DE BELLO GILDONICO

[80]incassum, Stilicho, dum nos longissima tellusdividat et mediis Nereus interstrepat undis.Alpinas transire tibi me sospite rupeshaud dabitur. iaculis illinc me figere tempta.305quaere ferox ensem, qui nostra ad moenia tendipossit ab Italia. non te documenta priorum,non exempla vetant? quisnam conatus adirehas iactat vitasse manus? detrusimus orbete medio tantisque simul spoliavimus armis.310nunc epulis tempus, socii, nunc larga pararemunera donandumque novis legionibus aurum!opportuna meis oritur lux crastina votis.quod nolit rex ipse velit iubeatque coactusin partem mihi regna dari. contingat in uno315privati fugisse modum crimenque tyranni.”Talibus adclamat dictis infame nocentumconcilium, qui perpetuis crevere rapiniset quos una facit Rufino causa sodales,inlicitum duxisse nihil; funesta tacere320nexus amicitiae. iamiam conubia laetidespondent aliena sibi frustraque vicissimpromittunt, quae quisque petat, quas devoret urbes.Coeperat humanos alto sopire laboresnox gremio, nigrasque sopor diffuderat alas.325ille diu curis animum stimulantibus aegrelabitur in somnos. toto vix corde quierat,ecce videt diras adludere protinus umbras,[81]Stilicho. What harm can that do so long as a vast stretch of country divide us and Nereus’ waves thunder between? Thou shalt have no chance of crossing the rocky Alps while I live. Transfix me from thence with thine arrows, if thou canst. Seek in thy fury a sword that from Italy shall reach my city’s walls. Does not the experience and the example of those who have tried before deter thee? Who that has dared approach can boast escape from my hands? I have driven thee from the centre of the civilized world and at the same time deprived thee of thy great army. Now, my friends, is come the time for feasting and making ready bountiful gifts and bestowing gold upon these new legions. To-morrow’s light dawns prosperously for my purpose. Needs must the emperor will what he would not and bid a portion of his empire to be given to me. Mine alone be the happy fortune to rise above a private estate and yet escape the charge of tyranny.”To such words they shout acclaim—that vile band of traitors, waxed fat on plunder, whom one principle makes fellows with Rufinus, the holding nothing unlawful, and whose bond of friendship is to guard guilt in silence. Straightway they joyfully promise themselves foreign wives and all to no purpose forecast the booty they will win and the cities they will sack.Night had begun to soothe human toils in her deep bosom and sleep had spread his black wings when Rufinus, whose mind had long been a prey to anxiety, sank into a troubled slumber. Scarce had quiet fastened on his heart when, lo, he sees flit before his eyes the dread ghosts of those whom he

[80]

incassum, Stilicho, dum nos longissima tellusdividat et mediis Nereus interstrepat undis.Alpinas transire tibi me sospite rupeshaud dabitur. iaculis illinc me figere tempta.305quaere ferox ensem, qui nostra ad moenia tendipossit ab Italia. non te documenta priorum,non exempla vetant? quisnam conatus adirehas iactat vitasse manus? detrusimus orbete medio tantisque simul spoliavimus armis.310nunc epulis tempus, socii, nunc larga pararemunera donandumque novis legionibus aurum!opportuna meis oritur lux crastina votis.quod nolit rex ipse velit iubeatque coactusin partem mihi regna dari. contingat in uno315privati fugisse modum crimenque tyranni.”Talibus adclamat dictis infame nocentumconcilium, qui perpetuis crevere rapiniset quos una facit Rufino causa sodales,inlicitum duxisse nihil; funesta tacere320nexus amicitiae. iamiam conubia laetidespondent aliena sibi frustraque vicissimpromittunt, quae quisque petat, quas devoret urbes.Coeperat humanos alto sopire laboresnox gremio, nigrasque sopor diffuderat alas.325ille diu curis animum stimulantibus aegrelabitur in somnos. toto vix corde quierat,ecce videt diras adludere protinus umbras,

incassum, Stilicho, dum nos longissima tellus

dividat et mediis Nereus interstrepat undis.

Alpinas transire tibi me sospite rupes

haud dabitur. iaculis illinc me figere tempta.305

quaere ferox ensem, qui nostra ad moenia tendi

possit ab Italia. non te documenta priorum,

non exempla vetant? quisnam conatus adire

has iactat vitasse manus? detrusimus orbe

te medio tantisque simul spoliavimus armis.310

nunc epulis tempus, socii, nunc larga parare

munera donandumque novis legionibus aurum!

opportuna meis oritur lux crastina votis.

quod nolit rex ipse velit iubeatque coactus

in partem mihi regna dari. contingat in uno315

privati fugisse modum crimenque tyranni.”

Talibus adclamat dictis infame nocentum

concilium, qui perpetuis crevere rapinis

et quos una facit Rufino causa sodales,

inlicitum duxisse nihil; funesta tacere320

nexus amicitiae. iamiam conubia laeti

despondent aliena sibi frustraque vicissim

promittunt, quae quisque petat, quas devoret urbes.

Coeperat humanos alto sopire labores

nox gremio, nigrasque sopor diffuderat alas.325

ille diu curis animum stimulantibus aegre

labitur in somnos. toto vix corde quierat,

ecce videt diras adludere protinus umbras,

[81]Stilicho. What harm can that do so long as a vast stretch of country divide us and Nereus’ waves thunder between? Thou shalt have no chance of crossing the rocky Alps while I live. Transfix me from thence with thine arrows, if thou canst. Seek in thy fury a sword that from Italy shall reach my city’s walls. Does not the experience and the example of those who have tried before deter thee? Who that has dared approach can boast escape from my hands? I have driven thee from the centre of the civilized world and at the same time deprived thee of thy great army. Now, my friends, is come the time for feasting and making ready bountiful gifts and bestowing gold upon these new legions. To-morrow’s light dawns prosperously for my purpose. Needs must the emperor will what he would not and bid a portion of his empire to be given to me. Mine alone be the happy fortune to rise above a private estate and yet escape the charge of tyranny.”To such words they shout acclaim—that vile band of traitors, waxed fat on plunder, whom one principle makes fellows with Rufinus, the holding nothing unlawful, and whose bond of friendship is to guard guilt in silence. Straightway they joyfully promise themselves foreign wives and all to no purpose forecast the booty they will win and the cities they will sack.Night had begun to soothe human toils in her deep bosom and sleep had spread his black wings when Rufinus, whose mind had long been a prey to anxiety, sank into a troubled slumber. Scarce had quiet fastened on his heart when, lo, he sees flit before his eyes the dread ghosts of those whom he

[81]

Stilicho. What harm can that do so long as a vast stretch of country divide us and Nereus’ waves thunder between? Thou shalt have no chance of crossing the rocky Alps while I live. Transfix me from thence with thine arrows, if thou canst. Seek in thy fury a sword that from Italy shall reach my city’s walls. Does not the experience and the example of those who have tried before deter thee? Who that has dared approach can boast escape from my hands? I have driven thee from the centre of the civilized world and at the same time deprived thee of thy great army. Now, my friends, is come the time for feasting and making ready bountiful gifts and bestowing gold upon these new legions. To-morrow’s light dawns prosperously for my purpose. Needs must the emperor will what he would not and bid a portion of his empire to be given to me. Mine alone be the happy fortune to rise above a private estate and yet escape the charge of tyranny.”

To such words they shout acclaim—that vile band of traitors, waxed fat on plunder, whom one principle makes fellows with Rufinus, the holding nothing unlawful, and whose bond of friendship is to guard guilt in silence. Straightway they joyfully promise themselves foreign wives and all to no purpose forecast the booty they will win and the cities they will sack.

Night had begun to soothe human toils in her deep bosom and sleep had spread his black wings when Rufinus, whose mind had long been a prey to anxiety, sank into a troubled slumber. Scarce had quiet fastened on his heart when, lo, he sees flit before his eyes the dread ghosts of those whom he

[82]quas dedit ipse neci; quarum quae clarior unavisa loqui: “pro! surge toro. quid plurima volvis330anxius? haec requiem rebus finemque laboriadlatura dies: omni iam plebe redibisaltior et laeti manibus portabere vulgi.”has canit ambages. occulto fallitur illeomine nec capitis sentit praesagia fixi.335Iam summum radiis stringebat Lucifer Haemumfestinamque rotam solito properantior urgettandem Rufini visurus funera Titan:desiluit stratis densaeque capacia turbaeatria regifico iussit splendere paratu340exceptura dapes et, quod post vota daretur,insculpi propriis aurum fatale figuris.ipse salutatum reduces post proelia turmasiam regale tumens et principe celsior ibatcollaque femineo solvebat mollia gestu345imperii certus, tegeret ceu purpura dudumcorpus et ardentes ambirent tempora gemmae.Urbis ab angusto tractu, qua vergit in austrum,planities vicina patet: nam cetera pontuscircuit exiguo dirimi se limite passus.350hic ultrix acies ornatu lucida Martisexplicuit cuneos. pedites in parte sinistraconsistunt. equites illinc poscentia cursumora reluctantur pressis sedare lupatis;hinc alii saevum cristato vertice nutant355et tremulos umeris gaudent vibrare colores,quos operit formatque chalybs; coniuncta per artem[83]had killed. Of them one, more distinct than the rest, seemed thus to address him: “Up from thy couch! why schemes thine anxious mind further? This coming day shall bring thee rest and end thy toils. High above the people shalt thou be raised, and happy crowds shall carry thee in their arms.” Such was the ambiguous prophecy of the ghost, but Rufinus observed not the hidden omen and saw not it foretold the elevation of his severed head upon a spear.Now Lucifer touched the peak of Haemus with his rays and Titan urged his hastening wheel quicker than his wont, so soon to see at last the death of Rufinus. Rufinus himself leapt from his bed and bade make ready the capacious palace with regal splendour in preparation for the feast; the gold to be given in largesse he ordered to be stamped with his own fateful image. Himself went to welcome the troops returning from the battle in kingly pride and arrogance above a prince’s. Sure now of empire he wore a woman’s raiment about his neck; as though the purple already clothed his limbs and the jewelled crown blazed upon his brow.Hard by a crowded quarter of the city of Constantinople, towards the south, there lies a plain. The rest is surrounded by the sea which here allows itself to be parted by a narrow way. Here the avenging army, bright with the panoply of the war god, disposes its squadrons. On the left stands the infantry. Over against them the cavalry seek to restrain their eager steeds by holding tight the reins. Here nod the savage waving plumes whose wearers rejoice to shake the flashing colours of their shoulder-armour; for steel clothes them on and gives them their shape; the limbs within

[82]

quas dedit ipse neci; quarum quae clarior unavisa loqui: “pro! surge toro. quid plurima volvis330anxius? haec requiem rebus finemque laboriadlatura dies: omni iam plebe redibisaltior et laeti manibus portabere vulgi.”has canit ambages. occulto fallitur illeomine nec capitis sentit praesagia fixi.335Iam summum radiis stringebat Lucifer Haemumfestinamque rotam solito properantior urgettandem Rufini visurus funera Titan:desiluit stratis densaeque capacia turbaeatria regifico iussit splendere paratu340exceptura dapes et, quod post vota daretur,insculpi propriis aurum fatale figuris.ipse salutatum reduces post proelia turmasiam regale tumens et principe celsior ibatcollaque femineo solvebat mollia gestu345imperii certus, tegeret ceu purpura dudumcorpus et ardentes ambirent tempora gemmae.Urbis ab angusto tractu, qua vergit in austrum,planities vicina patet: nam cetera pontuscircuit exiguo dirimi se limite passus.350hic ultrix acies ornatu lucida Martisexplicuit cuneos. pedites in parte sinistraconsistunt. equites illinc poscentia cursumora reluctantur pressis sedare lupatis;hinc alii saevum cristato vertice nutant355et tremulos umeris gaudent vibrare colores,quos operit formatque chalybs; coniuncta per artem

quas dedit ipse neci; quarum quae clarior una

visa loqui: “pro! surge toro. quid plurima volvis330

anxius? haec requiem rebus finemque labori

adlatura dies: omni iam plebe redibis

altior et laeti manibus portabere vulgi.”

has canit ambages. occulto fallitur ille

omine nec capitis sentit praesagia fixi.335

Iam summum radiis stringebat Lucifer Haemum

festinamque rotam solito properantior urget

tandem Rufini visurus funera Titan:

desiluit stratis densaeque capacia turbae

atria regifico iussit splendere paratu340

exceptura dapes et, quod post vota daretur,

insculpi propriis aurum fatale figuris.

ipse salutatum reduces post proelia turmas

iam regale tumens et principe celsior ibat

collaque femineo solvebat mollia gestu345

imperii certus, tegeret ceu purpura dudum

corpus et ardentes ambirent tempora gemmae.

