May: SUPPLEMENTUM PHARSALIAE

Splendida Pellaeam celebrant jam festa per urbem,
Et ducis Ausonii laudes ad sidera tollunt,
Servati cives, (dum passim altaria fumant)
Votaque Dîs solvunt. Nescis, gens impia, nescis,
Cui causae hanc debes veniam, patriaeque salutem.

Throughout the Pellaean city splendid festivals are now celebrated,
and they raise the praises of the Ausonian leader to the stars,
the citizens saved, (while everywhere the altars smoke)
and they discharge their vows to the gods. You do not know, impious nation, you do not know,
to what causes you owe this pardon, and your fatherland’s safety.

Non hanc semideive canes, aut barbara praestant
Numina, queis ritu persolvis vota profano;
Nec ducis inflectunt animum fulgentia tecta,
Non veterum monimenta ducum, non templa Deorum,
Nec Macetûm cineres regis, quos Caesar adorat

Not this do demigods, you dogs, or barbarian numina grant,
to whom you discharge your vows with a profane rite;
nor do the gleaming roofs bend the leader’s mind,
not the monuments of ancient leaders, not the temples of the Gods,
nor the ashes of the king of the Macedonians, which Caesar adores

Plus aris templisque tuis: sed inania sacra,
Infirmosque Deos, facie Cleopatra potente
Protegit, et stupro redimit Memphitica sceptra.
Nec visum est aequum Colestibus, ut meliori
Deberent causae tam turpia regna salutem.

More than your altars and temples: but inane rites,
and infirm Gods, by Cleopatra’s potent face
she protects, and with debauchery ransoms the Memphitic scepters.
Nor did it seem equitable to the Celestials, that to a better
cause so foul kingdoms should owe their safety.

Jamque sui Pharias regnans Cleopatra per urbes
Auctorem fati regali splendida cultu
Excipit, et magno celebrat conviva luxu.
Atria fulgebant tali laqueata paratu,
Qualem magna solent, sed jam ruitura, studere

And now, reigning through her Pharian cities, Cleopatra
receives the author of her fate, splendid in regal cult,
and as a conviva celebrates him with great luxury.
The coffered atria were gleaming with such an apparatus,
as the great are wont, yet already about to collapse, to strive after.

Regna, quibus veteres, quas longa potentia fecit,
Ostentatur opes, vitiis alimenta futuris.
Sed non divitiae, non auro fulva supellex,
Gemmative tori passim, pictive tapetes,
Caesareos pascunt oculos, nec talia curat,

Realms, in which the ancients—such as long dominion has fashioned—have opulence ostentatiously displayed, nourishment for future vices.
But not riches, not furnishings fulvous with gold,
gem-bedecked couches everywhere, or painted tapestries,
feed Caesar’s eyes, nor does he care for such things,

Dum prope sidereo cunctis splendoribus ore
Praeradiat, vultuque movet Cleopatra superbo.
Hanc videt, huic oculis et pectore totus inhaeret;
Quoque magis cernit, magis ardet. Caetera, visu
Splendida quae primo, sordent objecta secundo:

While, with a face near to all sidereal splendors, she pre-radiates,
and with a proud visage Cleopatra moves.
He sees her; to her he clings wholly with his eyes and with his breast;
and the more he discerns, the more he burns. The rest, to the view
splendid which at first, when set before him a second time, grow sordid:

Femineus decor augetur, crescitque revisus.
Purpureas stupet ille comas, et candida colla,
Queis gemmis lux major inest. Abscondere formam
Divitiae eximiam, non exornare, videntur;
Quamvis non desunt Erythraeo e litore gemmae,

Feminine grace is augmented, and grows when re-seen.
He stands amazed at the purple tresses, and the shining white neck,
in whose gems a greater light is present. The riches seem
to conceal the exceptional beauty, not to adorn it;
although gems from the Erythraean shore are not lacking,

Non spolia Eoi Gangis, non quidquid in undis
Volvitur Assyriis, aut dives mittit Hydaspes;
Non Arabum ex petris viridi splendore smaragdus,
Nec lapis auratus, quem dat Mareotica tellus.
Sidereis adamas radiis hebetatur ocelli,

Not the spoils of the Eoan Ganges, not whatever in the Assyrian waves
is rolled, or rich Hydaspes sends;
Not the emerald of the Arabs from the rocks with green splendor,
Nor the golden stone which the Mareotic land gives.
By the starry rays of her little eye the adamant is dulled,

Quoque minus lucet, formae magis auget honorem.
Sapphirum pulchro pendentem pectore vincunt
Corula venarum violaria; labra rubinus
Non rosea aequaret, nisi primo victa fuisset,
Et pudor augeret, quem dat Natura ruborem.

And the less it shines, the more it augments the honor of the form.
They conquer the sapphire hanging on the fair breast—
the violet little knots of the veins; a ruby
would not equal the rosy lips, unless it had first been vanquished,
and modesty augments the blush which Nature gives.

