Chapter 6

[128]Harpyiasque truces insopitisque refusumtractibus aurati custodem velleris anguemet iuga taurorum rapidis ambusta favilliset virides galeis sulcos fetasque novales25Martis et in segetem crescentis semina belli:nil veris aequale dabunt. prohibere rapacesscilicet Harpyias unaque excludere mensanobilior titulus, quam tot potuisse paratasin Latii praedam Geticas avertere fauces?30anne ego terrigenas potius mirabor in ipsisprocubuisse satis, vitae quibus attulit idemprincipium finemque dies, quam caesa Getarumagmina, quos tantis aluit Bellona tropaeistotaque sub galeis Mavortia canuit aetas?35Per te namque unum mediis exuta tenebrisimperio sua forma redit, claustrisque solutaetristibus exangues audent procedere leges.iamque potestates priscus discriminat ordoiustitiae, quas ante pares effecerat una40nube timor. tua nos urgenti dextera letoeripuit, tectisque suis redduntur et agrisdamnati fato populi, virtute renati.iam non in pecorum morem formidine clausiprospicimus saevos campis ardentibus ignes45alta nec incertis metimur flumina votisexcidio latura moram nec poscimus amnes[129]young, though they tell of fierce Harpies, of the dragon whose unsleeping length lay curled in protecting folds about the golden fleece, of yoked bulls afire with flickering flames, of a springing crop of helmets, a field from out whose furrows grew a Martian race, of seeds of war whose increase yielded a harvest, too, of war, yet do these fictions fall short of the truth. Is it a nobler title to fame to have driven off the greedy Harpies and banished them from the table of a single man than to have had the strength to beat back those countless Getic maws that thirsted for the spoil of Latium? Am I to look with more admiration upon those earth-born warriors struck down in the very furrows from which they sprang, born and dying in a single day, than upon the slaughtered ranks of Getae whom the goddess of war reared on so many spoils and whose martial life came to grey hairs, passed ever beneath helmets?Thou and thou alone, Stilicho, hast dispersed the darkness that enshrouded our empire and hast restored its glory; thanks to thee civilization, all but vanished, has been freed from the gloomy prison and can again advance. The old order of justice now makes distinction between magistracies which fear had made equal in a common gloom. Thy right hand has snatched us from impending death and restored to their homes and lands peoples whom fate sentenced and thy valour saved. No longer, herded together like sheep by reason of our fears, do we watch from the ramparts our fields ablaze with the enemy’s fire, no longer measure the depth of rivers which we feebly hope will retard our destruction nor ask the streams and flying clouds to

[128]

Harpyiasque truces insopitisque refusumtractibus aurati custodem velleris anguemet iuga taurorum rapidis ambusta favilliset virides galeis sulcos fetasque novales25Martis et in segetem crescentis semina belli:nil veris aequale dabunt. prohibere rapacesscilicet Harpyias unaque excludere mensanobilior titulus, quam tot potuisse paratasin Latii praedam Geticas avertere fauces?30anne ego terrigenas potius mirabor in ipsisprocubuisse satis, vitae quibus attulit idemprincipium finemque dies, quam caesa Getarumagmina, quos tantis aluit Bellona tropaeistotaque sub galeis Mavortia canuit aetas?35Per te namque unum mediis exuta tenebrisimperio sua forma redit, claustrisque solutaetristibus exangues audent procedere leges.iamque potestates priscus discriminat ordoiustitiae, quas ante pares effecerat una40nube timor. tua nos urgenti dextera letoeripuit, tectisque suis redduntur et agrisdamnati fato populi, virtute renati.iam non in pecorum morem formidine clausiprospicimus saevos campis ardentibus ignes45alta nec incertis metimur flumina votisexcidio latura moram nec poscimus amnes

Harpyiasque truces insopitisque refusum

tractibus aurati custodem velleris anguem

et iuga taurorum rapidis ambusta favillis

et virides galeis sulcos fetasque novales25

Martis et in segetem crescentis semina belli:

nil veris aequale dabunt. prohibere rapaces

scilicet Harpyias unaque excludere mensa

nobilior titulus, quam tot potuisse paratas

in Latii praedam Geticas avertere fauces?30

anne ego terrigenas potius mirabor in ipsis

procubuisse satis, vitae quibus attulit idem

principium finemque dies, quam caesa Getarum

agmina, quos tantis aluit Bellona tropaeis

totaque sub galeis Mavortia canuit aetas?35

Per te namque unum mediis exuta tenebris

imperio sua forma redit, claustrisque solutae

tristibus exangues audent procedere leges.

iamque potestates priscus discriminat ordo

iustitiae, quas ante pares effecerat una40

nube timor. tua nos urgenti dextera leto

eripuit, tectisque suis redduntur et agris

damnati fato populi, virtute renati.

iam non in pecorum morem formidine clausi

prospicimus saevos campis ardentibus ignes45

alta nec incertis metimur flumina votis

excidio latura moram nec poscimus amnes

[129]young, though they tell of fierce Harpies, of the dragon whose unsleeping length lay curled in protecting folds about the golden fleece, of yoked bulls afire with flickering flames, of a springing crop of helmets, a field from out whose furrows grew a Martian race, of seeds of war whose increase yielded a harvest, too, of war, yet do these fictions fall short of the truth. Is it a nobler title to fame to have driven off the greedy Harpies and banished them from the table of a single man than to have had the strength to beat back those countless Getic maws that thirsted for the spoil of Latium? Am I to look with more admiration upon those earth-born warriors struck down in the very furrows from which they sprang, born and dying in a single day, than upon the slaughtered ranks of Getae whom the goddess of war reared on so many spoils and whose martial life came to grey hairs, passed ever beneath helmets?Thou and thou alone, Stilicho, hast dispersed the darkness that enshrouded our empire and hast restored its glory; thanks to thee civilization, all but vanished, has been freed from the gloomy prison and can again advance. The old order of justice now makes distinction between magistracies which fear had made equal in a common gloom. Thy right hand has snatched us from impending death and restored to their homes and lands peoples whom fate sentenced and thy valour saved. No longer, herded together like sheep by reason of our fears, do we watch from the ramparts our fields ablaze with the enemy’s fire, no longer measure the depth of rivers which we feebly hope will retard our destruction nor ask the streams and flying clouds to

[129]

young, though they tell of fierce Harpies, of the dragon whose unsleeping length lay curled in protecting folds about the golden fleece, of yoked bulls afire with flickering flames, of a springing crop of helmets, a field from out whose furrows grew a Martian race, of seeds of war whose increase yielded a harvest, too, of war, yet do these fictions fall short of the truth. Is it a nobler title to fame to have driven off the greedy Harpies and banished them from the table of a single man than to have had the strength to beat back those countless Getic maws that thirsted for the spoil of Latium? Am I to look with more admiration upon those earth-born warriors struck down in the very furrows from which they sprang, born and dying in a single day, than upon the slaughtered ranks of Getae whom the goddess of war reared on so many spoils and whose martial life came to grey hairs, passed ever beneath helmets?

Thou and thou alone, Stilicho, hast dispersed the darkness that enshrouded our empire and hast restored its glory; thanks to thee civilization, all but vanished, has been freed from the gloomy prison and can again advance. The old order of justice now makes distinction between magistracies which fear had made equal in a common gloom. Thy right hand has snatched us from impending death and restored to their homes and lands peoples whom fate sentenced and thy valour saved. No longer, herded together like sheep by reason of our fears, do we watch from the ramparts our fields ablaze with the enemy’s fire, no longer measure the depth of rivers which we feebly hope will retard our destruction nor ask the streams and flying clouds to

[130]undosam servare fidem nubesque fugacesaut coniuratum querimur splendere serenum.Ipsa quoque internis furiis exercita plebis50securas iam Roma leva tranquillior arces;surge, precor, veneranda parens, et certa secundisfide deis, humilemque metum depone senectae.urbs aequaeva polo, tum demum ferrea sumetius in te Lachesis, cum sic mutaverit axem55foederibus natura novis, ut flumine versoinriget Aegyptum Tanais, Maeotida Nilus,Eurus ab occasu, Zephyrus se promat ab IndisCaucasiisque iugis calido nigrantibus AustroGaetulas Aquilo glacie constringat harenas.60Fatales hucusque manus, crebrisque notataeprodigiis abiere minae. nec sidera pacemsemper habent, ipsumque Iovem turbante Typhoeo,si fas est, tremuisse ferunt, cum brachia centummontibus armaret totidem spiramque retorquens65lamberet attonitas erectis anguibus Arctos.quid mirum, si regna labor mortalia vexat,cum gemini fratres, genuit quos asper Aloeus,Martem subdiderint vinclis et in astra negatastemptarint munire vias steteritque revulsis70paene tribus scopulis caelesti machina bello?sed caret eventu nimius furor; improba numquamspes laetata diu, nec pervenere iuventaerobur Aloidae, dum vellere Pelion Otusnititur, occubuit Phoebo, moriensque Ephialtes75in latus obliquam proiecit languidus Ossam.[131]keep the promise of their waters or complain that the sunshine conspires against us with its splendour.Thou, too, Rome, so long vexed with internal discord, lift up thy hills at last more peacefully in safety. Arise, honoured mother, be sure that God’s favour is with thee; banish the lowly timorousness of age. City that art coëval with the world, inexorable Lachesis shall not exercise against thee her rights of destruction until Nature has so changed the immutable laws of the universe that Tanais turn his course and water Egypt, Nile flow into Lake Maeotis, Eurus blow from the west, Zephyr from India, and the south wind rage in tempest o’er the summit of Caucasus, while that of the north binds the deserts of Africa with its frost.Thus far came the fatal hordes; now their threats, whereof so many omens warned us, have vanished away. Heaven’s self was not always at peace: they tell how even Jove trembled (if one may dare to say so) when Typhoeus attacked him, arming his hundred hands with a hundred mountains and touching the astonished constellation of the Bear with his towering snaky coils. What wonder if trouble harasses mortal realms when cruel Aloeus’ two sons cast Mars in chains and attempted to build that forbidden road to the stars so that the universe almost ceased to move, what time the three rocks[46]were uprooted in the war of heaven? But their blind fury was of no effect; wicked hopes never exult for long. Aloeus’ children never reached man’s estate; Otus, attempting to uproot Pelion, was stricken down by Phoebus, and Ephialtes as he died wearily let Ossa fall athwart his side.[46]i.e.the mountains Pelion, Ossa and Olympus.

[130]

undosam servare fidem nubesque fugacesaut coniuratum querimur splendere serenum.Ipsa quoque internis furiis exercita plebis50securas iam Roma leva tranquillior arces;surge, precor, veneranda parens, et certa secundisfide deis, humilemque metum depone senectae.urbs aequaeva polo, tum demum ferrea sumetius in te Lachesis, cum sic mutaverit axem55foederibus natura novis, ut flumine versoinriget Aegyptum Tanais, Maeotida Nilus,Eurus ab occasu, Zephyrus se promat ab IndisCaucasiisque iugis calido nigrantibus AustroGaetulas Aquilo glacie constringat harenas.60Fatales hucusque manus, crebrisque notataeprodigiis abiere minae. nec sidera pacemsemper habent, ipsumque Iovem turbante Typhoeo,si fas est, tremuisse ferunt, cum brachia centummontibus armaret totidem spiramque retorquens65lamberet attonitas erectis anguibus Arctos.quid mirum, si regna labor mortalia vexat,cum gemini fratres, genuit quos asper Aloeus,Martem subdiderint vinclis et in astra negatastemptarint munire vias steteritque revulsis70paene tribus scopulis caelesti machina bello?sed caret eventu nimius furor; improba numquamspes laetata diu, nec pervenere iuventaerobur Aloidae, dum vellere Pelion Otusnititur, occubuit Phoebo, moriensque Ephialtes75in latus obliquam proiecit languidus Ossam.

undosam servare fidem nubesque fugaces

aut coniuratum querimur splendere serenum.