Urbis ab angusto tractu, qua vergit in austrum,

planities vicina patet: nam cetera pontus

circuit exiguo dirimi se limite passus.350

hic ultrix acies ornatu lucida Martis

explicuit cuneos. pedites in parte sinistra

consistunt. equites illinc poscentia cursum

ora reluctantur pressis sedare lupatis;

hinc alii saevum cristato vertice nutant355

et tremulos umeris gaudent vibrare colores,

quos operit formatque chalybs; coniuncta per artem

[83]had killed. Of them one, more distinct than the rest, seemed thus to address him: “Up from thy couch! why schemes thine anxious mind further? This coming day shall bring thee rest and end thy toils. High above the people shalt thou be raised, and happy crowds shall carry thee in their arms.” Such was the ambiguous prophecy of the ghost, but Rufinus observed not the hidden omen and saw not it foretold the elevation of his severed head upon a spear.Now Lucifer touched the peak of Haemus with his rays and Titan urged his hastening wheel quicker than his wont, so soon to see at last the death of Rufinus. Rufinus himself leapt from his bed and bade make ready the capacious palace with regal splendour in preparation for the feast; the gold to be given in largesse he ordered to be stamped with his own fateful image. Himself went to welcome the troops returning from the battle in kingly pride and arrogance above a prince’s. Sure now of empire he wore a woman’s raiment about his neck; as though the purple already clothed his limbs and the jewelled crown blazed upon his brow.Hard by a crowded quarter of the city of Constantinople, towards the south, there lies a plain. The rest is surrounded by the sea which here allows itself to be parted by a narrow way. Here the avenging army, bright with the panoply of the war god, disposes its squadrons. On the left stands the infantry. Over against them the cavalry seek to restrain their eager steeds by holding tight the reins. Here nod the savage waving plumes whose wearers rejoice to shake the flashing colours of their shoulder-armour; for steel clothes them on and gives them their shape; the limbs within

[83]

had killed. Of them one, more distinct than the rest, seemed thus to address him: “Up from thy couch! why schemes thine anxious mind further? This coming day shall bring thee rest and end thy toils. High above the people shalt thou be raised, and happy crowds shall carry thee in their arms.” Such was the ambiguous prophecy of the ghost, but Rufinus observed not the hidden omen and saw not it foretold the elevation of his severed head upon a spear.

Now Lucifer touched the peak of Haemus with his rays and Titan urged his hastening wheel quicker than his wont, so soon to see at last the death of Rufinus. Rufinus himself leapt from his bed and bade make ready the capacious palace with regal splendour in preparation for the feast; the gold to be given in largesse he ordered to be stamped with his own fateful image. Himself went to welcome the troops returning from the battle in kingly pride and arrogance above a prince’s. Sure now of empire he wore a woman’s raiment about his neck; as though the purple already clothed his limbs and the jewelled crown blazed upon his brow.

Hard by a crowded quarter of the city of Constantinople, towards the south, there lies a plain. The rest is surrounded by the sea which here allows itself to be parted by a narrow way. Here the avenging army, bright with the panoply of the war god, disposes its squadrons. On the left stands the infantry. Over against them the cavalry seek to restrain their eager steeds by holding tight the reins. Here nod the savage waving plumes whose wearers rejoice to shake the flashing colours of their shoulder-armour; for steel clothes them on and gives them their shape; the limbs within

[84]flexilis inductis animatur lamina membris;horribiles visu: credas simulacra moveriferrea cognatoque viros spirare metallo.360par vestitus equis: ferrata fronte minanturferratosque levant securi vulneris armos.diviso stat quisque loco, metuenda voluptascernenti pulcherque timor, spirisque remissismansuescunt varii vento cessante dracones.365Augustus veneranda prior vexilla salutat.Rufinus sequitur, quo fallere cuncta solebatcallidus adfatu, devotaque brachia laudat;nomine quemque vocat; natos patresque reversisnuntiat incolumes. illi dum plurima ficto370certatim sermone petunt, extendere longosa tergo flexus insperatoque supremacircuitu sociare parant; decrescere campusincipit, et clipeis in se redeuntia iunctiscurvo paulatim sinuantur cornua ductu:375sic ligat inmensa virides indagine saltusvenator; sic attonitos ad litora piscesaequoreus populator agit rarosque plagarumcontrahit anfractus et hiantes colligit oras.excludunt alios. cingi se fervidus ille380nescit adhuc graviterque adprensa veste morantemincrepat Augustum: scandat sublime tribunal,participem sceptri, socium declaret honoris—cumsubito stringunt gladios; vox desuper ingensinfremuit: “nobis etiam, deterrime, nobis385[85]give life to the armour’s pliant scales so artfully conjoined, and strike terror into the beholder. ’Tis as though iron statues moved and men lived cast from that same metal. The horses are armed in the same way; their heads are encased in threatening iron, their forequarters move beneath steel plates protecting them from wounds; each stands alone, a pleasure yet a dread to behold, beautiful, yet terrible, and as the wind drops the parti-coloured dragons[60]sink with relaxing coils into repose.The emperor first salutes the hallowed standards; Rufinus follows him, speaking with that crafty voice wherewith he deceived all, praising their devoted arms and addressing each by name. He tells those who have returned that their sons and fathers are still alive. The soldiers, observing a feigned rivalry in asking questions, begin to extend their long lines behind his back and to join up the ends so as to form a circle unnoticed by Rufinus. The space in the centre grows smaller and the wings meeting with serried shields gradually form into one lessening circle. Even so the huntsman surrounds the grassy glades with his widespread snares: so the spoiler of the ocean drives to land the frightened fish, narrowing the circuit of his nets and closing up all possible ways of egress. All others they exclude. In his eagerness he notes not yet that he is being surrounded and, strongly seizing his robe, chides the hesitating emperor: let him mount the lofty platform and declare him sharer in his sceptre, partaker in his dignities—when suddenly they draw their swords and above the rest there rang out a mighty voice; “Basest of the base, didst[60]Claudian refers to the devices emblazoned upon the banners.

[84]

flexilis inductis animatur lamina membris;horribiles visu: credas simulacra moveriferrea cognatoque viros spirare metallo.360par vestitus equis: ferrata fronte minanturferratosque levant securi vulneris armos.diviso stat quisque loco, metuenda voluptascernenti pulcherque timor, spirisque remissismansuescunt varii vento cessante dracones.365Augustus veneranda prior vexilla salutat.Rufinus sequitur, quo fallere cuncta solebatcallidus adfatu, devotaque brachia laudat;nomine quemque vocat; natos patresque reversisnuntiat incolumes. illi dum plurima ficto370certatim sermone petunt, extendere longosa tergo flexus insperatoque supremacircuitu sociare parant; decrescere campusincipit, et clipeis in se redeuntia iunctiscurvo paulatim sinuantur cornua ductu:375sic ligat inmensa virides indagine saltusvenator; sic attonitos ad litora piscesaequoreus populator agit rarosque plagarumcontrahit anfractus et hiantes colligit oras.excludunt alios. cingi se fervidus ille380nescit adhuc graviterque adprensa veste morantemincrepat Augustum: scandat sublime tribunal,participem sceptri, socium declaret honoris—cumsubito stringunt gladios; vox desuper ingensinfremuit: “nobis etiam, deterrime, nobis385

flexilis inductis animatur lamina membris;

horribiles visu: credas simulacra moveri

ferrea cognatoque viros spirare metallo.360

par vestitus equis: ferrata fronte minantur

ferratosque levant securi vulneris armos.

diviso stat quisque loco, metuenda voluptas

cernenti pulcherque timor, spirisque remissis

mansuescunt varii vento cessante dracones.365

Augustus veneranda prior vexilla salutat.

Rufinus sequitur, quo fallere cuncta solebat

callidus adfatu, devotaque brachia laudat;

nomine quemque vocat; natos patresque reversis

nuntiat incolumes. illi dum plurima ficto370

certatim sermone petunt, extendere longos

a tergo flexus insperatoque suprema

circuitu sociare parant; decrescere campus

incipit, et clipeis in se redeuntia iunctis

curvo paulatim sinuantur cornua ductu:375

sic ligat inmensa virides indagine saltus

venator; sic attonitos ad litora pisces

aequoreus populator agit rarosque plagarum

contrahit anfractus et hiantes colligit oras.

excludunt alios. cingi se fervidus ille380

nescit adhuc graviterque adprensa veste morantem

increpat Augustum: scandat sublime tribunal,

participem sceptri, socium declaret honoris—cum

subito stringunt gladios; vox desuper ingens

infremuit: “nobis etiam, deterrime, nobis385

[85]give life to the armour’s pliant scales so artfully conjoined, and strike terror into the beholder. ’Tis as though iron statues moved and men lived cast from that same metal. The horses are armed in the same way; their heads are encased in threatening iron, their forequarters move beneath steel plates protecting them from wounds; each stands alone, a pleasure yet a dread to behold, beautiful, yet terrible, and as the wind drops the parti-coloured dragons[60]sink with relaxing coils into repose.The emperor first salutes the hallowed standards; Rufinus follows him, speaking with that crafty voice wherewith he deceived all, praising their devoted arms and addressing each by name. He tells those who have returned that their sons and fathers are still alive. The soldiers, observing a feigned rivalry in asking questions, begin to extend their long lines behind his back and to join up the ends so as to form a circle unnoticed by Rufinus. The space in the centre grows smaller and the wings meeting with serried shields gradually form into one lessening circle. Even so the huntsman surrounds the grassy glades with his widespread snares: so the spoiler of the ocean drives to land the frightened fish, narrowing the circuit of his nets and closing up all possible ways of egress. All others they exclude. In his eagerness he notes not yet that he is being surrounded and, strongly seizing his robe, chides the hesitating emperor: let him mount the lofty platform and declare him sharer in his sceptre, partaker in his dignities—when suddenly they draw their swords and above the rest there rang out a mighty voice; “Basest of the base, didst[60]Claudian refers to the devices emblazoned upon the banners.

[85]

give life to the armour’s pliant scales so artfully conjoined, and strike terror into the beholder. ’Tis as though iron statues moved and men lived cast from that same metal. The horses are armed in the same way; their heads are encased in threatening iron, their forequarters move beneath steel plates protecting them from wounds; each stands alone, a pleasure yet a dread to behold, beautiful, yet terrible, and as the wind drops the parti-coloured dragons[60]sink with relaxing coils into repose.

The emperor first salutes the hallowed standards; Rufinus follows him, speaking with that crafty voice wherewith he deceived all, praising their devoted arms and addressing each by name. He tells those who have returned that their sons and fathers are still alive. The soldiers, observing a feigned rivalry in asking questions, begin to extend their long lines behind his back and to join up the ends so as to form a circle unnoticed by Rufinus. The space in the centre grows smaller and the wings meeting with serried shields gradually form into one lessening circle. Even so the huntsman surrounds the grassy glades with his widespread snares: so the spoiler of the ocean drives to land the frightened fish, narrowing the circuit of his nets and closing up all possible ways of egress. All others they exclude. In his eagerness he notes not yet that he is being surrounded and, strongly seizing his robe, chides the hesitating emperor: let him mount the lofty platform and declare him sharer in his sceptre, partaker in his dignities—when suddenly they draw their swords and above the rest there rang out a mighty voice; “Basest of the base, didst

[60]Claudian refers to the devices emblazoned upon the banners.