Ausonius ductor, jamdudum saucius, ignem
Concipit inde novum, nimioque accenditur aestu;
Nec placidam celare studet, sed pascere, flammam.
"Quaenam," inquit, "nostris obstare potentia votis,
"Aut quae fama, potest? quid sic durissima virtus

the Ausonian leader, long since wounded, conceives from there a new fire, and is inflamed with excessive heat; nor does he strive to conceal the placid flame, but to feed it. "What power," he says, "can obstruct our vows, "Or what fame, can? why is virtue so very hard?"

"Oppugnata ageret? facies absolveret ista
"Judice raptorem colo: nam talia quondam
"Stupra Deis summis celebres tribuêre poëtae,
"Aethere qui toties posuêre Tonantis amicas,
"Et formâ eximias fecêre heroïdas astra.

"Assaulted, would she bring suit? Would that face
"acquit the ravisher before the judge: I hold; for once such
"defilements to the highest Gods the renowned poets attributed,
"who so often placed the Thunderer’s girlfriends in the aether,
"and made heroines, exceptional in form, into stars.

"Temporibus si visa illis Cleopatra fuisset,
"Non coma Niliacae Berenices aurea colo
"Fulsisset, pulchrae nec Pleiades astra fuissent;
"Non stupri pretium radiantia plaustra tulisset
"Callisto, aut Bacchi conjux formosa coronam,

"If Cleopatra had been seen in those times,
"the golden lock of Nilean Berenice would not have shone on the distaff,
"nor would the stars of the fair Pleiades have been;
"Callisto would not have borne the radiant wagons as the price of defilement,
"nor the beautiful consort of Bacchus the crown,

"Donec partem aliquam Cleopatrae stella sereni
"Nobilitare poli certam dignata fuisset.
"Jupiter exemplum mihi sit, quem saepe coëgit
"Saevus Amor magno furtim descendere colo:
"Vel potius nostra absolvant delicta Tonantem,

"Until some star of the serene sky had deigned
"to ennoble some certain part of Cleopatra.
"Let Jupiter be my example, whom savage Love often compelled
"to descend stealthily from the great heaven:
"Or rather let our offenses acquit the Thunderer,

"Caesareumque Jovi veniam det nomen amoris."
Ne, Caesar, tua vota time; non pervigil ista
Hesperidum serpens fulgentia poma tuetur;
Nec nimio forma est haec custodita pudore.
Sed puerilis Amor, vanique Cupidinis ignes,

"and let the name of Caesar grant to Jove a pardon for love."
Do not, Caesar, fear your vows; the ever-watchful
serpent of the Hesperides does not guard those gleaming apples;
nor is this form guarded by excessive modesty.
But boyish Love, and the vain fires of Cupid,

Pectora qui stimulare solent innoxia vulgi,
Pastoresque rudes urunt, rurisque puellas,
Non tibi rem peragunt, Caesar; nec causa domare
Vulgaris potuit reginae corda superbae;
Formosamve tuis Cleopatram amplexibus offert

Who are wont to stimulate the harmless hearts of the vulgar crowd,
and burn rough shepherds and the country girls,
they do not carry the matter through for you, Caesar; nor could a vulgar cause tame
the hearts of the proud queen; nor does it offer beautiful Cleopatra to your embraces.

Dulcis amor Veneris: sed regni insana cupido,
Majestas, nimiisque optata potentia votis.
Hic amor affectus alios Ptolemaïdis omnes
Pectore sustulerat: penitus si nullus inesset
Venarum calor, aut artus depasceret ignis,

Sweet is the love of Venus; but the insane desire of kingship,
Majesty, and power wished-for by too-excessive vows.
This love had removed from the breast of the Ptolemaid all other affections:
if only no heat of the veins were within, or a fire were feeding upon the limbs,

Lascivos tamen amplexus in Caesaris îsset
Frigida; et ambitio solvisset tanta pudorem.
Quae te causa fidem, Caesar, violare coëgit,
Visceraque in patriae sceleratos impulit enses,
Emathios Latio perfundens sanguine campos,

Yet into Caesar’s lascivious embraces, cold, she would have gone;
and ambition would have loosened so great a modesty.
What cause compelled you, Caesar, to violate good faith,
and drove criminal swords into the viscera of the fatherland,
drenching the Emathian fields with Latian blood,

Illa pudicitiam reginae in pectore vicit,
Prostituitque tibi. Nec quisquam Caesaris altos
Suspiciat posthac animos, cum spiritus idem
Femineum impellit pectus: quâ Caesar, eâdem
Ambitione nocens facta est Cleopatra; fidelis

That conquered the queen’s pudicity in her breast,
and prostituted her to you. Nor let anyone hereafter look up to Caesar’s lofty
spirits, since the same spirit impels a feminine breast:
by which Caesar, by the same
ambition, Cleopatra was made guilty; faithful

Nec manet hic civis, nec conjux illa pudica.
Ne tamen illicito Caesar videatur amori,
Non patriae vicisse suae, (nam Aegyptia tellus,
Victa licet, nondum Latia est provincia facta,
Sed sceptro subjecta manet) veritusque rebellem

Nor does this citizen remain, nor is that consort chaste.
Yet, lest Caesar seem, for illicit love,
not to have conquered for his own fatherland, (for the Egyptian land,
though conquered, has not yet been made a Latin province,
but remains subjected to the scepter) and, fearing a rebel