Ipsa quoque internis furiis exercita plebis50

securas iam Roma leva tranquillior arces;

surge, precor, veneranda parens, et certa secundis

fide deis, humilemque metum depone senectae.

urbs aequaeva polo, tum demum ferrea sumet

ius in te Lachesis, cum sic mutaverit axem55

foederibus natura novis, ut flumine verso

inriget Aegyptum Tanais, Maeotida Nilus,

Eurus ab occasu, Zephyrus se promat ab Indis

Caucasiisque iugis calido nigrantibus Austro

Gaetulas Aquilo glacie constringat harenas.60

Fatales hucusque manus, crebrisque notatae

prodigiis abiere minae. nec sidera pacem

semper habent, ipsumque Iovem turbante Typhoeo,

si fas est, tremuisse ferunt, cum brachia centum

montibus armaret totidem spiramque retorquens65

lamberet attonitas erectis anguibus Arctos.

quid mirum, si regna labor mortalia vexat,

cum gemini fratres, genuit quos asper Aloeus,

Martem subdiderint vinclis et in astra negatas

temptarint munire vias steteritque revulsis70

paene tribus scopulis caelesti machina bello?

sed caret eventu nimius furor; improba numquam

spes laetata diu, nec pervenere iuventae

robur Aloidae, dum vellere Pelion Otus

nititur, occubuit Phoebo, moriensque Ephialtes75

in latus obliquam proiecit languidus Ossam.

[131]keep the promise of their waters or complain that the sunshine conspires against us with its splendour.Thou, too, Rome, so long vexed with internal discord, lift up thy hills at last more peacefully in safety. Arise, honoured mother, be sure that God’s favour is with thee; banish the lowly timorousness of age. City that art coëval with the world, inexorable Lachesis shall not exercise against thee her rights of destruction until Nature has so changed the immutable laws of the universe that Tanais turn his course and water Egypt, Nile flow into Lake Maeotis, Eurus blow from the west, Zephyr from India, and the south wind rage in tempest o’er the summit of Caucasus, while that of the north binds the deserts of Africa with its frost.Thus far came the fatal hordes; now their threats, whereof so many omens warned us, have vanished away. Heaven’s self was not always at peace: they tell how even Jove trembled (if one may dare to say so) when Typhoeus attacked him, arming his hundred hands with a hundred mountains and touching the astonished constellation of the Bear with his towering snaky coils. What wonder if trouble harasses mortal realms when cruel Aloeus’ two sons cast Mars in chains and attempted to build that forbidden road to the stars so that the universe almost ceased to move, what time the three rocks[46]were uprooted in the war of heaven? But their blind fury was of no effect; wicked hopes never exult for long. Aloeus’ children never reached man’s estate; Otus, attempting to uproot Pelion, was stricken down by Phoebus, and Ephialtes as he died wearily let Ossa fall athwart his side.[46]i.e.the mountains Pelion, Ossa and Olympus.

[131]

keep the promise of their waters or complain that the sunshine conspires against us with its splendour.

Thou, too, Rome, so long vexed with internal discord, lift up thy hills at last more peacefully in safety. Arise, honoured mother, be sure that God’s favour is with thee; banish the lowly timorousness of age. City that art coëval with the world, inexorable Lachesis shall not exercise against thee her rights of destruction until Nature has so changed the immutable laws of the universe that Tanais turn his course and water Egypt, Nile flow into Lake Maeotis, Eurus blow from the west, Zephyr from India, and the south wind rage in tempest o’er the summit of Caucasus, while that of the north binds the deserts of Africa with its frost.

Thus far came the fatal hordes; now their threats, whereof so many omens warned us, have vanished away. Heaven’s self was not always at peace: they tell how even Jove trembled (if one may dare to say so) when Typhoeus attacked him, arming his hundred hands with a hundred mountains and touching the astonished constellation of the Bear with his towering snaky coils. What wonder if trouble harasses mortal realms when cruel Aloeus’ two sons cast Mars in chains and attempted to build that forbidden road to the stars so that the universe almost ceased to move, what time the three rocks[46]were uprooted in the war of heaven? But their blind fury was of no effect; wicked hopes never exult for long. Aloeus’ children never reached man’s estate; Otus, attempting to uproot Pelion, was stricken down by Phoebus, and Ephialtes as he died wearily let Ossa fall athwart his side.

[46]i.e.the mountains Pelion, Ossa and Olympus.

[132]Adspice, Roma, tuum iam vertice celsior hostem,adspice quam rarum referens inglorius agmenItalia detrusus eat quantumque prioridissimilis, qui cuncta sibi cessura ruenti80pollicitus patrii numen iuraverat Histrinon nisi calcatis loricam ponere rostris.o rerum fatique vices! qui foeda parabatRomanas ad stupra nurus, sua pignora viditconiugibus permixta trahi; qui mente profundas85hauserat urbis opes, ultro victoribus ipsepraeda fuit; nostri quondam qui militis auroadgressus temptare fidem, desertus ab omnigente sua manibusque redit truncatus et armis.Hoc quoque, quod veniam leti valuere mereri,90si positis pendas odiis, ignoscere pulchrumiam misero poenaeque genus vidisse precantem.quae vindicta prior quam cum formido superbosflectit et adsuetum spoliis adfligit egestas?sed magis ex aliis fluxit dementia causis,95consulitur dum, Roma, tibi. tua cura coëgitinclusis aperire fugam, ne peior in artosaeviret rabies venturae conscia mortis;nec tanti nomen stirpemque abolere Getarum,ut propius peterere, fuit. procul arceat altus100Iuppiter, ut delubra Numae sedesque Quirinibarbaries oculis saltem temerare profanispossit et arcanum tanti deprendere regni.[133]Lift up thy head, Rome, and behold thine enemy; see how, leading back in dishonour a shattered host, he is cast forth from Italy. How different is he from what he was when he sware that everything should yield to his onset and took an oath by Danube whom he and his fathers worshipped that he would never unbuckle his breastplate until he had marched in triumph through the Forum. How strange are the changes Fate brings about! He who destined the women of Rome as victims of his lust has seen his own wives and children led away captive; he who in imagination had drained the countless wealth of our city became himself his victor’s easy prey; he who once sought to corrupt the loyalty of our troops has been deserted by his own people and has returned to his country beggared of men and arms.Then too if, laying hatred aside, thou shouldest weigh the cause that won them pardon from their doom, surely to spare a fallen foe is itself a triumph and to see him on his knees punishment enough. What vengeance so satisfying as when terror makes pride stoop, and want bows down him who before bore spoils? But our clemency was in part due to another cause, for we thought of thee, O Rome. Concern for thee constrained us to offer a way of escape to the beleaguered foe lest, with the fear of death before their eyes, their rage should grow the more terrible for being confined. An enemy before thy very walls would have been too heavy a price to pay for the destruction of the race and name of the Getae. May Jove from on high forbid that the barbarian should outrage even with a glance Numa’s shrine or Romulus’ temple, or discover aught of the secrets of our empire.

[132]

Adspice, Roma, tuum iam vertice celsior hostem,adspice quam rarum referens inglorius agmenItalia detrusus eat quantumque prioridissimilis, qui cuncta sibi cessura ruenti80pollicitus patrii numen iuraverat Histrinon nisi calcatis loricam ponere rostris.o rerum fatique vices! qui foeda parabatRomanas ad stupra nurus, sua pignora viditconiugibus permixta trahi; qui mente profundas85hauserat urbis opes, ultro victoribus ipsepraeda fuit; nostri quondam qui militis auroadgressus temptare fidem, desertus ab omnigente sua manibusque redit truncatus et armis.Hoc quoque, quod veniam leti valuere mereri,90si positis pendas odiis, ignoscere pulchrumiam misero poenaeque genus vidisse precantem.quae vindicta prior quam cum formido superbosflectit et adsuetum spoliis adfligit egestas?sed magis ex aliis fluxit dementia causis,95consulitur dum, Roma, tibi. tua cura coëgitinclusis aperire fugam, ne peior in artosaeviret rabies venturae conscia mortis;nec tanti nomen stirpemque abolere Getarum,ut propius peterere, fuit. procul arceat altus100Iuppiter, ut delubra Numae sedesque Quirinibarbaries oculis saltem temerare profanispossit et arcanum tanti deprendere regni.

Adspice, Roma, tuum iam vertice celsior hostem,

adspice quam rarum referens inglorius agmen

Italia detrusus eat quantumque priori

dissimilis, qui cuncta sibi cessura ruenti80

pollicitus patrii numen iuraverat Histri

non nisi calcatis loricam ponere rostris.

o rerum fatique vices! qui foeda parabat

Romanas ad stupra nurus, sua pignora vidit

coniugibus permixta trahi; qui mente profundas85

hauserat urbis opes, ultro victoribus ipse

praeda fuit; nostri quondam qui militis auro

adgressus temptare fidem, desertus ab omni

gente sua manibusque redit truncatus et armis.

Hoc quoque, quod veniam leti valuere mereri,90

si positis pendas odiis, ignoscere pulchrum

iam misero poenaeque genus vidisse precantem.

quae vindicta prior quam cum formido superbos

flectit et adsuetum spoliis adfligit egestas?

sed magis ex aliis fluxit dementia causis,95

consulitur dum, Roma, tibi. tua cura coëgit

inclusis aperire fugam, ne peior in arto

saeviret rabies venturae conscia mortis;

nec tanti nomen stirpemque abolere Getarum,

ut propius peterere, fuit. procul arceat altus100

Iuppiter, ut delubra Numae sedesque Quirini

barbaries oculis saltem temerare profanis

possit et arcanum tanti deprendere regni.

[133]Lift up thy head, Rome, and behold thine enemy; see how, leading back in dishonour a shattered host, he is cast forth from Italy. How different is he from what he was when he sware that everything should yield to his onset and took an oath by Danube whom he and his fathers worshipped that he would never unbuckle his breastplate until he had marched in triumph through the Forum. How strange are the changes Fate brings about! He who destined the women of Rome as victims of his lust has seen his own wives and children led away captive; he who in imagination had drained the countless wealth of our city became himself his victor’s easy prey; he who once sought to corrupt the loyalty of our troops has been deserted by his own people and has returned to his country beggared of men and arms.Then too if, laying hatred aside, thou shouldest weigh the cause that won them pardon from their doom, surely to spare a fallen foe is itself a triumph and to see him on his knees punishment enough. What vengeance so satisfying as when terror makes pride stoop, and want bows down him who before bore spoils? But our clemency was in part due to another cause, for we thought of thee, O Rome. Concern for thee constrained us to offer a way of escape to the beleaguered foe lest, with the fear of death before their eyes, their rage should grow the more terrible for being confined. An enemy before thy very walls would have been too heavy a price to pay for the destruction of the race and name of the Getae. May Jove from on high forbid that the barbarian should outrage even with a glance Numa’s shrine or Romulus’ temple, or discover aught of the secrets of our empire.

[133]

Lift up thy head, Rome, and behold thine enemy; see how, leading back in dishonour a shattered host, he is cast forth from Italy. How different is he from what he was when he sware that everything should yield to his onset and took an oath by Danube whom he and his fathers worshipped that he would never unbuckle his breastplate until he had marched in triumph through the Forum. How strange are the changes Fate brings about! He who destined the women of Rome as victims of his lust has seen his own wives and children led away captive; he who in imagination had drained the countless wealth of our city became himself his victor’s easy prey; he who once sought to corrupt the loyalty of our troops has been deserted by his own people and has returned to his country beggared of men and arms.

Then too if, laying hatred aside, thou shouldest weigh the cause that won them pardon from their doom, surely to spare a fallen foe is itself a triumph and to see him on his knees punishment enough. What vengeance so satisfying as when terror makes pride stoop, and want bows down him who before bore spoils? But our clemency was in part due to another cause, for we thought of thee, O Rome. Concern for thee constrained us to offer a way of escape to the beleaguered foe lest, with the fear of death before their eyes, their rage should grow the more terrible for being confined. An enemy before thy very walls would have been too heavy a price to pay for the destruction of the race and name of the Getae. May Jove from on high forbid that the barbarian should outrage even with a glance Numa’s shrine or Romulus’ temple, or discover aught of the secrets of our empire.

