May: SUPPLEMENTUM PHARSALIAE

Excipit Oceanus civilia bella, priusquam
Hispanas tangant terras; et tristia pontus
Pompeianarum gestat praeludia cladûm.
Quâ Tartessiacas extremum litus ad oras
Extendit Libye, Pompeii nomine Varus

The Ocean takes up the civil wars, before
they touch the Spanish lands; and the sea
bears the gloomy preludes of Pompeian disasters.
Where Libya stretches its shore to the farthest Tartessian coasts,
Varus, in the name of Pompey

Aequora custodit: pro Caesare Didius illuc
Classibus advenit: vicinaque litora utrimque
Aequoris angusti belli vidêre furorem,
Et terris timuêre suis. Vix pugna coorta est,
Cum variis subito tumuereunt aequora ventis.

He keeps watch over the waters: for Caesar, Didius came thither
with fleets: and the neighboring shores on both sides
saw the fury of war of the narrow sea,
and feared for their own lands. Scarcely had the fight arisen,
when suddenly the waters swelled with various winds.

Fluctibus insurgit totum mare; plusque pericli,
Quam gladii hostiles, tempestas atra minatur.
Et Tingitanis primo ruit Auster ab oris,
Corus ab Occiduo pelago, violentus Ibero
Litore surgebat Boreas, et flatibus undas

The whole sea rises with billows; and a black tempest threatens more peril than hostile swords.
And first Auster rushes from the Tingitanian shores,
Corus from the Occidental deep, violent Boreas was rising from the Iberian
shore, and with blasts the waves

Reppulit adversis: variis vexata procellis,
Aequora confusos tollunt ad sidera fluctus.
Nil aliud dubio flatu voluisse videtur,
Quam turbare mare, et sceleratum abrumpere bellum,
Aeolus, aut mediis undis utramque, priusquam

It drove back with adverse winds: vexed by various tempests,
the seas lift their confused billows to the stars.
It seems to have wished nothing else with a dubious blast,
than to throw the sea into turmoil, and to break off the criminal war,
Aeolus, or, amid the waves, both of them, before

Sanguine civili madeant, immergere classem.
Sed rabiem Oceani vicit, ventique furorem,
Bellandi vesanus amor; tantisque ruebat
Militis impietas ad prolia dira procellis,
Quantis mercator, quamvis avidissimus, undas

to be soaked with civil blood, to immerse the fleet.
But the insane love of warring conquered the rage of Ocean and the fury of the winds,
and with such great storms the soldier’s impiety was rushing to dire battles,
as much as a merchant, however most avid, rushes upon the waves

Aequoreas tentare neget; nec vellera Parmae,
Indum ebur, aut Rubro pretiosas aequore conchas,
Auderet tali ratibus conquirere colo.
Jamque propinquabant classes, validisque lacertis
Sulcatas vertêre undas, tonsisque secabant

He would refuse to venture the sea-waves; nor would he dare to seek by ships Parma’s fleeces, Indian ivory, or the precious shells from the Red Sea under such a sky.
And now the fleets were drawing near, and with sturdy arms they turned the furrowed waves, and with their oars they were cleaving them

Excussis: fluctu spumabant corula cano.
Innumerae pariter tolluntur ad aethera voces:
Nec jam remorum sonitus, clangorve tubarum,
Audiri poterant: hominum clamore premuntur:
Sed remos, vocesque hominum, sonitumque tubarum,

With them shaken out: the little hulls foamed on the hoary billow.
Innumerable voices alike are lifted to the aether:
Nor now could the sound of the oars, or the clangor of the trumpets,
be heard: they are overborne by the shouting of men:
But the oars, and the voices of men, and the sound of the trumpets,

Bacchantes venti, tempestatesque sonorae
Exsuperant. Nimbis pariter jaculisque diurna
Lux periit; densis et inhorruit unda tenebris.
Tum rostra haud visis sonuerunt obvia rostris.
Occurrunt aliae proprio conamine naves:

Bacchantic winds, and sonorous tempests, prevail.
By clouds and javelins alike the diurnal light perished;
and the billow bristled with dense darkness.
Then beaks resounded, meeting beaks unseen.
Other ships rush on by their own impulse:

Hostibus objiciunt alias agitata procellis
Aequora, et invitas forsan concurrere cogunt.
Navibus elidunt naves; hominumque furori
Additur ira maris. Cunctos geminata pericla,
Dissimilesque metus, urgent caligine tantâ.

The seas, agitated by tempests, expose others to the foes,
and perhaps compel the unwilling to clash.
Ships dash ships to pieces; and to the fury of men
the ire of the sea is added. Doubled perils,
and dissimilar fears, press upon all in such great gloom.

