vows contrary to the anxious sailors,                  115
composed for death she lay and favored the storms.
     first cyprus receives the ship with foaming waves;
then holding the sea, but now more moderate, the eurus
drove it into libyan seats and the camp of cato.

tristis, ut in multo mens est praesaga timore, 120

sad, as the mind is presaging amid much fear, 120

aspexit patrios comites a litore Magnus
et fratrem; medias praeceps tunc fertur in undas.
'dic ubi sit, germane, parens; stat summa caputque
orbis, an occidimus Romanaque Magnus ad umbras
abstulit?' haec fatur; quem contra talia frater: 125
'o felix, quem sors alias dispersit in oras
quique nefas audis: oculos, germane, nocentis
spectato genitore fero. non Caesaris armis
occubuit dignoque perit auctore ruinae:
rege sub inpuro Nilotica rura tenente, 130
hospitii fretus superis et munere tanto
in proauos, cecidit donati uictima regni.

Magnus caught sight from the shore of his father’s comrades
and his brother; then headlong he is borne into the mid-waves.
'Tell where our parent is, brother; does the summit and head
of the world stand, or have we perished, and has Magnus borne the Roman cause to the shades?'
he speaks these things; to whom his brother in reply such words: 125
'O happy you, whom chance scattered to other shores,
and who hear the crime: I bear guilty eyes, having looked upon our father.
He did not fall by Caesar’s arms, nor did he perish with a worthy author of his ruin:
while an impure king held the Nilotic fields,
trusting in the gods above of hospitality and in so great a favor to his forefathers, 130
he fell, a victim of the kingdom he had bestowed.'

uidi ego magnanimi lacerantes pectora patris,
nec credens Pharium tantum potuisse tyrannum
litore Niliaco socerum iam stare putaui. 135
sed me nec sanguis nec tantum uolnera nostri
adfecere senis, quantum gestata per urbem
ora ducis, quae transfixo sublimia pilo
uidimus: haec fama est oculis uictoris iniqui
seruari, scelerisque fidem quaesisse tyrannum. 140

I myself saw them lacerating the breast of my magnanimous father,
and, not believing that the Pharian tyrant could have had such power,
I supposed that the father-in-law was already standing on the Nile shore. 135
But neither the blood nor the wounds so great of our old man
affected me as much as the face of the leader borne through the city,
which, aloft, transfixed on a pike, we saw: this is the report—
that it was kept for the eyes of the iniquitous victor,
and that the tyrant sought proof of his wickedness. 140

nam corpus Phariaene canes auidaeque uolucres
distulerint, an furtiuus, quem uidimus, ignis
soluerit, ignoro. quaecumque iniuria fati
abstulit hos artus, superis haec crimina dono:
seruata de parte queror.' cum talia Magnus 145
audisset, non in gemitus lacrimasque dolorem
effudit, iustaque furens pietate profatur
'praecipitate rates e sicco litore, nautae;
classis in aduersos erumpat remige uentos.
ite, duces, mecum (nusquam ciuilibus armis 150
tanta fuit merces) inhumatos condere manes,
sanguine semiuiri Magnum satiare tyranni.

for whether Pharian dogs and greedy birds have scattered the body,
or the furtive fire, which we saw, has dissolved it, I do not know. Whatever injury of fate
has carried off these limbs, these crimes I lay to the gods above:
I complain of the part that was preserved.' When Magnus had heard such things, 145
he did not pour out his pain into groans and tears,
and, raging with just piety, he speaks forth:
'hurl the ships headlong from the dry shore, sailors;
let the fleet burst forth with oarage into opposing winds.
go, leaders, with me (never was there so great a price for civil arms) 150
to lay to rest the unburied shades,
to satiate Magnus with the blood of the half-man tyrant.'

non ego Pellaeas arces adytisque retectum
corpus Alexandri pigra Mareotide mergam?
non mihi pyramidum tumulis euolsus Amasis 155

Shall I not immerse the Pellaean citadels and, the body of Alexander laid bare from the adyta,
in sluggish Mareotis?
not for me will Amasis, evulsed from the tumuli of the pyramids, 155

atque alii reges Nilo torrente natabunt?
omnia dent poenas nudo tibi, Magne, sepulchra.
euoluam busto iam numen gentibus Isim
et tectum lino spargam per uolgus Osirim
[et sacer in Magni cineres mactabitur Apis] 160
suppositisque deis uram caput.

and shall other kings swim in the torrential Nile?
let all naked sepulchers pay penalties to you, Magnus.
I will now unroll from the pyre the numen Isis for the peoples
and I will scatter through the vulgar crowd Osiris covered with linen
[and the sacred Apis will be sacrificed upon Magnus’s ashes] 160
and with the gods set beneath I will burn the head.

has mihi poenas
terra dabit: linquam uacuos cultoribus agros,
nec, Nilus cui crescat, erit; solusque tenebis
Aegypton, genitor, populis superisque fugatis.'
dixerat, et classem saeuus rapiebat in undas;                  165
sed Cato laudatam iuuenis conpescuit iram.
     interea totis audito funere Magni
litoribus sonuit percussus planctibus aether,
exemploque carens et nulli cognitus aeuo
luctus erat, mortem populos deflere potentis.                  170

the earth will pay me these penalties:
I shall leave the fields empty of cultivators,
nor will there be anyone for whom the Nile may swell; and you alone
will hold Egypt, father, with the peoples and the gods above put to flight.'
He had spoken, and, savage, he was sweeping the fleet into the waves;                  165
but Cato checked the youth’s lauded wrath.
     Meanwhile, with the funeral of Magnus heard along all the shores,
the ether resounded, struck by beatings of lamentation,
and there was a grief lacking example and known to no age—
peoples bewailed the death of the powerful man.                  170

sed magis, ut uisa est lacrimis exhausta, solutas
in uoltus effusa comas, Cornelia puppe
egrediens, rursus geminato uerbere plangunt.
ut primum in sociae peruenit litora terrae,
collegit uestes miserique insignia Magni 175
armaque et inpressas auro, quas gesserat olim.
exuuias pictasque togas, uelamina summo
ter conspecta Ioui, funestoque intulit igni.

but more, when she was seen drained by tears, her loosened hair poured over her face, Cornelia, disembarking from the stern, again they beat with a doubled stroke.
as soon as she reached the shores of the allied land,
she gathered the garments and the insignia of wretched Magnus 175
and the arms and things impressed with gold, which he had once borne.
the spoils and painted togas, the veils thrice beheld by Highest Jove, and she brought them into the funereal fire.

ille fuit miserae Magni cinis. accipit omnis
exemplum pietas, et toto litore busta 180
surgunt Thessalicis reddentia manibus ignem.
sic, ubi depastis summittere gramina campis
et renouare parans hibernas Apulus herbas
igne fouet terras, simul et Garganus et arua
Volturis et calidi lucent buceta Matini. 185

That was the ash of wretched Magnus. All piety takes its example, and along the whole shore funeral pyres 180
arise, rendering fire back to Thessalian hands. Thus, when, the fields having been grazed down, Apulia, preparing to send up grasses
and to renew the winter herbage, warms the lands with fire, at once both Garganus and the fields
of Vultur and the warm cattle-pastures of Matinus shine. 185

non tamen ad Magni peruenit gratius umbras
omne quod in superos audet conuicia uolgus
Pompeiumque deis obicit, quam pauca Catonis
uerba sed a pleno uenientia pectore ueri.
'ciuis obit' inquit 'multum maioribus inpar 190
nosse modum iuris, sed in hoc tamen utilis aeuo,
cui non ulla fuit iusti reuerentia; salua
libertate potens, et solus plebe parata
priuatus seruire sibi, rectorque senatus,
sed regnantis, erat. nil belli iure poposcit, 195
quaeque dari uoluit uoluit sibi posse negari.

not, however, did there reach Magnus’s shades more welcome
than all the invectives which the crowd dares against the upper gods
and objects Pompey to the gods, than the few words of Cato—
words, but coming from a breast full of truth.
“a citizen dies,” he says, “far unequal to his ancestors in knowing 190
the measure of right; yet for this age, which had no reverence for the just, he was useful;
powerful with liberty safe, and he alone, though a private man,
had the plebs prepared to serve him; and he was the rector of the senate—
but of a senate that reigned. he demanded nothing by the right of war,
and the things he wished to be granted, he wished could be refused to himself.” 195

inmodicas possedit opes, sed plura retentis
intulit. inuasit ferrum, sed ponere norat.
praetulit arma togae, sed pacem armatus amauit.

he possessed immoderate wealth, but he contributed more than he retained
he resorted to the sword, but he knew how to lay it down.
he preferred arms to the toga, but, armed, he loved peace.

iuuit sumpta ducem, iuuit dimissa potestas. 200

Power, assumed, helped the leader; power, dismissed, helped him. 200

casta domus luxuque carens corruptaque numquam
fortuna domini. clarum et uenerabile nomen
gentibus et multum nostrae quod proderat urbi.
olim uera fides Sulla Marioque receptis
libertatis obit: Pompeio rebus adempto 205
nunc et ficta perit.

a chaste household and lacking luxury, and never corrupted
the master's fortune. a renowned and venerable name
to the peoples, and one that much profited our city.
once true good faith, with Sulla and Marius received back,
dies with liberty: with Pompey removed from affairs 205
now even the feigned perishes.

non iam regnare pudebit,
nec color imperii nec frons erit ulla senatus.
o felix, cui summa dies fuit obuia uicto
et cui quaerendos Pharium scelus obtulit enses.
forsitan in soceri potuisses uiuere regno. 210
scire mori sors prima uiris, set proxima cogi.

no longer will it be shameful to reign,
nor will there be any color of empire nor any front of the Senate.
O happy he, to whom the final day met him conquered,
and to whom Egyptian crime proffered swords to be sought.
perhaps you could have lived in your father-in-law’s kingdom. 210
to know how to die is the first lot for men, but next, to be compelled.

et mihi, si fatis aliena in iura uenimus,
fac talem, Fortuna, Iubam; non deprecor hosti
seruari, dum me seruet ceruice recisa.'
uocibus his maior, quam si Romana sonarent 215

and for me, if by the fates we have come into alien jurisdiction,
make, Fortune, such a Juba; I do not pray to be spared for the enemy,
so long as I be preserved with my neck severed.'
greater in these voices than if Roman war-trumpets were sounding 215

rostra ducis laudes, generosam uenit ad umbram
mortis honos. fremit interea discordia uolgi,
castrorum bellique piget post funera Magni;
cum Tarcondimotus linquendi signa Catonis
sustulit. hunc rapta fugientem classe secutus 220
litus in extremum tali Cato uoce notauit:
'o numquam pacate Cilix, iterumne rapinas
uadis in aequoreas?

the prows proclaim the leader’s praises; to the noble shade
comes the honor of death. Meanwhile the discord of the mob roars;
after the funerals of Magnus they are weary of camps and of war;
when Tarcondimotus raised the signals for leaving Cato.
Pursuing him as he fled with a seized fleet, 220
to the farthest shore Cato thus marked him with his voice:
‘O Cilician never pacified, are you again going to the sea-waters
for rapine?’