Niliacum subito populum, si regna teneret
Femina, dum stirpis Lagaeae mascula proles
Vivit adhuc, puerum Ptolemaeum lustra videntem
Vix bina, Arsinoës, quam duxerat ante, sororis
Conjugio avulsum, Cleopatrae jungit; et illum,

He suddenly joins the Nilotic people to Cleopatra, if a woman were to hold the realms while the masculine offspring of the Lagid stock still lives—Ptolemy, a boy seeing scarcely two lustrums—torn from the conjugal-bond of his sister Arsinoe, whom he had led before, and him,

100

Immaturum annis, Phario diademate cingit.
Hunc vocat Aegyptus regem, Cleopatra maritum;
Defunctique locum fratris supplere videtur
Conjugio et regno. Quid, praeter nomina vana
Conjugii regnique, puer miserando, tenebis?

Immature in years, she girds him with the Pharian diadem.
This one Egypt calls king, Cleopatra calls husband;
And she seems to fill the place of her defunct brother
In marriage and in rule. What, apart from the empty names
Of marriage and of kingship, pitiable boy, will you hold?

105

Quid, praeter titulos, thalamum dum Caesar adulter
Possidet, et regnum conjux Cleopatra gubernat?
Nec rivalis adhuc fieri, puerilibus annis,
Caesareive potes thalami, regnive sororis.
Sed tenerâ poteris felix aetate videri,

What, besides titles, while Caesar the adulterer possesses the bridal chamber,
and consort Cleopatra governs the kingdom?
Nor yet, in boyish years, can you become a rival,
either of Caesar for the bedchamber, or of your sister for the kingdom.
But in your tender age you can seem happy,

110

Quâ non incesti cognosces gaudia lecti,
Obsconoque carens fructu, noxâque carebis.
Conjugium innocuum magis hoc est, quo minus aptum;
Conjugis, incesti sine crimine, nomen habebis,
Et sine curarum retinebis pondere regnum.

In which you will not come to know the joys of an incestuous bed,
and, lacking obscene fruit, you will be without guilt as well.
This marriage is the more innocuous, the less apt it is;
you will have the name of spouse, without the crime of incest,
and you will retain the kingdom without the weight of cares.

115

Humenti nox atra polos involverat umbrâ,
Inque vicem Phobi redeuntia sidera coli
Ornarant varie faciem, cum captus amore
Illicito ductor Latius, vinoque solutus,
Dulcibus indulget votis, tandemque cupito

The black night had enveloped the heaven’s poles with a humid shade,
and, in exchange for Phoebus, the returning stars of heaven
had variously adorned its face, when the Latin leader, captured by illicit love,
and loosened by wine,
indulges in sweet wishes, and at length to the longed-for

120

Reginae fruitur thalamo, pulcherrima lecti
Gaudia degustans: tantum suadere potestas,
Donaque, et illustris gestarum gloria rerum,
Femineae poterant menti. Nec crimen inesse
Concubitu nimium tali, Cleopatra, putabunt,

He enjoys the Queen’s bedchamber,
tasting the most beautiful joys of the bed;
so much could the power to persuade, the gifts, and the illustrious glory of deeds done,
upon a feminine mind. Nor will they think there to be guilt
in such excessive concubinage, Cleopatra,

125

Qui Ptolemaeorum thalamos, consuetaque jura
Incestae novêre domûs, fratemque sorori
Conjugio junctum, sacrae sub nomine taedae
Majus adulterio delictum. Turpius îsset
(Quis credat?) justi ad thalamos Cleopatri mariti;

Those who have known the marriage-beds of the Ptolemies, and the accustomed laws
of the incestuous house, and the brother joined to the sister
in conjugal union, under the name of the sacred torch—
a crime greater than adultery. More shamefully would she have gone
(who would believe it?) to the bridal-chamber of Cleopatra’s lawful husband;

130

Utque minus lecto peccaret, adultera facta est.
Pona tamen sequitur; furtivi pignus amoris,
Caesario infelix, fatus generatus iniquis,
Caesaris Augusti cadet olim victima ferro,
Caesareos tristans cognatâ caede penates.

And that she might sin less in the marriage-bed, she became an adulteress.
Punishment, however, follows; the pledge of furtive love,
unhappy Caesarion, generated by iniquitous fates,
will one day fall a victim to the iron of Caesar Augustus,
saddening the Caesarean household gods by kindred slaughter.