Dum pugant alii, pelagi sarcire ruinas
Contendunt alii, et propriorem avertere mortem.
Nec jam pugnantes pro Caesare Didius audax
Hortari poterat, nec in ordine vertere classem;
Non Pompeianis Varus mandata valebat

While some fight, others contend to patch the sea’s ruins,
and to avert the more proximate death.
Nor now could Didius the audacious exhort those fighting for Caesar,
nor turn the fleet into order;
Varus’s mandates did not avail with the Pompeians.

Militibus dare; nec voces fragor aequoris ullas
Jam sinit audiri; ventis, fatoque relinquunt
Omnia, et attonitas classes Fortuna regebat,
Prolia committens. Rostro perfossa carina
Subsidet, et fatum nescit cui debeat, hosti,

to give to the soldiers; nor does the crash of the sea now allow any voices
to be heard; they leave all things to the winds and to fate, and Fortune was steering
the thunderstruck fleets, committing the battles. A hull, pierced by the ram,
subsides, and does not know to whom it owes its fate, to the enemy,

An tempestati: nec sola fragoribus auris
Terretur; sed nox oculis obducitur atra.
Nec tamen est tenebrosa satis: sed tristius illis
Exoritur lumen tenebris, et fulgura ponto
Crebra micant, lucisque reposcere regna videntur.

Or by the tempest: nor is the ear alone terrified by the crashes;
but a black night is drawn over the eyes.
Nor yet is it tenebrous enough: but a light more gloomy than those darknesses
arises, and frequent fulgurations flash on the sea
and seem to demand back the realms of light.

Quam Sol non potuit, depellunt fulgura noctem.
Illic, dum tumidis forte oppugnatur in undis
Pompeiana ratis, nec se defendere contra
Hostiles valet incursus, et capta videtur,
Vindicat iratum pelagus sibi: gurgite pinus

The night which the Sun could not dispel, the lightnings drive away.
There, while by chance it is assailed in the swelling waves
the Pompeian ship, nor is it able to defend itself against
hostile onsets, and it seems captured,
the enraged sea claims it for itself: in the surge the pine-ship

Mergitur, et rapuit victoribus unda triumphum.
Ast alias jam possessas victore carinas
Obruit, et cito devictos ulciscitur aequor.
Contra utramque diu classem Fortuna videtur
Pugnare, atque odiis vexare hostilibus ambas.

It sinks, and the wave snatched the triumph from the victors.
But it overwhelms other keels already possessed by the victor, and the sea swiftly avenges the vanquished.
Against both fleets for a long time Fortune seems to fight, and to vex both with hostile hatreds.

Finivit tandem dubii certamina Martis,
Ostenditque, quibus coli pelagique labores
Ipsa excivisset tantos: victoria classi
Caesareae jam plena fuit, quam Didius audax
Erebuit vento aut pelagi debere procellis.

At last she finished the contests of doubtful Mars,
and showed to whom the labors of tillage and of the sea
she herself had summoned forth so great: victory for the
Caesarean fleet was now complete, which bold Didius
blushed to owe to the wind or to the tempests of the sea.

Amissam Varus classem videt: obruta ponto
Pars jacuit: pars victores possessa vehebat.
Relliquias secum fugientibus inde carinis
Carteiae ad portum vexit; ratibusque relicitis,
Emensus tellure vias, hinc castra petebat

Varus sees the fleet lost: overwhelmed by the sea
part lay; part, possessed by the victors, was being borne away.
He carried the remnants with him in ships fleeing thence
to the port of Carteia; and with the rafts left behind,
having traversed the roads by land, from here he was making for the camp

Pompeii juvenis. Toto tunc milite frustra
Monia Pompeius munitae obsederat Ullae.
Interea cursu celeri (quo bella solebat
Conficere) Hispanas properabat Caesar ad oras.
Quem Româ egressum denâ bis luce Saguntus

Pompey the Younger. Then with all his soldiery in vain Pompeius had besieged the walls of fortified Ulia.
Meanwhile, at a swift course (with which he was wont to bring wars to completion), Caesar was hastening to the Spanish shores.
Saguntum saw him, after he had gone out from Rome, on the twentieth day.

Excipit; urbs fidei clarum per saecula nomen,
Et crimen quondam Superûm, quod non nisi magno
Deleri exscidio potuit Carthaginis altae.
Urbis ad Occiduum nitidis it Duria lymphis,
Culta rigans vicina, atque in mare tendit Iberum.

It receives him; a city, a name of fidelity famous through the ages,
and once the crime of the Gods Above, which could be effaced only by the great
destruction of lofty Carthage.
To the city’s west the Duria goes with shining waters,
watering the neighboring tilled lands, and stretches toward the Iberian sea.