Magnum fortuna remouit,
iam pelago pirata redis.' tum respicit omnis
in coetu motuque uiros; quorum unus aperta 225
mente fugae tali conpellat uoce regentem:
'nos, Cato, da ueniam, Pompei duxit in arma,
non belli ciuilis amor, partesque fauore
fecimus. ille iacet quem paci praetulit orbis,
causaque nostra perit: patrios permitte penates 230

'Fortune has removed Magnus; now to the sea you return, a pirate.' Then he looks back at all the men in the assembly and commotion; of whom one, with his mind laid open to flight, addresses the ruler with such a voice: 225
'Grant us pardon, Cato; it was Pompey who led us into arms,
not any love of civil war, and we chose our side out of favor.
He lies, whom the world preferred to peace,
and our cause perishes: allow us our ancestral Penates.' 230

desertamque domum dulcesque reuisere natos.
nam quis erit finis si nec Pharsalia pugnae
nec Pompeius erit? perierunt tempora uitae,
mors eat in tutum; iustas sibi nostra senectus
prospiciat flammas: bellum ciuile sepulchra 235
uix ducibus praestare potest.

and to revisit the deserted home and the sweet sons.
for what end will there be, if neither Pharsalia of the battle
nor Pompey will be? the times of life have perished,
let death go into safety; let our old age
provide for itself the rightful flames: civil war sepulchers 235
can scarcely furnish even for the leaders.

non barbara uictos
regna manent, non Armenium mihi saeua minatur
aut Scythicum fortuna iugum: sub iura togati
ciuis eo. quisquis Magno uiuente secundus,
hic mihi primus erit. sacris praestabitur umbris 240
summus honor; dominum, quam clades cogit, habebo,
nullum, Magne, ducem: te solum in bella secutus
post te fata sequar; nec enim sperare secunda
fas mihi nec liceat. fortuna cuncta tenentur
Caesaris, Emathium sparsit uictoria ferrum; 245

no barbarian realms await the conquered,
nor does savage Fortune threaten me with an Armenian
or Scythian yoke: under the laws of the toga’d
citizen I go. Whoever was second while Magnus lived,
this man will be first for me. To the sacred shades there shall be rendered 240
the highest honor; I shall have a master, as disaster compels,
no leader, Magnus: you alone having followed into wars,
after you I shall follow the Fates; for to hope for favorable things
is neither right for me nor may it be permitted. Fortune’s all is held
by Caesar; victory has scattered the iron through Emathia. 245

clausa fides miseris, et toto solus in orbe est
qui uelit ac possit uictis praestare salutem.
Pompeio scelus est bellum ciuile perempto,
quo fuerat uiuente fides. si publica iura,
si semper sequeris patriam, Cato, signa petamus 250
Romanus quae consul habet.' sic ille profatus
insiluit puppi iuuenum comitante tumultu.

faith is closed to the wretched, and in the whole world there is alone
one who is willing and able to furnish safety to the vanquished.
With Pompey slain, civil war is a crime—he in whose lifetime there had been faith.
If you follow the public laws, if you ever follow the fatherland, Cato, let us seek the standards 250
which the Roman consul holds.' So he, having thus spoken,
leapt onto the stern, with a tumult of youths accompanying.

     actum Romanis fuerat de rebus, et omnis
indiga seruitii feruebat litore plebes:
erupere ducis sacro de pectore uoces.                  255
'ergo pari uoto gessisti bella, iuuentus,
tu quoque pro dominis, et Pompeiana fuisti
non Romana manus? quod non in regna laboras,
quod tibi, non ducibus, uiuis morerisque, quod orbem
adquiris nulli, quod iam tibi uincere tutum est,                  260

     it was done for Roman affairs, and all the
plebs, unworthy of servitude, seethed along the shore:
voices burst forth from the leader’s sacred breast.                  255
‘so then with an equal vow you have waged wars, O youth,
you too on behalf of lords, and were a Pompeian
band, not a Roman one? because you do not labor after realms,
because for yourself, not for leaders, you live and you die, because you
acquire the orb for no one, because now it is safe for you to conquer for yourself,                  260

bella fugis quaerisque iugum ceruice uacanti
et nescis sine rege pati. nunc causa pericli
digna uiris. potuit uestro Pompeius abuti
sanguine: nunc patriae iugulos ensesque negatis,
cum prope libertas?

You flee wars and seek a yoke for a neck standing free,
and you do not know how to endure without a king. Now a cause of peril
worthy of men. Pompey could squander your blood:
now you deny to the fatherland throats and swords,
when liberty is near?

unum fortuna reliquit 265
iam tribus e dominis. pudeat: plus regia Nili
contulit in leges et Parthi militis arcus.
ite, o degeneres, Ptolemaei munus et arma
spernite.

Fortune has left one thing 265
now out of three masters. Be ashamed: the royal court of the Nile
has contributed more to the laws, and the bows of the Parthian soldier.
go, O degenerates, Ptolemy’s gift and arms
spurn.

quis uestras ulla putet esse nocentes
caede manus? credet faciles sibi terga dedisse, 270
credet ab Emathiis primos fugisse Philippis.
uadite securi; meruistis iudice uitam
Caesare non armis, non obsidione subacti.

Who would think any hands of yours guilty of slaughter?
he will believe you readily gave your backs to him, 270
he will believe you were the first to flee from Emathian Philippi.
go secure; you have merited life, with Caesar as judge, not by arms, not subdued by siege.

o famuli turpes, domini post fata prioris
itis ad heredem. cur non maiora mereri 275

o base servants, after the death of the former master you go to the heir.
why not merit greater things 275

quam uitam ueniamque libet? rapiatur in undas
infelix coniunx Magni prolesque Metelli,
ducite Pompeios, Ptolemaei uincite munus.
nostra quoque inuiso quisquis feret ora tyranno
non parua mercede dabit: sciat ista iuuentus 280
ceruicis pretio bene se mea signa secutam.

what life and pardon is it your pleasure to have? let the unlucky consort of Magnus and the progeny of Metellus be snatched into the waves;
lead off the Pompeians, surpass the gift of Ptolemy.
whoever also will carry my face to the hated tyrant
will pay no small price: let that youth know 280
that at the price of his neck he has followed my standards well.

quin agite et magna meritum cum caede parate:
ignauum scelus est tantum fuga.' dixit, et omnes
haud aliter medio reuocauit ab aequore puppes
quam, simul effetas linquunt examina ceras 285
atque oblita faui non miscent nexibus alas
sed sibi quaeque uolat nec iam degustat amarum
desidiosa thymum, Phrygii sonus increpat aeris,
attonitae posuere fugam studiumque laboris
floriferi repetunt et sparsi mellis amorem: 290

Come on then, and prepare a meed deserved with great slaughter:
flight alone is an ignoble crime.' He said, and he recalled all
the ships from the mid-sea no otherwise than, when at once the swarms
leave their spent wax and, oblivious of the honeycomb, do not mingle their wings in interlacings 285
but each flies for herself, and no longer tastes the bitter
thyme in idleness; the sound of Phrygian bronze chides—
thunderstruck they set aside flight, and they seek again the zeal of flower-
bearing labor and the love of scattered honey. 290

gaudet in Hyblaeo securus gramine pastor
diuitias seruasse casae. sic uoce Catonis
inculcata uiris iusti patientia Martis.
iamque actu belli non doctas ferre quietem
constituit mentes serieque agitare laborum. 295
primum litoreis miles lassatur harenis.

the shepherd, carefree, rejoices on the Hyblaean grass,
to have preserved the riches of his cottage. thus by the voice of Cato
the patience of just Mars was inculcated into the men.
and now he resolved that minds, not taught by the doing of war to bear repose,
to set them and to drive them by a series of labors. 295
first the soldier is wearied on the littoral sands.

proximus in muros et moenia Cyrenarum
est labor: exclusus nulla se uindicat ira,
poenaque de uictis sola est uicisse Catoni.
inde peti placuit Libyci contermina Mauris                  300
regna Iubae, sed iter mediis natura uetabat
Syrtibus: hanc audax sperat sibi cedere uirtus.
     Syrtes uel, primam mundo natura figuram
cum daret, in dubio pelagi terraeque reliquit
(nam neque subsedit penitus, quo stagna profundi                  305

next the toil is against the walls and ramparts of the Cyrenaeans:
shut out, he claims no vengeance in wrath,
and for the conquered the only penalty from Cato is that he has conquered.
thence it pleased to seek the realms of Juba in Libya, contiguous to the Moors                  300
but Nature forbade the journey through the midst of the Syrtes:
bold Virtue hopes that this will yield to itself.
     or else the Syrtes, when Nature gave the world its first figure,
she left in doubt between sea and land
(for it neither sank down completely, so that the pools of the deep                  305

acciperet, nec se defendit ab aequore tellus,
ambigua sed lege loci iacet inuia sedes,
aequora fracta uadis abruptaque terra profundo,
et post multa sonant proiecti litora fluctus:
sic male deseruit nullosque exegit in usus                  310
hanc partem natura sui); uel plenior alto
olim Syrtis erat pelago penitusque natabat,
sed rapidus Titan ponto sua lumina pascens
aequora subduxit zonae uicina perustae;
et nunc pontus adhuc Phoebo siccante repugnat,                  315
mox, ubi damnosum radios admouerit aeuum,
tellus Syrtis erit; nam iam breuis unda superne
innatat et late periturum deficit aequor.
     ut primum remis actum mare propulit omne
classis onus, densis fremuit niger imbribus Auster.                  320

might receive it, nor does the land defend itself from the sea,
but a trackless seat lies under an ambiguous law of the place,
seas broken by shoals and the land broken off sheer to the deep,
and after much, the waves flung forth resound on the shores:
thus has Nature ill deserted and driven into no uses                  310
this part of herself); or once the Syrtis was fuller with the deep
sea and swam wholly,
but the swift Titan, feeding his lights on the sea,
drew off the waters near to the scorched zone;
and now the sea still resists while Phoebus is drying it,                  315
soon, when time shall have brought its baneful rays near,
the Syrtis will be land; for already a shallow wave above
floats, and far and wide the sea, destined to perish, fails.
     as soon as, with oars, the burden of the fleet drove forward all the driven sea,
the black South Wind roared with dense downpours.                  320

in sua regna furens temptatum classibus aequor
turbine defendit longeque a Syrtibus undas
egit et inlato confregit litore pontum.
tum, quarum recto deprendit carbasa malo,
eripuit nautis, frustraque rudentibus ausis 325
uela negare Noto spatium uicere carinae,
atque ultra proram tumuit sinus. omnia siquis
prouidus antemnae suffixit lintea summae,
uincitur et nudis auertitur armamentis.

raging into his own realms, he with a whirlwind defended the sea tested by the fleets,
and he drove the waves far from the Syrtes and shattered the deep upon a shore he brought in.
then, those whose sails he caught on the upright mast,
he snatched from the sailors, and, though the ropes dared in vain 325
to deny the Notus space for the sails, the keels prevailed,
and the belly swelled beyond the prow. if anyone, foreseeing, fastened all the linens
of the topmost yardarm, he is overpowered and is driven off with the rigging stripped bare.

sors melior classi quae fluctibus incidit altis 330
et certo iactata mari. quaecumque leuatae
arboribus caesis flatum effudere prementem,
abstulit has liber uentis contraria uoluens
aestus et obnixum uictor detrusit in Austrum.
has uada destituunt, atque interrupta profundo 335

a better lot for the fleet that fell upon the high billows 330
and was tossed on the open sea. whatever, lightened
by felled masts, spilled forth the pressing blast,
the free tide, rolling contrary to the winds, carried these off
and, as victor, thrust the struggling ships down into Auster.
these the shallows forsake, and, broken off by the deep, 335

terra ferit puppes, dubioque obnoxia fato
pars sedet una ratis, pars altera pendet in undis.
tum magis inpactis breuius mare terraque saepe
obuia consurgens: quamuis elisus ab Austro,
saepe tamen cumulos fluctus non uincit harenae. 340
eminet in tergo pelagi procul omnibus aruis
inuiolatus aqua sicci iam pulueris agger;
stant miseri nautae, terraeque haerente carina
litora nulla uident. sic partem intercipit aequor,
pars ratium maior regimen clauumque secuta est 345
tuta fuga, nautasque loci sortita peritos
torpentem Tritonos adit inlaesa paludem.

the land strikes the ships, and obnoxious to a doubtful fate
one part of the raft sits, another part hangs in the waves.
then the sea, with the impacts dealt, is the more shallow, and the land often
rises to meet it; although shattered by the South Wind,
often nevertheless the wave does not conquer the heaps of sand. 340
a rampart of dry dust, now inviolate by water, stands out
on the back of the sea, far from all fields;
the wretched sailors stand, and, with the keel sticking to the land,
they see no shores. thus the sea intercepts a part,
the larger part of the rafts, following regimen and helm, by safe flight, 345
and, having drawn by lot sailors skilled in the place,
approaches unharmed the torpid marsh of Triton.

hanc, ut fama, deus quem toto litore pontus
audit uentosa perflantem marmora concha,
hanc et Pallas amat, patrio quae uertice nata 350

this, as fame has it, the god whom along the whole littoral the sea
hears blowing through the wind-swept marbles with his conch,
this too Pallas loves, who was born from her father's crown 350

terrarum primam Libyen (nam proxima caelo est,
ut probat ipse calor) tetigit, stagnique quieta
uoltus uidit aqua posuitque in margine plantas
et se dilecta Tritonida dixit ab unda.
quam iuxta Lethon tacitus praelabitur amnis, 355
infernis, ut fama, trahens obliuia uenis,
atque, insopiti quondam tutela draconis,
Hesperidum pauper spoliatis frondibus hortus.
inuidus, annoso qui famam derogat aeuo,
qui uates ad uera uocat.

he touched Libya first of lands (for it is nearest to the sky, as the heat itself proves),
and in the pool’s quiet water he saw his face and set his soles on the margin
and spoke to the beloved Tritonid from the wave.
hard by which the Lethe river glides silently, drawing oblivion in its veins for the infernal below, as the report goes, 355
and, once under the guardianship of an unsleeping dragon,
the garden of the Hesperides, poor with its leaves despoiled.
envious, who derogates fame by age-worn age,
who calls the vatic poets to truths.

fuit aurea silua 360
diuitiisque graues et fuluo germine rami
uirgineusque chorus, nitidi custodia luci,
et numquam somno damnatus lumina serpens
robora conplexus rutilo curuata metallo.
abstulit arboribus pretium nemorique laborem 365

there was a golden wood 360
and branches heavy with riches and with fulvous fruit,
and a virginal chorus, the custody of the shining grove,
and a serpent whose eyes were never condemned to sleep, embracing the oaken trunks, bent by ruddily-glittering metal.
the envious one has taken away the price from the trees and the labor from the grove 365

Alcides, passusque inopes sine pondere ramos
rettulit Argolico fulgentia poma tyranno.
his igitur depulsa locis eiectaque classis
Syrtibus haut ultra Garamantidas attigit undas,
sed duce Pompeio Libyae melioris in oris 370
mansit. at inpatiens uirtus haerere Catonis
audet in ignotas agmen committere gentes
armorum fidens et terra cingere Syrtim.