[134]Quamquam, si veterum certamina rite recordor,tunc etiam, pulchra cum libertate vigerent105et proprio late florerent milite patres,semper ab his famae petiere insignia bellis,quae diversa procul tuto trans aequora viresexercere dabant: currus regumque catenaeinter abundantis fati ludibria ductae.110at vero Italiam quotiens circumstetit atroxtempestas ipsumque caput laesura pependit,non illis vani ratio ventosa furoris,sed graviter spectata salus ductorque placebat,non qui praecipiti traheret semel omnia casu,115sed qui maturo vel laeta vel aspera rerumconsilio momenta regens, nec tristibus imparnec pro successu nimius, spatiumque morandivincendique modum mutatis nosset habenis.cautius ingentes morbos et proxima cordi120ulcera Paeoniae tractat sollertia curaeparcendoque secat, ferro ne largius actoinrevocandus eat sectis vitalibus error.Sublimi certe Curium canit ore vetustas,Aeaciden Italo pepulit qui litore Pyrrhum,125nec magis insignis Pauli Mariique triumphus,qui captos niveis reges egere quadrigis;plus fuga laudatur Pyrrhi quam vincla Iugurthae;et, quamvis gemina fessum iam clade fugavit,post Decii lituos et nulli pervia culpae130pectora Fabricii, donis invicta vel armis,[135]And yet—if duly I recall ancient conflicts—then also when, fair liberty lending vigour, the senate was everywhere successful with native troops, they sought trophies from such wars as were waged far away across the sea where our soldiers could exercise their courage without danger to their homes; chariots and fettered kings were accounted but the shows that overflowing fortune gave. But whenever a dread storm burst upon Italy or hung threateningly over her head their thought was not how to give vent to profitless fury but how best at such a crisis to secure the safety of the state. The leader of their choice was not he who hazarded all on one rash throw but one who gave careful thought to each eventuality, were it fortunate or the reverse, one who could bear adversity with fortitude and success with moderation, and by slackening or tightening the reins of government knew how to make use of victory and to temporize after a setback. The physician’s skill deals more carefully with grave diseases and ulcers that are near the heart: here he is more sparing of the knife for fear lest the blade, driven too deep, should slip and sever beyond healing some vital organ.Proud assuredly is the strain in which bards of old sing of Curius who drove Pyrrhus, son of Aeacus, from the shores of Italy;[47]not more resplendent were the triumphs of Paulus and of Marius who dragged captive kings behind their white-horsed chariots. The expulsion of Pyrrhus is more praised than the capture of Jugurtha; and although Curius drove out a prince whose spirit had already been broken by two reverses, at the hands of Decius and of the blameless Fabricius whom neither bribes[47]After his defeat by Curius Dentatus near Beneventum in 277B.C.Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, was forced to evacuate Italy. Claudian, in this section, is at pains tactfully to justify Stilicho’sexpulsionof Alaric from Italy, as opposed to hiscapture.

[134]

Quamquam, si veterum certamina rite recordor,tunc etiam, pulchra cum libertate vigerent105et proprio late florerent milite patres,semper ab his famae petiere insignia bellis,quae diversa procul tuto trans aequora viresexercere dabant: currus regumque catenaeinter abundantis fati ludibria ductae.110at vero Italiam quotiens circumstetit atroxtempestas ipsumque caput laesura pependit,non illis vani ratio ventosa furoris,sed graviter spectata salus ductorque placebat,non qui praecipiti traheret semel omnia casu,115sed qui maturo vel laeta vel aspera rerumconsilio momenta regens, nec tristibus imparnec pro successu nimius, spatiumque morandivincendique modum mutatis nosset habenis.cautius ingentes morbos et proxima cordi120ulcera Paeoniae tractat sollertia curaeparcendoque secat, ferro ne largius actoinrevocandus eat sectis vitalibus error.Sublimi certe Curium canit ore vetustas,Aeaciden Italo pepulit qui litore Pyrrhum,125nec magis insignis Pauli Mariique triumphus,qui captos niveis reges egere quadrigis;plus fuga laudatur Pyrrhi quam vincla Iugurthae;et, quamvis gemina fessum iam clade fugavit,post Decii lituos et nulli pervia culpae130pectora Fabricii, donis invicta vel armis,

Quamquam, si veterum certamina rite recordor,

tunc etiam, pulchra cum libertate vigerent105

et proprio late florerent milite patres,

semper ab his famae petiere insignia bellis,

quae diversa procul tuto trans aequora vires

exercere dabant: currus regumque catenae

inter abundantis fati ludibria ductae.110

at vero Italiam quotiens circumstetit atrox

tempestas ipsumque caput laesura pependit,

non illis vani ratio ventosa furoris,

sed graviter spectata salus ductorque placebat,

non qui praecipiti traheret semel omnia casu,115

sed qui maturo vel laeta vel aspera rerum

consilio momenta regens, nec tristibus impar

nec pro successu nimius, spatiumque morandi

vincendique modum mutatis nosset habenis.

cautius ingentes morbos et proxima cordi120

ulcera Paeoniae tractat sollertia curae

parcendoque secat, ferro ne largius acto

inrevocandus eat sectis vitalibus error.

Sublimi certe Curium canit ore vetustas,

Aeaciden Italo pepulit qui litore Pyrrhum,125

nec magis insignis Pauli Mariique triumphus,

qui captos niveis reges egere quadrigis;

plus fuga laudatur Pyrrhi quam vincla Iugurthae;

et, quamvis gemina fessum iam clade fugavit,

post Decii lituos et nulli pervia culpae130

pectora Fabricii, donis invicta vel armis,

[135]And yet—if duly I recall ancient conflicts—then also when, fair liberty lending vigour, the senate was everywhere successful with native troops, they sought trophies from such wars as were waged far away across the sea where our soldiers could exercise their courage without danger to their homes; chariots and fettered kings were accounted but the shows that overflowing fortune gave. But whenever a dread storm burst upon Italy or hung threateningly over her head their thought was not how to give vent to profitless fury but how best at such a crisis to secure the safety of the state. The leader of their choice was not he who hazarded all on one rash throw but one who gave careful thought to each eventuality, were it fortunate or the reverse, one who could bear adversity with fortitude and success with moderation, and by slackening or tightening the reins of government knew how to make use of victory and to temporize after a setback. The physician’s skill deals more carefully with grave diseases and ulcers that are near the heart: here he is more sparing of the knife for fear lest the blade, driven too deep, should slip and sever beyond healing some vital organ.Proud assuredly is the strain in which bards of old sing of Curius who drove Pyrrhus, son of Aeacus, from the shores of Italy;[47]not more resplendent were the triumphs of Paulus and of Marius who dragged captive kings behind their white-horsed chariots. The expulsion of Pyrrhus is more praised than the capture of Jugurtha; and although Curius drove out a prince whose spirit had already been broken by two reverses, at the hands of Decius and of the blameless Fabricius whom neither bribes[47]After his defeat by Curius Dentatus near Beneventum in 277B.C.Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, was forced to evacuate Italy. Claudian, in this section, is at pains tactfully to justify Stilicho’sexpulsionof Alaric from Italy, as opposed to hiscapture.

[135]

And yet—if duly I recall ancient conflicts—then also when, fair liberty lending vigour, the senate was everywhere successful with native troops, they sought trophies from such wars as were waged far away across the sea where our soldiers could exercise their courage without danger to their homes; chariots and fettered kings were accounted but the shows that overflowing fortune gave. But whenever a dread storm burst upon Italy or hung threateningly over her head their thought was not how to give vent to profitless fury but how best at such a crisis to secure the safety of the state. The leader of their choice was not he who hazarded all on one rash throw but one who gave careful thought to each eventuality, were it fortunate or the reverse, one who could bear adversity with fortitude and success with moderation, and by slackening or tightening the reins of government knew how to make use of victory and to temporize after a setback. The physician’s skill deals more carefully with grave diseases and ulcers that are near the heart: here he is more sparing of the knife for fear lest the blade, driven too deep, should slip and sever beyond healing some vital organ.

Proud assuredly is the strain in which bards of old sing of Curius who drove Pyrrhus, son of Aeacus, from the shores of Italy;[47]not more resplendent were the triumphs of Paulus and of Marius who dragged captive kings behind their white-horsed chariots. The expulsion of Pyrrhus is more praised than the capture of Jugurtha; and although Curius drove out a prince whose spirit had already been broken by two reverses, at the hands of Decius and of the blameless Fabricius whom neither bribes

[47]After his defeat by Curius Dentatus near Beneventum in 277B.C.Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, was forced to evacuate Italy. Claudian, in this section, is at pains tactfully to justify Stilicho’sexpulsionof Alaric from Italy, as opposed to hiscapture.

[136]plena datur Curio pulsi victoria Pyrrhi.quanto maius opus solo Stilichone peractumcernimus! his validam gentem, quam dura nivosiseducat Ursa plagis, non Chaonas atque Molossos,135quos Epirus alit, nec Dodonaea subegitagmina fatidicam frustra iactantia quercum.Primus fulmineum lento luctamine Poenumcompressit Fabius, campo post ausus apertoMarcellus vinci docuit, sed tertia virtus140Scipiadae Latiis tandem deterruit oris.unus in hoc Stilicho diversis artibus hostetris potuit complere duces fregitque furentemcunctando vicitque manu victumque relegat.Atque haec tanta brevi. miscentem incendia Pyrrhumsustinuit toto maerens Oenotria lustro,146et prope ter senas Itali per graminis herbasMassylus Poeno sonipes vastante cucurritHannibalemque senem vix ad sua reppulit arvavindex sera patrum post bellum nata iuventus.150his celer effecit, bruma ne longior unaesset hiems rerum, primis sed mensibus aestastemperiem caelo pariter patriaeque[48]referret.Sed quid ego Hannibalem contra Pyrrhumque tot anniscertatum memorem, vilis cum Spartacus omne155per latus Italiae ferro bacchatus et igniconsulibusque palam totiens congressus inertesexuerit castris dominos et strage pudenda[48]codd.belloque; Birt suggestsregnoque; Postgatepatriaeque.[137]nor arms could overcome, yet the whole glory of that expulsion is given to him. But how much greater the task we see fulfilled by Stilicho alone! He has conquered not Chaones or Molossi, Epirot tribes, nor yet the armies of Dodona that idly boast their prophetic grove, but a mighty people whose home lies in those snowy regions beneath the icy constellation of the Bear.Fabius was the first to stay by his slow struggles Hannibal’s lightning rush; then Marcellus, meeting him in the open field, taught him defeat, but it was the valour of Scipio that drove him from the shores of Italy. In the case of our latest foe Stilicho succeeded in combining in himself the diverse skill of all these three; he broke their frenzy by delaying, vanquished them in battle and drove the vanquished host from Italy.And all this in so short a time. Full five years did Italy mourn beneath the scattered fires of Pyrrhus, for well-nigh eighteen years did the African steeds of the Carthaginians tread down and devastate our harvests, and it was a second generation, born after the outbreak of the war, that, exacting a tardy vengeance for the first, with difficulty drove an aged Hannibal back to his own country. Stilicho acted more quickly: he saw to it that the winter of our distress should last but one winter[49]but that spring in its earliest months should bring back fair weather alike to heaven and to fatherland.Why should I make mention of the wars waged all those weary years against Hannibal and Pyrrhus when that vile gladiator Spartacus, ravaging all the countryside with fire and sword, oft engaged the consuls in open war and, driving out its feeble masters[49]The winter of 401-402.

[136]

plena datur Curio pulsi victoria Pyrrhi.quanto maius opus solo Stilichone peractumcernimus! his validam gentem, quam dura nivosiseducat Ursa plagis, non Chaonas atque Molossos,135quos Epirus alit, nec Dodonaea subegitagmina fatidicam frustra iactantia quercum.Primus fulmineum lento luctamine Poenumcompressit Fabius, campo post ausus apertoMarcellus vinci docuit, sed tertia virtus140Scipiadae Latiis tandem deterruit oris.unus in hoc Stilicho diversis artibus hostetris potuit complere duces fregitque furentemcunctando vicitque manu victumque relegat.Atque haec tanta brevi. miscentem incendia Pyrrhumsustinuit toto maerens Oenotria lustro,146et prope ter senas Itali per graminis herbasMassylus Poeno sonipes vastante cucurritHannibalemque senem vix ad sua reppulit arvavindex sera patrum post bellum nata iuventus.150his celer effecit, bruma ne longior unaesset hiems rerum, primis sed mensibus aestastemperiem caelo pariter patriaeque[48]referret.Sed quid ego Hannibalem contra Pyrrhumque tot anniscertatum memorem, vilis cum Spartacus omne155per latus Italiae ferro bacchatus et igniconsulibusque palam totiens congressus inertesexuerit castris dominos et strage pudenda

plena datur Curio pulsi victoria Pyrrhi.

quanto maius opus solo Stilichone peractum

cernimus! his validam gentem, quam dura nivosis

educat Ursa plagis, non Chaonas atque Molossos,135

quos Epirus alit, nec Dodonaea subegit

agmina fatidicam frustra iactantia quercum.