Sed ducis haud tanti cursum vel Duria tardat,
Vel rapidae Sucronis aquae, montesve corusci,
Queis faciunt dites argentea nomina venae.
Inde rapit cursum flavae per litora Baetis,
Et procul egressus, totis te, Corduba dives,

But neither does the Duria delay the course of a leader of no mean worth,
nor the waters of rapid Sucro, nor the coruscant mountains,
whose names the argent veins make rich.
Thence he sweeps his course along the shores of tawny Baetis,
and, having gone far forth, with all his forces, you, rich Corduba,

Obsidione premit turmis; non spe potiundae,
(Praesidiis urbem validis nam Sextus habebat)
Sed trahat obsessae ut Pompeium a monibus Ullae.
Quod juxta evenit: namque, obsidione relictâ,
Pompeius totis sectatur viribus hostem,

He presses with a siege by his troops; not with the hope of its being won,
(for Sextus held the city with strong garrisons)
but in order that he might draw Pompey from the walls of besieged Ulla.
Which came to pass accordingly: for, the siege having been left,
Pompey pursues the enemy with all his forces,

100

Jam pugnae cupidus; sed non certamen iniquo
Caesar inire loco statuit: verum agmine moto
Progressus, Salsi non magnas transilit undas,
Ateguamque capit subitâ feliciter arte.
Ateguâ amissâ, veritus Pompeius, Iberas,

Now eager for battle; but Caesar resolved not to enter a contest on unequal ground: rather, with the column set in motion, having advanced, he overleaps the not-great waves of the Salsus, and felicitously takes Ategua by a sudden stratagem. With Ategua lost, Pompey, fearing the Iberians,

105

Fortunâ quassante fidem, ne perderet urbes
Et reliquas, uni properat committere pugnae
Spes omnes, viresque suas: hostemque secutus
Ocyus, ad Mundae fatalia pervenit arva.
Castra locat tumulo modico, qui desuper omnem

With Fortune shaking confidence, lest he lose the remaining cities
he hastens to commit to a single battle
all his hopes and his forces; and, having followed the enemy
more swiftly, he reaches the fateful fields of Munda.
He pitches camp on a modest mound, which from above the whole

110

Planitiem late despectat; Caesaris unde
Ante oculos positas potuit numerare cohortes.
Nulla hîc auguria, aut tantae praenuntia cladis
Prodigia implêrant campos aut aëra; nullae
Vel per inane faces, vel diri arsêre cometae.

It looks down widely over the plain; whence Caesar
could number the cohorts set before his eyes.
Here no auguries, nor presages of so great a disaster,
no portents, had filled the fields or the air; nor did either
torches through the void, or dire comets, blaze.

115

Non signis examen apum, liquefactave pila
Fulmine; non volucres, non exta minacia terrent.
Plus tamen hîc morent omnes, metuitque silentes
Turba Deos, tamquam clades immanior omni
Ostento his campis, et inenarrabile damnum,

Not by signs a swarm of bees, nor spears liquefied
by lightning; not birds, not menacing entrails terrify.
Yet here all linger more, and the crowd, silent, fears
the gods, as though a disaster more monstrous than every
portent in these fields, and an ineffable loss,

120

Immineat Mundae. Tacito portenta timore,
Quae nulli fecêre Deûm, sibi quisque creabat.
In Pompeianis per mosta silentia castris
Ancipites errant animi: nunc improba vota
Concipiunt; et spes diras; umbrasque videntur,

Let it hang over Munda. With a silent fear, portents
which the gods had made for no one, each man was creating for himself.
Through the mournful silences in the Pompeian camp
wavering minds wander: now they conceive wicked vows
and dire hopes; and they seem to see shades,

125

Horridaque ante oculos mortis simulacra futurae,
Cernere: lymphatâ rursus formidine pallent.
Nec, quamvis sperare nimis fortuna vetabat
Caesaris, exoptant victas producere vitas.
Danda tamen venia est illis, cum Caesaris audax

And the horrid images of impending death before their eyes,
to discern: they grow pale again, frenzy-struck with dread.
Nor, although Caesar’s Fortune forbade them to hope too much,
do they long to prolong their lives as vanquished.
Yet pardon must be given to them, since Caesar’s bold

130

Bella timet miles, Latium qui saepe cruorem
Hauserat; et patriae toties in viscera fortes
Incipiunt trepidare manus. Exercitus, orbis
Ille triumphati domitor, victorque senatûs
Romani, qui tam praeceps in bella ruisset

The soldier fears wars, who had often drawn the blood of Latium;
and the brave hands, so often into the fatherland’s viscera,
begin to tremble. The army, that tamer of the triumphed orb,
and victor over the Roman senate, who had so headlong rushed
into wars