135

Tempora dum Phario ductor dependit amori
Ausonius, Libycis iterum fragmenta ruinae
Thessalicae terris coëunt, quae magnus agebat
Scipio dux belli: cum quo (jam Caesaris hostis,
Quamvis ille truces toties sub Caesare Gallos

While the Ausonian leader was spending his time on Pharian love,
again on Libyan lands the fragments of the Thessalian ruin
come together, which the great Scipio, leader of the war, was conducting:
with whom (now an enemy of Caesar, although he had so often, under Caesar,
subdued the fierce Gauls

140

Stravisset) fortis stabat Labienus in armis.
Hîc sanctus Cato, privatâ non concitus irâ,
Sed patriae imperium et communia signa secutus,
Militat; injustis hîc stat Petreius in armis,
Oblitus fidei, terris quem Caesar Iberis

He would have laid low) brave Labienus stood in arms.
Here the upright Cato, not stirred by private anger,
but following the imperium of the fatherland and the common standards,
serves as a soldier; here Petreius stands in unjust arms,
oblivious of fidelity, whom Caesar in the Iberian lands

145

Donâsset vitâ; et Varus, cui cesserat omnis
Africa, Romanis quae tum sub fascibus esset,
Quam ditione potens olim Carthago tenebat.
Delectas Libyae turmas et Punica secum
Agmina ducebat Varus, fallacia corda;

had granted life; and Varus, to whom all
Africa had yielded, which then was under the Roman fasces,
which powerful Carthage once held in dominion.
Chosen troops of Libya and Punic
columns Varus was leading with him, deceitful hearts;

150

Membra leves: rubris induti vestibus ibant,
Ut fusum in bello hac celarent arte cruorem.
Sub Varo populos sitientibus arida venis
Cyrene Barceque suos ad prolia mittunt,
Quaeque Afris Siculos permiscuit Aea colonos.

Light-limbed: clad in red garments they went,
so that by this art they might conceal the gore poured out in war.
Under Varus, peoples parched, with thirsting veins,
Cyrene and Barce send their own to the battles,
and Aea, which has permixed Sicilian colonists with the Africans.

155

Tabraca bellantes Tyrio de sanguine turmas
Mittit; et antiquâ Phonicum stirpe creatos
Dat populos Libycis dilectus regibus Hippo;
Atque Utica, et tanto Thapsus post inclyta bello.
Advenit his Libyco regum Juba maximus orbe,

Tabraca sends warring troops from Tyrian blood;
and Hippo, chosen by Libyan kings, supplies peoples begotten from the ancient stock of the Phoenicians;
and Utica, and Thapsus renowned after so great a war.
To these there comes Juba, greatest of kings in the Libyan world,

160

Qui jam Caesareâ laetum de clade triumphum
Duxerat; infelix cecidit cum Curio faude
Deceptus. Domino imperium non latius ulli
Contigit. Occiduo de cardine termine Atlas:
Parte aliâ Thera, et confinis Syrtibus Hammon.

Who already had led a gladsome triumph from the Caesarian disaster
fell, ill-fated, with Curio, deceived by a stratagem.
To no lord did a wider imperium fall.
Atlas is the boundary from the western pole;
on the other side Thera, and Hammon bordering on the Syrtes.

165

Undique diversae gentes, populique remoti,
Conveniunt ad signa Jubae. Fulgentia signa
Medorum antiquâ Mauri de stirpe tulerunt:
Atque inopes, qui cum mundo commercia solis
Naufragiis Nasamones habent: Garamantes, iniquo

From everywhere diverse nations, and remote peoples,
gather to the standards of Juba. The Moors bore shining standards
from the ancient stock of the Medes: and the needy Nasamones,
who have commerce with the world by shipwrecks alone: the Garamantes, in a harsh

170

Sub colo positi, steriles qui semper arenas,
Squalidaque arva tenent solis fecunda venenis.
Cumque his Marmaridae medicas egêre catervas,
Serpentûm morsus cantu curare parati.
Audaces Numidae, et frenorum nescia turba,

Set beneath the sky, who always possess sterile sands,
and hold squalid fields, fertile with the sun’s poisons.
And with these the Marmaridae conducted medical cohorts,
prepared to cure the bites of serpents by song.
Daring Numidians, and a throng ignorant of bridles,

175

Massyli, levibus nôrunt qui flectere virgis
Ora forcis equi; gregibusque assueta ferarum
Gens Gaetula viros mittit, qui comminus iras
Indomitorum ausi sunt irritare leonum.
Autololesque vagi, pedibus qui vincere cursum

Massylians, who know to bend with light rods
the mouths of the horse with curb-irons; and the Gaetulian race, accustomed to the herds of wild beasts,
sends men who, at close quarters, dared to provoke the angers
of indomitable lions. And the wandering Autololes, who with their feet conquer the course

180

Venatoris equi celerem, cervique fugacis,
Assueti; atque Mibae vicino sole perusti,
Qui ferrum infamant, scelerataque tela venenis;
Et, membra hirsutâ capri qui pelle tegentur,
Cinyphii venêre Macae; fortisque juventus,

Accustomed to outstrip the swift course of the hunter’s horse and of the fleeing stag,
and the Mibae, scorched by the neighboring sun,
who bring infamy upon iron, and their wicked missiles with venoms;
and those who have their limbs covered with the shaggy hide of a goat,
the Cinyphian Macae came; and a brave youth,

185

Quam Vaga, quamque Uzzita dabat, quam regia Zama
Nutrivit, vexilla Jubae comitantur euntis.
Scipiadae Latiisque aquilis haec agmina jungit
Rex Juba; jamque auctis intendunt viribus omnem
(Cum primum Zephyro putris se gleba resolvet)

which Vaga gave, and Uzzita too, which royal Zama
nourished, the banners of Juba accompany as he goes.
King Juba joins these battle-lines to Scipio and to the Latin eagles;
and now, with forces augmented, they bend every effort
(when first the crumbling clod will loosen itself at the Zephyr).