Primus fulmineum lento luctamine Poenum

compressit Fabius, campo post ausus aperto

Marcellus vinci docuit, sed tertia virtus140

Scipiadae Latiis tandem deterruit oris.

unus in hoc Stilicho diversis artibus hoste

tris potuit complere duces fregitque furentem

cunctando vicitque manu victumque relegat.

Atque haec tanta brevi. miscentem incendia Pyrrhum

sustinuit toto maerens Oenotria lustro,146

et prope ter senas Itali per graminis herbas

Massylus Poeno sonipes vastante cucurrit

Hannibalemque senem vix ad sua reppulit arva

vindex sera patrum post bellum nata iuventus.150

his celer effecit, bruma ne longior una

esset hiems rerum, primis sed mensibus aestas

temperiem caelo pariter patriaeque[48]referret.

Sed quid ego Hannibalem contra Pyrrhumque tot annis

certatum memorem, vilis cum Spartacus omne155

per latus Italiae ferro bacchatus et igni

consulibusque palam totiens congressus inertes

exuerit castris dominos et strage pudenda

[48]codd.belloque; Birt suggestsregnoque; Postgatepatriaeque.

[137]nor arms could overcome, yet the whole glory of that expulsion is given to him. But how much greater the task we see fulfilled by Stilicho alone! He has conquered not Chaones or Molossi, Epirot tribes, nor yet the armies of Dodona that idly boast their prophetic grove, but a mighty people whose home lies in those snowy regions beneath the icy constellation of the Bear.Fabius was the first to stay by his slow struggles Hannibal’s lightning rush; then Marcellus, meeting him in the open field, taught him defeat, but it was the valour of Scipio that drove him from the shores of Italy. In the case of our latest foe Stilicho succeeded in combining in himself the diverse skill of all these three; he broke their frenzy by delaying, vanquished them in battle and drove the vanquished host from Italy.And all this in so short a time. Full five years did Italy mourn beneath the scattered fires of Pyrrhus, for well-nigh eighteen years did the African steeds of the Carthaginians tread down and devastate our harvests, and it was a second generation, born after the outbreak of the war, that, exacting a tardy vengeance for the first, with difficulty drove an aged Hannibal back to his own country. Stilicho acted more quickly: he saw to it that the winter of our distress should last but one winter[49]but that spring in its earliest months should bring back fair weather alike to heaven and to fatherland.Why should I make mention of the wars waged all those weary years against Hannibal and Pyrrhus when that vile gladiator Spartacus, ravaging all the countryside with fire and sword, oft engaged the consuls in open war and, driving out its feeble masters[49]The winter of 401-402.

[137]

nor arms could overcome, yet the whole glory of that expulsion is given to him. But how much greater the task we see fulfilled by Stilicho alone! He has conquered not Chaones or Molossi, Epirot tribes, nor yet the armies of Dodona that idly boast their prophetic grove, but a mighty people whose home lies in those snowy regions beneath the icy constellation of the Bear.

Fabius was the first to stay by his slow struggles Hannibal’s lightning rush; then Marcellus, meeting him in the open field, taught him defeat, but it was the valour of Scipio that drove him from the shores of Italy. In the case of our latest foe Stilicho succeeded in combining in himself the diverse skill of all these three; he broke their frenzy by delaying, vanquished them in battle and drove the vanquished host from Italy.

And all this in so short a time. Full five years did Italy mourn beneath the scattered fires of Pyrrhus, for well-nigh eighteen years did the African steeds of the Carthaginians tread down and devastate our harvests, and it was a second generation, born after the outbreak of the war, that, exacting a tardy vengeance for the first, with difficulty drove an aged Hannibal back to his own country. Stilicho acted more quickly: he saw to it that the winter of our distress should last but one winter[49]but that spring in its earliest months should bring back fair weather alike to heaven and to fatherland.

Why should I make mention of the wars waged all those weary years against Hannibal and Pyrrhus when that vile gladiator Spartacus, ravaging all the countryside with fire and sword, oft engaged the consuls in open war and, driving out its feeble masters

[49]The winter of 401-402.

[138]fuderit imbelles aquilas servilibus armis?nos terrorum expers et luxu mollior aetas160deficimus queruli, si bos abductus aratro,si libata seges. non hanc ergastula nobisinmisere manum nec coniurantis harenaeturba fuit; qualem Stilicho deiecerit hostem,Thraces et Haemonii poterunt Moesique fateri.165Frigida ter decies nudatum frondibus Haemumtendit hiems vestire gelu totiensque solutisver nivibus viridem monti reparavit amictum,ex quo iam patrios gens haec oblita Trionesatque Histrum transvecta semel vestigia fixit170Threicio funesta solo. seu fata vocabantseu gravis ira deum, seriem meditata ruinis,ex illo, quocumque vagos impegit Erinys,grandinis aut morbi ritu per devia rerum,praecipites per clausa ruunt, nec contigit ullis175amnibus aut scopulis proprias defendere terras.nil Rhodope, nil vastus Athos, nil profuit HebrusOdrysiis; facili contemptum Strymona saltuet frustra rapidum damnant Haliacmona Bessi.nubibus intactum Macedo miratur Olympum180more pererratum campi; gemit inrita TempeThessalus et domitis inrisam cautibus Oeten.Sperchiusque et virginibus dilectus Enipeusbarbaricas lavere comas. non obice Pindiservati Dryopes nec nubifer Actia texit185litora Leucates; ipsae, quae durius olimrestiterant Medis, primo conamine ruptae[139]from the Roman camp, put to rout the unwarlike eagles defeated with shameful carnage by a band of slaves? We, unused to war’s alarms, an age enervated with luxury, grumble and give up in despair if a ploughing ox is looted or our harvest so much as touched. It was no slaves’ prison that loosed on us the Getic hordes; these were not a crowd of rebellious gladiators. Thrace, Haemus and Moesia can tell you what manner of foe Stilicho expelled. Thrice ten times has chill winter cast her snowy mantle over leafless Haemus; as oft has spring, when those snows were melted, renewed the mountain’s verdant cloak since the Getic race, forgetful of its native stars and once having crossed the Danube, set destructive foot on Thracian soil. Whether fate led them or the heavy anger of the gods planning disaster upon disaster, from that day, whithersoever the Furies have driven those errant bands, they have poured pell-mell over remote lands, over every obstacle, like a storm of hail or a pestilence. No streams or rocks availed to defend their country. Neither Rhodope nor huge Athos nor Hebrus could save Thrace; the Bessi cursed the Strymon crossed with scornful ease and the Haliacmon that flowed swiftly and to no purpose. The Macedonians in amaze saw Olympus, too high even for clouds, trodden by them as it had been a plain. Thessaly bewails the uselessness of Tempe and conquered Oeta’s ridges made a mock. Sperchius and Enipeus, loved of maidens, served to wash the barbarians’ hair. The barrier of Pindus could not save the Dryopes nor cloud-capped Leucates the coasts of Actium. Thermopylae itself that had once more boldly withstood the Persians yielded a passage

[138]

fuderit imbelles aquilas servilibus armis?nos terrorum expers et luxu mollior aetas160deficimus queruli, si bos abductus aratro,si libata seges. non hanc ergastula nobisinmisere manum nec coniurantis harenaeturba fuit; qualem Stilicho deiecerit hostem,Thraces et Haemonii poterunt Moesique fateri.165Frigida ter decies nudatum frondibus Haemumtendit hiems vestire gelu totiensque solutisver nivibus viridem monti reparavit amictum,ex quo iam patrios gens haec oblita Trionesatque Histrum transvecta semel vestigia fixit170Threicio funesta solo. seu fata vocabantseu gravis ira deum, seriem meditata ruinis,ex illo, quocumque vagos impegit Erinys,grandinis aut morbi ritu per devia rerum,praecipites per clausa ruunt, nec contigit ullis175amnibus aut scopulis proprias defendere terras.nil Rhodope, nil vastus Athos, nil profuit HebrusOdrysiis; facili contemptum Strymona saltuet frustra rapidum damnant Haliacmona Bessi.nubibus intactum Macedo miratur Olympum180more pererratum campi; gemit inrita TempeThessalus et domitis inrisam cautibus Oeten.Sperchiusque et virginibus dilectus Enipeusbarbaricas lavere comas. non obice Pindiservati Dryopes nec nubifer Actia texit185litora Leucates; ipsae, quae durius olimrestiterant Medis, primo conamine ruptae

fuderit imbelles aquilas servilibus armis?

nos terrorum expers et luxu mollior aetas160

deficimus queruli, si bos abductus aratro,

si libata seges. non hanc ergastula nobis

inmisere manum nec coniurantis harenae

turba fuit; qualem Stilicho deiecerit hostem,

Thraces et Haemonii poterunt Moesique fateri.165

Frigida ter decies nudatum frondibus Haemum

tendit hiems vestire gelu totiensque solutis

ver nivibus viridem monti reparavit amictum,

ex quo iam patrios gens haec oblita Triones

atque Histrum transvecta semel vestigia fixit170

Threicio funesta solo. seu fata vocabant

seu gravis ira deum, seriem meditata ruinis,

ex illo, quocumque vagos impegit Erinys,

grandinis aut morbi ritu per devia rerum,

praecipites per clausa ruunt, nec contigit ullis175

amnibus aut scopulis proprias defendere terras.

nil Rhodope, nil vastus Athos, nil profuit Hebrus

Odrysiis; facili contemptum Strymona saltu

et frustra rapidum damnant Haliacmona Bessi.

nubibus intactum Macedo miratur Olympum180

more pererratum campi; gemit inrita Tempe

Thessalus et domitis inrisam cautibus Oeten.

Sperchiusque et virginibus dilectus Enipeus

barbaricas lavere comas. non obice Pindi

servati Dryopes nec nubifer Actia texit185

litora Leucates; ipsae, quae durius olim

restiterant Medis, primo conamine ruptae

[139]from the Roman camp, put to rout the unwarlike eagles defeated with shameful carnage by a band of slaves? We, unused to war’s alarms, an age enervated with luxury, grumble and give up in despair if a ploughing ox is looted or our harvest so much as touched. It was no slaves’ prison that loosed on us the Getic hordes; these were not a crowd of rebellious gladiators. Thrace, Haemus and Moesia can tell you what manner of foe Stilicho expelled. Thrice ten times has chill winter cast her snowy mantle over leafless Haemus; as oft has spring, when those snows were melted, renewed the mountain’s verdant cloak since the Getic race, forgetful of its native stars and once having crossed the Danube, set destructive foot on Thracian soil. Whether fate led them or the heavy anger of the gods planning disaster upon disaster, from that day, whithersoever the Furies have driven those errant bands, they have poured pell-mell over remote lands, over every obstacle, like a storm of hail or a pestilence. No streams or rocks availed to defend their country. Neither Rhodope nor huge Athos nor Hebrus could save Thrace; the Bessi cursed the Strymon crossed with scornful ease and the Haliacmon that flowed swiftly and to no purpose. The Macedonians in amaze saw Olympus, too high even for clouds, trodden by them as it had been a plain. Thessaly bewails the uselessness of Tempe and conquered Oeta’s ridges made a mock. Sperchius and Enipeus, loved of maidens, served to wash the barbarians’ hair. The barrier of Pindus could not save the Dryopes nor cloud-capped Leucates the coasts of Actium. Thermopylae itself that had once more boldly withstood the Persians yielded a passage

[139]

from the Roman camp, put to rout the unwarlike eagles defeated with shameful carnage by a band of slaves? We, unused to war’s alarms, an age enervated with luxury, grumble and give up in despair if a ploughing ox is looted or our harvest so much as touched. It was no slaves’ prison that loosed on us the Getic hordes; these were not a crowd of rebellious gladiators. Thrace, Haemus and Moesia can tell you what manner of foe Stilicho expelled. Thrice ten times has chill winter cast her snowy mantle over leafless Haemus; as oft has spring, when those snows were melted, renewed the mountain’s verdant cloak since the Getic race, forgetful of its native stars and once having crossed the Danube, set destructive foot on Thracian soil. Whether fate led them or the heavy anger of the gods planning disaster upon disaster, from that day, whithersoever the Furies have driven those errant bands, they have poured pell-mell over remote lands, over every obstacle, like a storm of hail or a pestilence. No streams or rocks availed to defend their country. Neither Rhodope nor huge Athos nor Hebrus could save Thrace; the Bessi cursed the Strymon crossed with scornful ease and the Haliacmon that flowed swiftly and to no purpose. The Macedonians in amaze saw Olympus, too high even for clouds, trodden by them as it had been a plain. Thessaly bewails the uselessness of Tempe and conquered Oeta’s ridges made a mock. Sperchius and Enipeus, loved of maidens, served to wash the barbarians’ hair. The barrier of Pindus could not save the Dryopes nor cloud-capped Leucates the coasts of Actium. Thermopylae itself that had once more boldly withstood the Persians yielded a passage