135

Thessala, Thapsiacisque ausus praevertere campis
Jussa ducis, jam jussa timet, sonitumque tubarum;
Nec sibi desuetum potis est celare timorem.
Sed, minus ut vulgi pavidos mirere tumultus,
Tristis ad haec Caesar funestae prolia Mundae

In the Thessalian and the Thapsian fields, having dared to forestall
the commands of his leader, now he fears commands and the sound of the trumpets;
nor is he able to conceal from himself the unaccustomed fear.
But, that you may less marvel at the panic tumults of the crowd,
grim at these things, Caesar recalls the deadly battles of Munda

140

Ipse venit. Consueta deest fiducia; nec frons
Illa duci est, ex quâ toties felicia belli,
Ante tubas, hilaris tulerat praesagia miles.
Lubrica fortassis moesto tunc pectore dona
Fortunae expendens, quantisque agitata procellis

He himself comes. The accustomed confidence is lacking; nor is that brow in the leader, from which so often, happy presages of war,
before the tubas, the cheerful soldier had borne.
Perhaps then, with a mournful breast weighing the slippery gifts of Fortune,
and by how great tempests she has been agitated,

145

Sint humanarum metuenda cacumina rerum,
Per tot magnorum, quas fecerat ipse, ruinas,
Formidare suam discit. Felicia Magni
Tempora dinumerat; totque inviolata per annos
Prosperitas, similisque suae, Pharsalia donec

Let the summits of human affairs be to be feared,
Amid so many ruins of the great, which he himself had wrought,
he learns to dread his own. The felicitous times
of Magnus he enumerates; and so much inviolate through the years
prosperity, and similar to his own, until Pharsalia

150

Tam longas evertit opes, in mente recursat.
Et Magni casum, postquam fastigia Magni
Attigerat, jam visa levis Fortuna minari.
Haec moeste reputat Caesar, mentemque labantem
Corripit, iratus tacite; tandemque cohortes

That she has overturned such long‑standing resources recurs in his mind.
And the fall of Magnus, after she had reached the heights of Magnus,
now fickle Fortune seemed to threaten.
These things Caesar gloomily reckons over, and his wavering mind
he seizes, silently angered; and at length the cohorts

155

Alloquitur vultu caecum celante timorem:
"Bellorum comites, qui mille pericula, mille
"Victistis plus quam Herculeâ virtute labores!
"En vobis toties truncata repullulat Hydra.
"Ultimus hic labor est; infirma atque ultima colla

He addresses them, with a visage concealing hidden fear:
"Companions of wars, who a thousand dangers, a thousand
"labors you have conquered by more than Herculean virtue!
"Behold, for you the Hydra, so often truncated, sprouts again.
"This is the last labor; the weak and ultimate necks

160

"Exserit; hîc virtus eadem, quae prima recidit,
"Et robusta magis, resecet postrema, nec ultra
"Crescere civilis permittat semina belli,
"Quae post tot clades imbellis Iberia nutrit.
"Sanciet haec nobis pacem victoria: totus

"It thrusts forth; here let the same valor which first cut it down,
"And, more robust, cut off the last, and no further
"Permit the seeds of civil war to grow,
"Which unwarlike Iberia nourishes after so many disasters.
"This victory will sanction peace for us: the whole

165

"Exarmatus erit post haec certamina mundus.
"Sed qui sunt, qui bella parant? qui Caesaris enses,
"Et totidem bellis victricia signa lacessunt?

"After these contests the world will be disarmed.
"But who are they who prepare wars? who provoke Caesar’s swords,
"And the standards, victorious in just as many wars?

"Destituet plebs ista ducem, non sponte secuta,
"Sed casu. Num Pompeii pugnabit amore,

"That plebs will abandon its leader, not having followed of its own will,
"But by chance. Will it fight out of love for Pompey,

170

"Quem non novit adhuc? num vanam nominis umbram,
"Plus quam Caesareas vires, quas nuper Ilerda
"Vincentes vidit, populus formidat Iberus?
"At vero si qua est legio Romana sub armis
"Pompeii; rudibus constat tironibus, aut his,

"Who does not know him yet? Does the Iberian people dread a vain shadow of the name
"more than the Caesarean forces, which Ilerda recently
"saw conquering? But indeed, if there is any Roman legion under the arms
"of Pompey; it consists of raw recruits, or of these,

175

"Qui vobis victi fugientia terga dederunt,
"Et veterem adducunt secum ad nova castra timorem.
"Quae toties victus faciet jam proelia Varus?
"Hispanisve geret Labienus transfuga plus quam
"Aut prius Emathiis, Libycis aut gesserit arvis?

"Those who to you, conquered, have given fleeing backs,
"And bring with them to the new camp their ancient fear.
"What battles will Varus, so often conquered, now fight?
"Or will Labienus the transfuge wage with the Spaniards more than
"Either he formerly waged on the Emathian fields, or on the Libyan plains?