190

In Latium belli casum transferre futuri.
Sed celer in cunctis, semperque inferre suëtus,
Nunquam bella pati Caesar, mox irrita fecit
Haec decreta dudum; bellumque huc attulit omne.
Heu! nimium cito Marmaricis cernetis in oris,

to transfer into Latium the fortune of the coming war.
But swift in all things, and ever accustomed to carry the attack,
Caesar, never to endure wars, soon made void
these decrees made earlier; and he brought the whole war hither.
Alas! all too quickly you will discern on the Marmaric shores,

195

Quem vos Hesperiâ statuistis quaerere terrâ.
Dulcibus interea illecebris, luxuque Canopi,
Captus, et afflatus fallente cupidine Caesar,
Lascivas ducit, Veneris sub numine, noctes,
Oblitus Libyae tantas coalescere vires,

Whom you resolved to seek in the Hesperian land.
Meanwhile, by sweet allurements and by the luxury of Canopus,
Caesar, captured and breathed upon by beguiling desire,
spends wanton nights, under the numen of Venus,
forgetful that in Libya such great forces are coalescing,

200

Fortunamque suam, et surgentia regna morantes.
Talibus illecebris, et molli fractus amore,
Formosae Ochalidos reginae dicitur olim
Maximus Alcides: humeros non fulva leonis
Terga Cleonaei velant, nodosave fortem

and delaying his own Fortune and the rising realms.
By such allurements, and broken by soft love,
the greatest Alcides is said once to have been subject to
the queen of fair Oechalia: his shoulders the tawny hides
of the Cleonaean lion do not cloak, nor the knots the strong

205

Clava armat dextram; domitores mille laborum
Desidiâ incipiunt duri torpere lacerti.
Nec jam vindicibus pacati viribus orbis
Terrentur reges: sed plus Junonis iniquae
Spes saevas facie formosâ femina juvit,

The club arms his right hand; the tamers of a thousand labors
through sloth the hard upper arms begin to grow torpid.
Nor now are kings terrified by the avenging forces by which the world was pacified:
but more did a beautiful woman, with her fair face,
aid the savage hopes of iniquitous Juno,

210

Quam poterant ferratae acies, aut omnia terrae,
Aëris, Oceanique, et Ditis monstra profundi.
Sed longo Fortuna ducem torpere veterno
Non patitur tantum, medio nec Caesaris acta
Deficere in cursu; sive accelerare ruinam

As much as iron-clad battle-lines could, or all the monsters of earth,
of Air, and of Ocean, and of deep Dis.
But Fortune does not permit the leader to be torpid with long lethargy,
nor the deeds of Caesar to fail in mid-course;
whether to accelerate ruin

215

Romanam cupit inconstans, exosa potentem
Jam populum, et vires nimias, quas fecerat ipsa;
Sive Deam puduit, leges venerandaque jura
Caesaris ignave solum debere salutem
Desidiae, et potius statuisset perdere Marte,

The inconstant goddess desires the Roman [state], hating the now-potent people, and the excessive forces which she herself had made;
or else the Goddess was ashamed that the laws and venerable rights
of Caesar should owe their safety solely to ignoble sloth,
and had rather decided to lose them by Mars,

220

Quam sic servare; ut bellum, quod struxerat olim,
Destrueret rursum imperii fastigia tanti:
Nec plus res Latias facie Cleopatra nocente,
Quam gladii ultores, et Thessala castra, juvaret.
Non tamen a Phariis primo civilia bella

Than to preserve it thus; so that the war, which she had once built, would again destroy the pinnacles of so great an empire:
nor would she aid the Latian affairs more by Cleopatra’s face doing harm, than the avenging swords and the Thessalian camps would help.
Not, however, from Pharian shores at first did the civil wars

225

Deliciis traxêre ducem, tantumve soporem
Excussêre tubae Latiae. Rex debilis illum,
Et cito casurus, Pharances, excitat, ut non
Ipse ruat solus: sed secum nobilioris
Fata trahat populi. Sic, cum leo magnus apertis

Delights have drawn the leader, or so great a slumber
have the Latian trumpets shaken off. The feeble king,
and soon to fall, Pharances, rouses him, so that he may not
himself fall alone: but with himself
the fates of a more noble people he may drag. Thus, when a great lion in the open

230

Dormivit campis, passim formidine nullâ
Illaesi carpsêre greges sua pabula; parvus
Forte culex stimulis audacibus ora leonis
Cum pupugit, somno excusso, fera nobilis irâ
Infredens magnâ, postquam protriverit hostem

He slept in the plains, everywhere with no fear;
the herds, unharmed, cropped their own pabulum; a small
gnat, by chance, with audacious stimuli, the lion’s mouth
when it pricked—his sleep shaken off—the noble beast, in ire,
gnashing with great ire, after it had crushed the enemy