[140]Thermopylae; vallata mari Scironia rupeset duo continuo conectens aequora muroIsthmos et angusti patuerunt claustra Lechaei:190nec tibi Parrhasios licuit munire colonosfrondosis, Erymanthe, iugis, equitataque summiculmina Taygeti trepidae vidistis Amyclae.Tandem supplicium cunctis pro montibus Alpesexegere Getas; tandem tot flumina victor195vindicat Eridanus. docuit nunc exitus altefatorum secreta regi. quisquamne reclusisAlpibus ulterius Latii fore credidit umbram?nonne velut capta rumor miserabilis urbetrans freta, trans Gallos Pyrenaeumque cucurrit?200Famaque nigrantes succincta pavoribus alassecum cuncta trahens a Gadibus usque Britannumterruit Oceanum et nostro procul axe remotaminsolito belli tremefecit murmure Thylen?Mandemusne Noti flabris quoscumque timores205pertulimus, festae doleant ne tristibus aures?an potius meminisse iuvat semperque vicissimgaudia praemissi cumulant inopina dolores?utque sub occidua iactatis Pleiade nautiscommendat placidum maris inclementia portum,210sic mihi tunc maior Stilicho, cum laeta periclismetior atque illi redeunt in corda tumultus.Nonne videbantur, quamvis adamante rigentes,turribus invalidis fragiles procumbere muriferrataeque Getis ultro se pandere portae?215[141]at the first onset. Sciron’s cliffs protected by the waves, the wall that joins sea to sea across the Isthmus of Corinth, the narrow pass of Lechaeum, all lay open to their approach. Thou, Erymanthus, couldst not protect the people of Arcadia with thy leafy ridges and thou, Amyclae, didst tremble to see the enemy’s cavalry on the heights of Taygetus.At last, however, the Alps avenged on the Getae the disgrace of all mountains else and victorious Eridanus that of all other rivers. The event has proved that deep hidden are the ways of destiny. Who would have believed that, once a passage had been forced over the Alps, so much as the shadow of Italy’s name would survive? Did not the awful report of Rome’s fall cross the sea and spread beyond Gaul and over the Pyrenees? Did not Rumour, her sable wing sped on with panic, sweeping all before her in her flight, affright Ocean from Britain’s coast to Gades’ city and far away from our world make distant Thule tremble with the unaccustomed echoes of war?And shall we fling to the South-wind’s blasts all the terrors we endured, lest mid feasting sadness trouble our ears? Or rather does such memory delight and does precursive pain ever changefully heighten unexpected joy? Even as to sailors storm-tossed at the Pleiads’ setting the rudeness of the sea commends the harbour’s calm, so to me does Stilicho appear greater when I compare happiness with hazard and all those troubles come again before my mind.Did not our steel-girt walls seem to fall at the enemy’s attack, feeble as the towers that crowned them, and our doors of iron to open of their own accord to give him entry? It seemed as though

[140]

Thermopylae; vallata mari Scironia rupeset duo continuo conectens aequora muroIsthmos et angusti patuerunt claustra Lechaei:190nec tibi Parrhasios licuit munire colonosfrondosis, Erymanthe, iugis, equitataque summiculmina Taygeti trepidae vidistis Amyclae.Tandem supplicium cunctis pro montibus Alpesexegere Getas; tandem tot flumina victor195vindicat Eridanus. docuit nunc exitus altefatorum secreta regi. quisquamne reclusisAlpibus ulterius Latii fore credidit umbram?nonne velut capta rumor miserabilis urbetrans freta, trans Gallos Pyrenaeumque cucurrit?200Famaque nigrantes succincta pavoribus alassecum cuncta trahens a Gadibus usque Britannumterruit Oceanum et nostro procul axe remotaminsolito belli tremefecit murmure Thylen?Mandemusne Noti flabris quoscumque timores205pertulimus, festae doleant ne tristibus aures?an potius meminisse iuvat semperque vicissimgaudia praemissi cumulant inopina dolores?utque sub occidua iactatis Pleiade nautiscommendat placidum maris inclementia portum,210sic mihi tunc maior Stilicho, cum laeta periclismetior atque illi redeunt in corda tumultus.Nonne videbantur, quamvis adamante rigentes,turribus invalidis fragiles procumbere muriferrataeque Getis ultro se pandere portae?215

Thermopylae; vallata mari Scironia rupes

et duo continuo conectens aequora muro

Isthmos et angusti patuerunt claustra Lechaei:190

nec tibi Parrhasios licuit munire colonos

frondosis, Erymanthe, iugis, equitataque summi

culmina Taygeti trepidae vidistis Amyclae.

Tandem supplicium cunctis pro montibus Alpes

exegere Getas; tandem tot flumina victor195

vindicat Eridanus. docuit nunc exitus alte

fatorum secreta regi. quisquamne reclusis

Alpibus ulterius Latii fore credidit umbram?

nonne velut capta rumor miserabilis urbe

trans freta, trans Gallos Pyrenaeumque cucurrit?200

Famaque nigrantes succincta pavoribus alas

secum cuncta trahens a Gadibus usque Britannum

terruit Oceanum et nostro procul axe remotam

insolito belli tremefecit murmure Thylen?

Mandemusne Noti flabris quoscumque timores205

pertulimus, festae doleant ne tristibus aures?

an potius meminisse iuvat semperque vicissim

gaudia praemissi cumulant inopina dolores?

utque sub occidua iactatis Pleiade nautis

commendat placidum maris inclementia portum,210

sic mihi tunc maior Stilicho, cum laeta periclis

metior atque illi redeunt in corda tumultus.

Nonne videbantur, quamvis adamante rigentes,

turribus invalidis fragiles procumbere muri

ferrataeque Getis ultro se pandere portae?215

[141]at the first onset. Sciron’s cliffs protected by the waves, the wall that joins sea to sea across the Isthmus of Corinth, the narrow pass of Lechaeum, all lay open to their approach. Thou, Erymanthus, couldst not protect the people of Arcadia with thy leafy ridges and thou, Amyclae, didst tremble to see the enemy’s cavalry on the heights of Taygetus.At last, however, the Alps avenged on the Getae the disgrace of all mountains else and victorious Eridanus that of all other rivers. The event has proved that deep hidden are the ways of destiny. Who would have believed that, once a passage had been forced over the Alps, so much as the shadow of Italy’s name would survive? Did not the awful report of Rome’s fall cross the sea and spread beyond Gaul and over the Pyrenees? Did not Rumour, her sable wing sped on with panic, sweeping all before her in her flight, affright Ocean from Britain’s coast to Gades’ city and far away from our world make distant Thule tremble with the unaccustomed echoes of war?And shall we fling to the South-wind’s blasts all the terrors we endured, lest mid feasting sadness trouble our ears? Or rather does such memory delight and does precursive pain ever changefully heighten unexpected joy? Even as to sailors storm-tossed at the Pleiads’ setting the rudeness of the sea commends the harbour’s calm, so to me does Stilicho appear greater when I compare happiness with hazard and all those troubles come again before my mind.Did not our steel-girt walls seem to fall at the enemy’s attack, feeble as the towers that crowned them, and our doors of iron to open of their own accord to give him entry? It seemed as though

[141]

at the first onset. Sciron’s cliffs protected by the waves, the wall that joins sea to sea across the Isthmus of Corinth, the narrow pass of Lechaeum, all lay open to their approach. Thou, Erymanthus, couldst not protect the people of Arcadia with thy leafy ridges and thou, Amyclae, didst tremble to see the enemy’s cavalry on the heights of Taygetus.

At last, however, the Alps avenged on the Getae the disgrace of all mountains else and victorious Eridanus that of all other rivers. The event has proved that deep hidden are the ways of destiny. Who would have believed that, once a passage had been forced over the Alps, so much as the shadow of Italy’s name would survive? Did not the awful report of Rome’s fall cross the sea and spread beyond Gaul and over the Pyrenees? Did not Rumour, her sable wing sped on with panic, sweeping all before her in her flight, affright Ocean from Britain’s coast to Gades’ city and far away from our world make distant Thule tremble with the unaccustomed echoes of war?

And shall we fling to the South-wind’s blasts all the terrors we endured, lest mid feasting sadness trouble our ears? Or rather does such memory delight and does precursive pain ever changefully heighten unexpected joy? Even as to sailors storm-tossed at the Pleiads’ setting the rudeness of the sea commends the harbour’s calm, so to me does Stilicho appear greater when I compare happiness with hazard and all those troubles come again before my mind.

Did not our steel-girt walls seem to fall at the enemy’s attack, feeble as the towers that crowned them, and our doors of iron to open of their own accord to give him entry? It seemed as though

[142]nec vallum densaeque sudes arcere volantescornipedum saltus? iamiam conscendere puppesSardoniosque habitare sinus et inhospita Cyrnisaxa parant vitamque freto spumante tueri.ipsa etiam diffisa brevi Trinacria ponto,220si rerum natura sinat, discedere longeoptat et Ionium refugo laxare Peloro.fultaque despiciens auro laquearia divestutior Aeoliis mallet vixisse cavernis;iamque oneri creduntur opes tandemque libido225haesit avaritiae gravioribus obruta curis.utque est ingenioque loquax et plurima fingipermittens credique timor, tunc somnia vulgonarrari, tunc monstra deum monitusque sinistri:quid meditentur aves, quid cum mortalibus aetherfulmineo velit igne loqui, quid carmine poscat231fatidico custos Romani carbasus aevi.territat adsiduus lunae labor atraque Phoebenoctibus aerisonas crebris ululata per urbes.nec credunt vetito fraudatam Sole sororem235telluris subeunte globo, sed castra secutasbarbara Thessalidas patriis lunare venenisincestare iubar. tunc anni signa prioriset si quod fortasse quies neglexerat omen,addit cura novis: lapidosos grandinis ictus240molitasque examen apes passimque crematas[143]no rampart nor palisade were stout enough to withstand his cavalry’s wind-swift onset. Even now they[50]make ready to go aboard their ships, to dwell in Sardinia’s creeks and Corsica’s rocky, inhospitable coast, and to guard their lives behind the foaming main. Sicily herself, mistrusting the narrow strait, would fain retreat, did but Nature permit, and open a wider passage for the Ionian waves by withdrawing Pelorus. The rich, setting no store by their fretted golden ceilings, would rather have lived in greater security in an Aeolian cave. Soon, too, wealth was considered a burden, and greed of gain was curbed at last by reason of anxieties more overwhelming. Then—for that fear is by nature a babbler and allows all sorts of tales to be invented and believed—dreams, portents, and omens of ill were discussed on all sides. What, men asked, did that flight of birds portend, what message would heaven fain deliver to mortals by the thunderbolt, what did those prophetic books demand that guard the destiny of Rome? Constant eclipses of the moon alarmed us and night after night throughout the cities of Italy sounded wailings and the beating of brazen gongs to scare the shadow from off her darkened face. Men would not believe that the moon had been defrauded of her brother the sun, forbidden to give light by the interposition of the earth; they thought that Thessalian witches, accompanying the barbarian armies, were darkening her rays with their country’s magic spells. Then with these new portents their troubled minds link the signs of the past year and any omens that perchance peaceful days had neglected—showers of stones, bees swarming in strange places, furious[50]i.e.the inhabitants of Italy.