180

"Ite, mei comites, belloque imponite finem."
Dixerat; at nullo excipiunt clamore cohortes
Verba ducis; nec stridentes accendere possunt
Dejectos animos litui, conceptave cornu
Classica; nec quamquam ad pugnam de colle propinquo

"Go, my companions, and impose an end upon the war."
He had spoken; but the cohorts take up the leader’s words with no shout;
nor can the shrilling trumpets inflame their dejected spirits,
nor the summons-to-arms, caught up by the horn;
nor, although to battle from the nearby hill

185

Decurrunt Pompeiani, procedere campo
Longius, aut rapido (ut mos est) occurrere cursu
(Tum primum trepidus) veteranus Caesaris audet.
Quod simul ut vidit, magnâ inflammatus ab irâ,
"Deseritisne ducem, et faciet nece Caesaris," inquit,

The Pompeians run down, to advance farther across the field
or to meet with a rapid (as is the custom) course;
(then for the first time timorous) the veteran of Caesar dares.
Which as soon as he saw, inflamed with great ire,
"Do you desert your leader, and will he achieve it by Caesar’s slaughter?" he says,

190

"Vos timor emeritos hodie?" Simul arripit hastam
Ductor, et adversos solus defertur in hostes.
Obstupuêre illi, quibus haec miracula, miles
Caesareus timidus, temerarius ipse, videntur.
Vix oculis primo credunt; mox in caput audax

"Does fear make you veterans today?" At once the Leader seizes a spear
and alone is borne against the opposing enemies.
They were astounded, to whom these things seem miracles—
the Caesarean soldier timid, he himself temerarious.
Hardly at first do they trust their eyes; soon upon the head, bold

195

Undique pila volant; donec, vincente pudore,
Non virtute, metum, cunctis exercitus armis
Ad ducis auxilium procurrit, et impia tantâ
Tunc rabie, quanto detrectavêre timore,
Bella gerit, redimat Romano ut sanguine culpam,

From every side the javelins fly; until, shame prevailing— not valor—over fear, the army with all its arms runs forward to the leader’s aid, and then, with impious frenzy as great as the fear with which they had declined, it wages wars, that it may redeem the fault with Roman blood,

200

Et dirâ faciat funesta piacula caede.
At primo pugnae gentes utrimque furore
Diffugiunt, solis peragendaque bella relinquunt
Ensibus Ausoniis; aliis nec egebat Enyo,
Pallida nec plures Alecto optabat: in omne

And let him make dire expiations by funereal slaughter.
But at the first frenzy of battle the nations on both sides scatter,
and they leave the wars to be accomplished by Ausonian swords alone;
nor did Enyo need others,
nor did pale Alecto desire more: into every

205

Suffecêre nefas hae dextrae: hîc constitit atrox
Pugna; pares urgent acies, animique, paresque
Irarum stimuli. Magnis hortatibus ambo,
Inter spemque metumque, duces discurrere primo
Coeperunt, frustaque suos impellere, donec

These right hands have sufficed for the nefarious deed: here stood the atrocious
battle; equal press the battle-lines, and the spirits, and equal
the stimuli of wrath. With great exhortations both,
between hope and fear, the leaders at first began to run about
and to impel their men in vain, until

210

Lassati excedunt pugnâ: collemque propinquum
Ductor uterque capit. Diri hinc discrimina belli,
Totque cruentatos enses, tot stragis acervos,
Dum trsites spectant, vix formidare vacabat,
Vix sperare. Duces subiit miseratio sola,

Wearied, they withdraw from the battle: and each leader seizes a nearby hill.
From here the dire crises of war, and so many blood‑stained swords, so many heaps of carnage,
as they behold those grim things, there was scarcely leisure to fear, scarcely to hope. Pity alone came over the leaders,

215

Feralisque timor, ne non victoria moesto
Ulla, sed ambobus lugenda tragoedia campo
Restaret, Latiusque illic procumberet orbis.
Ultima Caesarei restare pericula credunt:
Et Pompeiani post haec sperare recusant

And a funereal fear, that no victory for the mournful
field would remain, but rather a tragedy to be mourned by both on the field
would remain, and that there the wider world would lie prostrate.
They believe the ultimate Caesarean perils remain:
and the Pompeians after this refuse to hope

220

Proelia: pugnaces animos agit aemula virtus.
Utque magis stupeas, cunctis incognita bellis
In totis subito sunt orta silentia campis,
Dum mediâ fervent rabie; nulloque virorum
Audito clamore, manus movêre furentes.