235

Exiguum, nondum vindictam nactus, in omnem
Prosiluit campum, grassataque sanguine multo
Stravit equos, stravit tauros; armentaque tota
Exigui culicis temeraria facta luereunt.
Munere Pompeii, Pharnaces impius olim

For so slight a cause, not yet having gotten vengeance, he sprang into the whole plain,
and, after a rampage with much blood, he strewed horses, he strewed bulls; and whole herds
paid the penalty for the temerarious deeds of the tiny gnat.
By the gift of Pompey, impious Pharnaces once

240

Cimmerium (pretium sceleris) diadema recepit.
Natus erat magno Ponti Mithridate, potentis
Qui, populis Asiae quondam Graiisque subactis,
Aemula Romanis per terras arma gerebat.
Qui victus tandem, et Pompeii viribus omni

The Cimmerian diadem (the price of crime) he received.
He had been born of great Mithridates of potent Pontus,
who, the peoples of Asia and the Greeks once subdued,
was bearing arms emulous of the Romans throughout the lands.
Who, defeated at last, and by the forces of Pompey in all

245

Exutus regno, nati impietate nefandi
Proditus est; ceciditque minor sic gloria Magno.
Pharnacem, nimiâ nunc ambitione tumentem,
Cum paribus dudum signis concurrere signa,
Romanasque acies, et tantae robora gentis,

Stripped of his kingdom, by the impiety of his unspeakable son
he was betrayed; and thus a lesser glory fell to the Great.
Pharnaces, now swelling with excessive ambition,
dared of late to make the standards clash on equal terms,
and to face the Roman battle-lines, and the might of so great a nation,

250

In se civili novit conversa furore,
Quaerendi regnum pepulit spes vana paternum.
Quem fallax primo juvit Fortuna, futuris
Deceptura malis; urbisque ad monia magnae,
Quam debellati Mithridatis struxerat olim

He learned the Roman forces turned upon themselves in civil frenzy,
a vain hope of seeking his paternal kingdom drove him.
Whom deceitful Fortune aided at first, about to deceive with future ills;
and to the walls of the great city,
which the Great had once built, with Mithridates debelled.

255

Pompeius monimentum ingens, devicit iniquis
Te, Domiti infleix, fatis; ad nota tulerunt
Monia barbarici Romana piacula Manes.
Lucida jam novies repârat cornua Phobe,
Ex quo Niliacas devenit Caesar in oras;

Pompey, a vast monument, defeated you, Domitius, unlucky, by unjust fates;
to the well-known walls of the barbarian city the Manes carried Roman expiations.
Bright Phoebe has now nine times renewed her horns,
since Caesar came down to the Nile shores;

260

Reginaeque tument vitiati pondera ventris.
Quam verbis abiens solatur Caesar amicis:
"O fortunarum rectrix, Cleopatra, mearum,
"Caesaris et fatum, qui caetera fata gubernat!
"Me nunc bella vocant. Crudelis amantibus, arma,

And the burdens of the queen’s vitiated womb swell.
Whom, departing, Caesar consoles with friendly words:
"O rectress of my fortunes, Cleopatra,
"and the fate of Caesar, who governs the other fates!
"Wars now call me. Arms—cruel to lovers,

265

"Crudelisque sibi, Pharnaces impia movit;
"Excitioque suo nostrum interrumpit amorem.
"Ti cohibe lacrymas; devictus sentiet hostis
"Caesaris armati gemitus; et clade suorum
"Agnoscet, quantâ Cleopatrae amplexibus irâ

"And cruel to himself, Pharnaces has impiously set things in motion;
"And by his own ruin he interrupts our love.
"You, restrain your tears; the enemy, once vanquished, will feel
"the groans of Caesar in arms; and by the slaughter of his own
"he will recognize with how great a wrath, from Cleopatra’s embraces

270

"Divellor. Sed non nostris concurrere turmis
"Debilis audebit Pharnaces: arma relinquet,
"Quae temere sumsit, subito; nomenque fugabit
"Caesaris invalidas acies. Avellor amore;
"Non ad bella vocor: citius victoria cedet

"I am torn apart. But the feeble Pharnaces will not dare to clash with our troops;
"He will suddenly abandon the arms which he rashly took up;
"And the name of Caesar will put to flight the feeble battle-lines.
"I am torn away from love; I am not called to wars: victory will yield the sooner

275

"Nunc, quam pugna mihi; facilis venit, ecce, triumphus.
"Verum, ut te caream, nec erit victoria laeta,
"Nec laurus jucunda mihi: non ipsa, triumpho
"Quae comes est, tantum pensabit gloria damnum.
"A te discedam tristis, pulcherrima rerum,

"Now, compared to battle for me; behold, an easy triumph comes.
"But, if I lack you, victory will not be joyful,
"Nor will the laurel be pleasant to me: not even glory itself,
"which is companion to triumph, will compensate so great a loss.
"From you I shall depart sad, most beautiful of things,

280

"A te, quae fusca Aegypti lucentibus arva
"Irradias oculis, et splendidiora Deorum
"Tramite colesti, cui lactea nomina Graeci
"Antiqui tribuêre, facis; sine quâ mihi tellus
"Nulla placet, triste exsilium Roma ipsa videtur.