[86]sperasti famulas imponere posse catenas?unde redi nescis? patiarne audire satelles,qui leges aliis libertatemque reduxi?bis domitum civile nefas, bis rupimus Alpes.tot nos bella docent nulli servire tyranno.”390Deriguit. spes nulla fugae; seges undique ferricircumfusa micat; dextra laevaque revinctushaesit et ensiferae stupuit mucrone coronae,ut fera, quae nuper montes amisit avitosaltorumque exul nemorum damnatur harenae395muneribus, commota ruit; vir murmure contrahortatur nixusque genu venabula tendit;illa pavet strepitus cuneosque erecta theatrirespicit et tanti miratur sibila vulgi.Unus per medios audendi pronior ense400prosilit exerto dictisque et vulnere torvusimpetit: “hac Stilicho, quem iactas pellere, dextrate ferit; hoc absens invadit viscera ferro.”sic fatur meritoque latus transverberat ictu.Felix illa manus, talem quae prima cruorem405hauserit et fessi poenam libaverit orbis!mox omnes laniant hastis artusque trementesdilacerant; uno tot corpore tela tepescuntet non infecto puduit mucrone reverti.[87]thou hope to cast uponusthe yoke of slavery? Knowest thou not whence I return? Shall I allow myself to be called another’s servant, I who gave laws to others and restored the reign of liberty? Two civil wars have I quenched, twice forced the barrier of the Alps. These many battles have taught me to serve no tyrant.”Rufinus stood rooted to earth. There is no hope of escape, for a forest of flashing spears hems him in. Shut in on the right hand and on the left he stood and gazed in wonder on the drawn blades of the armed throng; as a beast who has lately left his native hills, driven in exile from the wooded mountains and condemned to the gladiatorial shows, rushes into the arena while over against him the gladiator, heartened by the crowd’s applause kneels and holds out his spear. The beast, alarmed at the noise, gazes with head erect upon the rows of seats in the amphitheatre and hears with amazement the murmuring of the crowd.Then one more daring than the rest drew his sword and leapt forward from the crowd and with fierce words and flashing eye rushed upon Rufinus crying: “It is the hand of Stilicho whom thou vauntest that thou didst expel that smites thee; his sword, which thou thoughtest far away, that pierces thy heart.” So spake he and transfixed Rufinus’ side with a well-deserved thrust.Happy the hand that first spilt such vile blood and poured out vengeance for a world made weary. Straightway all pierce him with their spears and tear quivering limb from limb; one single body warms all these weapons with its blood; shame to him whose sword returns unstained therewith.

[86]

sperasti famulas imponere posse catenas?unde redi nescis? patiarne audire satelles,qui leges aliis libertatemque reduxi?bis domitum civile nefas, bis rupimus Alpes.tot nos bella docent nulli servire tyranno.”390Deriguit. spes nulla fugae; seges undique ferricircumfusa micat; dextra laevaque revinctushaesit et ensiferae stupuit mucrone coronae,ut fera, quae nuper montes amisit avitosaltorumque exul nemorum damnatur harenae395muneribus, commota ruit; vir murmure contrahortatur nixusque genu venabula tendit;illa pavet strepitus cuneosque erecta theatrirespicit et tanti miratur sibila vulgi.Unus per medios audendi pronior ense400prosilit exerto dictisque et vulnere torvusimpetit: “hac Stilicho, quem iactas pellere, dextrate ferit; hoc absens invadit viscera ferro.”sic fatur meritoque latus transverberat ictu.Felix illa manus, talem quae prima cruorem405hauserit et fessi poenam libaverit orbis!mox omnes laniant hastis artusque trementesdilacerant; uno tot corpore tela tepescuntet non infecto puduit mucrone reverti.

sperasti famulas imponere posse catenas?

unde redi nescis? patiarne audire satelles,

qui leges aliis libertatemque reduxi?

bis domitum civile nefas, bis rupimus Alpes.

tot nos bella docent nulli servire tyranno.”390

Deriguit. spes nulla fugae; seges undique ferri

circumfusa micat; dextra laevaque revinctus

haesit et ensiferae stupuit mucrone coronae,

ut fera, quae nuper montes amisit avitos

altorumque exul nemorum damnatur harenae395

muneribus, commota ruit; vir murmure contra

hortatur nixusque genu venabula tendit;

illa pavet strepitus cuneosque erecta theatri

respicit et tanti miratur sibila vulgi.

Unus per medios audendi pronior ense400

prosilit exerto dictisque et vulnere torvus

impetit: “hac Stilicho, quem iactas pellere, dextra

te ferit; hoc absens invadit viscera ferro.”

sic fatur meritoque latus transverberat ictu.

Felix illa manus, talem quae prima cruorem405

hauserit et fessi poenam libaverit orbis!

mox omnes laniant hastis artusque trementes

dilacerant; uno tot corpore tela tepescunt

et non infecto puduit mucrone reverti.

[87]thou hope to cast uponusthe yoke of slavery? Knowest thou not whence I return? Shall I allow myself to be called another’s servant, I who gave laws to others and restored the reign of liberty? Two civil wars have I quenched, twice forced the barrier of the Alps. These many battles have taught me to serve no tyrant.”Rufinus stood rooted to earth. There is no hope of escape, for a forest of flashing spears hems him in. Shut in on the right hand and on the left he stood and gazed in wonder on the drawn blades of the armed throng; as a beast who has lately left his native hills, driven in exile from the wooded mountains and condemned to the gladiatorial shows, rushes into the arena while over against him the gladiator, heartened by the crowd’s applause kneels and holds out his spear. The beast, alarmed at the noise, gazes with head erect upon the rows of seats in the amphitheatre and hears with amazement the murmuring of the crowd.Then one more daring than the rest drew his sword and leapt forward from the crowd and with fierce words and flashing eye rushed upon Rufinus crying: “It is the hand of Stilicho whom thou vauntest that thou didst expel that smites thee; his sword, which thou thoughtest far away, that pierces thy heart.” So spake he and transfixed Rufinus’ side with a well-deserved thrust.Happy the hand that first spilt such vile blood and poured out vengeance for a world made weary. Straightway all pierce him with their spears and tear quivering limb from limb; one single body warms all these weapons with its blood; shame to him whose sword returns unstained therewith.

[87]

thou hope to cast uponusthe yoke of slavery? Knowest thou not whence I return? Shall I allow myself to be called another’s servant, I who gave laws to others and restored the reign of liberty? Two civil wars have I quenched, twice forced the barrier of the Alps. These many battles have taught me to serve no tyrant.”

Rufinus stood rooted to earth. There is no hope of escape, for a forest of flashing spears hems him in. Shut in on the right hand and on the left he stood and gazed in wonder on the drawn blades of the armed throng; as a beast who has lately left his native hills, driven in exile from the wooded mountains and condemned to the gladiatorial shows, rushes into the arena while over against him the gladiator, heartened by the crowd’s applause kneels and holds out his spear. The beast, alarmed at the noise, gazes with head erect upon the rows of seats in the amphitheatre and hears with amazement the murmuring of the crowd.

Then one more daring than the rest drew his sword and leapt forward from the crowd and with fierce words and flashing eye rushed upon Rufinus crying: “It is the hand of Stilicho whom thou vauntest that thou didst expel that smites thee; his sword, which thou thoughtest far away, that pierces thy heart.” So spake he and transfixed Rufinus’ side with a well-deserved thrust.

Happy the hand that first spilt such vile blood and poured out vengeance for a world made weary. Straightway all pierce him with their spears and tear quivering limb from limb; one single body warms all these weapons with its blood; shame to him whose sword returns unstained therewith.

[88]hi vultus avidos et adhuc spirantia vellunt410lumina, truncatos alii rapuere lacertos.amputat ille pedes, umerum quatit ille solutisnexibus; hic fracti reserat curvamina dorsi;hic iecur, hic cordis fibras, hic pandit anhelaspulmonis latebras. spatium non invenit ira415nec locus est odiis. consumpto funere vix tumdeseritur sparsumque perit per tela cadaver.sic mons Aonius rubuit, cum Penthea ferrentMaenades aut subito mutatum Actaeona cornutraderet insanis Latonia visa Molossis.420criminibusne tuis credis, Fortuna, mederiet male donatum certas aequare favoremsuppliciis? una tot milia morte rependis?eversis agedum Rufinum divide terris.da caput Odrysiis, truncum mereantur Achivi.425quid reliquis dabitur? nec singula membra peremptissufficiunt populis.Vacuo plebs undique muroiam secura fluit; senibus non obstitit aetasvirginibusve pudor; viduae, quibus ille maritosabstulit, orbataeque ruunt ad gaudia matres430insultantque alacres. laceros iuvat ire per artuspressaque calcato vestigia sanguine tingui.nec minus adsiduis flagrant elidere saxisprodigiale caput, quod iam de cuspide summa[89]They stamp on that face of greed and while yet he lives pluck out his eyes; others seize and carry off his severed arms. One cuts off his foot, another wrenches a shoulder from the torn sinews; one lays bare the ribs of the cleft spine, another his liver, his heart, his still panting lungs. There is not space enough to satisfy their anger nor room to wreak their hate. Scarce when his death had been accomplished do they leave him; his body is hacked in pieces and the fragments borne on the soldiers’ spears. Thus red with blood ran the Boeotian mountain when the Maenads caused Pentheus’ destruction or when Latona’s daughter seen by Actaeon betrayed the huntsman, suddenly transformed into a stag, to the fury of her Molossian hounds. Dost thou hope, Fortune, thus to right thy wrongs? Seekest thou to atone by this meting out of punishment for favour ill bestowed? Dost thou with one death make payment for ten thousand murders? Come, portion out Rufinus’ corpse among the lands he has wronged. Give the Thracians his head; let Greece have as her due his body. What shall be given the rest? Give but a limb apiece, there are not enough for the peoples he has ruined.The citizens leave the town and hasten exulting to the spot from every quarter, old men and girls among them whom nor age nor sex could keep at home. Widows whose husbands he had killed, mothers whose children he had murdered hurry to the joyful scene with eager steps. They are fain to trample the torn limbs and stain their deep pressed feet with the blood. So, too, they eagerly hurl a shower of stones at the monstrous head, nodding from the summit of the spear that transfixed it as it

[88]

hi vultus avidos et adhuc spirantia vellunt410lumina, truncatos alii rapuere lacertos.amputat ille pedes, umerum quatit ille solutisnexibus; hic fracti reserat curvamina dorsi;hic iecur, hic cordis fibras, hic pandit anhelaspulmonis latebras. spatium non invenit ira415nec locus est odiis. consumpto funere vix tumdeseritur sparsumque perit per tela cadaver.sic mons Aonius rubuit, cum Penthea ferrentMaenades aut subito mutatum Actaeona cornutraderet insanis Latonia visa Molossis.420criminibusne tuis credis, Fortuna, mederiet male donatum certas aequare favoremsuppliciis? una tot milia morte rependis?eversis agedum Rufinum divide terris.da caput Odrysiis, truncum mereantur Achivi.425quid reliquis dabitur? nec singula membra peremptissufficiunt populis.Vacuo plebs undique muroiam secura fluit; senibus non obstitit aetasvirginibusve pudor; viduae, quibus ille maritosabstulit, orbataeque ruunt ad gaudia matres430insultantque alacres. laceros iuvat ire per artuspressaque calcato vestigia sanguine tingui.nec minus adsiduis flagrant elidere saxisprodigiale caput, quod iam de cuspide summa

hi vultus avidos et adhuc spirantia vellunt410

lumina, truncatos alii rapuere lacertos.

amputat ille pedes, umerum quatit ille solutis

nexibus; hic fracti reserat curvamina dorsi;

hic iecur, hic cordis fibras, hic pandit anhelas

pulmonis latebras. spatium non invenit ira415

nec locus est odiis. consumpto funere vix tum

deseritur sparsumque perit per tela cadaver.

sic mons Aonius rubuit, cum Penthea ferrent

Maenades aut subito mutatum Actaeona cornu

traderet insanis Latonia visa Molossis.420

criminibusne tuis credis, Fortuna, mederi

et male donatum certas aequare favorem

suppliciis? una tot milia morte rependis?

eversis agedum Rufinum divide terris.

da caput Odrysiis, truncum mereantur Achivi.425

quid reliquis dabitur? nec singula membra peremptis

sufficiunt populis.