Battles: an emulous valor stirs the pugnacious spirits.
And, that you may marvel the more, a thing unknown in all wars—
over the whole fields a sudden silence arose,
while they seethed in mid-rage; and with no shout of men
heard, the frenzied bands moved.

225

Ad Pompeianas tandem Victoria partes
Se trahere est visa, et paulatim cedere retro
Caesarei coepêre; fugâ vix centuriones
A turpi retinere queunt; cum fortia Caesar
Pectora denudans stricto sic ense profatur:

At last Victory seemed to draw herself to the Pompeian side
and little by little to yield backward
the Caesareans began; the centurions can scarcely
hold them back from shameful flight; when Caesar,
baring his brave breast, with drawn sword thus speaks:

230

"Non tibi jam, Fortuna levis, quae condere summa
"Exoptas potius, quam condita summa tueri,
"Irascor; satis ampla mihi, quae nulla tacebunt
"Saecula, fecisti, fateor. Transferre favorem
"Jam te, Diva, decet, mundo ne ignota potestas

"Not now at you, fickle Fortune, who prefer to found summits
"rather than to guard summits once founded, am I angered; sufficiently ample
"things for me, which no ages will keep silent, you have made, I confess. To transfer favor
"now it befits you, Goddess, lest your power be unknown to the world

235

"Sit tua, meque Deum deceptus crederet orbis."
Dixerat; et certâ fodisset pectora dextra:
Sed Fortuna (velut prope summa pericula mater
Stare sinit puerum interdum, ut majora timenti
gratius auxilium veniat) submittit alumno,

"Let it be yours, and the world, deceived, would believe me a God."
He had spoken; and with a sure right hand he would have stabbed his breast:
But Fortune (just as a mother sometimes allows a boy to stand near the utmost dangers,
so that aid may come more welcome to one fearing greater things)
sends aid to her alumnus,

240

Unde minus speratur, opem: nam castra Bogudes,
Extra aciem positus, praedae perductus amore,
Pompeiana petit. Contra hunc, ad castra tuenda,
Ex acie educit Labienus quinque cohortes.
Perdidit infelix Pompeium hic casus, et omne

Aid from where it is least hoped: for Bogudes,
placed outside the battle line, drawn on by love of booty,
seeks the Pompeian camp. Against him, to guard the camp,
from the battle line Labienus leads out five cohorts.
This mischance ruined ill-fated Pompey, and all

245

Mutavit belli fatum. Pro Caesare falsus
It timor; et cunctis Labienus terga dedisse
Creditur; illa suos debellat opinio, spemque
Caesareis creat. Errorem monstrare, metumve
Tantum inhibere, studet frustra Pompeius; acerbo

It changed the fate of the war. A false fear goes forth for Caesar; and Labienus is believed by all to have given his back; that opinion defeats his own men, and creates hope for the Caesarians. Pompey strives in vain to demonstrate the error, or to inhibit only the fear; bitter

250

Prodita diffugit casu miseranda juventus.
Infelix Varus, toties devictus ab armis
Caesareis, quem tot per clades fata tulissent,
Jam male servatam cupiens abrumpere vitam,
Irruit in medios enses; in vulnera laetus

The pitiable youth, betrayed by chance, flees in rout.
Unlucky Varus, so often vanquished by Caesar’s arms,
whom the Fates had borne through so many disasters,
now wishing to break off a life ill-preserved,
rushes into the midst of swords; glad for wounds

255

Mille ruit moriens; post tot certamina, cladi
Huic superesse pudet, cumuloque deesse virorum.
At miser ut totis rediens Labienus in arvis
Pomeianorum vidit fugienta signa,
Erroremque simul fatalem audiverat, amens,

A thousand fall, dying; after so many contests, it is a shame to survive this slaughter, and to be lacking to the heap of men.
But wretched Labienus, as, returning, he saw throughout the fields of the Pompeians the fleeing standards,
and at the same time had heard of the fatal error, out of his mind,

260

"Me miserum!" exclamat: "tantae, Fortuna, ruinae
"Me facis auctorem? per me crudelia fata
"Ausoniam subigunt? haec, hac fuge, prodite miles:
"Hoc aperi pectus, tristemque ulciscere cladem:
"Aut poenas sument pro vobis Caesaris enses."

"Alas for me!" he cries: "Fortune, do you make me the author of so great a ruin?
"Through me do cruel fates subjugate Ausonia? This—by this flight—betray me, soldier:
"Lay open this breast, and avenge the gloomy disaster:
"Or Caesar’s swords will exact penalties on your behalf."

265

Tum vero (ut leo Gaetulis in saltibus ardens,
Qui, venatorum telis cingentibus, ultro
Assilit in ferrum) sese ingerit ipse periclis,
Et cupide letum gladio molitur ab omni.
Tandem vita fugit Stygias irata sub umbras.