Alcides, and with the branches left needy, without their burden,
brought back the shining apples to the Argolic tyrant.
therefore, with the fleet driven from these places and cast out,
in the Syrtes it attained not beyond the Garamantian waves,
but, with Pompey as leader, it remained on the shores of better Libya 370
But Cato’s impatient valor to linger
dares to commit the column to unknown nations,
trusting in arms, and to gird the Syrtis by land.

hoc eadem suadebat hiemps quae clauserat aequor;
et spes imber erat nimios metuentibus ignes,                  375
ut neque sole uiam nec duro frigore saeuam
inde polo Libyes, hinc bruma temperet annus.
atque ingressurus steriles sic fatur harenas:
     'o quibus una salus placuit mea castra secutis
indomita ceruice mori, conponite mentes                  380

this same winter which had shut the sea was urging this; and a shower was a hope to those fearing excessive fires, 375
so that the way might be savage neither by the sun nor by hard cold—there, under that pole, for the Libyans; here, let winter temper the season.
and, about to enter the sterile sands, he thus speaks:
'o you to whom the one salvation has pleased, having followed my camp—to die with an indomitable neck—compose your minds 380

ad magnum uirtutis opus summosque labores.
uadimus in campos steriles exustaque mundi,
qua nimius Titan et rarae in fontibus undae,
siccaque letiferis squalent serpentibus arua.
durum iter ad leges patriaeque ruentis amorem. 385
per mediam Libyen ueniant atque inuia temptent,
siquibus in nullo positum est euadere uoto,
siquibus ire sat est.

to a great work of virtue and the highest labors.
we go into barren plains and the scorched tracts of the world,
where Titan is too-fierce and the waters are rare at their springs,
and the dry fields are foul with death-bearing serpents.
a hard march for the laws and for love of a collapsing fatherland. 385
let them come through the midst of Libya and attempt the pathless places,
if there are those for whom escape rests upon no vow,
if there are those for whom it is enough to go.

neque enim mihi fallere quemquam
est animus tectoque metu perducere uolgus.
hi mihi sint comites, quos ipsa pericula ducent, 390
qui me teste pati uel quae tristissima pulchrum
Romanumque putant. at, qui sponsore salutis
miles eget capiturque animae dulcedine, uadat
ad dominum meliore uia.

for I have no mind to deceive anyone
nor to lead the crowd on by a veiled fear.
let these be my companions, whom the dangers themselves will lead, 390
who, with me as witness, deem it fair even to endure what is most grim
and Roman as well. But the soldier who needs a sponsor for safety
and is captured by the sweetness of life, should go
to the lord by a better way.

dum primus harenas
ingrediar primusque gradus in puluere ponam, 395
me aetherius feriat, mihi plena ueneno
occurrat serpens, fatoque pericula uestra
praetemptate meo. sitiat quicumque bibentem
uiderit, aut umbras nemorum quicumque petentem
aestuet, aut equitem peditum praecedere turmas 400

so long as I may be the first to enter the sands
and the first to set steps in the dust, 395
let the aetherial bolt strike me, let a serpent full of venom
meet me, and let your perils be pre-tested by my fate.
let whoever shall have seen me drinking thirst,
or let whoever shall have seen me seeking the shades of the groves
swelter, or let a horseman go before the ranks of the foot(-soldiers). 400

deficiat: siquo fuerit discrimine notum
dux an miles eam. serpens, sitis, ardor harenae
dulcia uirtuti; gaudet patientia duris;
laetius est, quotiens magno sibi constat, honestum.
sola potest Libye turba praestare malorum                  405
ut deceat fugisse uiros.' sic ille pauentis
incendit uirtute animos et amore laborum,
inreducemque uiam deserto limite carpit;
et sacrum paruo nomen clausura sepulchro
inuasit Libye securi fata Catonis.                  410
     tertia pars rerum Libye, si credere famae
cuncta uelis; at, si uentos caelumque sequaris,
pars erit Europae.

let him fail: if by any distinction it shall have been known
whether I go as leader or as soldier. Serpent, thirst, the ardor of the sand
are sweet to virtue; patience rejoices in hard things;
it is more joyous, whenever the Honorable costs one greatly.
Libya alone can furnish a crowd of evils                  405
such that it may be seemly for men to have fled.' Thus he inflamed
the minds of the trembling with virtue and with love of labors,
and he takes a road of no return along a deserted boundary-track;
and Libya, destined to shut up his sacred name in a small tomb,
assailed the fates of Cato, untroubled.                  410
     the third part of the world is Libya, if you wish to believe report
in all things; but, if you follow the winds and the sky,
it will be a part of Europe.

nec enim plus litora Nili
quam Scythicus Tanais primis a Gadibus absunt,
unde Europa fugit Libyen et litora flexu 415
Oceano fecere locum; sed maior in unam
orbis abit Asiam. nam, cum communiter istae
effundant Zephyrum, Boreae latus illa sinistrum
contingens dextrumque Noti discedit in ortus
Eurum sola tenens. Libycae quod fertile terraest 420

for indeed the shores of the Nile
are no farther than the Scythic Tanais from the foremost Gades,
from where Europe flees Libya, and by a bending the shores 415
have made room for Ocean; but the greater
part of the world passes into a single Asia. For, since these in common
pour forth the Zephyr, that one, touching the left side of Boreas
and the right of Notus, withdraws into the East,
holding the Eurus alone. As for what of Libyan land is fertile, 420

uergit in occasus; sed et haec non fontibus ullis
soluitur: Arctoos raris Aquilonibus imbres
accipit et nostris reficit sua rura serenis.
in nullas uitiatur opes; non aere nec auro
excoquitur, nullo glaebarum crimine pura 425
et penitus terra est. tantum Maurusia genti
robora diuitiae, quarum non nouerat usum,
sed citri contenta comis uiuebat et umbra.

it slopes toward the Occident; but even this is not watered by any springs:
it receives Arctoan rains with rare Aquilonian winds
and by our serene skies it refreshes its own fields.
it is corrupted into no riches; neither in bronze nor in gold
is it smelted out, pure with no stain of the clods 425
and it is earth through and through. only for the Maurusian race
oaks are riches, the use of which it had not known,
but, content with the citrus’s leaves and its shade, it lived.

in nemus ignotum nostrae uenere secures,
extremoque epulas mensasque petimus ab orbe. 430
at, quaecumque uagam Syrtim conplectitur ora
sub nimio proiecta die, uicina perusti
aetheris, exurit messes et puluere Bacchum
enecat et nulla putris radice tenetur.
temperies uitalis abest, et nulla sub illa 435

into a grove unknown to us our axes came,
and from the farthest orb we seek banquets and tables. 430
but whatever shore embraces the wandering Syrtis,
cast forth beneath excessive day, neighboring the seared
aether, it scorches the harvests and with dust kills Bacchus
and is held by no crumbling root.
life-giving temperateness is absent, and under it none 435

cura Iouis terra est; natura deside torpet
orbis et inmotis annum non sentit harenis.
hoc tam segne solum raras tamen exerit herbas,
quas Nasamon, gens dura, legit, qui proxima ponto
nudus rura tenet; quem mundi barbara damnis 440
Syrtis alit. nam litoreis populator harenis
inminet et nulla portus tangente carina
nouit opes: sic cum toto commercia mundo
naufragiis Nasamones habent.

the land is the care of Jove; nature, slothful, grows torpid,
and the world does not feel the year in motionless sands.
this so sluggish soil nevertheless puts forth rare herbs,
which the Nasamon, a hardy race, gathers, who, naked, holds the fields nearest the sea;
whom the barbarian Syrtis nourishes on the world’s losses 440
for as a plunderer he overhangs the littoral sands,
and, with no keel touching the port, he knows wealth: thus with the whole world
the Nasamones have commerce through shipwrecks.

hac ire Catonem
dura iubet uirtus. illic secura iuuentus 445
uentorum nullasque timens tellure procellas
aequoreos est passa metus. nam litore sicco,
quam pelago, Syrtis uiolentius excipit Austrum,
et terrae magis ille nocens.

hard virtue bids Cato to go this way.
there the youth, secure and fearing no winds and no storms on land, 445
has suffered sea-born fears. for on the dry shore,
rather than on the deep, the Syrtis more violently receives the South Wind,
and more noxious to the land is he.

non montibus ortum
aduersis frangit Libye scopulisque repulsum 450

Libya does not break it,
originated by opposing mountains and repulsed by crags 450

dissipat et liquidas e turbine soluit in auras,
nec ruit in siluas annosaque robora torquens
lassatur: patet omne solum, liberque meatu
Aeoliam rabiem totis exercet harenis,
et non imbriferam contorto puluere nubem 455
in flexum uiolentus agit: pars plurima terrae
tollitur et numquam resoluto uertice pendet.
regna uidet pauper Nasamon errantia uento
discussasque domos, uolitantque a culmine raptae
detecto Garamante casae. non altius ignis 460
rapta uehit; quantumque licet consurgere fumo
et uiolare diem, tantus tenet aera puluis.

it dissipates and loosens from the whirlwind into liquid airs,
nor, rushing into forests and wrenching aged oaks,
does it grow weary: all the ground lies open, and free in its course
it exerts Aeolian rage upon all the sands,
and a cloud not rain-bearing, with dust contorted, it drives violently into a curl; 455
the very greatest part of the earth
is lifted and hangs with its vortex never loosened.
the poor Nasamon sees kingdoms wandering with the wind
and houses shattered, and huts, snatched from the roof-peak,
fly about, with the Garamantian laid bare. Not higher does fire 460
carry what it has seized; and as far as it is permitted for smoke
to rise up and violate the day, so great a dust holds the air.

tum quoque Romanum solito uiolentior agmen
adgreditur, nullisque potest consistere miles
instabilis, raptis etiam quas calcat, harenis. 465

then too it assails the Roman column, more violent than customary,
and the soldier can stand firm on no ground,
unstable, with even the sands which he treads snatched away. 465

concuteret terras orbemque a sede moueret,
si solida Libye conpage et pondere duro
clauderet exesis Austrum scopulosa cauernis;
sed, quia mobilibus facilis turbatur harenis,
nusquam luctando stabilis manet, imaque tellus 470
stat, quia summa fugit. galeas et scuta uirorum
pilaque contorsit uiolento spiritus actu
intentusque tulit magni per inania caeli.
illud in extrema forsan longeque remota
prodigium tellure fuit, delapsaque caelo 475
arma timent gentes hominumque erepta lacertis
a superis demissa putant.

it would shake the lands and move the orb from its seat,
if Libya with solid framework and harsh weight
were enclosing the South Wind in rocky caverns eaten away;
but, because it is easily disturbed by mobile sands,
nowhere by struggling does it remain stable, and the lowest earth 470
stands, because the topmost flees. helmets and shields of men
and javelins the blast with violent action whirled
and, taut, bore them through the void of the great heaven.
perhaps that was a prodigy on a far and most remote
land, and peoples fear arms slipped down from the sky, 475
and think them sent down by the gods above, snatched from the arms
of men.

sic illa profecto
sacrifico cecidere Numae, quae lecta iuuentus
patricia ceruice mouet: spoliauerat Auster
aut Boreas populos ancilia nostra ferentes. 480

thus indeed those fell
to Numa for the sacrificial rite, which the chosen youth
moves with patrician neck: Auster
or Boreas had despoiled peoples bearing our ancilia. 480

sic orbem torquente Noto Romana iuuentus
procubuit timuitque rapi; constrinxit amictus
inseruitque manus terrae nec pondere solo
sed nisu iacuit, uix sic inmobilis Austro;
qui super ingentis cumulos inuoluit harenae 485
atque operit tellure uiros. uix tollere miles
membra ualet multo congestu pulueris haerens.
alligat et stantis adfusae magnus harenae
agger, et inmoti terra surgente tenentur.

thus, with Notus wrenching the world, the Roman youth
prostrated themselves and feared to be snatched away; they tightened their cloaks
and thrust their hands into the earth, and lay not by weight alone
but by exertion, scarcely thus immobile against Auster;
which rolled over enormous heaps of sand 485
and covered men with earth. The soldier can scarcely
lift his limbs, clinging by the great accumulation of dust.
and a great rampart of sand poured around binds even those
standing, and they are held unmoving as the earth rises.

saxa tulit penitus discussis proruta muris 490
effuditque procul miranda sorte malorum:
qui nullas uidere domos uidere ruinas.
iamque iter omne latet nec sunt discrimina terrae:
[ulla nisi aetheriae medio uelut aequore flammae]
sideribus nouere uiam; nec sidera tota 495

it bore stones, the walls shattered and overthrown to their foundations 490
and far off it poured out wonders in the lot of misfortunes:
those who had seen no houses saw ruins.
and now every path lies hidden and there are no demarcations of the land:
[any, unless the aetherial flames, as if upon a level sea,]
they knew their way by the stars; nor the stars entire 495

ostendit Libycae finitor circulus orae,
multaque deuexo terrarum margine celat.
utque calor soluit quem torserat aera uentus,
incensusque dies, manant sudoribus artus,
arent ora siti. conspecta est parua maligna 500
unda procul uena, quam uix e puluere miles
corripiens patulum galeae confudit in orbem
porrexitque duci.

the limiting circle of the Libyan shore shows, and hides many things with the sloping margin of the lands.
and as the heat loosens the air which the wind had tormented, and the day, incensed, the limbs stream with sweats,
the mouths are parched with thirst. a small, grudging wave was seen far off, a vein, 500
which a soldier, scarcely snatching from the dust, poured together into the patulous circle of his helmet
and proffered it to the leader.

squalebant puluere fauces
cunctorum, minimumque tenens dux ipse liquoris
inuidiosus erat. 'mene' inquit 'degener unum 505
miles in hac turba uacuum uirtute putasti?
usque adeo mollis primisque caloribus inpar
sum uisus?