[142]

nec vallum densaeque sudes arcere volantescornipedum saltus? iamiam conscendere puppesSardoniosque habitare sinus et inhospita Cyrnisaxa parant vitamque freto spumante tueri.ipsa etiam diffisa brevi Trinacria ponto,220si rerum natura sinat, discedere longeoptat et Ionium refugo laxare Peloro.fultaque despiciens auro laquearia divestutior Aeoliis mallet vixisse cavernis;iamque oneri creduntur opes tandemque libido225haesit avaritiae gravioribus obruta curis.utque est ingenioque loquax et plurima fingipermittens credique timor, tunc somnia vulgonarrari, tunc monstra deum monitusque sinistri:quid meditentur aves, quid cum mortalibus aetherfulmineo velit igne loqui, quid carmine poscat231fatidico custos Romani carbasus aevi.territat adsiduus lunae labor atraque Phoebenoctibus aerisonas crebris ululata per urbes.nec credunt vetito fraudatam Sole sororem235telluris subeunte globo, sed castra secutasbarbara Thessalidas patriis lunare venenisincestare iubar. tunc anni signa prioriset si quod fortasse quies neglexerat omen,addit cura novis: lapidosos grandinis ictus240molitasque examen apes passimque crematas

nec vallum densaeque sudes arcere volantes

cornipedum saltus? iamiam conscendere puppes

Sardoniosque habitare sinus et inhospita Cyrni

saxa parant vitamque freto spumante tueri.

ipsa etiam diffisa brevi Trinacria ponto,220

si rerum natura sinat, discedere longe

optat et Ionium refugo laxare Peloro.

fultaque despiciens auro laquearia dives

tutior Aeoliis mallet vixisse cavernis;

iamque oneri creduntur opes tandemque libido225

haesit avaritiae gravioribus obruta curis.

utque est ingenioque loquax et plurima fingi

permittens credique timor, tunc somnia vulgo

narrari, tunc monstra deum monitusque sinistri:

quid meditentur aves, quid cum mortalibus aether

fulmineo velit igne loqui, quid carmine poscat231

fatidico custos Romani carbasus aevi.

territat adsiduus lunae labor atraque Phoebe

noctibus aerisonas crebris ululata per urbes.

nec credunt vetito fraudatam Sole sororem235

telluris subeunte globo, sed castra secutas

barbara Thessalidas patriis lunare venenis

incestare iubar. tunc anni signa prioris

et si quod fortasse quies neglexerat omen,

addit cura novis: lapidosos grandinis ictus240

molitasque examen apes passimque crematas

[143]no rampart nor palisade were stout enough to withstand his cavalry’s wind-swift onset. Even now they[50]make ready to go aboard their ships, to dwell in Sardinia’s creeks and Corsica’s rocky, inhospitable coast, and to guard their lives behind the foaming main. Sicily herself, mistrusting the narrow strait, would fain retreat, did but Nature permit, and open a wider passage for the Ionian waves by withdrawing Pelorus. The rich, setting no store by their fretted golden ceilings, would rather have lived in greater security in an Aeolian cave. Soon, too, wealth was considered a burden, and greed of gain was curbed at last by reason of anxieties more overwhelming. Then—for that fear is by nature a babbler and allows all sorts of tales to be invented and believed—dreams, portents, and omens of ill were discussed on all sides. What, men asked, did that flight of birds portend, what message would heaven fain deliver to mortals by the thunderbolt, what did those prophetic books demand that guard the destiny of Rome? Constant eclipses of the moon alarmed us and night after night throughout the cities of Italy sounded wailings and the beating of brazen gongs to scare the shadow from off her darkened face. Men would not believe that the moon had been defrauded of her brother the sun, forbidden to give light by the interposition of the earth; they thought that Thessalian witches, accompanying the barbarian armies, were darkening her rays with their country’s magic spells. Then with these new portents their troubled minds link the signs of the past year and any omens that perchance peaceful days had neglected—showers of stones, bees swarming in strange places, furious[50]i.e.the inhabitants of Italy.

[143]

no rampart nor palisade were stout enough to withstand his cavalry’s wind-swift onset. Even now they[50]make ready to go aboard their ships, to dwell in Sardinia’s creeks and Corsica’s rocky, inhospitable coast, and to guard their lives behind the foaming main. Sicily herself, mistrusting the narrow strait, would fain retreat, did but Nature permit, and open a wider passage for the Ionian waves by withdrawing Pelorus. The rich, setting no store by their fretted golden ceilings, would rather have lived in greater security in an Aeolian cave. Soon, too, wealth was considered a burden, and greed of gain was curbed at last by reason of anxieties more overwhelming. Then—for that fear is by nature a babbler and allows all sorts of tales to be invented and believed—dreams, portents, and omens of ill were discussed on all sides. What, men asked, did that flight of birds portend, what message would heaven fain deliver to mortals by the thunderbolt, what did those prophetic books demand that guard the destiny of Rome? Constant eclipses of the moon alarmed us and night after night throughout the cities of Italy sounded wailings and the beating of brazen gongs to scare the shadow from off her darkened face. Men would not believe that the moon had been defrauded of her brother the sun, forbidden to give light by the interposition of the earth; they thought that Thessalian witches, accompanying the barbarian armies, were darkening her rays with their country’s magic spells. Then with these new portents their troubled minds link the signs of the past year and any omens that perchance peaceful days had neglected—showers of stones, bees swarming in strange places, furious

[50]i.e.the inhabitants of Italy.

[144]perbacchata domos nullis incendia causiset numquam caelo spectatum impune cometem,qui primum roseo Phoebi prolatus ab ortu,qua micat astrigera senior cum coniuge Cepheus;245inde Lycaoniam paulatim expulsus ad Arctoncrine vago Getici foedavit sidera Plaustri,donec in exiguum moriens vanesceret ignem.Sed gravius mentes caesorum ostenta luporumhorrificant. duo quippe lupi sub principis ora,250dum campis exercet equos, violenter adortiagmen et excepti telis inmane relatuprodigium miramque notam duxere futuri.nam simul humano geminas de corpore palmasutraque perfossis emisit belua costis:255illo laeva tremens, hoc dextera ventre latebatintentis ambae digitis et sanguine vivo.scrutari si vera velis, fera nuntia Martisora sub Augusti casurum prodidit hostem,utque manus utero virides patuere retecto,260Romula post ruptas virtus sic emicat Alpes.sed malus interpres rerum metus omne trahebataugurium peiore via, truncataque membranutricemque lupam Romae regnoque minari.tunc reputant annos interceptoque volatu265vulturis incidunt properatis saecula metis.Solus erat Stilicho, qui desperantibus augursponderet meliora manu, dubiaeque salutis[145]fires destroying houses from no known cause, a comet—ne’er seen in heaven without disaster—which first rose where Phoebus lifts his rosy morning beam and old Cepheus shines together with starry Andromeda, his spouse; then it withdrew little by little to the constellation of Lycaon’s daughter[51]and with its errant tail dimmed the stars of the Getic Wain until at last its dying fires grew feeble and vanished.But what terrified men’s minds still more was the portent of the two slaughtered wolves. Ay, before the Emperor’s face as he practised his cavalry upon the plain two wolves savagely attacked his escort. Slain by darts they disclosed a horrid portent and a wondrous sign of what was to be. In each animal, on its being cut open, was found a human hand, in the stomach of one a left hand, in that of the other a right was discovered, both still twitching, the fingers stretched out and suffused with living blood. Wouldest thou search out the truth, the beast as messenger of Mars foretold that the foe would fall before the emperor’s eyes. As the hands were found to be living when the stomachs were cut open, so, when the Alps had been broken through, the might of Rome was to be discovered unimpaired. But fear, ever a poor interpreter, read disaster in the portent; severed hands, ’twas said, and nursing wolf threatened destruction on Rome and her empire. Then they reckoned up the years and, cutting off the flight of the twelfth vulture, tried to shorten the centuries of Rome’s existence by hastening the end.[52]’Twas Stilicho alone who by his courage assured despairing Rome the promise of a better fate; at[51]i.e.The Great Bear.[52]The twelve vultures seen by Romulus (Livy i. 7. 1) were interpreted as twelve centuries of Roman power. Taking the traditional date of the founding of the city (754B.C.) more than eleven centuries had already passed.

[144]

perbacchata domos nullis incendia causiset numquam caelo spectatum impune cometem,qui primum roseo Phoebi prolatus ab ortu,qua micat astrigera senior cum coniuge Cepheus;245inde Lycaoniam paulatim expulsus ad Arctoncrine vago Getici foedavit sidera Plaustri,donec in exiguum moriens vanesceret ignem.Sed gravius mentes caesorum ostenta luporumhorrificant. duo quippe lupi sub principis ora,250dum campis exercet equos, violenter adortiagmen et excepti telis inmane relatuprodigium miramque notam duxere futuri.nam simul humano geminas de corpore palmasutraque perfossis emisit belua costis:255illo laeva tremens, hoc dextera ventre latebatintentis ambae digitis et sanguine vivo.scrutari si vera velis, fera nuntia Martisora sub Augusti casurum prodidit hostem,utque manus utero virides patuere retecto,260Romula post ruptas virtus sic emicat Alpes.sed malus interpres rerum metus omne trahebataugurium peiore via, truncataque membranutricemque lupam Romae regnoque minari.tunc reputant annos interceptoque volatu265vulturis incidunt properatis saecula metis.Solus erat Stilicho, qui desperantibus augursponderet meliora manu, dubiaeque salutis

perbacchata domos nullis incendia causis

et numquam caelo spectatum impune cometem,

qui primum roseo Phoebi prolatus ab ortu,

qua micat astrigera senior cum coniuge Cepheus;245

inde Lycaoniam paulatim expulsus ad Arcton

crine vago Getici foedavit sidera Plaustri,

donec in exiguum moriens vanesceret ignem.

Sed gravius mentes caesorum ostenta luporum

horrificant. duo quippe lupi sub principis ora,250

dum campis exercet equos, violenter adorti

agmen et excepti telis inmane relatu

prodigium miramque notam duxere futuri.

nam simul humano geminas de corpore palmas

utraque perfossis emisit belua costis:255

illo laeva tremens, hoc dextera ventre latebat

intentis ambae digitis et sanguine vivo.

scrutari si vera velis, fera nuntia Martis

ora sub Augusti casurum prodidit hostem,

utque manus utero virides patuere retecto,260

Romula post ruptas virtus sic emicat Alpes.

sed malus interpres rerum metus omne trahebat

augurium peiore via, truncataque membra

nutricemque lupam Romae regnoque minari.

tunc reputant annos interceptoque volatu265

vulturis incidunt properatis saecula metis.

Solus erat Stilicho, qui desperantibus augur

sponderet meliora manu, dubiaeque salutis

[145]fires destroying houses from no known cause, a comet—ne’er seen in heaven without disaster—which first rose where Phoebus lifts his rosy morning beam and old Cepheus shines together with starry Andromeda, his spouse; then it withdrew little by little to the constellation of Lycaon’s daughter[51]and with its errant tail dimmed the stars of the Getic Wain until at last its dying fires grew feeble and vanished.But what terrified men’s minds still more was the portent of the two slaughtered wolves. Ay, before the Emperor’s face as he practised his cavalry upon the plain two wolves savagely attacked his escort. Slain by darts they disclosed a horrid portent and a wondrous sign of what was to be. In each animal, on its being cut open, was found a human hand, in the stomach of one a left hand, in that of the other a right was discovered, both still twitching, the fingers stretched out and suffused with living blood. Wouldest thou search out the truth, the beast as messenger of Mars foretold that the foe would fall before the emperor’s eyes. As the hands were found to be living when the stomachs were cut open, so, when the Alps had been broken through, the might of Rome was to be discovered unimpaired. But fear, ever a poor interpreter, read disaster in the portent; severed hands, ’twas said, and nursing wolf threatened destruction on Rome and her empire. Then they reckoned up the years and, cutting off the flight of the twelfth vulture, tried to shorten the centuries of Rome’s existence by hastening the end.[52]’Twas Stilicho alone who by his courage assured despairing Rome the promise of a better fate; at[51]i.e.The Great Bear.[52]The twelve vultures seen by Romulus (Livy i. 7. 1) were interpreted as twelve centuries of Roman power. Taking the traditional date of the founding of the city (754B.C.) more than eleven centuries had already passed.

[145]

fires destroying houses from no known cause, a comet—ne’er seen in heaven without disaster—which first rose where Phoebus lifts his rosy morning beam and old Cepheus shines together with starry Andromeda, his spouse; then it withdrew little by little to the constellation of Lycaon’s daughter[51]and with its errant tail dimmed the stars of the Getic Wain until at last its dying fires grew feeble and vanished.

But what terrified men’s minds still more was the portent of the two slaughtered wolves. Ay, before the Emperor’s face as he practised his cavalry upon the plain two wolves savagely attacked his escort. Slain by darts they disclosed a horrid portent and a wondrous sign of what was to be. In each animal, on its being cut open, was found a human hand, in the stomach of one a left hand, in that of the other a right was discovered, both still twitching, the fingers stretched out and suffused with living blood. Wouldest thou search out the truth, the beast as messenger of Mars foretold that the foe would fall before the emperor’s eyes. As the hands were found to be living when the stomachs were cut open, so, when the Alps had been broken through, the might of Rome was to be discovered unimpaired. But fear, ever a poor interpreter, read disaster in the portent; severed hands, ’twas said, and nursing wolf threatened destruction on Rome and her empire. Then they reckoned up the years and, cutting off the flight of the twelfth vulture, tried to shorten the centuries of Rome’s existence by hastening the end.[52]

’Twas Stilicho alone who by his courage assured despairing Rome the promise of a better fate; at

[51]i.e.The Great Bear.