Then indeed (as a lion blazing in the Gaetulian forest-glades,
who, with the hunters’ missiles encircling, of his own accord
leaps upon the steel) he himself thrusts into the perils,
and eagerly contrives death by every sword.
At last his life, enraged, flees beneath the Stygian shades.

270

Jam stragis cumulos, et ineluctabile damnum,
Viderat infelix tumulo Pompeius ab alto;
Et, quamvis lucem damnat, sperare juventus
Integra persuadet; nequidquam a tristibus arvis
Aufugit, heu! terrâ statim moriturus in istâ.

Already the heaps of slaughter, and the ineluctable loss,
Unhappy Pompey had seen from a high mound;
And, although he condemns the light, his entire youth persuades him to hope;
In vain he flees from the gloomy fields—alas!
forthwith to die on that very land.

275

Sed fratrem Hispanas abscondent fata per urbes,
Caesaris ut possit post mortem tristia rursus
Bella, et Romanos olim renovare furores.
Impia jam caedes oritur; passimque per agros
Palantes caedunt insano ardore furentes

But the fates will hide the brother through the Spanish cities,
so that after Caesar’s death he may be able again to renew the sad wars
and the Roman furies of old.
Already impious slaughter arises; and everywhere through the fields
they cut down the stragglers, raging with insane ardor

280

Caesarei, et tanto saturant crudelis iras
Victores, quanto plus tristia bella timebant
Ante tubas dudum. Nec jam fugientibus ullam
Vicinae latebrae, vel Pompeiana salutem
Castra dabant miseris, infirmave moenia Mundae.

The Caesarians, and the victors sate the cruel wraths
by so much the more, as they had feared the gloomy wars more
long before the trumpets. Nor now for the fleeing did any
nearby hiding-places, or the Pompeian camp, give safety
to the wretched, nor the infirm walls of Munda.

285

Nam cito diripiunt victores castra; citâque
Vi Mundam expugnant; dum (quod vix ulla tacebunt
Saecula, vel credent forsan) pro caespite fossas
Corporibus complent, faciuntque cadavera muros.
Nec solum ante tubas, sed post haec proelia, tristis

For swiftly the victors despoil the camp; and with swift
force they storm Munda; while (which scarcely any ages will keep silent about,
or perhaps believe) in place of turf they fill the fosses with bodies,
and make cadavers into walls.
Nor only before the trumpets, but after these battles, grim

290

Caesar erat; quanti victoria constitit illa,
Et quam moesta siet civili gloria bello,
Sero animum subiit. Miserae nunc vulnera Romae,
Nunc sua, victorisque nefas crudele, recenset,
Invidamque simul; victricem paene coactus

It was Caesar; at what cost that victory had stood,
and how mournful the glory in a civil war would be,
too late came upon his mind. Now the wounds of wretched Rome,
now his own, and the victor’s cruel nefarious wrong, he reviews,
and its invidiousness as well; almost forced, as a victress

295

Fortunam damnare suam; quae clade triumphum
Obruit, et tanto mersisset sanguine lauros.
Talia dum moesto volvebat pectore Caesar,
Pompeii caput abscisum Cenonius affert.
Imgemit, et tantae lacrymis agnoscit obortis

To condemn his Fortune; which with disaster has overwhelmed the triumph, and with so much blood would have submerged the laurels.
While Caesar was turning over such things in his mournful breast, Cenonius brings the severed head of Pompey.
He groans, and, as such great tears well up, he recognizes it

300

Fata domûs; subiit magni genitoris imago,
Atque Aegyptiaco miserandum in litore funus.
Quaerenti fatum juvenis Cenonius infit:
"Cum modo Pompeius, Mundae funesta per arva,
"Tot stragis cumulos, tot corpora caesa suorum,

The dooms of the house; the image of his great begetter rose up,
and the pitiable funeral on the Egyptian shore.
To the one asking the fate, the youth Cenonius begins:
"When just now Pompey, through the deadly fields of Munda,
"so many heaps of slaughter, so many bodies of his own cut down,

305

"Infelix vidit, nec jam reparabile damnum;
"Vectus equo celeri, Carteiae ad litora fugit;
"Ut, portum nactus notum, dare carbasa ventis
"Posset; at insidias veritus, nostrosque sequentes,
"Litora deseruit rursus, silvamque propinquam,

"Unhappy, he saw, and now an irreparable loss;
"Borne on a swift horse, he fled to the shores of Carteia;
"That, having found a known port, he might give the canvas to the winds
"He could; but, fearing ambushes, and our men following,
"He deserted the shores again, and the nearby forest,