The throats were squalid with dust
of all, and the leader himself, holding the least amount of liquid,
was an object of envy. 'Me, then,' he says, 'degenerate—the one 505
soldier, in this crowd, did you think empty of virtue?
Have I seemed so soft, and unequal to the first heats?

quanto poena tu dignior ista es,
qui populo sitiente bibas!' sic concitus ira
excussit galeam, suffecitque omnibus unda. 510

how much more worthy of that punishment are you,
who drink while the people is thirsting!' thus, roused by wrath,
he shook out the helmet, and the water sufficed for all. 510

     uentum erat ad templum Libycis quod gentibus unum
inculti Garamantes habent. stat sortiger illic
Iuppiter, ut memorant, sed non aut fulmina uibrans
aut similis nostro, sed tortis cornibus Hammon.
non illic Libycae posuerunt ditia gentes                  515
templa, nec Eois splendent donaria gemmis:
quamuis Aethiopum populis Arabumque beatis
gentibus atque Indis unus sit Iuppiter Hammon,
pauper adhuc deus est, nullis uiolata per aeuum
diuitiis delubra tenens, morumque priorum                  520
numen Romano templum defendit ab auro.

     they had come to the temple which the Libyan peoples have as their one and only
the uncultivated Garamantes have it. There stands, lot-bearing, Jupiter, as they relate,
yet not brandishing thunderbolts nor similar to ours, but Hammon with twisted horns.
not there have the Libyan peoples set wealthy temples, nor do votive-gifts gleam with Eastern gems:                  515
although for the peoples of the Ethiopians and for the blessed tribes of the Arabs
and for the Indians Jupiter Hammon is one and the same,
he is still a poor god, holding shrines unviolated through the ages by no riches,
and the divinity of earlier customs defends the temple from Roman gold.                  520

esse locis superos testatur silua per omnem
sola uirens Libyen. nam quidquid puluere sicco
separat ardentem tepida Berenicida Lepti
ignorat frondes: solus nemus abstulit Hammon. 525

that in these places there are gods the forest attests, the only one greening through all Libya.
for whatever, with dry dust, separates burning Leptis from tepid Berenice
is ignorant of fronds: Ammon alone has claimed a grove. 525

siluarum fons causa loco, qui putria terrae
alligat et domitas unda conectit harenas.
hic quoque nil obstat Phoebo, cum cardine summo
stat librata dies; truncum uix protegit arbor,
tam breuis in medium radiis conpellitur umbra. 530
deprensum est hunc esse locum qua circulus alti
solstitii medium signorum percutit orbem.
at tibi, quaecumque es Libyco gens igne dirempta, 538
in Noton umbra cadit, quae nobis exit in Arcton.

the spring is the cause of the forests in this place, which binds the crumbling soil
and with its wave connects the tamed sands. Here too nothing stands in Phoebus’s way, when on the highest pivot
the day stands equilibrated; a tree scarcely shelters its trunk,
so short is the shadow, driven inward to the very middle by the rays. 530
it has been detected that this is the place where the circle of the lofty
solstice strikes through the mid-orbit of the Signs. But for you, whatever people you are, sundered by Libyan fire, 538
the shadow falls into Notus, whereas for us it goes out into Arctus.

te segnis Cynosura subit, tu sicca profundo
mergi Plaustra putas, nullumque in uertice semper
sidus habes inmune mari; procul axis uterque est,
et fuga signorum medio rapit omnia caelo.
non obliqua meant, nec Tauro Scorpios exit 533
rectior aut Aries donat sua tempora Librae
aut Astraea iubet lentos descendere Pisces.
par Geminis Chiron, et idem, quod Carcinos ardens,
umidus Aegoceros nec plus Leo tollitur Vrna.

the sluggish Cynosure rises over you, you suppose the dry Wains to be plunged in the deep, and you have no star at the vertex always immune from the sea; each axis is far away, and the flight of the constellations in the mid-sky carries all away.
they do not go obliquely, nor does Scorpion go forth straighter with Taurus 533
or does Aries grant its times to Libra or does Astraea bid the slow Pisces to descend.
Chiron is equal to the Twins, and the same as the burning Crab,
the moist Aegoceros, nor is the Lion lifted more than the Urn.

stabant ante fores populi quos miserat Eos 544

there stood before the doors the peoples whom Eos had sent 544

cornigerique Iouis monitu noua fata petebant;
sed Latio cessere duci, comitesque Catonem
orant exploret Libycum memorata per orbem
numina, de fama tam longi iudicet aeui.
maximus hortator scrutandi uoce deorum
euentus Labienus erat. 'sors obtulit' inquit 550
'et fortuna uiae tam magni numinis ora
consiliumque dei: tanto duce possumus uti
per Syrtes, bellisque datos cognoscere casus.

and at the monition of horn-bearing Jove they were seeking new fates;
but they yielded to the Latin leader, and the companions beg Cato
to explore the Libyan divinities, renowned throughout the world,
and to judge from the fame of so long an age.
the greatest prompter, by his voice, for scrutinizing the outcomes of the gods,
was Labienus. 'the lot has offered,' he says 550
'and the fortune of the journey the mouths of so great a numen
and the counsel of the god: with so great a leader we can make use
through the Syrtes, and learn the chances allotted to wars.

nam cui crediderim superos arcana daturos
dicturosque magis, quam sancto, uera, Catoni? 555
certe uita tibi semper derecta supernas
ad leges, sequerisque deum. datur, ecce, loquendi
cum Ioue libertas: inquire in fata nefandi
Caesaris et patriae uenturos excute mores.
iure suo populis uti legumque licebit, 560
an bellum ciuile perit?

for to whom should I believe the gods above would give the arcana,
and would speak truths rather than to holy Cato? 555
surely your life has always been directed to the supernal
laws, and you follow the god. Behold, liberty is granted of speaking
with Jove: inquire into the fates of the unspeakable Caesar,
and sift the mores to come for the fatherland. Will it be permitted for the peoples to use their own right and the laws, 560
or does the civil war perish?

tua pectora sacra
uoce reple; durae saltem uirtutis amator
quaere quid est uirtus et posce exemplar honesti.'
ille deo plenus tacita quem mente gerebat
effudit dignas adytis e pectore uoces. 565

fill your breast with a sacred voice;
lover of stern virtue at least, inquire what Virtue is
and demand an exemplar of the Honorable.'
he, full of the god whom he was bearing in his silent mind,
poured forth from his breast voices worthy of the inner sanctuaries. 565

'quid quaeri, Labiene, iubes? an liber in armis
occubuisse uelim potius quam regna uidere?
an sit uita nihil sed longa an differat aetas?

'What do you bid be asked, Labienus? or that, free in arms,
I would rather have fallen than see kingdoms?
or whether life is nothing unless long, or whether age makes a difference?

an noceat uis nulla bono fortunaque perdat
opposita uirtute minas, laudandaque uelle 570
sit satis et numquam successu crescat honestum?
scimus, et hoc nobis non altius inseret Hammon.
haeremus cuncti superis, temploque tacente
nil facimus non sponte dei; nec uocibus ullis
numen eget, dixitque semel nascentibus auctor 575
quidquid scire licet.

or does no force harm the good man, and does Fortune, with virtue opposed, lose her threats, and may it be enough to will what is laudable, 570
and may the Honorable never grow by success? We know, and Ammon will not insert this more deeply in us. We all cling to the gods above, and with the temple silent we do nothing not by the god’s own will; nor does the divinity need any voices, and the Author once said to those being born whatever it is permitted to know. 575
quidquid scire licet.

sterilesne elegit harenas
ut caneret paucis, mersitque hoc puluere uerum,
estque dei sedes nisi terra et pontus et aer
et caelum et uirtus? superos quid quaerimus ultra?
Iuppiter est quodcumque uides, quodcumque moueris. 580

Did he choose barren sands
to sing to a few, and did he bury the truth in this dust,
and what is the seat of god except earth and sea and air
and heaven and virtue? Why do we seek the gods above any further?
Jupiter is whatever you see, whatever you are moved by. 580

sortilegis egeant dubii semperque futuris
casibus ancipites: me non oracula certum
sed mors certa facit. pauido fortique cadendum est:
hoc satis est dixisse Iouem.' sic ille profatus
seruataque fide templi discedit ab aris                  585
non exploratum populis Hammona relinquens.
     ipse manu sua pila gerit, praecedit anheli
militis ora pedes, monstrat tolerare labores,
non iubet, et nulla uehitur ceruice supinus
carpentoque sedens; somni parcissimus ipse est;                  590
ultimus haustor aquae quam, tandem fonte reperto,
indiga cogatur laticis <s>pectare iuuentus,
stat dum lixa bibat.

let the doubtful and always in two minds about future chances be in need of sortilegists: not oracles make me resolute, but certain death does. both the timid and the brave must fall: this is enough that Jupiter has said.' thus he having spoken, and with the good faith of the temple kept, departs from the altars, leaving Ammon not explored for the peoples. he himself bears the javelins with his own hand, his feet go before the faces of the panting soldiers, he shows how to endure labors, he does not command, and he is borne supine on no neck, nor seated in a carriage; he himself is most sparing of sleep; he is the last drawer of water when, at last, a spring is found, while the youth needy of liquid is compelled to look on, he stands until the sutler may drink.

si ueris magna paratur
fama bonis et si successu nuda remoto
inspicitur uirtus, quidquid laudamus in ullo 595

if for true goods great fame is prepared
and if virtue, laid bare with success removed, is inspected,
whatever we praise in anyone 595

maiorum, fortuna fuit. quis Marte secundo,
quis tantum meruit populorum sanguine nomen?
hunc ego per Syrtes Libyaeque extrema triumphum
ducere maluerim, quam ter Capitolia curru
scandere Pompei, quam frangere colla Iugurthae. 600
ecce parens uerus patriae, dignissimus aris,
Roma, tuis, per quem numquam iurare pudebit
et quem, si steteris umquam ceruice soluta,
nunc, olim, factura deum es. iam spissior ignis,
et plaga, quam nullam superi mortalibus ultra 605
a medio fecere die, calcatur, et unda
rarior.

of the ancestors, was fortune. who with Mars propitious,
who earned so great a name by the blood of peoples?
this triumph I would rather lead through the Syrtes and the farthest parts of Libya,
than to scale the Capitoline three times in Pompey’s chariot,
than to break the neck of Jugurtha. 600
behold the true parent of the fatherland, most worthy of your altars,
Rome, by whom it will never shame to swear,
and whom, if you should ever stand with neck unyoked,
now, hereafter, you will make a god. already the fire is denser,
and the zone, than which the gods above have made none further for mortals at midday, 605
is trodden, and the water
is rarer.

inuentus mediis fons unus harenis
largus aquae, sed quem serpentum turba tenebat
uix capiente loco; stabant in margine siccae
aspides, in mediis sitiebant dipsades undis. 610

A single spring was found in the midst of the sands,
abundant in water, but which a throng of serpents held
with the place scarcely capable; on the margin stood dry
asps, and in the midst of the waters the dipsades were thirsting. 610

ductor, ut aspexit perituros fonte relicto,
adloquitur. 'uana specie conterrite leti,
ne dubita, miles, tutos haurire liquores.
noxia serpentum est admixto sanguine pestis;
morsu uirus habent et fatum dente minantur, 615
pocula morte carent.' dixit, dubiumque uenenum
hausit; et in tota Libyae fons unus harena
ille fuit de quo primus sibi posceret undam.