[52]The twelve vultures seen by Romulus (Livy i. 7. 1) were interpreted as twelve centuries of Roman power. Taking the traditional date of the founding of the city (754B.C.) more than eleven centuries had already passed.

[146]dux idem vatesque fuit. “durate parumper”inquit “et excussis muliebribus ore querellis270fatorum toleremus onus. nil nautica prosuntturbatae lamenta rati nec segnibus undaeplanctibus aut vanis mitescunt flamina votis.nunc instare manu, toto nunc robore niticommuni pro luce decet: succurrere velis,275exhaurire fretum, varios aptare rudentesomnibus et docti iussis parere magistri.non, si perfidia nacti penetrabile tempusinrupere Getae, nostras dum Raetia viresoccupat atque alio desudant Marte cohortes,280idcirco spes omnis abit. mirabile possetesse mihi, si fraude nova vel calle repertobarbarus ignotas invaderet inscius Alpes;nunc vero geminis clades repetita tyrannisfamosum vulgavit iter nec nota fefellit285semita praestructum bellis civilibus hostem.per solitas venere vias, aditusque sequendosbarbarico Romana dedit discordia bello.“Sed nec praeteritis haec res incognita saeclis:saepe lacessitam, sed non impune, fatemur290Ausoniam. haec Senonum restinxit sanguine flammas,haec et Teutonico quondam patefacta furoricolla catenati vidit squalentia Cimbri.vile decus, quod non erexit praevius horror;ingentes generant discrimina magna triumphos.295“Quid turpes iam mente fugas, quid Gallica rura[147]this crisis he showed himself by his courage at once general and seer. “A little patience,” said he; “away with womanly repinings: let us bear with fortitude whatever fate lays upon us. What good do the sailors’ cries do to the storm-driven vessel? Neither waves nor winds will abate their fury for coward tears or useless prayer. Now for the general safety it befits us to use every effort, to struggle with all our strength—to attend to the sails, work the pumps, manage the various ropes, and obey every order of the skilful captain. Because the Getae have broken through, seizing by treachery the hour for striking home, what time Raetia claimed our attention and our regiments were busied with another war—not for that is all hope lost. Marvel indeed I might, if by some new guile, some discovered path, the barbarian ignorantly marched over the unexplored Alps; now, however, the successive defeats of the two tyrants[53]have made the road notorious, nor has the foeman missed the well-known track that was built for him by our civil strife. They have come a well-known way and Roman discord has opened the approach to barbaric war.“Past generations have known a like fate. Full often, we know, has Italy been attacked—but never without the enemy’s paying dear. With their own blood did our country extinguish the fires lit by the Senones and, once the victim of a German invasion, she soon saw the squalid necks of Teutons and Cimbri loaded with the chains of captivity. Of little value is that glory whose worth has not been augmented by previous hardship; ’tis great dangers that beget great triumphs.“Do you meditate shameful flight and fix your[53]Maximus and Eugenius.

[146]

dux idem vatesque fuit. “durate parumper”inquit “et excussis muliebribus ore querellis270fatorum toleremus onus. nil nautica prosuntturbatae lamenta rati nec segnibus undaeplanctibus aut vanis mitescunt flamina votis.nunc instare manu, toto nunc robore niticommuni pro luce decet: succurrere velis,275exhaurire fretum, varios aptare rudentesomnibus et docti iussis parere magistri.non, si perfidia nacti penetrabile tempusinrupere Getae, nostras dum Raetia viresoccupat atque alio desudant Marte cohortes,280idcirco spes omnis abit. mirabile possetesse mihi, si fraude nova vel calle repertobarbarus ignotas invaderet inscius Alpes;nunc vero geminis clades repetita tyrannisfamosum vulgavit iter nec nota fefellit285semita praestructum bellis civilibus hostem.per solitas venere vias, aditusque sequendosbarbarico Romana dedit discordia bello.“Sed nec praeteritis haec res incognita saeclis:saepe lacessitam, sed non impune, fatemur290Ausoniam. haec Senonum restinxit sanguine flammas,haec et Teutonico quondam patefacta furoricolla catenati vidit squalentia Cimbri.vile decus, quod non erexit praevius horror;ingentes generant discrimina magna triumphos.295“Quid turpes iam mente fugas, quid Gallica rura

dux idem vatesque fuit. “durate parumper”

inquit “et excussis muliebribus ore querellis270

fatorum toleremus onus. nil nautica prosunt

turbatae lamenta rati nec segnibus undae

planctibus aut vanis mitescunt flamina votis.

nunc instare manu, toto nunc robore niti

communi pro luce decet: succurrere velis,275

exhaurire fretum, varios aptare rudentes

omnibus et docti iussis parere magistri.

non, si perfidia nacti penetrabile tempus

inrupere Getae, nostras dum Raetia vires

occupat atque alio desudant Marte cohortes,280

idcirco spes omnis abit. mirabile posset

esse mihi, si fraude nova vel calle reperto

barbarus ignotas invaderet inscius Alpes;

nunc vero geminis clades repetita tyrannis

famosum vulgavit iter nec nota fefellit285

semita praestructum bellis civilibus hostem.

per solitas venere vias, aditusque sequendos

barbarico Romana dedit discordia bello.

“Sed nec praeteritis haec res incognita saeclis:

saepe lacessitam, sed non impune, fatemur290

Ausoniam. haec Senonum restinxit sanguine flammas,

haec et Teutonico quondam patefacta furori

colla catenati vidit squalentia Cimbri.

vile decus, quod non erexit praevius horror;

ingentes generant discrimina magna triumphos.295

“Quid turpes iam mente fugas, quid Gallica rura

[147]this crisis he showed himself by his courage at once general and seer. “A little patience,” said he; “away with womanly repinings: let us bear with fortitude whatever fate lays upon us. What good do the sailors’ cries do to the storm-driven vessel? Neither waves nor winds will abate their fury for coward tears or useless prayer. Now for the general safety it befits us to use every effort, to struggle with all our strength—to attend to the sails, work the pumps, manage the various ropes, and obey every order of the skilful captain. Because the Getae have broken through, seizing by treachery the hour for striking home, what time Raetia claimed our attention and our regiments were busied with another war—not for that is all hope lost. Marvel indeed I might, if by some new guile, some discovered path, the barbarian ignorantly marched over the unexplored Alps; now, however, the successive defeats of the two tyrants[53]have made the road notorious, nor has the foeman missed the well-known track that was built for him by our civil strife. They have come a well-known way and Roman discord has opened the approach to barbaric war.“Past generations have known a like fate. Full often, we know, has Italy been attacked—but never without the enemy’s paying dear. With their own blood did our country extinguish the fires lit by the Senones and, once the victim of a German invasion, she soon saw the squalid necks of Teutons and Cimbri loaded with the chains of captivity. Of little value is that glory whose worth has not been augmented by previous hardship; ’tis great dangers that beget great triumphs.“Do you meditate shameful flight and fix your[53]Maximus and Eugenius.

[147]

this crisis he showed himself by his courage at once general and seer. “A little patience,” said he; “away with womanly repinings: let us bear with fortitude whatever fate lays upon us. What good do the sailors’ cries do to the storm-driven vessel? Neither waves nor winds will abate their fury for coward tears or useless prayer. Now for the general safety it befits us to use every effort, to struggle with all our strength—to attend to the sails, work the pumps, manage the various ropes, and obey every order of the skilful captain. Because the Getae have broken through, seizing by treachery the hour for striking home, what time Raetia claimed our attention and our regiments were busied with another war—not for that is all hope lost. Marvel indeed I might, if by some new guile, some discovered path, the barbarian ignorantly marched over the unexplored Alps; now, however, the successive defeats of the two tyrants[53]have made the road notorious, nor has the foeman missed the well-known track that was built for him by our civil strife. They have come a well-known way and Roman discord has opened the approach to barbaric war.

“Past generations have known a like fate. Full often, we know, has Italy been attacked—but never without the enemy’s paying dear. With their own blood did our country extinguish the fires lit by the Senones and, once the victim of a German invasion, she soon saw the squalid necks of Teutons and Cimbri loaded with the chains of captivity. Of little value is that glory whose worth has not been augmented by previous hardship; ’tis great dangers that beget great triumphs.

“Do you meditate shameful flight and fix your

[53]Maximus and Eugenius.

[148]respicitis Latioque libet post terga relictolonginquum profugis Ararim praecingere castris?scilicet Arctois concessa gentibus urbeconsidet regnum Rhodano capitique superstes300truncus erit? vestros stimulant si pignora sensus,me quoque non impar naturae cura remordet,nec ferro sic corda rigent ut nosse recusemquam sanctum soceri nomen, quam dulce mariti,quantus prolis amor. sed numquam oblita decorisobscaenam latebram pietas ignava requiret.306nec vobis fortis monitor, mihi cautior uni:hic coniunx, hic progenies, hic carior omniluce gener; pars nulla mei subducta procellae.accipe tu nostrae, tellus Oenotria, mentis310vincula communes tecum subeuntia casus,exiguamque moram muris impende tuendis,dum redeo lectum referens in classica robur.”His dictis pavidi firmavit inertia vulgipectora migrantisque fugam compescuit aulae;315ausaque tum primum tenebris emergere pulsisHesperia, ut secum iunxisse pericula viditAugustum, tantoque sui stetit obside fati.protinus, umbrosa vestit qua litus olivaLarius et dulci mentitur Nerea fluctu,320parva puppe lacum praetervolat; ocius indescandit inaccessos brumali sidere montesnil hiemis caelive memor. sic ille relinquensieiunos antro catulos inmanior exit[149]eyes on Gaul? Would you leave Latium and establish on the banks of the Saône a camp of refugees? Is Rome to be ceded to Arctic tribes, our empire to settle on the Rhone, and shall the trunk survive the head? If the thought of your children has any weight with you, remember that I too am not unaffected by similar feelings of nature; my heart is not so hard that I do not nor will not recognize the sacred ties that bind son to father-in-law, wife to husband and children to sire. But never, forgetting honour, shall cowardly affection seek refuge in ignominious flight. Nor do I give you bold advice, more careful for myself alone; here is my family, my wife, and her father whom I love more than life itself; not one of my relations is beyond the reach of this tempest. O land of Italy, know that my heart is set on bearing with thee whatsoever ills thou art called on to bear. Romans, hold your walls but for a short while till I return, bringing back to the sound of trumpets the flower of your host.”With these words he instilled courage into the fearful hearts of the citizens and checked any inclination towards flight in the Court. The dark shadow fled and Italy dared raise her head once more seeing her emperor ready to share her perils, and stood her ground with such a hostage for fortune. Where Larius clothes his banks with shady olive-trees and with his fresh water imitates the sea’s salt waves, Stilicho crossed the lake with all speed in a small boat. Next he ascended those mountains, inaccessible in winter, with no thought for the season or the weather. Even so a lion, leaving his starving cubs within the

[148]

respicitis Latioque libet post terga relictolonginquum profugis Ararim praecingere castris?scilicet Arctois concessa gentibus urbeconsidet regnum Rhodano capitique superstes300truncus erit? vestros stimulant si pignora sensus,me quoque non impar naturae cura remordet,nec ferro sic corda rigent ut nosse recusemquam sanctum soceri nomen, quam dulce mariti,quantus prolis amor. sed numquam oblita decorisobscaenam latebram pietas ignava requiret.306nec vobis fortis monitor, mihi cautior uni:hic coniunx, hic progenies, hic carior omniluce gener; pars nulla mei subducta procellae.accipe tu nostrae, tellus Oenotria, mentis310vincula communes tecum subeuntia casus,exiguamque moram muris impende tuendis,dum redeo lectum referens in classica robur.”His dictis pavidi firmavit inertia vulgipectora migrantisque fugam compescuit aulae;315ausaque tum primum tenebris emergere pulsisHesperia, ut secum iunxisse pericula viditAugustum, tantoque sui stetit obside fati.protinus, umbrosa vestit qua litus olivaLarius et dulci mentitur Nerea fluctu,320parva puppe lacum praetervolat; ocius indescandit inaccessos brumali sidere montesnil hiemis caelive memor. sic ille relinquensieiunos antro catulos inmanior exit

respicitis Latioque libet post terga relicto

longinquum profugis Ararim praecingere castris?

scilicet Arctois concessa gentibus urbe

considet regnum Rhodano capitique superstes300

truncus erit? vestros stimulant si pignora sensus,

me quoque non impar naturae cura remordet,

nec ferro sic corda rigent ut nosse recusem

quam sanctum soceri nomen, quam dulce mariti,

quantus prolis amor. sed numquam oblita decoris

obscaenam latebram pietas ignava requiret.306

nec vobis fortis monitor, mihi cautior uni:

hic coniunx, hic progenies, hic carior omni

luce gener; pars nulla mei subducta procellae.

accipe tu nostrae, tellus Oenotria, mentis310

vincula communes tecum subeuntia casus,

exiguamque moram muris impende tuendis,

dum redeo lectum referens in classica robur.”