310

"Consilii incertus, petiit. Nos, terga secuti,
"Instamus, silvamque oculis scrutamur opacam;
"Quaerentesque diu frustra, sub tegmine fagi
"Umbrosae tandem defessum, et vulnere claudum,
"Pompeium adspicimus solum, (pro tristia sortis

"Uncertain of counsel, he made for it. We, having followed in his tracks,
"press on, and with our eyes scrutinize the dusky wood;
"and, seeking long in vain, beneath the canopy of a
"shady beech at last, worn out and limping from a wound,
"we behold Pompey alone, (ah, the sad things of Fortune

315

"Humanae specula, et pompae documenta caducae!)
"Pompeium illum, (inquam) qui tectum, o maxime Caesar,
"Tot modo stipatus legionibus, et comitatus
"Gentibus innumeris, tam longo tempore fatis
"Pugnavit dubiis, jam cinctum milite nullo

"Spectacles of human affairs, and proofs of perishable pomp!)
"that Pompey, (I say) who, covered, O greatest Caesar,
"so lately packed with so many legions, and accompanied
"by peoples innumerable, for so long a time contended with doubtful fates,
"now encircled by no soldier

320

"Vidimus. Ut tradat se, hortamur: at ille minaci
"Intrepidus vultu, 'Nunquam me Caesaris, inquit,
"Captivum, victum quamvis, Fortuna videbit.
"Abscisum videat caput; et, cervice revulsâ,
"Haeredem agnoscat Magni: nec dedecus illud,

"We saw it. We urge him to surrender himself; but he, with a menacing
"unflinching countenance, says, 'Never will
"Fortune see me Caesar’s captive, though vanquished.
"Let him see a severed head; and, with the neck torn away,
"let him recognize the heir of Magnus: nor will that disgrace,

325

"Quod fatum genitoris erat, mihi Roma putabit.
"Non tam vile tamen caput hoc, certamine nullo,
"Ut vobis tradatur, erit. Dum tela supersunt,
"Non gratis moriar.' Tum pugnam ingressus iniquam,
"In mediosque ruens, sine spe, sine viribus, omnes

"What fate belonged to my sire, Rome will think to be mine.
"Yet this head will not be so vile, with no contest,
"as to be handed over to you. So long as weapons remain,
"I shall not die for nothing.' Then, entering an unequal fight,
and rushing into the midst, without hope, without strength, all

330

"Nos pariter, solâ adjutus virtute, lacessit.
"Nec vitam, quam tanto animo projecerat ipse,
"Servandi nobis conceditur ulla potestas.
"Invasit ferrum, ceciditque in vulnera laetus;
"Et tandem invito mortem sibi vindicat hoste."

"He challenges us likewise, aided by virtue alone.
"Nor is any power granted to us to save the life which he himself had thrown away with so great spirit,
"to be preserved.
"He rushed upon the steel, and fell into his wounds glad;
"And at last, with the enemy unwilling, he claims death for himself."

335

Tum Caesar lacrymans, "Generosum quaerite truncum;
"Thuriferis collecta rogis componite membra,
"Cum capite, et dignam tantis date Manibus urnam."
Digressus Mundâ Caesar, securus ab omni
Bellorum strepitu, victricia signa per urbes

Then Caesar, weeping, "Seek out the noble torso;
"Lay the collected limbs upon incense-bearing pyres,
"Together with the head, and give to the Manes an urn worthy of such greatness."
Departing from Munda, Caesar, secure from all
the din of wars, carried the victorious standards through the cities

340

Sustulit Hispanas. Jam Gades, Corduba dives,
Hispalis, atque omnes, quascumque interluit undis
Baetis Anasve suis, victori tradere sese
Non dubitant urbes. Populi, gentesque remotae,
Sub juga jam veniunt. Abjectis Cantaber armis,

He subdued the Spains. Now Gades, rich Corduba,
Hispalis, and all the cities, whichever the Baetis or the Anas bathes with its waves,
do not hesitate to hand themselves over to the victor.
Peoples and far-removed nations now come under the yokes.
The Cantabrian, his arms cast aside,

345

Callaïcusque ferox, et Celta, atque impiger Astur,
Exposcunt veniam, pacemque a Caesare quaerunt.
Nil, terris olim venerabile, nomen Iberis
Jam valuit Magni: cunctos Fortuna clientes
Transtulerat; solus jam possidet omnia Caesar.

And the fierce Callaic, and the Celt, and the tireless Asturian,
ask for pardon, and seek peace from Caesar.
Nothing, of the name of Magnus once venerable among the Iberians,
now availed: Fortune had transferred all the clients;
Caesar alone now possesses everything.

350

Nec mirum, obtineat terras si solus Iberas,
Qui sine rivali Romanas obtineret arces.

Nor is it a wonder, if he alone should hold the Iberian lands,
who would hold the Roman citadels without a rival.