the leader, when he saw them about to perish, the spring having been left behind,
addresses them. 'Frightened by a vain appearance of death,
do not hesitate, soldier, to draw safe waters.
the baneful plague of serpents is when blood is admixed;
they have venom in the bite and threaten fate with the tooth, 615
the cups are free from death.' He spoke, and he drank the doubtful poison;
and in all the sand of Libya that was the one spring
from which he would first ask water for himself.

     cur Libycus tantis exundet pestibus aer
fertilis in mortes, aut quid secreta nocenti                  620
miscuerit natura solo, non cura laborque
noster scire ualet, nisi quod uolgata per orbem
fabula pro uera decepit saecula causa.
finibus extremis Libyes, ubi feruida tellus
accipit Oceanum demisso sole calentem,                  625

why the Libyan air overflows with such great plagues,
fertile for deaths, or what Nature has mixed in secret into the harmful 620
soil, our care and labor are not able to know, except that a fable
widespread through the world has deceived ages as a true cause.
at the farthest borders of the Libyans, where the burning earth
receives the Ocean, warmed with the sun let down,625

squalebant late Phorcynidos arua Medusae,
non nemorum protecta coma, non mollia sulco,
sed dominae uoltu conspectis aspera saxis.
hoc primum natura nocens in corpore saeuas
eduxit pestes; illis e faucibus angues                  630
stridula fuderunt uibratis sibila linguis.
ipsa flagellabant gaudentis colla Medusae,                  633
femineae cui more comae per terga solutae                   632
surgunt aduersa subrectae fronte colubrae                  634

far and wide the fields of Phorcynis Medusa lay squalid,
not protected by the tresses of groves, not soft to the furrow,
but rough with stones that had looked upon the mistress’s face.
here first harmful Nature in a body brought forth savage plagues;
from those jaws snakes                  630
poured out shrill hisses with quivering tongues.
they themselves were scourging the neck of rejoicing Medusa,                  633
for whom, in the manner of feminine hair, loosened over her back,                   632
the serpents, reared up, rise facing her brow                  634

uipereumque fluit depexo crine uenenum.
hoc habet infelix, cunctis inpune, Medusa,
quod spectare licet. nam rictus oraque monstri
quis timuit?

and viperine venom flows from her combed-down hair.
this the wretched, for all with impunity, Medusa has—
that it is permitted to behold. for who has feared the gaping jaws and the face of the monster?

quem, qui recto se lumine uidit,
passa Medusa mori est? rapuit dubitantia fata
praeuenitque metus; anima periere retenta 640
membra, nec emissae riguere sub ossibus umbrae.
Eumenidum crines solos mouere furores,
Cerberos Orpheo leniuit sibila cantu,
Amphitryoniades uidit, cum uinceret, hydram:
hoc monstrum timuit genitor numenque secundum 645
Phorcys aquis Cetoque parens ipsaeque sorores
Gorgones; hoc potuit caelo pelagoque minari
torporem insolitum mundoque obducere terram.

whom, that saw her with a straight gaze,
did Medusa allow to die? she snatched away their hesitating fates
and fear anticipated; the soul perished while retained 640
in the limbs, nor did shades, sent forth, stiffen beneath the bones.
the hair of the Eumenides alone moved frenzies,
Cerberus by Orpheus was softened in his hisses by song,
the Amphitryoniad saw, when he conquered it, the Hydra:
this monster was feared by the Sire and by the second numen, 645
Phorcys in the waters and Ceto the parent, and the sisters themselves,
the Gorgons; this could menace the sky and the sea
with unheard-of torpor and draw a covering over the earth for the world.

e caelo uolucres subito cum pondere lapsae,
in scopulis haesere ferae, uicina colentes 650

from the sky the winged creatures suddenly slipped down with their weight,
on the crags the feral beasts stuck fast, those cultivating nearby 650

Aethiopum totae riguerunt marmore gentes.
nullum animal uisus patiens, ipsique retrorsum
effusi faciem uitabant Gorgonos angues.
illa sub Hesperiis stantem Titana columnis
in cautes Atlanta dedit; caeloque timente                  655
olim Phlegraeo stantis serpente gigantas
erexit montes, bellumque inmane deorum
Pallados e medio confecit pectore Gorgon.
quo postquam partu Danaes et diuite nimbo
ortum Parrhasiae uexerunt Persea pinnae                  660
Arcados auctoris citharae liquidaeque palaestrae,
et subitus praepes Cyllenida sustulit harpen,
harpen alterius monstri iam caede rubentem
a Ioue dilectae fuso custode iuuencae,
auxilium uolucri Pallas tulit innuba fratri                  665

The whole nations of the Ethiopians stiffened into marble.
no animal able to endure the sight, and even the serpents of the Gorgon,
streaming backward, shunned her face.
she turned Atlas the Titan, standing beneath the Hesperian columns,
into crags; and, with heaven afraid,                  655
once she raised up mountains against the Giants standing with Phlegraean serpent-legs,
and the Gorgon, from the middle of Pallas’s breast,
completed the immense war of the gods.
after which birth, the wings of the Parrhasian—
the Arcadian author of the cithara and the slippery palestra—conveyed Perseus,                  660
sprung from Danae and the rich cloud;
and the sudden winged one took up the Cyllenian’s harpe,
the harpe already red with the slaughter of another monster,
the guardian of the heifer beloved by Jove struck down;
the maiden Pallas brought aid to her winged brother.                  665

pacta caput monstri, terraeque in fine Libyssae
Persea Phoebeos conuerti iussit ad ortus
Gorgonos auerso sulcantem regna uolatu,
et clipeum laeuae fuluo dedit aere nitentem
in quo saxificam iussit spectare Medusam.                  670
quam sopor aeternam tracturus morte quietem
obruit haud totam: uigilat pars magna comarum
defenduntque caput protenti crinibus hydri,
pars iacet in medios uoltus oculisque tenebras
<offundit clausis et somni duplicat umbras.>                  674a
ipsa regit trepidum Pallas, dextraque trementem
Perseos auersi Cyllenida derigit harpen
lata colubriferi rumpens confinia colli.
quos habuit uoltus hamati uolnere ferri
caesa caput Gorgon! quanto spirare ueneno
ora rear quantumque oculos effundere mortis!                   680
nec Pallas spectare potest, uoltusque gelassent
Perseos auersi, si non Tritonia densos
sparsisset crines texissetque ora colubris.

having stipulated the monster’s head, and at the boundary of Libyan land
she ordered Perseus to turn toward the Phoebean risings,
furrowing the realms of the Gorgon with averted flight,
and to his left she gave a shield shining with fulvous bronze,
in which she ordered him to behold the petrifying Medusa.                  670
whom sleep, about to draw to eternal rest by death,
overwhelmed not wholly: a great part of the hair keeps vigil,
and snakes stretched forth as hairs defend the head;
part lies across the middle of the face and upon the eyes it pours darkness
<and, the lids closed, doubles the shadows of sleep.>                  674a
Pallas herself guides the anxious one, and with her right hand the trembling
Cyllenian harpe of averted Perseus she directs,
breaking open the broad bounds of the serpent-bearing neck.
what looks the Gorgon’s head had, cut down by the hooked wound of iron!
how much poison I would suppose the mouth to breathe, and how much death
to pour forth from the eyes!                   680
nor can Pallas look, and the averted features of Perseus would have frozen,
if Tritonia had not scattered thick tresses
and covered the face with snakes.

aliger in caelum sic rapta Gorgone fugit.
ille quidem pensabat iter propiusque secabat 685
aera, si medias Europae scinderet urbes:
Pallas frugiferas iussit non laedere terras
et parci populis. quis enim non praepete tanto
aethera respiceret?

the winged one thus fled into the sky, the Gorgon having been snatched.
he indeed was balancing his course and was cleaving more closely 685
the air, if he were to split the middle cities of Europe:
Pallas ordered not to harm the fruit-bearing lands and to spare the peoples. for who would not look up to the aether at so great a swift-flyer?

Zephyro conuertitur ales
itque super Libyen, quae nullo consita cultu 690

The winged one turns to the Zephyr
and goes over Libya, which is sown with no cultivation 690

sideribus Phoeboque uacat: premit orbita solis
exuritque solum; nec terra celsior ulla
nox cadit in caelum lunaeque meatibus obstat,
si flexus oblita uagi per recta cucurrit
signa nec in Borean aut in Noton effugit umbram. 695
illa tamen sterilis tellus fecundaque nulli
arua bono uirus stillantis tabe Medusae
concipiunt dirosque fero de sanguine rores,
quos calor adiuuit putrique incoxit harenae.
hic quae prima caput mouit de puluere tabes 700
aspida somniferam tumida ceruice leuauit.
plenior huc sanguis et crassi gutta ueneni
decidit; in nulla plus est serpente coactum.

it is open to the stars and to Phoebus: the orbit of the sun presses
and scorches the soil; nor on any loftier land does night fall into the sky
and obstruct the courses of the moon, if, forgetful of the bends of its wandering,
it has run straight through the constellations, nor does the shadow flee into Boreas or into Notus. 695
nevertheless that sterile land, and fields fecund for no good,
conceive the virus from the oozing taint of Medusa and dire dews from the wild blood,
which the heat aided and cooked in the rotten sand.
here the first putrescence that moved its head from the dust 700
raised the somniferous asp with a tumid neck.
here a fuller blood and a drop of thick venom
fell; in no serpent is there more coagulated.

ipsa caloris egens gelidum non transit in orbem
sponte sua, Niloque tenus metitur harenas; 705

itself, lacking heat, does not pass of its own accord into the gelid orb,
and as far as the Nile it measures the sands; 705

sed (quis erit nobis lucri pudor?) inde petuntur
huc Libycae mortes et fecimus aspida mercem.
at non stare suum miseris passura cruorem
squamiferos ingens haemorrhois explicat orbes,
natus et ambiguae coleret qui Syrtidos arua                  710
chersydros, tractique uia fumante chelydri,
et semper recto lapsurus limite cenchris:
pluribus ille notis uariatam tinguitur aluum
quam paruis pictus maculis Thebanus ophites.
concolor exustis atque indiscretus harenis                  715
hammodytes, spinaque uagi torquente cerastae,
et scytale sparsis etiamnunc sola pruinis
exuuias positura suas, et torrida dipsas,
et grauis in geminum uergens caput amphisbaena,
et natrix uiolator aquae, iaculique uolucres,                  720

but (what shame of profit will there be for us?) from there Libyan deaths are sought hither,
and we have made the asp a commodity.
but, not about to allow the wretched their blood to stand,
the huge haemorrhois unfolds scaly coils,
and the one born to till the fields of the ambiguous Syrtes,                  710
the chersydros, and the chelydri, whose path smokes as they are drawn along,
and the cenchris, ever about to slip along a straight track:
that one is tinged with a belly variegated by more marks
than the Theban ophites painted with small spots.
of like color to the burnt sands and indistinguishable from them                  715
the hammodytes, and the cerastes with wandering spine twisting,
and the scytale, even now alone, on account of scattered hoarfrosts
about to lay aside its slough, and the torrid dipsas,
and the weighty amphisbaena inclining into a twin head,
and the natrix, violator of the water, and the flying javelins,                  720

et contentus iter cauda sulcare parias,
oraque distendens auidus fumantia prester,
ossaque dissoluens cum corpore tabificus seps;
sibilaque effundens cunctas terrentia pestes,
ante uenena nocens, late sibi summouet omne                  725
uolgus et in uacua regnat basiliscus harena.
uos quoque, qui cunctis innoxia numina terris
serpitis, aurato nitidi fulgore dracones,
letiferos ardens facit Africa: ducitis altum
aera cum pinnis, armentaque tota secuti                  730
rumpitis ingentes amplexi uerbere tauros;
nec tutus spatio est elephans: datis omnia leto,
nec uobis opus est ad noxia fata ueneno.
     has inter pestes duro Cato milite siccum
emetitur iter, tot tristia fata suorum                  735

and the parias, content to furrow its path with its tail,
and the prester, greedy, distending its jaws, smoking,
and the seps, wasting, dissolving the bones with the body;
and all the plagues, pouring out hisses that terrify,
harmful before their poisons, far and wide remove from themselves every                  725
crowd, and the basilisk reigns on the empty sand.
You too, dragons, gleaming with a gilded splendor,
who crawl as harmless divinities through all lands,
burning Africa makes death-bearing: you take the high
air with wings, and, having pursued whole herds, you burst, huge bulls, when clasped                  730
in your lash of embrace; nor is the elephant safe by his bulk:
you give all things to death, nor is there need for you of venom for noxious dooms.
     Amid these plagues, with hardy soldiery, Cato measures out a dry
journey, so many mournful dooms of his men.                  735

insolitasque uidens paruo cum uolnere mortes.
signiferum iuuenem Tyrrheni sanguinis Aulum
torta caput retro dipsas calcata momordit.
uix dolor aut sensus dentis fuit, ipsaque leti
frons caret inuidia nec quicquam plaga minatur. 740
ecce, subit uirus tacitum, carpitque medullas
ignis edax calidaque incendit uiscera tabe.