Vacuo plebs undique muro

iam secura fluit; senibus non obstitit aetas

virginibusve pudor; viduae, quibus ille maritos

abstulit, orbataeque ruunt ad gaudia matres430

insultantque alacres. laceros iuvat ire per artus

pressaque calcato vestigia sanguine tingui.

nec minus adsiduis flagrant elidere saxis

prodigiale caput, quod iam de cuspide summa

[89]They stamp on that face of greed and while yet he lives pluck out his eyes; others seize and carry off his severed arms. One cuts off his foot, another wrenches a shoulder from the torn sinews; one lays bare the ribs of the cleft spine, another his liver, his heart, his still panting lungs. There is not space enough to satisfy their anger nor room to wreak their hate. Scarce when his death had been accomplished do they leave him; his body is hacked in pieces and the fragments borne on the soldiers’ spears. Thus red with blood ran the Boeotian mountain when the Maenads caused Pentheus’ destruction or when Latona’s daughter seen by Actaeon betrayed the huntsman, suddenly transformed into a stag, to the fury of her Molossian hounds. Dost thou hope, Fortune, thus to right thy wrongs? Seekest thou to atone by this meting out of punishment for favour ill bestowed? Dost thou with one death make payment for ten thousand murders? Come, portion out Rufinus’ corpse among the lands he has wronged. Give the Thracians his head; let Greece have as her due his body. What shall be given the rest? Give but a limb apiece, there are not enough for the peoples he has ruined.The citizens leave the town and hasten exulting to the spot from every quarter, old men and girls among them whom nor age nor sex could keep at home. Widows whose husbands he had killed, mothers whose children he had murdered hurry to the joyful scene with eager steps. They are fain to trample the torn limbs and stain their deep pressed feet with the blood. So, too, they eagerly hurl a shower of stones at the monstrous head, nodding from the summit of the spear that transfixed it as it

[89]

They stamp on that face of greed and while yet he lives pluck out his eyes; others seize and carry off his severed arms. One cuts off his foot, another wrenches a shoulder from the torn sinews; one lays bare the ribs of the cleft spine, another his liver, his heart, his still panting lungs. There is not space enough to satisfy their anger nor room to wreak their hate. Scarce when his death had been accomplished do they leave him; his body is hacked in pieces and the fragments borne on the soldiers’ spears. Thus red with blood ran the Boeotian mountain when the Maenads caused Pentheus’ destruction or when Latona’s daughter seen by Actaeon betrayed the huntsman, suddenly transformed into a stag, to the fury of her Molossian hounds. Dost thou hope, Fortune, thus to right thy wrongs? Seekest thou to atone by this meting out of punishment for favour ill bestowed? Dost thou with one death make payment for ten thousand murders? Come, portion out Rufinus’ corpse among the lands he has wronged. Give the Thracians his head; let Greece have as her due his body. What shall be given the rest? Give but a limb apiece, there are not enough for the peoples he has ruined.

The citizens leave the town and hasten exulting to the spot from every quarter, old men and girls among them whom nor age nor sex could keep at home. Widows whose husbands he had killed, mothers whose children he had murdered hurry to the joyful scene with eager steps. They are fain to trample the torn limbs and stain their deep pressed feet with the blood. So, too, they eagerly hurl a shower of stones at the monstrous head, nodding from the summit of the spear that transfixed it as it

[90]nutabat digna rediens ad moenia pompa.435dextera quin etiam ludo concessa vagaturaera petens poenasque animi persolvit avariterribili lucro vivosque imitata retentuscogitur adductis digitos inflectere nervis.Desinat elatis quisquam confidere rebus440instabilesque deos ac lubrica numina discat.illa manus, quae sceptra sibi gestanda parabat,cuius se totiens summisit ad oscula supplexnobilitas, inhumata diu miseroque revulsacorpore feralem quaestum post fata reposcit.445adspiciat quisquis nimium sublata secundiscolla gerit: triviis calcandus spargitur ecce,qui sibi pyramidas, qui non cedentia templisornatura suos extruxit culmina manes,et qui Sidonio velari credidit ostro,450nudus pascit aves. iacet en, qui possidet orbem,exiguae telluris inops et pulvere raroper partes tegitur nusquam totiensque sepultus.Senserunt convexa necem tellusque nefandumamolitur onus iam respirantibus astris.455infernos gravat umbra lacus. pater Aeacus horretintrantemque etiam latratu Cerberus urget.tune animae, quas ille fero sub iure peremit,circumstant nigrique trahunt ad iudicis urnaminfesto fremitu: veluti pastoris in ora460commotae glomerantur apes, qui dulcia raptumella vehit, pennasque cient et spicula tenduntet tenuis saxi per propugnacula cinctae[91]was carried back in merited splendour to the city. Nay his hand too, made over to their mockery, goes a-begging for alms, and with its awful gains pays the penalty for his greedy soul, while forced, in mimicry of its living clutch, to draw up the fingers by their sinews.Put not now your trust in prosperity; learn that the gods are inconstant and heaven untrustworthy. That hand which sought to wield a sceptre, which a humbled nobility stooped so often to kiss, now torn from its wretched trunk and left long unburied begs after death a baneful alms. Let him gaze on this whoso carries his head high in pride of prosperity, see trodden under foot at the cross-roads him who built pyramids for himself and a tomb, large as a temple, to the glory of his own ghost. He who trusted to be clothed in Tyrian purple is now a naked corpse and food for birds. See, he who owns the world lies denied six foot of earth, half covered with a sprinkling of dust, given no grave yet given so many.Heaven knew of his death and earth is freed of her hated burden, now that the stars can breathe again. His shade oppresses the rivers of Hell. Old Aeacus shudders and Cerberus bays to stop, in this case, theentryof a ghost. Then those shades which he had sent to death beneath his cruel laws flock round him and hale him away with horrid shoutings to the tribunal of the gloomy judge: even as bees whom a shepherd has disturbed swarm round his head when he would rob them of their sweet honey, and flutter their wings and put forth their stings, making them ready for battle in the fastnesses of their little rock, and seek to defend the

[90]

nutabat digna rediens ad moenia pompa.435dextera quin etiam ludo concessa vagaturaera petens poenasque animi persolvit avariterribili lucro vivosque imitata retentuscogitur adductis digitos inflectere nervis.Desinat elatis quisquam confidere rebus440instabilesque deos ac lubrica numina discat.illa manus, quae sceptra sibi gestanda parabat,cuius se totiens summisit ad oscula supplexnobilitas, inhumata diu miseroque revulsacorpore feralem quaestum post fata reposcit.445adspiciat quisquis nimium sublata secundiscolla gerit: triviis calcandus spargitur ecce,qui sibi pyramidas, qui non cedentia templisornatura suos extruxit culmina manes,et qui Sidonio velari credidit ostro,450nudus pascit aves. iacet en, qui possidet orbem,exiguae telluris inops et pulvere raroper partes tegitur nusquam totiensque sepultus.Senserunt convexa necem tellusque nefandumamolitur onus iam respirantibus astris.455infernos gravat umbra lacus. pater Aeacus horretintrantemque etiam latratu Cerberus urget.tune animae, quas ille fero sub iure peremit,circumstant nigrique trahunt ad iudicis urnaminfesto fremitu: veluti pastoris in ora460commotae glomerantur apes, qui dulcia raptumella vehit, pennasque cient et spicula tenduntet tenuis saxi per propugnacula cinctae

nutabat digna rediens ad moenia pompa.435

dextera quin etiam ludo concessa vagatur

aera petens poenasque animi persolvit avari

terribili lucro vivosque imitata retentus

cogitur adductis digitos inflectere nervis.

Desinat elatis quisquam confidere rebus440

instabilesque deos ac lubrica numina discat.

illa manus, quae sceptra sibi gestanda parabat,

cuius se totiens summisit ad oscula supplex

nobilitas, inhumata diu miseroque revulsa

corpore feralem quaestum post fata reposcit.445

adspiciat quisquis nimium sublata secundis

colla gerit: triviis calcandus spargitur ecce,

qui sibi pyramidas, qui non cedentia templis

ornatura suos extruxit culmina manes,

et qui Sidonio velari credidit ostro,450

nudus pascit aves. iacet en, qui possidet orbem,

exiguae telluris inops et pulvere raro

per partes tegitur nusquam totiensque sepultus.

Senserunt convexa necem tellusque nefandum

amolitur onus iam respirantibus astris.455

infernos gravat umbra lacus. pater Aeacus horret

intrantemque etiam latratu Cerberus urget.

tune animae, quas ille fero sub iure peremit,

circumstant nigrique trahunt ad iudicis urnam

infesto fremitu: veluti pastoris in ora460

commotae glomerantur apes, qui dulcia raptu

mella vehit, pennasque cient et spicula tendunt

et tenuis saxi per propugnacula cinctae

[91]was carried back in merited splendour to the city. Nay his hand too, made over to their mockery, goes a-begging for alms, and with its awful gains pays the penalty for his greedy soul, while forced, in mimicry of its living clutch, to draw up the fingers by their sinews.Put not now your trust in prosperity; learn that the gods are inconstant and heaven untrustworthy. That hand which sought to wield a sceptre, which a humbled nobility stooped so often to kiss, now torn from its wretched trunk and left long unburied begs after death a baneful alms. Let him gaze on this whoso carries his head high in pride of prosperity, see trodden under foot at the cross-roads him who built pyramids for himself and a tomb, large as a temple, to the glory of his own ghost. He who trusted to be clothed in Tyrian purple is now a naked corpse and food for birds. See, he who owns the world lies denied six foot of earth, half covered with a sprinkling of dust, given no grave yet given so many.Heaven knew of his death and earth is freed of her hated burden, now that the stars can breathe again. His shade oppresses the rivers of Hell. Old Aeacus shudders and Cerberus bays to stop, in this case, theentryof a ghost. Then those shades which he had sent to death beneath his cruel laws flock round him and hale him away with horrid shoutings to the tribunal of the gloomy judge: even as bees whom a shepherd has disturbed swarm round his head when he would rob them of their sweet honey, and flutter their wings and put forth their stings, making them ready for battle in the fastnesses of their little rock, and seek to defend the

[91]

was carried back in merited splendour to the city. Nay his hand too, made over to their mockery, goes a-begging for alms, and with its awful gains pays the penalty for his greedy soul, while forced, in mimicry of its living clutch, to draw up the fingers by their sinews.

Put not now your trust in prosperity; learn that the gods are inconstant and heaven untrustworthy. That hand which sought to wield a sceptre, which a humbled nobility stooped so often to kiss, now torn from its wretched trunk and left long unburied begs after death a baneful alms. Let him gaze on this whoso carries his head high in pride of prosperity, see trodden under foot at the cross-roads him who built pyramids for himself and a tomb, large as a temple, to the glory of his own ghost. He who trusted to be clothed in Tyrian purple is now a naked corpse and food for birds. See, he who owns the world lies denied six foot of earth, half covered with a sprinkling of dust, given no grave yet given so many.

Heaven knew of his death and earth is freed of her hated burden, now that the stars can breathe again. His shade oppresses the rivers of Hell. Old Aeacus shudders and Cerberus bays to stop, in this case, theentryof a ghost. Then those shades which he had sent to death beneath his cruel laws flock round him and hale him away with horrid shoutings to the tribunal of the gloomy judge: even as bees whom a shepherd has disturbed swarm round his head when he would rob them of their sweet honey, and flutter their wings and put forth their stings, making them ready for battle in the fastnesses of their little rock, and seek to defend the

[92]rimosam patriam dilectaque pumicis antradefendunt pronoque favos examine velant.465Est locus infaustis quo conciliantur in unumCocytos Phlegethonque vadis; inamoenus uterquealveus; hic volvit lacrimas, hic igne redundat.turris per geminos, flammis vicinior, amnesporrigitur solidoque rigens adamante sinistrum470proluit igne latus; dextro Cocytia finditaequora triste gemens et fletu concita plangit.huc post emeritam mortalia saecula vitamdeveniunt. ibi nulla manent discrimina fati,nullus honos vanoque exutum nomine regem475proturbat plebeius egens. quaesitor in altoconspicuus solio pertemptat crimina Minoset iustis dirimit sontes. quos nolle faterividerit, ad rigidi transmittit verbera fratris.nam iuxta Rhadamanthys agit. cum gesta supernicurriculi totosque diu perspexerit actus,481exaequat damnum meritis et muta ferarumcogit vincla pati. truculentos ingerit ursispraedonesque lupis; fallaces vulpibus addit.at qui desidia semper vinoque gravatus,485indulgens Veneri, voluit torpescere luxu,hunc suis inmundi pingues detrudit in artus.qui iusto plus esse loquax arcanaque suevitprodere, piscosas fertur victurus in undas,ut nimiam pensent aeterna silentia vocem.490quos ubi per varias annis ter mille figurasegit, Lethaeo purgatos flumine tandemrursus ad humanae revocat primordia formae.[93]crevices of their home, their beloved pumice-stone cave, swarming over the honeycombs therein.There is a place where the unhallowed rivers of Cocytus and Phlegethon mingle their dread streams of tears and fire. Between the rivers yet nearer to that of Phlegethon there juts a tower stiff with solid adamant that bathes its left side in the flames; its right hand wall extends into Cocytus’ stream and echoes the lamentation of the river of tears. Hither come all the children of men whose life is ended; here there abide no marks of earthly fortune; no reverence is shown; the common beggar ousts the king, now stripped of his empty title. Seen afar on his lofty throne the judge Minos examines the charges and separates the wicked from the righteous. Those whom he sees unwilling to confess their sins he remits to the lash of his stern brother; for he, Rhadamanthus, is busy close at hand. When he has closely examined the deeds of their earthly life and all that they did therein, he suits the punishment to their crimes and makes them undergo the bonds of dumb animals. The spirits of the cruel enter into bears, of the rapacious into wolves, of the treacherous into foxes. Those, on the other hand, who were ever sunk in sloth, sodden with wine, given to venery, sluggish from excesses, he compelled to enter the fat bodies of filthy swine. Was any above measure talkative, a betrayer of secrets, he was carried off, a fish, to live in the waters amid his kind, that in eternal silence he might atone for his garrulity. When for thrice a thousand years he had forced these through countless diverse shapes, he sends them back once more to the beginnings of human form purged at last with Lethe’s stream.