"By you, who irradiate the dusky fields of Egypt
"with shining eyes, and make them more splendid by the gods’
"celestial track, to which the ancient Greeks
"have bestowed milky names; without whom no land
"pleases me; Rome herself seems a sad exile.

285

"Sed nos hinc majora vocant certamina; nondum
"Attigit optati Caesar fastigia regni.
"Quantos debet adhuc nobis Fortuna triumphos!
"Quantaque civilis, quod restat, praemia belli
"Te, Cleopatra, manent! formam hanc venerabitur orbis

"But from here greater contests call us; not yet
"has Caesar attained the pinnacles of the hoped-for kingdom.
"How many triumphs does Fortune still owe us!
"And how great the rewards of the civil war that remain
"await you, Cleopatra! This form the world will venerate

290

"Sideram. Australi populi qui litore degunt,
"Et nunquam Oceano fulgentia plaustra Boötae
"Mersa vident; et quae Septem subjecta Trioni
"Gens jacet, in cujus nunquam regione Canopus
"Cernitur, hoc tantum colo contenta vagari,

"A star. The peoples who dwell on the austral shore,
"And never in the Ocean see the shining wagons of Boötes
"submerged; and the race that lies beneath the Seven Triones,
"in whose region Canopus is never discerned,
"content to wander beneath this pole alone,

295

"Nomen adorabunt Cleopatrae: litore gentes
"Occiduo, et quae surgentem videt India solem,
"Cum Nilo Tybris tibi serviet; et tua regna
"Defendent aquilae nostrae, Romanaque signa;
"Dum reges inter famulos Cleopatra superbos,

"They will adore the name of Cleopatra: the nations on the occidental shore,
"and India which sees the rising sun,
"when with the Nile the Tiber will serve you; and your realms
"our eagles will defend, and the Roman standards;
"while Cleopatra, among servants, has proud kings,

300

"Et sceptris subjecta suis nova sceptra, videbit.
"Talia nam (si nota satis mihi Numina) spondet
"Hoc bellum, regina, tibi. Nunc fata sequenda,
"Et cito, quo ducunt: uteri per cara tumentis
"Pignora, civilis belli post fata revertar."

"And she will behold new scepters subjected to her own scepters.
"For (if the Numina are known enough to me) this war, queen, promises such things to you.
"Now the fates must be followed, and quickly, whither they lead:
"for the dear pledges of your swelling womb, I shall return after the fates of the civil war."

305

At blandis Cleopatra dolis instructa, venustas
Cui nivae frontis tanta est, ut luctus et ipsae
Vel lacrymae deceant, lacrymis sic infit obortis:
"Non tanti facio, Caesar, mea vota precesque,
"Ut decreta ducis tanti mutare valerent,

But Cleopatra, equipped with blandishing wiles, whose Venus-like charm of snowy brow is so great that mourning and even tears themselves become her, thus begins, with tears having sprung up:
"I do not value, Caesar, my vows and prayers so highly,
"that they could avail to change the decrees of the leader,

310

"A quibus humani generis fortuna per orbem
"Pendet; queis stellae, queis Numina cuncta vacabunt.
"Audax relligio nimium, pietasque superba
"Censetur, quae magna optat mutare Deorum
"Consilia. Ah! potius flammae votisque resistam

"On whom the fortune of the human race throughout the world depends;
"for whom the stars, for whom all the Numina will be at leisure.
"Too-daring religion, and haughty piety,
"is judged, which desires to change the great counsels of the Gods.
"Ah! rather will I resist flames and vows

315

"Ipsa meis, dulcemque sibi Cleopatra negabit
"Caesaris adspectum, quam tanta negotia, totque
"Bellorum laurus tardabit nostra voluptas.
"Sed tamen ignoscas, paulum si, Caesar, amori
"Indulget Cleopatra suo, si vivere tecum

"Cleopatra herself will deny to my eyes—and to herself—the sweet aspect of Caesar,
"how greatly our pleasure would retard such great affairs, and so many laurels of wars.
"But yet, do pardon, if, Caesar, Cleopatra indulges her love a little,
"if to live with you

320

"Exoptat, si castra sequi victricia. Non pax
"Tutior ulla mihi, quam classiaca Caesaris essent.
"Quo propius bellum sub te ductore secuta,
"Hoc magis a belli fuero terrore remota.
"Sed jam jussa sequar; Phariisque videbor in oris

"She longs, if to follow the victorious camps. No peace
"is any safer for me than Caesar’s fleet would be.
"The nearer I have followed the war under you as leader,
"By that much more I shall have been removed from the terror of war.
"But now I will follow the commands; and I shall be seen on the Pharian shores

325

"Tutela secura tua; magnique putabo
"Cauesaris Occiduis Alcidae a Gadibus usque
"Eoum Gangem victricem extendere dextram,
"A Thulis ad populos Austri. Tam dissita mundo
"Litora nulla jacent, ut jam divortia longa