and seeing unfamiliar deaths with a small wound.
the standard-bearing youth Aulus, of Tyrrhenian blood,
a dipsas, having been trodden on, twisting its head back, bit.
scarcely was there pain or sense of the tooth, and death’s very front
is without suspicion, nor does the wound menace anything. 740
behold, the silent virus steals in, and it gnaws the marrows,
a devouring fire and hot wasting sets the viscera ablaze.

ebibit umorem circum uitalia fusum
pestis et in sicco linguam torrere palato
coepit; defessos iret qui sudor in artus 745
non fuit, atque oculos lacrimarum uena refugit.
non decus imperii, non maesti iura Catonis
ardentem tenuere uirum, ne spargere signa
auderet totisque furens exquireret aruis
quas poscebat aquas sitiens in corde uenenum. 750

the pest drank up the moisture poured around the vital parts,
and began to parch the tongue in a dry palate;
there was no sweat to go into the wearied limbs 745
and the stream of tears fled his eyes.
not the honor of command, not the laws of sad Cato
held the burning man, from daring to scatter the standards
and, raging, to search through all the fields
for the waters which the venom, thirsting in his heart, demanded. 750

ille uel in Tanain missus Rhodanumque Padumque
arderet Nilumque bibens per rura uagantem.
accessit morti Libye, fatique minorem
famam dipsas habet terris adiuta perustis.
scrutatur uenas penitus squalentis harenae, 755
nunc redit ad Syrtes et fluctus accipit ore,
aequoreusque placet, sed non et sufficit, umor.

he, even if sent into the Tanais and the Rhone and the Po,
would burn, and, drinking the Nile as it wanders through the fields.
Libya has drawn near to Death, and the dipsas holds a fame less due to Fate,
aided by scorched lands. He probes the veins deep of the squalid sand, 755
now he returns to the Syrtes and receives the billows with his mouth,
and the sea-borne moisture pleases, but does not suffice.

nec sentit fatique genus mortemque ueneni,
sed putat esse sitim; ferroque aperire tumentis
sustinuit uenas atque os inplere cruore.                  760
     iussit signa rapi propere Cato: discere nulli
permissum est hoc posse sitim. sed tristior illo
mors erat ante oculos, miserique in crure Sabelli
seps stetit exiguus; quem flexo dente tenacem
auolsitque manu piloque adfixit harenis.                  765

nor does he perceive the kind of his fate and the death of the venom,
but thinks it to be thirst; and with iron he endured to open the swelling
veins and to fill his mouth with blood.                  760
     Cato ordered the standards to be snatched up quickly: to learn that by this thirst could be assuaged
was permitted to no one. But a death sadder than that was before their eyes, and upon the wretched leg of Sabellus
a tiny seps stood; which, with tooth bent, tenacious, he tore off with his hand and with his javelin fixed it to the sands.                  765

parua modo serpens, sed qua non ulla cruentae
tantum mortis habet. nam plagae proxima circum
fugit rupta cutis pallentiaque ossa retexit;
iamque sinu laxo nudum sine corpore uolnus.
membra natant sanie, surae fluxere, sine ullo 770
tegmine poples erat, femorum quoque musculus omnis
liquitur, et nigra destillant inguina tabe.

only a small serpent, yet than which none holds so much of bloody
death. For the skin nearest the wound around flees apart, torn, and reveals the pallid bones;
and now, with its fold loosened, a nude wound without a body.
the limbs float in sanious gore; the calves have flowed away, and without any 770
covering the knee-pit was; and likewise every muscle of the thighs
melts, and the groins drip with black corruption.

dissiluit stringens uterum membrana, fluuntque
uiscera; nec, quantus toto de corpore debet,
effluit in terras, saeuum sed membra uenenum                  775
decoquit, in minimum mors contrahit omnia uirus.
quidquid homo est, aperit pestis natura profana:                   779
uincula neruorum et laterum textura cauumque                  777

the membrane, tightening the belly, burst apart, and the viscera flow;
and not, as much as from the whole body it ought, does it flow out onto the earth,
but the savage venom boils down the limbs,                  775
death, by its poison, contracts everything to the smallest.
whatever a human is, the profane nature of the pest lays it open:                   779
the bonds of the sinews and the weaving of the flanks and the hollow                  777

pectus et abstrusum fibris uitalibus omne
morte patet. manant umeri fortesque lacerti, 780
colla caputque fluunt: calido non ocius Austro
nix resoluta cadit nec solem cera sequetur.
parua loquor, corpus sanie stillasse perustum:
hoc et flamma potest; sed quis rogus abstulit ossa?

the breast and all that is hidden in the vital fibers
lies open to death. the shoulders and strong upper arms ooze, 780
the neck and head flow: not more swiftly, with warm Auster,
does loosened snow fall, nor will wax follow the sun.
I speak of small things: that the body, seared, dripped with sanies:
this too flame can do; but what pyre has carried off the bones?

haec quoque discedunt, putrisque secuta medullas 785
nulla manere sinunt rapidi uestigia fati.
Cinyphias inter pestes tibi palma nocendi est:
eripiunt omnes animam, tu sola cadauer.
ecce, subit facies leto diuersa fluenti.

these too depart, and, having followed the putrid marrows, 785
they allow no vestiges of rapid fate to remain.
among the Cinyphian plagues the palm of harming is yours:
all snatch away the soul; you alone the cadaver.
behold, there comes on a form different from the flowing death.

Nasidium Marsi cultorem torridus agri 790

Nasidius, a cultivator of the Marsian field, scorched 790

percussit prester. illi rubor igneus ora
succendit, tenditque cutem pereunte figura
miscens cuncta tumor; toto iam corpore maior
humanumque egressa modum super omnia membra
efflatur sanies late pollente ueneno; 795
ipse latet penitus congesto corpore mersus,
nec lorica tenet distenti pectoris auctum.
spumeus accenso non sic exundat aeno
undarum cumulus, nec tantos carbasa Coro
curuauere sinus.

the prester struck him. In him an igneous redness inflames the face
and it stretches the skin as the form perishes,
the swelling mixing all things; now greater than his whole body,
and, the human measure overpassed, over all the limbs
a sanies is breathed out far and wide, the venom prevailing; 795
he himself lies hidden deep, submerged with his mass piled up,
nor does the cuirass hold the increase of his distended breast.
not so does a foamy heap of waves overflow from a kindled bronze cauldron,
nor have canvases under the Corus curved such vast bellies.

tumidos iam non capit artus 800
informis globus et confuso pondere truncus.
intactum uolucrum rostris epulasque daturum
haud inpune feris non ausi tradere busto
nondum stante modo crescens fugere cadauer.
sed maiora parant Libycae spectacula pestes. 805

now the shapeless mass and the trunk with confused weight no longer contains the swollen limbs 800
a formless globe, and a trunk with confounded weight.
untouched by the beaks of birds and destined to give banquets not with impunity to the wild beasts, not daring to consign to a pyre not yet standing,
they fled the corpse, only now increasing.
but the Libyan plagues prepare greater spectacles. 805

inpressit dentes haemorrhois aspera Tullo,
magnanimo iuueni miratorique Catonis.
utque solet pariter totis se fundere signis
Corycii pressura croci, sic omnia membra
emisere simul rutilum pro sanguine uirus. 810
sanguis erant lacrimae; quaecumque foramina nouit
umor, ab his largus manat cruor; ora redundant
et patulae nares; sudor rubet; omnia plenis
membra fluunt uenis; totum est pro uolnere corpus.
at tibi, Laeue miser, fixus praecordia pressit 815
Niliaca serpente cruor, nulloque dolore
testatus morsus subita caligine mortem
accipis et socias somno descendis ad umbras.

the rough haemorrhois pressed its teeth into Tullus,
a great-souled youth and an admirer of Cato.
and as the pressing of Corycian crocus is wont to pour itself equally
over whole standards, so all his limbs at once
sent forth a ruddy virus in place of blood. 810
his tears were blood; through whatever openings moisture knows,
from these a copious gore flows; the mouth overflows
and the gaping nostrils; sweat is red; all the limbs
stream with their full veins; the whole body is instead of a wound.
but for you, wretched Laevus, blood, fixed by a Nilotic serpent, pressed upon your vitals, 815
and, with no pain attesting the bite, in sudden murk
you receive death and by sleep descend to the shades to join your companions.

non tam ueloci corrumpunt pocula leto
stipite quae diro uirgas mentita Sabaeas 820

not with so swift a death do cups corrupt
those whose dire stalk, feigning Sabaean twigs 820

toxica fatilegi carpunt matura Saitae.
ecce, procul saeuos sterili se robore trunci
torsit et inmisit (iaculum uocat Africa) serpens
perque caput Pauli transactaque tempora fugit.
nil ibi uirus agit: rapuit cum uolnere fatum. 825
deprensum est, quae funda rotat quam lenta uolarent,
quam segnis Scythicae strideret harundinis aer.

the fate-reading Saites pluck ripe poisons.
behold, from afar, by the barren strength of a trunk, the serpent twisted itself and launched itself (Africa calls it a javelin),
and through Paul’s head and his temples, pierced through, it sped.
nothing of venom works there: fate seized him along with the wound. 825
it was observed how slowly the things which a sling whirls would fly,
how sluggishly the air would hiss of a Scythian reed.

quid prodest miseri basiliscus cuspide Murri
transactus? uelox currit per tela uenenum
inuaditque manum; quam protinus ille retecto 830
ense ferit totoque semel demittit ab armo,
exemplarque sui spectans miserabile leti
stat tutus pereunte manu. quis fata putarit
scorpion aut uires maturae mortis habere?

what profit is it that the wretched basilisk by Murrus’s spear-point
is transfixed? the swift venom runs along the weapons
and invades the hand; which he forthwith, with the sword laid bare 830
he smites, and at one stroke sends it down entire from the shoulder,
and, beholding the pitiable exemplar of his own death,
he stands safe as the hand perishes. who would have thought
a scorpion to have the dooms or the forces of mature death?

ille minax nodis et recto uerbere saeuos 835

he, menacing with knots and with a straight lash, savage 835

teste tulit caelo uicti decus Orionis.
quis calcare tuas metuat, salpuga, latebras?
et tibi dant Stygiae ius in sua fila sorores.

with heaven as witness he bore off the glory of vanquished Orion.
who would fear to tread upon your hiding-places, salpuga?
and to you too the Stygian sisters grant a right over their own threads.

     sic nec clara dies nec nox dabat atra quietem
suspecta miseris in qua tellure iacebant.                  840
nam neque congestae struxere cubilia frondes
nec culmis creuere tori, sed corpora fatis
expositi uoluuntur humo, calidoque uapore
adliciunt gelidas nocturno frigore pestes,
innocuosque diu rictus torpente ueneno                  845
inter membra fouent. nec, quae mensura uiarum
quisue modus, norunt caelo duce: saepe querentes
'reddite, di,' clamant 'miseris quae fugimus arma,
reddite Thessaliam. patimur cur segnia fata
in gladios iurata manus?

     thus neither bright day nor black night gave rest,
the earth suspect to the wretched on which they lay.                  840
for neither did heaped fronds build couches,
nor did pallets grow thick with culms, but, exposed to doom,
their bodies roll on the ground, and with warm vapor
they allure the icy pests benumbed by nocturnal cold,
and they nurture among their limbs jaws innocuous for long, the venom torpid.                  845
nor, with the sky for guide, do they know what the measure of the ways
or what the limit is: often complaining they cry,
‘render back, O gods, to the wretched the arms we fled;
render back Thessaly. Why do hands sworn upon swords
endure sluggish fates?’

pro Caesare pugnant 850

they fight for Caesar 850

dipsades et peragunt ciuilia bella cerastae.
ire libet qua zona rubens atque axis inustus
solis equis; iuuat aetheriis ascribere causis
quod peream, caeloque mori. nil, Africa, de te
nec de te, natura, queror: tot monstra ferentem 855
gentibus ablatum dederas serpentibus orbem,
inpatiensque solum Cereris cultore negato
damnasti atque homines uoluisti desse uenenis.

dipsades and cerastes too prosecute civil wars.
it pleases me to go where the belt is ruddy and the axis scorched by the sun’s horses;
it delights me to ascribe to aetherial causes that I perish, and to die by the sky. nothing, africa, of you do I complain, nor of you, nature: bearing so many monsters 855
a world taken from nations you had given to the serpents,
and the soil, intolerant of ceres, with its cultivator denied
you condemned, and you willed that men be lacking to poisons.

in loca serpentum nos uenimus: accipe poenas
tu, quisquis superum commercia nostra perosus 860
hinc torrente plaga, dubiis hinc Syrtibus orbem
abrumpens medio posuisti limite mortes.
per secreta tui bellum ciuile recessus
uadit, et arcani miles tibi conscius orbis
claustra ferit mundi. forsan maiora supersunt 865

into the places of serpents we have come: take the penalties,
you—whoever, hating our commerce with the gods above— 860
on this side by the torrid zone, on that by the dubious Syrtes,
breaking the orb off, you have set deaths as a boundary in the middle.
through the secret recesses of your domain the civil war goes,
and the soldier, to you privy to the arcane orb,
strikes the barriers of the world. perhaps greater things remain. 865

ingressis: coeunt ignes stridentibus undis
et premitur natura poli; set longius istac
nulla iacet tellus, quam fama cognita nobis
tristia regna Iubae. quaeremus forsitan istas
serpentum terras: habet hoc solacia caelum: 870
uiuit adhuc aliquid. patriae non arua requiro
Europamque alios soles Asiamque uidentem:
qua te parte poli, qua te tellure reliqui,
Africa?

upon our entering: fires come together with the waves hissing,
and the nature of the sky is pressed; but farther than this way
no land lies, than is known to us by report—the gloomy realms of Juba.
perhaps we shall seek those lands of serpents: the heaven has this consolation: 870
something still lives. I do not seek the fields of my fatherland,
and Europe that beholds other suns, and Asia:
in what part of the sky, on what land did I leave you,
Africa?