His dictis pavidi firmavit inertia vulgi

pectora migrantisque fugam compescuit aulae;315

ausaque tum primum tenebris emergere pulsis

Hesperia, ut secum iunxisse pericula vidit

Augustum, tantoque sui stetit obside fati.

protinus, umbrosa vestit qua litus oliva

Larius et dulci mentitur Nerea fluctu,320

parva puppe lacum praetervolat; ocius inde

scandit inaccessos brumali sidere montes

nil hiemis caelive memor. sic ille relinquens

ieiunos antro catulos inmanior exit

[149]eyes on Gaul? Would you leave Latium and establish on the banks of the Saône a camp of refugees? Is Rome to be ceded to Arctic tribes, our empire to settle on the Rhone, and shall the trunk survive the head? If the thought of your children has any weight with you, remember that I too am not unaffected by similar feelings of nature; my heart is not so hard that I do not nor will not recognize the sacred ties that bind son to father-in-law, wife to husband and children to sire. But never, forgetting honour, shall cowardly affection seek refuge in ignominious flight. Nor do I give you bold advice, more careful for myself alone; here is my family, my wife, and her father whom I love more than life itself; not one of my relations is beyond the reach of this tempest. O land of Italy, know that my heart is set on bearing with thee whatsoever ills thou art called on to bear. Romans, hold your walls but for a short while till I return, bringing back to the sound of trumpets the flower of your host.”With these words he instilled courage into the fearful hearts of the citizens and checked any inclination towards flight in the Court. The dark shadow fled and Italy dared raise her head once more seeing her emperor ready to share her perils, and stood her ground with such a hostage for fortune. Where Larius clothes his banks with shady olive-trees and with his fresh water imitates the sea’s salt waves, Stilicho crossed the lake with all speed in a small boat. Next he ascended those mountains, inaccessible in winter, with no thought for the season or the weather. Even so a lion, leaving his starving cubs within the

[149]

eyes on Gaul? Would you leave Latium and establish on the banks of the Saône a camp of refugees? Is Rome to be ceded to Arctic tribes, our empire to settle on the Rhone, and shall the trunk survive the head? If the thought of your children has any weight with you, remember that I too am not unaffected by similar feelings of nature; my heart is not so hard that I do not nor will not recognize the sacred ties that bind son to father-in-law, wife to husband and children to sire. But never, forgetting honour, shall cowardly affection seek refuge in ignominious flight. Nor do I give you bold advice, more careful for myself alone; here is my family, my wife, and her father whom I love more than life itself; not one of my relations is beyond the reach of this tempest. O land of Italy, know that my heart is set on bearing with thee whatsoever ills thou art called on to bear. Romans, hold your walls but for a short while till I return, bringing back to the sound of trumpets the flower of your host.”

With these words he instilled courage into the fearful hearts of the citizens and checked any inclination towards flight in the Court. The dark shadow fled and Italy dared raise her head once more seeing her emperor ready to share her perils, and stood her ground with such a hostage for fortune. Where Larius clothes his banks with shady olive-trees and with his fresh water imitates the sea’s salt waves, Stilicho crossed the lake with all speed in a small boat. Next he ascended those mountains, inaccessible in winter, with no thought for the season or the weather. Even so a lion, leaving his starving cubs within the

[150]hiberna sub nocte leo tacitusque per altas325incedit furiale nives; stant colla pruinisaspera; flaventes adstringit stiria saetas;nec meminit leti nimbosve aut frigora curat,dum natis alimenta parat.Sublimis in Arctonprominet Hercyniae confinis Raetia silvae,330quae se Danuvii iactat Rhenique parentemutraque Romuleo praetendens flumina regno:primo fonte breves, alto mox gurgite regnantet fluvios cogunt unda coëunte minoresin nomen transire suum. te Cimbrica Tethys335divisum bifido consumit, Rhene, meatu;Thracia quinque vadis Histrum vorat Amphitrite:ambo habiles remis, ambo glacialia sectiterga rotis, ambo Boreae Martique sodales.sed latus, Hesperiae quo Raetia iungitur orae,340praeruptis ferit astra iugis panditque tremendamvix aestate viam. multi ceu Gorgone visaobriguere gelu; multos hausere profundaevasta mole nives, cumque ipsis saepe iuvencisnaufraga candenti merguntur plaustra barathro.345interdum subitam glacie labente ruinammons dedit et tepidis fundamina subruit astrispendenti male fida solo.Per talia tenditfrigoribus mediis Stilicho loca. nulla Lyaeipocula; rara Ceres; raptos contentus in armis350delibasse cibos madidoque oneratus amictu[151]cave, issues forth hunger-maddened some winter night and with silent tread goes out across the deep snow with murder in his heart, his mane frozen about his shoulders, and icicles clinging to his tawny coat; nought recks he of death nor cares for snow nor frost if only he can procure food for his little ones.Near to the Hercynian forest the uplands of Raetia stretch out towards the north, Raetia, proud parent of Danube and Rhine, twain rivers that she sets to guard the empire of Rome. Small are their streams at first, but soon they grow in depth and like kings compel the lesser waters to pass with tributary wave beneath their name. The Cimbric ocean receives Rhine’s flood outpoured through his two mouths; the Thracian wave swallows that of Ister flowing out through five channels. Both rivers are navigable though both bear at times the marks of chariot-wheels upon their frozen surface; stout allies both of the north wind and the god of war. But on the side where Raetia marches with Italy precipitous mountains touch the sky, scarce even in summer offering an awful path. Many a man has there been frozen to death as though he had looked on the Gorgon’s head; many have been engulfed beneath vast masses of snow, and often are carts and the oxen that draw them plunged into the white depths of the crevasse. Sometimes the mountain plunges downwards in an avalanche of ice, loosening neath a warmer sky foundations that trust vainly in the precipitous slope.Such was the country over which Stilicho passed in mid winter. No wine was there; Ceres’ gifts were sparing; ’twas enough to snatch a hurried meal, eaten sword in hand, while, burdened with rain-drenched

[150]

hiberna sub nocte leo tacitusque per altas325incedit furiale nives; stant colla pruinisaspera; flaventes adstringit stiria saetas;nec meminit leti nimbosve aut frigora curat,dum natis alimenta parat.Sublimis in Arctonprominet Hercyniae confinis Raetia silvae,330quae se Danuvii iactat Rhenique parentemutraque Romuleo praetendens flumina regno:primo fonte breves, alto mox gurgite regnantet fluvios cogunt unda coëunte minoresin nomen transire suum. te Cimbrica Tethys335divisum bifido consumit, Rhene, meatu;Thracia quinque vadis Histrum vorat Amphitrite:ambo habiles remis, ambo glacialia sectiterga rotis, ambo Boreae Martique sodales.sed latus, Hesperiae quo Raetia iungitur orae,340praeruptis ferit astra iugis panditque tremendamvix aestate viam. multi ceu Gorgone visaobriguere gelu; multos hausere profundaevasta mole nives, cumque ipsis saepe iuvencisnaufraga candenti merguntur plaustra barathro.345interdum subitam glacie labente ruinammons dedit et tepidis fundamina subruit astrispendenti male fida solo.Per talia tenditfrigoribus mediis Stilicho loca. nulla Lyaeipocula; rara Ceres; raptos contentus in armis350delibasse cibos madidoque oneratus amictu

hiberna sub nocte leo tacitusque per altas325

incedit furiale nives; stant colla pruinis

aspera; flaventes adstringit stiria saetas;

nec meminit leti nimbosve aut frigora curat,

dum natis alimenta parat.

Sublimis in Arcton

prominet Hercyniae confinis Raetia silvae,330

quae se Danuvii iactat Rhenique parentem

utraque Romuleo praetendens flumina regno:

primo fonte breves, alto mox gurgite regnant

et fluvios cogunt unda coëunte minores

in nomen transire suum. te Cimbrica Tethys335

divisum bifido consumit, Rhene, meatu;

Thracia quinque vadis Histrum vorat Amphitrite:

ambo habiles remis, ambo glacialia secti

terga rotis, ambo Boreae Martique sodales.

sed latus, Hesperiae quo Raetia iungitur orae,340

praeruptis ferit astra iugis panditque tremendam

vix aestate viam. multi ceu Gorgone visa

obriguere gelu; multos hausere profundae

vasta mole nives, cumque ipsis saepe iuvencis

naufraga candenti merguntur plaustra barathro.345

interdum subitam glacie labente ruinam

mons dedit et tepidis fundamina subruit astris

pendenti male fida solo.

Per talia tendit

frigoribus mediis Stilicho loca. nulla Lyaei

pocula; rara Ceres; raptos contentus in armis350

delibasse cibos madidoque oneratus amictu

[151]cave, issues forth hunger-maddened some winter night and with silent tread goes out across the deep snow with murder in his heart, his mane frozen about his shoulders, and icicles clinging to his tawny coat; nought recks he of death nor cares for snow nor frost if only he can procure food for his little ones.Near to the Hercynian forest the uplands of Raetia stretch out towards the north, Raetia, proud parent of Danube and Rhine, twain rivers that she sets to guard the empire of Rome. Small are their streams at first, but soon they grow in depth and like kings compel the lesser waters to pass with tributary wave beneath their name. The Cimbric ocean receives Rhine’s flood outpoured through his two mouths; the Thracian wave swallows that of Ister flowing out through five channels. Both rivers are navigable though both bear at times the marks of chariot-wheels upon their frozen surface; stout allies both of the north wind and the god of war. But on the side where Raetia marches with Italy precipitous mountains touch the sky, scarce even in summer offering an awful path. Many a man has there been frozen to death as though he had looked on the Gorgon’s head; many have been engulfed beneath vast masses of snow, and often are carts and the oxen that draw them plunged into the white depths of the crevasse. Sometimes the mountain plunges downwards in an avalanche of ice, loosening neath a warmer sky foundations that trust vainly in the precipitous slope.Such was the country over which Stilicho passed in mid winter. No wine was there; Ceres’ gifts were sparing; ’twas enough to snatch a hurried meal, eaten sword in hand, while, burdened with rain-drenched

[151]

cave, issues forth hunger-maddened some winter night and with silent tread goes out across the deep snow with murder in his heart, his mane frozen about his shoulders, and icicles clinging to his tawny coat; nought recks he of death nor cares for snow nor frost if only he can procure food for his little ones.

Near to the Hercynian forest the uplands of Raetia stretch out towards the north, Raetia, proud parent of Danube and Rhine, twain rivers that she sets to guard the empire of Rome. Small are their streams at first, but soon they grow in depth and like kings compel the lesser waters to pass with tributary wave beneath their name. The Cimbric ocean receives Rhine’s flood outpoured through his two mouths; the Thracian wave swallows that of Ister flowing out through five channels. Both rivers are navigable though both bear at times the marks of chariot-wheels upon their frozen surface; stout allies both of the north wind and the god of war. But on the side where Raetia marches with Italy precipitous mountains touch the sky, scarce even in summer offering an awful path. Many a man has there been frozen to death as though he had looked on the Gorgon’s head; many have been engulfed beneath vast masses of snow, and often are carts and the oxen that draw them plunged into the white depths of the crevasse. Sometimes the mountain plunges downwards in an avalanche of ice, loosening neath a warmer sky foundations that trust vainly in the precipitous slope.

Such was the country over which Stilicho passed in mid winter. No wine was there; Ceres’ gifts were sparing; ’twas enough to snatch a hurried meal, eaten sword in hand, while, burdened with rain-drenched

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