"Under your tutelage secure; and I will reckon it great
"for Caesar to extend his conquering right hand from the Western Gades of Alcides even
"to the Eastern Ganges, from the Thules to the peoples of the South.
"No shores lie so far scattered in the world, that now long separations

330

"Inter nos faciant, si sit tam Caesar amando,
"Quam vincendo, celer." Lacrymas tum sponte cadentes
Combibit ore avido Caesar; repetitaque jungit
Oscula. Niliacis tandem digressus ab oris,
Tendit in Armeniam Libycis velocior Austris,

"Let them judge between us, if Caesar is as swift in loving,
"as in conquering." Then Caesar imbibes the tears falling of their own accord
with an eager mouth; and he joins repeated
kisses. At last, having departed from the Nilean shores,
he hastens toward Armenia, swifter than the Libyan South winds,

335

Pharancem exquirens: altae hunc prope monia Zelae
Invenit, et solo conspectu fundit inertem.
Tam cito devictus, pugnae non ulla reliquit,
Sed tantum monimenta fugae; nec fama loquetur
Pharancis de bello aliud, quam, tempore Caesar

Seeking Pharnaces: near the walls of lofty Zela
he found him, and by mere sight he routs him, inert.
So quickly vanquished, he left nothing of battle,
but only monuments of flight; nor will fame speak
of Pharnaces in war anything other than, at that time, Caesar

340

Quod venit, viditque hostes, et vicit eodem.
Heu! quantum famae Magni fuga detrahit illa
Pharnacis timidi, dum Caesariana juventus
Mollitiem cernit gentis! non digna triumpho,
Nec titulis tantis, jam Pontica regna subacta

That he came, and he saw the enemies, and he conquered then and there.
Alas! how much that flight of timid Pharnaces detracts from the fame of Magnus,
while the Caesarian youth discerns the mollity of the nation! Not worthy of a triumph,
nor of such great titles, are the Pontic realms now subdued.

345

Armeniosque putant victos. Non destruit illo
In bello Caesar tantum diademata regis,
Sed Magni decus; exsultans cum talia fatur:
"O felix Pompei! cui nomina tanta subactae
"Degeneres istae gentes, laurosque, dederunt,

And they think the Armenians conquered. Nor in that war did Caesar destroy only the diadems of the king,
but the glory of Magnus; exulting as he says such things:
"O happy Pompey! to whom these degenerate peoples, subdued, gave such great names, and laurels,"

350

"Quando ego, pugances Gallos fortesque Sicambros
"Vicendo, nullum videor meruisse triumphum.
"Fatum bella tibi si Transalpina dedisset,
"Nostrarum forsan nôsses discrimina laudum:
"Non haec omnino civilia bella fuissent."

"How is it that I, by conquering the battling Gauls and the brave Sicambri,
"seem to have earned no triumph at all?
"If fate had given the Transalpine wars to you,
"perhaps you would have known the distinctions of our praises:
"these would not at all have been civil wars."

355

Sed majora vocant illinc discrimina belli
Victrices aquilas. Libycis consedit in arvis
Scipio, Romanis cinctus legionibus, hostis
Securus nimium, gelidi cum jam Capricorni
Terga premens, horas contraxerat inde diurnas

But greater crises of war from there call the victorious eagles.
In Libyan fields Scipio has encamped, girt with Roman legions, an enemy
too over-secure, when now, pressing the backs of chilly Capricorn,
he had shortened the daylight hours from that point.

360

Phobus; et acris hiems cursum frenârat aquarum,
Nudaque vestierat niveis nemora alta pruinis,
Sed praeceps Caesar, quem nunquam in bella ruentem
Tempestas tristesve hiemes potuêre morari,
Ter jam Romuleâ factus dictator in urbe,

Phoebus; and the keen winter had reined the course of the waters,
and had clothed the bare high groves with snowy hoar-frosts,
but headlong Caesar, whom never, as he rushed into wars,
could tempest or gloomy winters delay,
now thrice made dictator in the Romulean city,

365

Vela dedit ventis, paulumque moratus in oris
Sicaniis, iterum Lilybaeo a litore solvit;
Et praetervehitur magnae Carthaginis arces
Semirutas; Clupeamque videns, male litora nota
Damnat, ubi infelix perituris Curio turmis

He gave his sails to the winds, and, having delayed a little on the Sicanian shores,
again he loosed from the Lilybaean shore;
and he is carried past the half-ruined citadels of great Carthage;
and, seeing Clupea, he condemns the ill-famed shores
where unlucky Curio, with his doomed troops,

370

Appulit: infaustas oras, Uticamque relinquit,
(Quam Cato, tum, legum vindex justissimus, armis
Praesidoqie tenet, nomen qui sumet ab urbe,
Aeternamque urbi reddet per saecula famam):
Inde Adrumetum tendens, ubi Scipio, belli

He made landfall: he leaves the ill-omened shores, and Utica,
(Which Cato, then, the most just champion of the laws, with arms
and a garrison holds—who will take a name from the city,
and will render to the city eternal fame through the ages):
Thence heading toward Adrumetum, where Scipio, for war

375

Ingentis ductor, Romanis stabat in armis.

The leader of a vast war stood in Roman arms.