Cyrenis etiamnunc bruma rigebat:
exiguane uia legem conuertimus anni? 875
imus in aduersos axes, euoluimur orbe,
terga damus ferienda Noto; nunc forsitan ipsa est
sub pedibus iam Roma meis. solacia fati
haec petimus: ueniant hostes, Caesarque sequatur
qua fugimus.' sic dura suos patientia questus 880

At Cyrene even now winter was stiff with cold:
by a meager road are we turning the law of the year? 875
we go into the adverse axes, we are unrolled from the orb,
we give our backs to be smitten by Notus; now perhaps Rome herself is
already beneath my feet. these solaces of fate we seek:
let the enemies come, and let Caesar follow where we flee.' thus tough
endurance voiced its own complaints. 880

exonerat. cogit tantos tolerare labores
summa ducis uirtus, qui nuda fusus harena
excubat atque omni fortunam prouocat hora.
omnibus unus adest fatis; quocumque uocatus
aduolat atque ingens meritum maiusque salute 885
contulit, in letum uires; puduitque gementem
illo teste mori.

He relieves. The supreme virtue of the leader compels them to endure such great labors,
who, stretched upon the bare sand,
keeps watch and provokes Fortune at every hour.
One man is at hand for all fates; wherever he is called
he flies to the summons, and has bestowed immense merit, greater than safety, 885
he has put forth strength even to death; and it shamed the groaning man
to die with that witness.

quod ius habuisset in ipsum
ulla lues? casus alieno in pectore uincit
spectatorque docet magnos nil posse dolores.
uix miseris serum tanto lassata periclo 890
auxilium Fortuna dedit.

what right would any pestilence have had over him?
a misfortune prevails in another’s breast, and the spectator teaches
that great pains can do nothing.
scarcely did Fortune, wearied by so great peril, grant late help to the wretched 890

gens unica terras
incolit a saeuo serpentum innoxia morsu,
Marmaridae Psylli. par lingua potentibus herbis,
ipse cruor tutus nullumque admittere uirus
uel cantu cessante potens. natura locorum 895
iussit ut inmunes mixtis serpentibus essent.

a single nation inhabits the lands
harmless from the savage bite of serpents,
the Marmaridan Psylli. Their tongue equal to potent herbs,
their very blood safe and admitting no venom,
and powerful even with the chant ceasing. The nature of the places 895
has ordained that they be immune though serpents are mingled among them.

profuit in mediis sedem posuisse uenenis.
pax illis cum morte data est. fiducia tanta est
sanguinis, in terras paruus cum decidit infans,
nequa sit externae Veneris mixtura timentes 900

it has profited to have set their seat amid poisons.
a peace with death has been given to them. so great is the confidence
of their blood, when a small infant falls to the earth,
fearing lest there be any admixture of foreign Venus 900

letifica dubios explorant aspide partus.
utque Iouis uolucer, calido cum protulit ouo
inplumis natos, solis conuertit ad ortus:
qui potuere pati radios et lumine recto
sustinuere diem, caeli seruantur in usus, 905
qui Phoebo cessere, iacent: sic pignora gentis
Psyllus habet, siquis tactos non horruit angues,
siquis donatis lusit serpentibus infans.
nec solum gens illa sua contenta salute
excubat hospitibus, contraque nocentia monstra 910
Psyllus adest populis.

with a gladdening asp they test uncertain births.
and as Jove’s bird, when it has brought forth from the warm egg
its unfledged young, turns them toward the risings of the sun:
those who were able to endure the rays and with straight light
have sustained the day are kept for the uses of heaven, 905
those who yielded to Phoebus, lie: thus the pledges of the race
the Psyllus holds—if anyone did not shudder at snakes when touched,
if any infant played with the gifted serpents.
nor only is that nation, content with its own safety,
keeping watch for guests, but against noxious monsters 910
the Psyllus is at hand for peoples.

qui tum Romana secutus
signa, simul iussit statui tentoria ductor,
primum, quas ualli spatium conprendit, harenas
expurgat cantu uerbisque fugantibus angues.
ultima castrorum medicatus circumit ignis. 915

who then, having followed the Roman standards,
as soon as the leader ordered the tents to be set up,
first he expurgates the sands which the span of the rampart encloses,
by chant and by words that drive snakes away.
a medicated fire encircles the outermost parts of the camp. 915

hic ebulum stridet peregrinaque galbana sudant,
et tamarix non laeta comas Eoaque costos
et panacea potens et Thessala centaurea
peucedanonque sonant flammis Erycinaque thapsos,
et larices fumoque grauem serpentibus urunt 920
habrotonum et longe nascentis cornua cerui.
sic nox tuta uiris. at, siquis peste diurna
fata trahit, tunc sunt magicae miracula gentis
Psyllorumque ingens et rapti pugna ueneni.

here the ebulum shrieks and the foreign galbanum sweats,
and the tamarisk with uncheerful tresses and the Eastern costus,
and potent panacea and Thessalian centaury,
and peucedanum crackle in the flames and Erycine thapsos,
and they burn the larches and, heavy with smoke, for the serpents the habrotonum, 920
and the horns of a stag born far away.
thus the night is safe for the men. but, if anyone by the daytime pest
drags out his fates, then come the magical miracles of the tribe
and the mighty combat of the Psylli and of the poison snatched away.

nam primum tacta designat membra saliua, 925
quae cohibet uirus retinetque in uolnere pestem;
plurima tunc uoluit spumanti carmina lingua
murmure continuo, nec dat suspiria cursus
uolneris aut minimum patiuntur fata tacere.
saepe quidem pestis nigris inserta medullis 930

for first he marks out the touched limbs with saliva, 925
which restrains the virus and holds the pest in the wound;
then he rolls very many charms with a foaming tongue
in continuous murmur, nor does the course of the wound grant breaths
or do the fates suffer to be silent even the least.
often indeed the pest, inserted into the black marrows 930

excantata fugit; sed, siquod tardius audit
uirus et elicitum iussumque exire repugnat,
tum super incumbens pallentia uolnera lambit
ore uenena trahens et siccat dentibus artus,
extractamque potens gelido de corpore mortem                  935
expuit; et cuius morsus superauerit anguis
iam promptum Psyllis uel gustu nosse ueneni.
     hoc igitur tandem leuior Romana iuuentus
auxilio late squalentibus errat in aruis.
bis positis Phoebe flammis, bis luce recepta                  940
uidit hareniuagum surgens fugiensque Catonem.

charmed-out it flees; but, if some poison hears more slowly and, though elicited and bidden to go out, resists,
then, leaning over, he licks the pallid wounds,
drawing the venoms with his mouth and dries the limbs with his teeth,
and, puissant, he spits out the death extracted from the gelid body                  935
and which serpent’s bite has prevailed the Psylli can at once know even by a taste of the venom.
     thus therefore at length, lighter by this aid, the Roman youth wanders through fields squalid far and wide.
twice, with Phoebe’s fires set down, twice, with light received,                  940
as she rises and flees, she saw sand-wandering Cato.

iamque illi magis atque magis durescere puluis
coepit et in terram Libye spissata redire,
iamque procul rarae nemorum se tollere frondes,
surgere congesto non culta mapalia culmo. 945
quanta dedit miseris melioris gaudia terrae
cum primum saeuos contra uidere leones!
proxima Leptis erat, cuius statione quieta
exegere hiemem nimbis flammisque carentem.
Caesar, ut Emathia satiatus clade recessit, 950

and now for them the dust began to harden more and more
and, thickened, to return into the earth of Libya,
and now, from afar, the sparse fronds of the groves lift themselves,
the uncultivated mapalia huts rise with heaped-up straw. 945
how great the joys a better land gave to the wretched
when they first saw savage lions facing them!
nearest was Leptis, in whose quiet station
they passed a winter lacking storm-clouds and flames.
Caesar, when he withdrew satiated with the Emathian slaughter, 950

cetera curarum proiecit pondera soli
intentus genero; cuius uestigia frustra
terris sparsa legens fama duce tendit in undas,
Threiciasque legit fauces et amore notatum
aequor et Heroas lacrimoso litore turres,                  955
qua pelago nomen Nepheleias abstulit Helle.
non Asiam breuioris aquae disterminat usquam
fluctus ab Europa, quamuis Byzantion arto
Pontus et ostriferam dirimat Calchedona cursu,
Euxinumque ferens paruo ruat ore Propontis.                  960
Sigeasque petit famae mirator harenas
et Simoentis aquas et Graio nobile busto
Rhoetion et multum debentis uatibus umbras.
circumit exustae nomen memorabile Troiae
magnaque Phoebei quaerit uestigia muri.                  965

he cast away the other weights of cares, intent upon his son‑in‑law; whose footsteps, scattered over lands, he in vain gathers, and with rumor as his guide he stretches into the waves,
and he passes the Thracian straits and the sea marked by love and the towers of Hero on the tearful shore,                  955
where on the sea the name of Nepheleian Helle was taken away. Nowhere does a wave of briefer water demarcate
Asia from Europe, although the Pontus with a narrow course divides Byzantium from oyster‑bearing Chalcedon,
and the Propontis, bearing the Euxine, rushes with a small mouth.                  960
he seeks the Sigean sands, an admirer of fame,
and the waters of the Simois and Rhoeteum, notable for a Greek tomb,
and the shades that owe much to the bards. He goes around the memorable name of burnt Troy
and seeks the great vestiges of Phoebus’s wall.                  965

iam siluae steriles et putres robore trunci
Assaraci pressere domos et templa deorum
iam lassa radice tenent, ac tota teguntur
Pergama dumetis: etiam periere ruinae.
aspicit Hesiones scopulos siluaque latentis 970
Anchisae thalamos; quo iudex sederit antro,
unde puer raptus caelo, quo uertice Nais
luxerit Oenone: nullum est sine nomine saxum.
inscius in sicco serpentem puluere riuum
transierat, qui Xanthus erat.

already the forests are barren and the trunks rotten in their timber
have weighed down the houses of Assaracus and the temples of the gods;
already with weary root they hold them, and all Pergama is covered
with thickets: even the ruins have perished.
he beholds the rocks of Hesione and the bedchambers of Anchises hidden by woodland, 970
in what cave the judge sat, whence the boy was snatched to the sky,
on what peak the Nais Oenone has mourned: there is no stone without a name.
unknowing, he had crossed a stream winding in dry dust,
which was the Xanthus.

securus in alto 975
gramine ponebat gressus: Phryx incola manes
Hectoreos calcare uetat. discussa iacebant
saxa nec ullius faciem seruantia sacri:
'Herceas' monstrator ait 'non respicis aras?'
o sacer et magnus uatum labor! omnia fato 980
eripis et populis donas mortalibus aeuum.

carefree on the high 975
grass he was placing his steps: a Phrygian inhabitant forbids
treading the Hectorean manes. The stones lay scattered,
preserving the face of no sacred thing: “Do you not regard
the Hercean altars?” says the guide. O sacred and great labor of poets! you snatch everything from fate 980
and you bestow an age upon mortal peoples.

inuidia sacrae, Caesar, ne tangere famae;
nam, siquid Latiis fas est promittere Musis,
quantum Zmyrnaei durabunt uatis honores,
uenturi me teque legent; Pharsalia nostra 985