[92]

rimosam patriam dilectaque pumicis antradefendunt pronoque favos examine velant.465Est locus infaustis quo conciliantur in unumCocytos Phlegethonque vadis; inamoenus uterquealveus; hic volvit lacrimas, hic igne redundat.turris per geminos, flammis vicinior, amnesporrigitur solidoque rigens adamante sinistrum470proluit igne latus; dextro Cocytia finditaequora triste gemens et fletu concita plangit.huc post emeritam mortalia saecula vitamdeveniunt. ibi nulla manent discrimina fati,nullus honos vanoque exutum nomine regem475proturbat plebeius egens. quaesitor in altoconspicuus solio pertemptat crimina Minoset iustis dirimit sontes. quos nolle faterividerit, ad rigidi transmittit verbera fratris.nam iuxta Rhadamanthys agit. cum gesta supernicurriculi totosque diu perspexerit actus,481exaequat damnum meritis et muta ferarumcogit vincla pati. truculentos ingerit ursispraedonesque lupis; fallaces vulpibus addit.at qui desidia semper vinoque gravatus,485indulgens Veneri, voluit torpescere luxu,hunc suis inmundi pingues detrudit in artus.qui iusto plus esse loquax arcanaque suevitprodere, piscosas fertur victurus in undas,ut nimiam pensent aeterna silentia vocem.490quos ubi per varias annis ter mille figurasegit, Lethaeo purgatos flumine tandemrursus ad humanae revocat primordia formae.

rimosam patriam dilectaque pumicis antra

defendunt pronoque favos examine velant.465

Est locus infaustis quo conciliantur in unum

Cocytos Phlegethonque vadis; inamoenus uterque

alveus; hic volvit lacrimas, hic igne redundat.

turris per geminos, flammis vicinior, amnes

porrigitur solidoque rigens adamante sinistrum470

proluit igne latus; dextro Cocytia findit

aequora triste gemens et fletu concita plangit.

huc post emeritam mortalia saecula vitam

deveniunt. ibi nulla manent discrimina fati,

nullus honos vanoque exutum nomine regem475

proturbat plebeius egens. quaesitor in alto

conspicuus solio pertemptat crimina Minos

et iustis dirimit sontes. quos nolle fateri

viderit, ad rigidi transmittit verbera fratris.

nam iuxta Rhadamanthys agit. cum gesta superni

curriculi totosque diu perspexerit actus,481

exaequat damnum meritis et muta ferarum

cogit vincla pati. truculentos ingerit ursis

praedonesque lupis; fallaces vulpibus addit.

at qui desidia semper vinoque gravatus,485

indulgens Veneri, voluit torpescere luxu,

hunc suis inmundi pingues detrudit in artus.

qui iusto plus esse loquax arcanaque suevit

prodere, piscosas fertur victurus in undas,

ut nimiam pensent aeterna silentia vocem.490

quos ubi per varias annis ter mille figuras

egit, Lethaeo purgatos flumine tandem

rursus ad humanae revocat primordia formae.

[93]crevices of their home, their beloved pumice-stone cave, swarming over the honeycombs therein.There is a place where the unhallowed rivers of Cocytus and Phlegethon mingle their dread streams of tears and fire. Between the rivers yet nearer to that of Phlegethon there juts a tower stiff with solid adamant that bathes its left side in the flames; its right hand wall extends into Cocytus’ stream and echoes the lamentation of the river of tears. Hither come all the children of men whose life is ended; here there abide no marks of earthly fortune; no reverence is shown; the common beggar ousts the king, now stripped of his empty title. Seen afar on his lofty throne the judge Minos examines the charges and separates the wicked from the righteous. Those whom he sees unwilling to confess their sins he remits to the lash of his stern brother; for he, Rhadamanthus, is busy close at hand. When he has closely examined the deeds of their earthly life and all that they did therein, he suits the punishment to their crimes and makes them undergo the bonds of dumb animals. The spirits of the cruel enter into bears, of the rapacious into wolves, of the treacherous into foxes. Those, on the other hand, who were ever sunk in sloth, sodden with wine, given to venery, sluggish from excesses, he compelled to enter the fat bodies of filthy swine. Was any above measure talkative, a betrayer of secrets, he was carried off, a fish, to live in the waters amid his kind, that in eternal silence he might atone for his garrulity. When for thrice a thousand years he had forced these through countless diverse shapes, he sends them back once more to the beginnings of human form purged at last with Lethe’s stream.

[93]

crevices of their home, their beloved pumice-stone cave, swarming over the honeycombs therein.

There is a place where the unhallowed rivers of Cocytus and Phlegethon mingle their dread streams of tears and fire. Between the rivers yet nearer to that of Phlegethon there juts a tower stiff with solid adamant that bathes its left side in the flames; its right hand wall extends into Cocytus’ stream and echoes the lamentation of the river of tears. Hither come all the children of men whose life is ended; here there abide no marks of earthly fortune; no reverence is shown; the common beggar ousts the king, now stripped of his empty title. Seen afar on his lofty throne the judge Minos examines the charges and separates the wicked from the righteous. Those whom he sees unwilling to confess their sins he remits to the lash of his stern brother; for he, Rhadamanthus, is busy close at hand. When he has closely examined the deeds of their earthly life and all that they did therein, he suits the punishment to their crimes and makes them undergo the bonds of dumb animals. The spirits of the cruel enter into bears, of the rapacious into wolves, of the treacherous into foxes. Those, on the other hand, who were ever sunk in sloth, sodden with wine, given to venery, sluggish from excesses, he compelled to enter the fat bodies of filthy swine. Was any above measure talkative, a betrayer of secrets, he was carried off, a fish, to live in the waters amid his kind, that in eternal silence he might atone for his garrulity. When for thrice a thousand years he had forced these through countless diverse shapes, he sends them back once more to the beginnings of human form purged at last with Lethe’s stream.

[94]Tum quoque, dum lites Stygiique negotia solvitdura fori veteresque reos ex ordine quaerit,495Rufinum procul ecce notat visuque severolustrat et ex imo concussa sede profatur:“Huc superum labes, huc insatiabilis auriproluvies pretioque nihil non ause parato,quodque mihi summum scelus est, huc improbe legumvenditor, Arctoi stimulator perfide Martis!501cuius ob innumeras strages angustus Averniiam sinus et plena lassatur portitor alno.quid demens manifesta negas? en pectus inustaedeformant maculae vitiisque inolevit imago505nec sese commissa tegunt. genus omne dolorumin te ferre libet: dubio tibi pendula rupesinmineat lapsu, volucer te torqueat axis,te refugi fallant latices atque ore natantiarescat decepta sitis, dapibusque relictis510in tua mansurus migret praecordia vultur.quamquam omnes alii, quos haec tormenta fatigant,pars quota sunt, Rufine, tui! quid tale vel audaxfulmine Salmoneus vel lingua Tantalus egitaut inconsulto Tityos deliquit amore?515cunctorum si facta simul iungantur in unum,praecedes numero. cui tanta piacula quisquamsupplicio conferre valet? quid denique dignumomnibus inveniam, vincant cum singula poenas?tollite de mediis animarum dedecus umbris.520adspexisse sat est. oculis iam parcite nostriset Ditis purgate domos. agitate flagellis[95]So then while he settles these suits, dread business of that infernal court, while he examines in due order the criminals of old, he marks afar Rufinus, scans him with a stern scrutiny and speaks, shaking his throne to its foundation. “Hither, Rufinus, scourge of the world, bottomless sink of gold who wouldst dare aught for money; hither conscienceless seller of justice (that crime of crimes), faithless cause of that northern war whose thousand slaughtered victims now throng Hell’s narrow entry and weigh down Charon’s crowded barque. Madman, why deny what all know? The foul stains of wickedness are branded upon thy heart, thy crimes have made their impress on thy spirit and thy sins cannot be hid. Right glad I am to sentence thee to every kind of punishment. O’er thee shall hang the threatening rock the moment of whose fall thou knowest not. The circling wheel shall rack thee. Thy lips the stream’s waves shall flee, thirst shall parch thee to whose chin its elusive waters mount. The vulture shall leave his former prey and feast for ever on thy heart. And yet all these, Rufinus, whom the like punishments torment, how paltry their wickedness compared with thine! Did bold Salmoneus’ thunderbolt or Tantalus’ tongue ever do like wrong or Tityos so offend with his mad love? Join all their crimes together yet wilt thou surpass them. What sufficient atonement can be found for such wickedness? What to match thy sum of crimes whose single misdeeds outmatch all punishment? Shades, remove from this our ghostly company that presence that disgraces it. To have seen once is enough. Have mercy now on our eyes, and cleanse the realm of Dis. Drive

[94]

Tum quoque, dum lites Stygiique negotia solvitdura fori veteresque reos ex ordine quaerit,495Rufinum procul ecce notat visuque severolustrat et ex imo concussa sede profatur:“Huc superum labes, huc insatiabilis auriproluvies pretioque nihil non ause parato,quodque mihi summum scelus est, huc improbe legumvenditor, Arctoi stimulator perfide Martis!501cuius ob innumeras strages angustus Averniiam sinus et plena lassatur portitor alno.quid demens manifesta negas? en pectus inustaedeformant maculae vitiisque inolevit imago505nec sese commissa tegunt. genus omne dolorumin te ferre libet: dubio tibi pendula rupesinmineat lapsu, volucer te torqueat axis,te refugi fallant latices atque ore natantiarescat decepta sitis, dapibusque relictis510in tua mansurus migret praecordia vultur.quamquam omnes alii, quos haec tormenta fatigant,pars quota sunt, Rufine, tui! quid tale vel audaxfulmine Salmoneus vel lingua Tantalus egitaut inconsulto Tityos deliquit amore?515cunctorum si facta simul iungantur in unum,praecedes numero. cui tanta piacula quisquamsupplicio conferre valet? quid denique dignumomnibus inveniam, vincant cum singula poenas?tollite de mediis animarum dedecus umbris.520adspexisse sat est. oculis iam parcite nostriset Ditis purgate domos. agitate flagellis

Tum quoque, dum lites Stygiique negotia solvit

dura fori veteresque reos ex ordine quaerit,495

Rufinum procul ecce notat visuque severo

lustrat et ex imo concussa sede profatur:

“Huc superum labes, huc insatiabilis auri

proluvies pretioque nihil non ause parato,

quodque mihi summum scelus est, huc improbe legum

venditor, Arctoi stimulator perfide Martis!501

cuius ob innumeras strages angustus Averni

iam sinus et plena lassatur portitor alno.

quid demens manifesta negas? en pectus inustae

deformant maculae vitiisque inolevit imago505

nec sese commissa tegunt. genus omne dolorum

in te ferre libet: dubio tibi pendula rupes

inmineat lapsu, volucer te torqueat axis,

te refugi fallant latices atque ore natanti

arescat decepta sitis, dapibusque relictis510

in tua mansurus migret praecordia vultur.

quamquam omnes alii, quos haec tormenta fatigant,

pars quota sunt, Rufine, tui! quid tale vel audax

fulmine Salmoneus vel lingua Tantalus egit

aut inconsulto Tityos deliquit amore?515

cunctorum si facta simul iungantur in unum,

praecedes numero. cui tanta piacula quisquam

supplicio conferre valet? quid denique dignum

omnibus inveniam, vincant cum singula poenas?

tollite de mediis animarum dedecus umbris.520

adspexisse sat est. oculis iam parcite nostris

et Ditis purgate domos. agitate flagellis

[95]So then while he settles these suits, dread business of that infernal court, while he examines in due order the criminals of old, he marks afar Rufinus, scans him with a stern scrutiny and speaks, shaking his throne to its foundation. “Hither, Rufinus, scourge of the world, bottomless sink of gold who wouldst dare aught for money; hither conscienceless seller of justice (that crime of crimes), faithless cause of that northern war whose thousand slaughtered victims now throng Hell’s narrow entry and weigh down Charon’s crowded barque. Madman, why deny what all know? The foul stains of wickedness are branded upon thy heart, thy crimes have made their impress on thy spirit and thy sins cannot be hid. Right glad I am to sentence thee to every kind of punishment. O’er thee shall hang the threatening rock the moment of whose fall thou knowest not. The circling wheel shall rack thee. Thy lips the stream’s waves shall flee, thirst shall parch thee to whose chin its elusive waters mount. The vulture shall leave his former prey and feast for ever on thy heart. And yet all these, Rufinus, whom the like punishments torment, how paltry their wickedness compared with thine! Did bold Salmoneus’ thunderbolt or Tantalus’ tongue ever do like wrong or Tityos so offend with his mad love? Join all their crimes together yet wilt thou surpass them. What sufficient atonement can be found for such wickedness? What to match thy sum of crimes whose single misdeeds outmatch all punishment? Shades, remove from this our ghostly company that presence that disgraces it. To have seen once is enough. Have mercy now on our eyes, and cleanse the realm of Dis. Drive

[95]

So then while he settles these suits, dread business of that infernal court, while he examines in due order the criminals of old, he marks afar Rufinus, scans him with a stern scrutiny and speaks, shaking his throne to its foundation. “Hither, Rufinus, scourge of the world, bottomless sink of gold who wouldst dare aught for money; hither conscienceless seller of justice (that crime of crimes), faithless cause of that northern war whose thousand slaughtered victims now throng Hell’s narrow entry and weigh down Charon’s crowded barque. Madman, why deny what all know? The foul stains of wickedness are branded upon thy heart, thy crimes have made their impress on thy spirit and thy sins cannot be hid. Right glad I am to sentence thee to every kind of punishment. O’er thee shall hang the threatening rock the moment of whose fall thou knowest not. The circling wheel shall rack thee. Thy lips the stream’s waves shall flee, thirst shall parch thee to whose chin its elusive waters mount. The vulture shall leave his former prey and feast for ever on thy heart. And yet all these, Rufinus, whom the like punishments torment, how paltry their wickedness compared with thine! Did bold Salmoneus’ thunderbolt or Tantalus’ tongue ever do like wrong or Tityos so offend with his mad love? Join all their crimes together yet wilt thou surpass them. What sufficient atonement can be found for such wickedness? What to match thy sum of crimes whose single misdeeds outmatch all punishment? Shades, remove from this our ghostly company that presence that disgraces it. To have seen once is enough. Have mercy now on our eyes, and cleanse the realm of Dis. Drive

[96]trans Styga, trans Erebum, vacuo mandate barathroinfra Titanum tenebras infraque recessusTartareos ipsumque[61]Chaos, qua noctis opacae525fundamenta latent; praeceps ibi mersus anhelet,dum rotat astra polus, feriunt dum litora venti.”[61]MSS. havenostrumque.[97]him with whips beyond the Styx, beyond Erebus; thrust him down into the empty pit beneath the lightless prison of the Titans, below the depths of Tartarus and Chaos’ own realm, where lie the foundations of thickest midnight; deep hidden there let him live while ever the vault of heaven carries round the stars and the winds beat upon the land.”

[96]

trans Styga, trans Erebum, vacuo mandate barathroinfra Titanum tenebras infraque recessusTartareos ipsumque[61]Chaos, qua noctis opacae525fundamenta latent; praeceps ibi mersus anhelet,dum rotat astra polus, feriunt dum litora venti.”

trans Styga, trans Erebum, vacuo mandate barathro

infra Titanum tenebras infraque recessus

Tartareos ipsumque[61]Chaos, qua noctis opacae525

fundamenta latent; praeceps ibi mersus anhelet,

dum rotat astra polus, feriunt dum litora venti.”

[61]MSS. havenostrumque.

[97]him with whips beyond the Styx, beyond Erebus; thrust him down into the empty pit beneath the lightless prison of the Titans, below the depths of Tartarus and Chaos’ own realm, where lie the foundations of thickest midnight; deep hidden there let him live while ever the vault of heaven carries round the stars and the winds beat upon the land.”

[97]

him with whips beyond the Styx, beyond Erebus; thrust him down into the empty pit beneath the lightless prison of the Titans, below the depths of Tartarus and Chaos’ own realm, where lie the foundations of thickest midnight; deep hidden there let him live while ever the vault of heaven carries round the stars and the winds beat upon the land.”

[98]DE BELLO GILDONICOLIBER I(XV.)Redditus imperiis Auster subiectaque rursusalterius convexa poli. rectore sub unoconspirat geminus frenis communibus orbis.iunximus Europen Libyae. concordia fratrumplena redit. patriis solum quod defuit armis,5tertius occubuit nati virtute tyrannus.horret adhuc animus manifestaque gaudia differt,dum stupet et tanto cunctatur credere voto.necdum Cinyphias exercitus attigit oras:iam domitus Gildo. nullis victoria nodis10haesit, non spatio terrae, non obice ponti.congressum profugum captum vox nuntiat unarumoremque sui praevenit laurea belli.quo, precor, haec effecta deo? robusta vetusquetempore tam parvo potuit dementia vinci?15quem veniens indixit hiems, ver perculit hostem.[99]THE WAR AGAINST GILDO[62]BOOK I(XV.)The kingdom of the south is restored to our empire, the sky of that other hemisphere is once more brought into subjection. East and West live in amity and concord beneath the sway of one ruler. We have joined Europe again to Africa, and unswerving singleness of purpose unites the brother emperors. The would-be third participant of empire has fallen before the prowess of Honorius the son—that one victory that failed to grace the arms of Theodosius, the father. Still is my mind troubled and admits not the universal joy for very amazement, nor can believe the fulfilment of its heart-felt prayers. Not yet had the army landed upon Africa’s[63]coasts when Gildo yielded to defeat. No difficulties delayed our victorious arms, neither length of march nor intervening ocean. One and the same word brings news of the conflict, the flight, the capture of Gildo. The news of victory outstripped the news of the war that occasioned it. What god wrought this for us? Could madness so strong, so deep-seated be overcome so soon? The enemy whom early winter brought upon us, spring destroyed.[62]For the details of Gildo’s rebellion see Introduction, p. x.[63]The Cinyps is a river in Libya;cf.Virg.Georg.iii. 312.

[98]

(XV.)

Redditus imperiis Auster subiectaque rursusalterius convexa poli. rectore sub unoconspirat geminus frenis communibus orbis.iunximus Europen Libyae. concordia fratrumplena redit. patriis solum quod defuit armis,5tertius occubuit nati virtute tyrannus.horret adhuc animus manifestaque gaudia differt,dum stupet et tanto cunctatur credere voto.necdum Cinyphias exercitus attigit oras:iam domitus Gildo. nullis victoria nodis10haesit, non spatio terrae, non obice ponti.congressum profugum captum vox nuntiat unarumoremque sui praevenit laurea belli.quo, precor, haec effecta deo? robusta vetusquetempore tam parvo potuit dementia vinci?15quem veniens indixit hiems, ver perculit hostem.

Redditus imperiis Auster subiectaque rursus

alterius convexa poli. rectore sub uno

conspirat geminus frenis communibus orbis.

iunximus Europen Libyae. concordia fratrum

plena redit. patriis solum quod defuit armis,5

tertius occubuit nati virtute tyrannus.

horret adhuc animus manifestaque gaudia differt,

dum stupet et tanto cunctatur credere voto.

necdum Cinyphias exercitus attigit oras:

iam domitus Gildo. nullis victoria nodis10

haesit, non spatio terrae, non obice ponti.

congressum profugum captum vox nuntiat una

rumoremque sui praevenit laurea belli.

quo, precor, haec effecta deo? robusta vetusque

tempore tam parvo potuit dementia vinci?15

quem veniens indixit hiems, ver perculit hostem.

[99]THE WAR AGAINST GILDO[62]BOOK I(XV.)The kingdom of the south is restored to our empire, the sky of that other hemisphere is once more brought into subjection. East and West live in amity and concord beneath the sway of one ruler. We have joined Europe again to Africa, and unswerving singleness of purpose unites the brother emperors. The would-be third participant of empire has fallen before the prowess of Honorius the son—that one victory that failed to grace the arms of Theodosius, the father. Still is my mind troubled and admits not the universal joy for very amazement, nor can believe the fulfilment of its heart-felt prayers. Not yet had the army landed upon Africa’s[63]coasts when Gildo yielded to defeat. No difficulties delayed our victorious arms, neither length of march nor intervening ocean. One and the same word brings news of the conflict, the flight, the capture of Gildo. The news of victory outstripped the news of the war that occasioned it. What god wrought this for us? Could madness so strong, so deep-seated be overcome so soon? The enemy whom early winter brought upon us, spring destroyed.[62]For the details of Gildo’s rebellion see Introduction, p. x.[63]The Cinyps is a river in Libya;cf.Virg.Georg.iii. 312.

[99]

(XV.)

The kingdom of the south is restored to our empire, the sky of that other hemisphere is once more brought into subjection. East and West live in amity and concord beneath the sway of one ruler. We have joined Europe again to Africa, and unswerving singleness of purpose unites the brother emperors. The would-be third participant of empire has fallen before the prowess of Honorius the son—that one victory that failed to grace the arms of Theodosius, the father. Still is my mind troubled and admits not the universal joy for very amazement, nor can believe the fulfilment of its heart-felt prayers. Not yet had the army landed upon Africa’s[63]coasts when Gildo yielded to defeat. No difficulties delayed our victorious arms, neither length of march nor intervening ocean. One and the same word brings news of the conflict, the flight, the capture of Gildo. The news of victory outstripped the news of the war that occasioned it. What god wrought this for us? Could madness so strong, so deep-seated be overcome so soon? The enemy whom early winter brought upon us, spring destroyed.

[62]For the details of Gildo’s rebellion see Introduction, p. x.

[63]The Cinyps is a river in Libya;cf.Virg.Georg.iii. 312.