Envy, do not touch sacred fame, Caesar;
for, if anything is divinely permitted to the Latin Muses to promise,
so long as the honors of the Smyrnaean bard shall endure,
those to come will read me and you; our Pharsalia 985

uiuet, et a nullo tenebris damnabimur aeuo.
     ut ducis inpleuit uisus ueneranda uetustas,
erexit subitas congestu caespitis aras
uotaque turicremos non inrita fudit in ignes.
'di cinerum, Phrygias colitis quicumque ruinas,                  990
Aeneaeque mei, quos nunc Lauinia sedes
seruat et Alba, lares, et quorum lucet in aris
ignis adhuc Phrygius, nullique aspecta uirorum
Pallas, in abstruso pignus memorabile templo,
gentis Iuleae uestris clarissimus aris                  995
dat pia tura nepos et uos in sede priore
rite uocat.

it will live, and by no age shall we be condemned to darkness.
     when the venerable antiquity filled the leader’s view,
he raised sudden altars by a heap of turf,
and poured vows, not ineffectual, into incense-burning fires.
'gods of the ashes, whoever tend the Phrygian ruins,                  990
and you Lares of my Aeneas, whom now the Lavinian seat
and Alba preserve, and upon whose altars the Phrygian fire still shines,
and Pallas, seen by no men, a memorable pledge in a hidden temple,
the grandson of the Iulean race, most renowned at your altars,                  995
offers pious incense and duly calls you to your former seat
in due rite.

date felices in cetera cursus,
restituam populos; grata uice moenia reddent
Ausonidae Phrygibus, Romanaque Pergama surgent.'
sic fatus repetit classes et tota secundis 1000

'Grant happy courses for the rest,
I will restore the peoples; in grateful turn they will give back walls,
the Ausonians to the Phrygians, and Roman Pergama will rise.'
thus having spoken he returns to the fleets and all with favorable 1000

uela dedit Coris, auidusque urguente procella
Iliacas pensare moras Asiamque potentem
praeuehitur pelagoque Rhodon spumante relinquit.
septima nox Zephyro numquam laxante rudentes
ostendit Phariis Aegyptia litora flammis. 1005
sed prius orta dies nocturnam lampada texit
quam tutas intraret aquas. ibi plena tumultu
litora et incerto turbatas murmure uoces
accipit, ac dubiis ueritus se credere regnis
abstinuit tellure rates.

he gave sails to the Cauri, and eager, as the squall pressed, to counterbalance the Iliac delays, he is borne forward and leaves Rhodes behind with the sea foaming. the seventh night, with the Zephyr never slackening the ropes, showed the Egyptian shores by the Pharian flames. 1005
but day, having risen, veiled the nocturnal lamp before he entered safe waters. there he receives shores full of tumult and voices disturbed by an uncertain murmur, and, fearing to trust himself to doubtful realms, he held the ships back from the land.

sed dira satelles 1010
regis dona ferens medium prouectus in aequor
colla gerit Magni Phario uelamine tecta
ac prius infanda commendat crimina uoce.
'terrarum domitor, Romanae maxime gentis,
et, quod adhuc nescis, genero secure perempto, 1015

but the dire henchman 1010
bearing the king’s gifts, carried forward into the midst of the sea,
bears the neck of Magnus covered with a Pharian veil,
and first commends the unspeakable crimes with his voice.
“tamer of lands, greatest of the Roman nation,
and—what you do not yet know—with your son-in-law slain by the axe, 1015

rex tibi Pellaeus belli pelagique labores
donat et Emathiis quod solum defuit armis
exhibet. absenti bellum ciuile peractum est:
Thessalicas quaerens Magnus reparare ruinas
ense iacet nostro. tanto te pignore, Caesar, 1020
emimus; hoc tecum percussum est sanguine foedus.

the Pellaean king grants to you the labors of war and of the sea,
and offers what alone was lacking to the Emathian arms.
in your absence the civil war has been completed:
Magnus, seeking to repair the Thessalian ruins,
lies by our sword. by so great a pledge, Caesar, 1020
we have purchased you; this covenant has been struck with you in blood.

accipe regna Phari nullo quaesita cruore,
accipe Niliaci ius gurgitis, accipe quidquid
pro Magni ceruice dares; dignumque clientem
castris crede tuis cui tantum fata licere 1025
in generum uoluere tuum. nec uile putaris
hoc meritum, facili nobis quod caede peractum est.
hospes auitus erat, depulso sceptra parenti
reddiderat.

receive the realms of Pharos, sought with no bloodshed,
receive the right of the Niliac flood, receive whatever
you would give for Magnus’s neck; and deem as worthy a client
for your camps one to whom the fates have permitted so much to be wrought against your son-in-law. 1025
nor reckon this service cheap, because for us it was accomplished by easy slaughter.
he was an ancestral guest-friend, and to his father, when driven out, he had restored the scepters.

quid plura feram? tu nomina tanto
inuenies operi, uel famam consule mundi. 1030

Why should I say more? You will find names for so great a work,
or consult the fame of the world. 1030

si scelus est, plus te nobis debere fateris,
quod scelus hoc non ipse facis.' sic fatus opertum
detexit tenuitque caput. iam languida morte
effigies habitum noti mutauerat oris.
non primo Caesar damnauit munera uisu 1035
auertitque oculos; uoltus, dum crederet, haesit;
utque fidem uidit sceleris tutumque putauit
iam bonus esse socer, lacrimas non sponte cadentis
effudit gemitusque expressit pectore laeto,
non aliter manifesta potens abscondere mentis 1040
gaudia quam lacrimis, meritumque inmane tyranni
destruit et generi mauolt lugere reuolsum
quam debere caput.

‘if it is a crime, you confess that you owe us more, for that you do not yourself commit this crime.’ thus having spoken, he uncovered and held the head. already with the languor of death the effigy had altered the guise of the known face.
Caesar did not at first condemn the gifts by the sight 1035
and he turned away his eyes; his countenance hung in doubt while he would believe; and when he saw the proof of the crime and deemed it safe now to be a good father-in-law, he poured out tears not falling of their own accord and forced groans from a joyful breast, not otherwise able, powerful as he was, to hide the manifest joys of his mind than by tears; 1040
and he demolishes the immense merit of the tyrant and prefers, as a son-in-law, to mourn the torn-off [head] rather than to owe the head.

qui duro membra senatus
calcarat uoltu, qui sicco lumine campos
uiderat Emathios, uni tibi, Magne, negare 1045

he who had trampled the members of the senate with a hard countenance,
he who had seen the Emathian fields with a dry eye,
to you alone, Magnus, to deny 1045

non audet gemitus. o sors durissima fati!
huncine tu, Caesar, scelerato Marte petisti
qui tibi flendus erat?

a groan does not dare. O lot most hard of fate!
is it this man, Caesar, that you pursued with crime-stained Mars,
who was to be mourned by you?

nunc mixti foedera tangunt
te generis? nunc gnata iubet maerere neposque?
credis apud populos Pompei nomen amantis 1050
hoc castris prodesse tuis?

now do the treaties of mingled lineage touch you?
now do daughter and grandson bid you to mourn?
do you believe among the peoples loving the name of Pompey 1050
that this profits your camp?

fortasse tyranni
tangeris inuidia, captique in uiscera Magni
hoc alii licuisse doles, quererisque perisse
uindictam belli raptumque e iure superbi
uictoris generum. quisquis te flere coegit 1055
impetus, a uera longe pietate recessit.
scilicet hoc animo terras atque aequora lustras,
necubi suppressus pereat gener.

perhaps you are touched by a tyrant’s envy, and you grieve that it was allowed to another to strike into the viscera of captured Magnus,
and you complain that the vengeance of war has perished and that the son-in-law has been snatched from the right of the proud victor.
the victor’s son-in-law. Whatever impulse compelled you to weep 1055
that impetus has withdrawn far from true piety.
doubtless with this mind you traverse lands and seas,
lest anywhere the son-in-law, suppressed, should perish.

o bene rapta
arbitrio mors ista tuo! quam magna remisit
crimina Romano tristis fortuna pudori, 1060

o well-snatched, by your own choice, that death! how great crimes sad Fortune has remitted
to Roman shame, 1060

quod te non passa est misereri, perfide, Magni
uiuentis! nec non his fallere uocibus audet
adquiritque fidem simulati fronte doloris:
'aufer ab aspectu nostro funesta, satelles,
regis dona tui. peius de Caesare uestrum 1065
quam de Pompeio meruit scelus; unica belli
praemia ciuilis, uictis donare salutem,
perdidimus.

because she did not suffer you, perfidious one, to pity Magnus living! nor does he not dare to deceive with these voices, and he acquires credence by the brow of simulated grief:
'remove from our sight, satellite, the funereal gifts of your king. your crime deserved worse from Caesar than from Pompey, 1065
than from Pompey; the sole prizes of civil war, to grant safety to the conquered,
we have lost.

quod si Phario germana tyranno
non inuisa foret, potuissem reddere regi
quod meruit, fratrique tuum pro munere tali 1070
misissem, Cleopatra, caput. secreta quid arma
mouit et inseruit nostro sua tela labori?
ergo in Thessalicis Pellaeo fecimus aruis
ius gladio?

but if to the Pharian tyrant his sister had not been hateful,
I could have rendered to the king what he merited, and to the brother, in return for such a gift 1070
I would have sent, Cleopatra, your head. What moved secret arms
and inserted its darts into our labor? therefore in the Thessalian fields for the Pellaean did we make
right by the sword?

uestris quaesita licentia regnis?
non tuleram Magnum mecum Romana regentem: 1075

Was license sought in your realms?
I would not have borne Magnus as regent of Rome with me: 1075

te, Ptolemaee, feram? frustra ciuilibus armis
miscuimus gentes, siqua est hoc orbe potestas
altera quam Caesar, si tellus ulla duorum est.
uertissem Latias a uestro litore proras:
famae cura uetat, ne non damnasse cruentam 1080
sed uidear timuisse Pharon.

Shall I endure you, Ptolemy? in vain with civil arms
we have mixed the nations, if there is in this orb any power
other than Caesar, if any land belongs to two.
I would have turned the Latin prows from your shore:
the care for fame forbids, lest I seem not to have condemned blood-stained 1080
but to have feared Pharos.

nec fallere uosmet
credite uictorem: nobis quoque tale paratum
litoris hospitium; ne sic mea colla gerantur
Thessaliae fortuna facit. maiore profecto
quam metui poterat discrimine gessimus arma: 1085
exilium generique minas Romamque timebam:
poena fugae Ptolemaeus erat. sed parcimus annis
donamusque nefas.

nor believe that you can deceive the victor yourselves:
for for us too such a hospitality of the shore was prepared;
the fortune of Thessaly brings it about that my neck not be thus handled.
assuredly with a peril greater than could be feared we have waged arms: 1085
I was fearing exile and menaces for my son-in-law and for Rome:
Ptolemy was the penalty of flight. But we spare your years
and we remit the nefarious wrong.

sciat hac pro caede tyrannus
nil uenia plus posse dari. uos condite busto
tanti colla ducis, sed non ut crimina solum 1090

let the tyrant know that for this slaughter
nothing more can be granted by pardon. you, lay in the tomb
the neck of so great a leader, but not as if the crimes only 1090

uestra tegat tellus: iusto date tura sepulchro
et placate caput cineresque in litore fusos
colligite atque unam sparsis date manibus urnam.
sentiat aduentum soceri uocesque querentis
audiat umbra pias. dum nobis omnia praefert, 1095
dum uitam Phario mauolt debere clienti,
laeta dies rapta est populis, concordia mundo
nostra perit.

let your land cover him: give incense to a just sepulcher
and placate the head, and the ashes poured on the shore
gather, and give one urn to the scattered hands.
let the shade feel the arrival of the father-in-law and hear
the pious voices of the one lamenting. while he prefers us to all things, 1095
while he prefers to owe his life to a Pharian client,
the joyful day is snatched from the peoples, our concord for the world
perishes.

caruere deis mea uota secundis,
ut te conplexus positis felicibus armis
adfectus a te ueteres uitamque rogarem, 1100
Magne, tuam dignaque satis mercede laborum
contentus par esse tibi. tunc pace fideli
fecissem ut uictus posses ignoscere diuis,
fecisses ut Roma mihi.' nec talia fatus
inuenit fletus comitem nec turba querenti 1105

My vows lacked propitious gods,
that, having embraced you with your felicitous arms laid aside,
I might ask from you my former affections and my life, Magnus, 1100
content to be yours and, with a recompense worthy enough of your labors,
to be on par with you. Then, with faithful peace,
I would have brought it to pass that, though conquered, you could be forgiven by the gods;
you would have brought it to pass that Rome would [forgive] me.' Nor, having spoken such things,
did he find weeping as a companion, nor a crowd for the complainer. 1105

credidit: abscondunt gemitus et pectora laeta
fronte tegunt, hilaresque nefas spectare cruentum,
o bona libertas, cum Caesar lugeat, audent.

he believed: they hide their groans and with their brow they veil joyful breasts,
and, cheerful, they dare to behold the bloody nefarious deed,
o good liberty, while Caesar is in mourning.