[100]Exitium iam Roma timens et fessa negatisfrugibus ad rapidi limen tendebat Olympinon solito vultu nec qualis iura Britannisdividit aut trepidos summittit fascibus Indos.20vox tenuis tardique gradus oculique iacentesinterius; fugere genae; ieiuna lacertosexedit macies. umeris vix sustinet aegrissqualentem clipeum; laxata casside proditcanitiem plenamque trahit rubiginis hastam.25attigit ut tandem caelum genibusque Tonantisprocubuit, tales orditur maesta querellas:“Si mea mansuris meruerunt moenia nasci,Iuppiter, auguriis, si stant inmota Sibyllaecarmina, Tarpeias si necdum respuis arces:30advenio supplex, non ut proculcet Araxenconsul ovans nostraeve premant pharetrata securesSusa, nec ut Rubris aquilas figamus harenis.haec nobis, haec ante dabas; nunc pabula tantumRoma precor. miserere tuae, pater optinae, gentis,35extremam defende famem. satiavimus iramsi qua fuit; lugenda Getis et flenda Suebishausimus; ipsa meos horreret Parthia casus.quid referam morbive luem tumulosve repletosstragibus et crebras corrupto sidere mortes?40aut fluvium per tecta vagum summisque minatumcollibus? ingentes vexi summersa carinasremorumque sonos et Pyrrhae saecula sensi.“Ei mihi, quo Latiae vires urbisque potestas[101]Rome, the goddess, fearing for her city’s destruction and weak with corn withheld, hastened to the threshold of revolving Olympus with looks unlike her own; not with such countenance does she assign laws to the Britons, or subject the frightened Indians to her rule. Feeble her voice, slow her step, her eyes deep buried. Her cheeks were sunken and hunger had wasted her limbs. Scarce can her weak shoulders support her unpolished shield. Her ill-fitting helmet shows her grey hairs and the spear she carries is a mass of rust. At last she reaches heaven and falls at the Thunderer’s feet and utters this mournful complaint: “If prophecy rightly foretold the permanence of the rising walls of Rome; if the Sibyl’s verse is unalterable; if thou art not yet wearied of our city and the Capitol, I come to thee as a suppliant. My prayer is not that a consul may march in triumph along Araxes’ banks, nor that Rome’s power may crush the archer Persians and Susa their capital, nor yet that we may plant our standards on the Red Sea’s strand. All this thou grantedst us of old. ’Tis but food I, Rome, ask for now; father, take pity on thy chosen race and ease us of this hunger unto death. Whatever thy displeasure, we have surely sated it. The very Getae and Suebi would pity our sufferings; Parthia’s self would shudder at my disasters. What need have I to mention the pestilence, the heaps of corpses, the numberless deaths wherewith the very air is corrupted? Why tell of Tiber’s flooded stream, sweeping betwixt roofs and threatening the very hills? My submerged city has borne mighty ships, echoed the sound of oars, and experienced Pyrrha’s flood.“Woe is me, whither are fled the power of Latium

[100]

Exitium iam Roma timens et fessa negatisfrugibus ad rapidi limen tendebat Olympinon solito vultu nec qualis iura Britannisdividit aut trepidos summittit fascibus Indos.20vox tenuis tardique gradus oculique iacentesinterius; fugere genae; ieiuna lacertosexedit macies. umeris vix sustinet aegrissqualentem clipeum; laxata casside proditcanitiem plenamque trahit rubiginis hastam.25attigit ut tandem caelum genibusque Tonantisprocubuit, tales orditur maesta querellas:“Si mea mansuris meruerunt moenia nasci,Iuppiter, auguriis, si stant inmota Sibyllaecarmina, Tarpeias si necdum respuis arces:30advenio supplex, non ut proculcet Araxenconsul ovans nostraeve premant pharetrata securesSusa, nec ut Rubris aquilas figamus harenis.haec nobis, haec ante dabas; nunc pabula tantumRoma precor. miserere tuae, pater optinae, gentis,35extremam defende famem. satiavimus iramsi qua fuit; lugenda Getis et flenda Suebishausimus; ipsa meos horreret Parthia casus.quid referam morbive luem tumulosve repletosstragibus et crebras corrupto sidere mortes?40aut fluvium per tecta vagum summisque minatumcollibus? ingentes vexi summersa carinasremorumque sonos et Pyrrhae saecula sensi.“Ei mihi, quo Latiae vires urbisque potestas

Exitium iam Roma timens et fessa negatis

frugibus ad rapidi limen tendebat Olympi

non solito vultu nec qualis iura Britannis

dividit aut trepidos summittit fascibus Indos.20

vox tenuis tardique gradus oculique iacentes

interius; fugere genae; ieiuna lacertos

exedit macies. umeris vix sustinet aegris

squalentem clipeum; laxata casside prodit

canitiem plenamque trahit rubiginis hastam.25

attigit ut tandem caelum genibusque Tonantis

procubuit, tales orditur maesta querellas:

“Si mea mansuris meruerunt moenia nasci,

Iuppiter, auguriis, si stant inmota Sibyllae

carmina, Tarpeias si necdum respuis arces:30

advenio supplex, non ut proculcet Araxen

consul ovans nostraeve premant pharetrata secures

Susa, nec ut Rubris aquilas figamus harenis.

haec nobis, haec ante dabas; nunc pabula tantum

Roma precor. miserere tuae, pater optinae, gentis,35

extremam defende famem. satiavimus iram

si qua fuit; lugenda Getis et flenda Suebis

hausimus; ipsa meos horreret Parthia casus.

quid referam morbive luem tumulosve repletos

stragibus et crebras corrupto sidere mortes?40

aut fluvium per tecta vagum summisque minatum

collibus? ingentes vexi summersa carinas

remorumque sonos et Pyrrhae saecula sensi.

“Ei mihi, quo Latiae vires urbisque potestas

[101]Rome, the goddess, fearing for her city’s destruction and weak with corn withheld, hastened to the threshold of revolving Olympus with looks unlike her own; not with such countenance does she assign laws to the Britons, or subject the frightened Indians to her rule. Feeble her voice, slow her step, her eyes deep buried. Her cheeks were sunken and hunger had wasted her limbs. Scarce can her weak shoulders support her unpolished shield. Her ill-fitting helmet shows her grey hairs and the spear she carries is a mass of rust. At last she reaches heaven and falls at the Thunderer’s feet and utters this mournful complaint: “If prophecy rightly foretold the permanence of the rising walls of Rome; if the Sibyl’s verse is unalterable; if thou art not yet wearied of our city and the Capitol, I come to thee as a suppliant. My prayer is not that a consul may march in triumph along Araxes’ banks, nor that Rome’s power may crush the archer Persians and Susa their capital, nor yet that we may plant our standards on the Red Sea’s strand. All this thou grantedst us of old. ’Tis but food I, Rome, ask for now; father, take pity on thy chosen race and ease us of this hunger unto death. Whatever thy displeasure, we have surely sated it. The very Getae and Suebi would pity our sufferings; Parthia’s self would shudder at my disasters. What need have I to mention the pestilence, the heaps of corpses, the numberless deaths wherewith the very air is corrupted? Why tell of Tiber’s flooded stream, sweeping betwixt roofs and threatening the very hills? My submerged city has borne mighty ships, echoed the sound of oars, and experienced Pyrrha’s flood.“Woe is me, whither are fled the power of Latium

[101]

Rome, the goddess, fearing for her city’s destruction and weak with corn withheld, hastened to the threshold of revolving Olympus with looks unlike her own; not with such countenance does she assign laws to the Britons, or subject the frightened Indians to her rule. Feeble her voice, slow her step, her eyes deep buried. Her cheeks were sunken and hunger had wasted her limbs. Scarce can her weak shoulders support her unpolished shield. Her ill-fitting helmet shows her grey hairs and the spear she carries is a mass of rust. At last she reaches heaven and falls at the Thunderer’s feet and utters this mournful complaint: “If prophecy rightly foretold the permanence of the rising walls of Rome; if the Sibyl’s verse is unalterable; if thou art not yet wearied of our city and the Capitol, I come to thee as a suppliant. My prayer is not that a consul may march in triumph along Araxes’ banks, nor that Rome’s power may crush the archer Persians and Susa their capital, nor yet that we may plant our standards on the Red Sea’s strand. All this thou grantedst us of old. ’Tis but food I, Rome, ask for now; father, take pity on thy chosen race and ease us of this hunger unto death. Whatever thy displeasure, we have surely sated it. The very Getae and Suebi would pity our sufferings; Parthia’s self would shudder at my disasters. What need have I to mention the pestilence, the heaps of corpses, the numberless deaths wherewith the very air is corrupted? Why tell of Tiber’s flooded stream, sweeping betwixt roofs and threatening the very hills? My submerged city has borne mighty ships, echoed the sound of oars, and experienced Pyrrha’s flood.

“Woe is me, whither are fled the power of Latium

[102]decidit! in qualem paulatim fluximus umbram!45armato quondam populo patrumque vigebamconciliis; domui terras urbesque revinxilegibus: ad solem victrix utrumque cucurri.postquam iura ferox in se communia Caesartranstulit et lapsi mores desuetaque priscis50artibus in gremium pacis servile recessi,tot mihi pro meritis Libyam Nilumque dedere,ut dominam plebem bellatoremque senatumclassibus aestivis alerent geminoque vicissimlitore diversi complerent horrea venti.55stabat certa salus: Memphis si forte negasset,pensabam Pharium Gaetulis messibus annum,frugiferas certare rates lateque videbamPunica Niliacis concurrere carbasa velis.cum subiit par Roma mihi divisaque sumpsit60aequales Aurora togas, Aegyptia rurain partem cessere novae. spes unica nobisrestabat Libyae, quae vix aegreque fovebat;solo ducta Noto, numquam secura futuri,semper inops, ventique fidem poscebat et anni.65hanc quoque nunc Gildo rapuit sub fine cadentisautumni. pavido metimur caerula voto,puppis si qua venit, si quid fortasse potentivel pudor extorsit domino vel praedo reliquit.pascimur arbitrio Mauri nec debita reddi,70[103]and the might of Rome? To what a shadow of our former glory are we by gradual decline arrived! Time was when my men bore arms and my greybeards met in council; mistress of the world was I and lawgiver to mankind. From rising to setting sun I sped in triumph. When proud Caesar had transferred my people’s power to himself, when manners became corrupt and forgetful of war’s old discipline I declined into the servile lap of peace, the emperors rewarded me with Africa and Egypt that they might nourish the sovereign people and the Senate, arbiter of peace and war, by means of summer-sped fleets, and that the winds, blowing alternately from either shore, should fill our granaries with corn. Our provisioning was secure. Should Memphis perchance have denied us food, I would make up for the failure of Egypt’s harvest by the African supply. I saw competition between grain-bearing vessels, and where’er I looked I beheld the fleet of Carthage strive in rivalry with that of the Nile. When a second Rome arose and the Eastern Empire assumed the toga of the West, Egypt fell beneath that new sway. Africa remained our only hope and scarcely did she suffice to feed us, whose corn-ships none but the south wind wafted across. Her promise for the future was insecure, as, ever helpless, she demanded the loyalty of the wind and of the season.[64]This province, too, Gildo seized towards the close of autumn. Anxiously and prayerfully we scan the blue sea to glance a coming sail in the fond hope that perchance a sense of shame has extorted somewhat from the powerful tyrant, or the conqueror left some corner unconquered. We are fed at the pleasure of the Moor,[64]Claudian means that the African corn-supply was not always to be relied upon because (1) there might be a bad season, (2) there might be unfavourable winds.

[102]

decidit! in qualem paulatim fluximus umbram!45armato quondam populo patrumque vigebamconciliis; domui terras urbesque revinxilegibus: ad solem victrix utrumque cucurri.postquam iura ferox in se communia Caesartranstulit et lapsi mores desuetaque priscis50artibus in gremium pacis servile recessi,tot mihi pro meritis Libyam Nilumque dedere,ut dominam plebem bellatoremque senatumclassibus aestivis alerent geminoque vicissimlitore diversi complerent horrea venti.55stabat certa salus: Memphis si forte negasset,pensabam Pharium Gaetulis messibus annum,frugiferas certare rates lateque videbamPunica Niliacis concurrere carbasa velis.cum subiit par Roma mihi divisaque sumpsit60aequales Aurora togas, Aegyptia rurain partem cessere novae. spes unica nobisrestabat Libyae, quae vix aegreque fovebat;solo ducta Noto, numquam secura futuri,semper inops, ventique fidem poscebat et anni.65hanc quoque nunc Gildo rapuit sub fine cadentisautumni. pavido metimur caerula voto,puppis si qua venit, si quid fortasse potentivel pudor extorsit domino vel praedo reliquit.pascimur arbitrio Mauri nec debita reddi,70

decidit! in qualem paulatim fluximus umbram!45

armato quondam populo patrumque vigebam

conciliis; domui terras urbesque revinxi

legibus: ad solem victrix utrumque cucurri.

postquam iura ferox in se communia Caesar

transtulit et lapsi mores desuetaque priscis50

artibus in gremium pacis servile recessi,

tot mihi pro meritis Libyam Nilumque dedere,

ut dominam plebem bellatoremque senatum

classibus aestivis alerent geminoque vicissim

litore diversi complerent horrea venti.55

stabat certa salus: Memphis si forte negasset,

pensabam Pharium Gaetulis messibus annum,

frugiferas certare rates lateque videbam

Punica Niliacis concurrere carbasa velis.

cum subiit par Roma mihi divisaque sumpsit60

aequales Aurora togas, Aegyptia rura

in partem cessere novae. spes unica nobis

restabat Libyae, quae vix aegreque fovebat;

solo ducta Noto, numquam secura futuri,

semper inops, ventique fidem poscebat et anni.65

hanc quoque nunc Gildo rapuit sub fine cadentis

autumni. pavido metimur caerula voto,

puppis si qua venit, si quid fortasse potenti

vel pudor extorsit domino vel praedo reliquit.

pascimur arbitrio Mauri nec debita reddi,70

[103]and the might of Rome? To what a shadow of our former glory are we by gradual decline arrived! Time was when my men bore arms and my greybeards met in council; mistress of the world was I and lawgiver to mankind. From rising to setting sun I sped in triumph. When proud Caesar had transferred my people’s power to himself, when manners became corrupt and forgetful of war’s old discipline I declined into the servile lap of peace, the emperors rewarded me with Africa and Egypt that they might nourish the sovereign people and the Senate, arbiter of peace and war, by means of summer-sped fleets, and that the winds, blowing alternately from either shore, should fill our granaries with corn. Our provisioning was secure. Should Memphis perchance have denied us food, I would make up for the failure of Egypt’s harvest by the African supply. I saw competition between grain-bearing vessels, and where’er I looked I beheld the fleet of Carthage strive in rivalry with that of the Nile. When a second Rome arose and the Eastern Empire assumed the toga of the West, Egypt fell beneath that new sway. Africa remained our only hope and scarcely did she suffice to feed us, whose corn-ships none but the south wind wafted across. Her promise for the future was insecure, as, ever helpless, she demanded the loyalty of the wind and of the season.[64]This province, too, Gildo seized towards the close of autumn. Anxiously and prayerfully we scan the blue sea to glance a coming sail in the fond hope that perchance a sense of shame has extorted somewhat from the powerful tyrant, or the conqueror left some corner unconquered. We are fed at the pleasure of the Moor,[64]Claudian means that the African corn-supply was not always to be relied upon because (1) there might be a bad season, (2) there might be unfavourable winds.

[103]

and the might of Rome? To what a shadow of our former glory are we by gradual decline arrived! Time was when my men bore arms and my greybeards met in council; mistress of the world was I and lawgiver to mankind. From rising to setting sun I sped in triumph. When proud Caesar had transferred my people’s power to himself, when manners became corrupt and forgetful of war’s old discipline I declined into the servile lap of peace, the emperors rewarded me with Africa and Egypt that they might nourish the sovereign people and the Senate, arbiter of peace and war, by means of summer-sped fleets, and that the winds, blowing alternately from either shore, should fill our granaries with corn. Our provisioning was secure. Should Memphis perchance have denied us food, I would make up for the failure of Egypt’s harvest by the African supply. I saw competition between grain-bearing vessels, and where’er I looked I beheld the fleet of Carthage strive in rivalry with that of the Nile. When a second Rome arose and the Eastern Empire assumed the toga of the West, Egypt fell beneath that new sway. Africa remained our only hope and scarcely did she suffice to feed us, whose corn-ships none but the south wind wafted across. Her promise for the future was insecure, as, ever helpless, she demanded the loyalty of the wind and of the season.[64]This province, too, Gildo seized towards the close of autumn. Anxiously and prayerfully we scan the blue sea to glance a coming sail in the fond hope that perchance a sense of shame has extorted somewhat from the powerful tyrant, or the conqueror left some corner unconquered. We are fed at the pleasure of the Moor,

[64]Claudian means that the African corn-supply was not always to be relied upon because (1) there might be a bad season, (2) there might be unfavourable winds.

[104]sed sua concedi iactat gaudetque diurnosut famulae praebere cibos vitamque famemquelibrat barbarico fastu vulgique superbitfletibus et tantae suspendit fata ruinae.Romuleas vendit segetes et possidet arva75vulneribus quaesita meis. ideone tot annosflebile cum tumida bellum Carthagine gessi?idcirco voluit contempta luce revertiRegulus? hoc damnis, genitor, Cannensibus emi?incassum totiens lituis navalibus arsit80Hispanum Siculumque fretum vastataque tellustotque duces caesi ruptaque emissus ab AlpePoenus et attonitae iam proximus Hannibal urbi?scilicet ut domitis frueretur barbarus Afris,muro sustinui Martem noctesque cruentas85Collina pro turre tuli? Gildonis ad usumCarthago ter victa ruit? hoc mille gementisItaliae clades impensaque saecula bellis,hoc Fabius fortisque mihi Marcellus agebant,ut Gildo cumularet opes? haurire venena90compulimus dirum Syphacem fractumque Metellotraximus inmanem Marii sub vincla Iugurtham,et Numidae Gildonis erunt? pro funera tanta,pro labor! in Bocchi regnum sudavit uterqueScipio. Romano vicistis sanguine Mauri.95ille diu miles populus, qui praefuit orbi,qui trabeas et sceptra dabat, quem semper in armishorribilem gentes, placidum sensere subactae,[105]who boasts that he does not repay a debt but that he gives us of his own, and rejoices to apportion out my daily food to me, as though I were his slave; with a barbarian’s pride he weighs me life or death by hunger, triumphs in a people’s tears, and holds above our heads an universal destruction. He sells Rome’s crops and possesses land won by my wounds. Was it for this that I waged lamentable war with proud Carthage for so many years? For this that Regulus reckoned his life as naught and would fain return to his captors? Is this my reward, father, for my losses on Cannae’s field? Have the Spanish and Sicilian seas resounded so often to our navies’ clarion for naught? For naught my lands been laid waste, so many of my generals slain, the Carthaginian invader broken his way through the Alps, Hannibal approached my affrighted capital? Have I kept the foe at bay with my walls and spent nights of slaughter before the Colline gate to enable a barbarian to reap the fruits of conquered Africa? Has thrice-conquered Carthage fallen for Gildo’s benefit? Was this the object of mourning Italy’s thousand disasters, of centuries spent in war, of Fabius’ and Marcellus’ deeds of daring—that Gildo should heap him up riches? We forced cruel Syphax to drink poison, drove fierce Iugurtha, whose power Metellus had broken, beneath Marius’ yoke—and shall Africa be Gildo’s? Alas for our toil and those many deaths: the two Scipios have laboured, it seems, to further Bocchus’[65]native rule; Roman blood has given victory to the Moors. That long warlike race, lord of the world, that appointed consuls and kings, whom foreign nations found ever formidable in war, though gentle once they had[65]Bocchus, properly a king of Mauritania, stands here typically for any native monarch.

[104]

sed sua concedi iactat gaudetque diurnosut famulae praebere cibos vitamque famemquelibrat barbarico fastu vulgique superbitfletibus et tantae suspendit fata ruinae.Romuleas vendit segetes et possidet arva75vulneribus quaesita meis. ideone tot annosflebile cum tumida bellum Carthagine gessi?idcirco voluit contempta luce revertiRegulus? hoc damnis, genitor, Cannensibus emi?incassum totiens lituis navalibus arsit80Hispanum Siculumque fretum vastataque tellustotque duces caesi ruptaque emissus ab AlpePoenus et attonitae iam proximus Hannibal urbi?scilicet ut domitis frueretur barbarus Afris,muro sustinui Martem noctesque cruentas85Collina pro turre tuli? Gildonis ad usumCarthago ter victa ruit? hoc mille gementisItaliae clades impensaque saecula bellis,hoc Fabius fortisque mihi Marcellus agebant,ut Gildo cumularet opes? haurire venena90compulimus dirum Syphacem fractumque Metellotraximus inmanem Marii sub vincla Iugurtham,et Numidae Gildonis erunt? pro funera tanta,pro labor! in Bocchi regnum sudavit uterqueScipio. Romano vicistis sanguine Mauri.95ille diu miles populus, qui praefuit orbi,qui trabeas et sceptra dabat, quem semper in armishorribilem gentes, placidum sensere subactae,

sed sua concedi iactat gaudetque diurnos

ut famulae praebere cibos vitamque famemque

librat barbarico fastu vulgique superbit

fletibus et tantae suspendit fata ruinae.

Romuleas vendit segetes et possidet arva75

vulneribus quaesita meis. ideone tot annos

flebile cum tumida bellum Carthagine gessi?

idcirco voluit contempta luce reverti

Regulus? hoc damnis, genitor, Cannensibus emi?

incassum totiens lituis navalibus arsit80

Hispanum Siculumque fretum vastataque tellus

totque duces caesi ruptaque emissus ab Alpe

Poenus et attonitae iam proximus Hannibal urbi?

scilicet ut domitis frueretur barbarus Afris,

muro sustinui Martem noctesque cruentas85

Collina pro turre tuli? Gildonis ad usum

Carthago ter victa ruit? hoc mille gementis

Italiae clades impensaque saecula bellis,

hoc Fabius fortisque mihi Marcellus agebant,

ut Gildo cumularet opes? haurire venena90

compulimus dirum Syphacem fractumque Metello

traximus inmanem Marii sub vincla Iugurtham,

et Numidae Gildonis erunt? pro funera tanta,

pro labor! in Bocchi regnum sudavit uterque

Scipio. Romano vicistis sanguine Mauri.95

ille diu miles populus, qui praefuit orbi,

qui trabeas et sceptra dabat, quem semper in armis

horribilem gentes, placidum sensere subactae,

[105]who boasts that he does not repay a debt but that he gives us of his own, and rejoices to apportion out my daily food to me, as though I were his slave; with a barbarian’s pride he weighs me life or death by hunger, triumphs in a people’s tears, and holds above our heads an universal destruction. He sells Rome’s crops and possesses land won by my wounds. Was it for this that I waged lamentable war with proud Carthage for so many years? For this that Regulus reckoned his life as naught and would fain return to his captors? Is this my reward, father, for my losses on Cannae’s field? Have the Spanish and Sicilian seas resounded so often to our navies’ clarion for naught? For naught my lands been laid waste, so many of my generals slain, the Carthaginian invader broken his way through the Alps, Hannibal approached my affrighted capital? Have I kept the foe at bay with my walls and spent nights of slaughter before the Colline gate to enable a barbarian to reap the fruits of conquered Africa? Has thrice-conquered Carthage fallen for Gildo’s benefit? Was this the object of mourning Italy’s thousand disasters, of centuries spent in war, of Fabius’ and Marcellus’ deeds of daring—that Gildo should heap him up riches? We forced cruel Syphax to drink poison, drove fierce Iugurtha, whose power Metellus had broken, beneath Marius’ yoke—and shall Africa be Gildo’s? Alas for our toil and those many deaths: the two Scipios have laboured, it seems, to further Bocchus’[65]native rule; Roman blood has given victory to the Moors. That long warlike race, lord of the world, that appointed consuls and kings, whom foreign nations found ever formidable in war, though gentle once they had[65]Bocchus, properly a king of Mauritania, stands here typically for any native monarch.

[105]

who boasts that he does not repay a debt but that he gives us of his own, and rejoices to apportion out my daily food to me, as though I were his slave; with a barbarian’s pride he weighs me life or death by hunger, triumphs in a people’s tears, and holds above our heads an universal destruction. He sells Rome’s crops and possesses land won by my wounds. Was it for this that I waged lamentable war with proud Carthage for so many years? For this that Regulus reckoned his life as naught and would fain return to his captors? Is this my reward, father, for my losses on Cannae’s field? Have the Spanish and Sicilian seas resounded so often to our navies’ clarion for naught? For naught my lands been laid waste, so many of my generals slain, the Carthaginian invader broken his way through the Alps, Hannibal approached my affrighted capital? Have I kept the foe at bay with my walls and spent nights of slaughter before the Colline gate to enable a barbarian to reap the fruits of conquered Africa? Has thrice-conquered Carthage fallen for Gildo’s benefit? Was this the object of mourning Italy’s thousand disasters, of centuries spent in war, of Fabius’ and Marcellus’ deeds of daring—that Gildo should heap him up riches? We forced cruel Syphax to drink poison, drove fierce Iugurtha, whose power Metellus had broken, beneath Marius’ yoke—and shall Africa be Gildo’s? Alas for our toil and those many deaths: the two Scipios have laboured, it seems, to further Bocchus’[65]native rule; Roman blood has given victory to the Moors. That long warlike race, lord of the world, that appointed consuls and kings, whom foreign nations found ever formidable in war, though gentle once they had

[65]Bocchus, properly a king of Mauritania, stands here typically for any native monarch.

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