Magnus as partner in the rule of Rome I had not brooked; and shall I tolerate
Thee, Ptolemaeus? In vain with civil wars Thus have we roused the nations, if there be Now any might but Caesar’s. If one land
Yet owned two masters, I had turned from yours The prows of Latium; but fame forbids,
Lest men should whisper that I did not damn This deed of blood, but feared the Pharian land. Nor think ye to deceive; victorious here I stand: else had my welcome at your hands Been that of Magnus; and that neck were mine But for Pharsalia’s chance. At greater risk So seems it, than we dreamed of, took we arms; Exile, and Magnus’ threats, and Rome I knew, Not Ptolemaeus. But we spare the boy:
Pass by the murder. Let the princeling know We give no more than pardon for his crime. And now in honour of the mighty dead,
Not merely that the earth may hide your guilt, Lay ye the chieftain’s head within the tomb; With proper sepulture appease his shade
And place his scattered ashes in an urn. Thus may he know my coming, and may hear Affection’s accents, and my fond complaints. Me sought he not, but rather, for his life, This Pharian vassal; snatching from mankind The happy morning which had shown the world A peace between us. But my prayers to heaven No favouring answer found; that arms laid down In happy victory, Magnus, once again
I might embrace thee, begging thee to grant Thine ancient love to Caesar, and thy life. Thus for my labours with a worthy prize
Content, thine equal, bound in faithful peace, I might have brought thee to forgive the gods For thy disaster; thou had’st gained for me From Rome forgiveness.”
Thus he spake, but found No comrade in his tears; nor did the host Give credit to his grief. Deep in their breasts They hide their groans, and gaze with joyful front (O famous Freedom!) on the deed of blood: And dare to laugh when mighty Caesar wept.
ENDNOTES:
(1) This was the Stoic theory. The perfect of men passed after death into a region between our atmosphere and the heavens, where they remained until the day of general conflagration, (see Book VII. line 949), with their senses amplified and rendered akin to divine.
(2) A promontory in Africa was so called, as well as that in Italy.
(3) Meaning that her husband gave her this commission in order to prevent her from committing suicide. (4) See Book VIII., line 547.
(5) See line 709.
(6) This passage is described by Lord Macaulay as “a pure gem of rhetoric without one flaw, and, in my opinion, not very far from historical truth” (Trevelyan’s “Life and Letters”, vol. i., page 462.)
(7) “… Clarum et venembile nomen Gentibus, et multum nostrae quod profuit urbi,” quoted by Mr. Burke, and applied to Lord Chatham, in his Speech on American taxation.
(8) That is, liberty, which by the murder of Pompeius they had obtained.
(9) Reading “saepit”, Hosius. The passage seems to be corrupt. (10) “Scaly Triton’s winding shell”, (Comus, 878). He was Neptune’s son and trumpeter. That Pallas sprang armed from the head of Jupiter is well known.
(11) Cnaeus.
(12) Compare Herodotus, ii., 16: “For they all say that the earth is divided into three parts, Europe, Asia and Libya.” (And see Bunbury’s “Ancient Geography”, i., 145, 146, for a discussion of this subject.)
(13) Citron tables were in much request at Rome. (Comp. “Paradise Regained”, Book iv., 115; and see Book X., line 177.) (14) Alluding to the shield of Mars which fell from heaven on Numa at sacrifice. Eleven others were made to match it (“Dict. Antiq.”) While Horace speaks of them as chief objects of a patriot Roman’s affection (“Odes” iii., 5, 9), Lucan discovers for them a ridiculous origin. They were in the custody of the priests of Mars. (See Book I., 666.) (15) I.e. Where the equinoctial circle cuts the zodiac in its centre. — Haskins.
(16) Compare Book III., 288.
(17) See Book V., 400.
(18) 1st. For his victories in Sicily and Africa, B.C. 81; 2nd. For the conquest of Sertorius, B.C. 71; 3rd. For his Eastern triumphs, B.C. 61. (Compare Book II., 684, &c.) (19) Over whom Marius triumphed.
(20) Phoreus and Ceto were the parents of the Gorgons — Stheno, Euryale. and Medusa, of whom the latter alone was mortal, (Hesiod. “Theogony”, 276.) Phorcus was a son of Pontus and Gaia (sea and land), ibid, 287.
(21) The scimitar lent by Hermes (or Mercury) to Perseus for the purpose; with which had been slain Argus the guardian of Io (Conf. “Prometheus vinctus”, 579.) Hermes was born in a cave in Mount Cyllene in Arcadia.
(22) The idea seems to be that the earth, bulging at the equator, casts its shadow highest on the sky: and that the moon becomes eclipsed by it whenever she follows a straight path instead of an oblique one, which may happen from her forgetfulness (Mr. Haskins’ note).
(23) This catalogue of snakes is alluded to in Dante’s “Inferno”, 24.
“I saw a crowd within
Of serpents terrible, so strange of shape And hideous that remembrance in my veins Yet shrinks the vital current. Of her sands Let Libya vaunt no more: if Jaculus, Pareas, and Chelyder be her brood,
Cenchris and Amphisbaena, plagues so dire Or in such numbers swarming ne’er she showed.” — Carey.
(See also Milton’s “Paradise Lost”, Book X., 520-530.) (24) The Egyptian Thebes.
(25) “… All my being
Like him whom the Numidian Seps did thaw Into a dew with poison, is dissolved, Sinking through its foundations.”
–Shelley, “Prometheus Unbound”, Act iii, Scene 1. (26) The glance of the eye of the basilisk or cockatrice, was supposed to be deadly. (See “King Richard III”, Act i., Scene 2: —
Gloucester: Thine eyes, sweet lady, have infected mine.
Anne: Would they were basilisks, to strike thee dead!)
The word is also used for a big cannon. (“1 King Henry IV”, Act ii., Scene 3.)
(27) See Book III., 706.
(28) According to one story Orion, for his assault on Diana, was killed by the Scorpion, who received his reward by being made into a constellation.
(29) A sort of venomous ant.
(30) No other author gives any details of this march; and those given by Lucan are unreliable. The temple of Hammon is far from any possible line of route taken from the Lesser Syrtes to Leptis. Dean Merivale states that the inhospitable sands extended for seven days’ journey, and ranks the march as one of the greatest exploits in Roman military history. Described by the names known to modern geography, it was from the Gulf of Cabes to Cape Africa. Pope, in a letter to Henry Cromwell, dated November 11, 1710, makes some caustic remarks on the geography of this book. (See “Pope’s Works”, Vol. vi., 109; by Elwin & Courthope.) (31) See Line 444.
(32) See Book IV., 65.
(33) The “Palladium” or image of Pallas, preserved in the temple of Vesta. (See Book I., 659.)
BOOK X
CAESAR IN EGYPT
When Caesar, following those who bore the head, First trod the shore accursed, with Egypt’s fates His fortunes battled, whether Rome should pass In crimson conquest o’er the guilty land, Or Memphis’ arms should ravish from the world Victor and vanquished: and the warning shade Of Magnus saved his kinsman from the sword.
First, by the crime assured, his standards borne Before, he marched upon the Pharian town; But when the people, jealous of their laws, Murmured against the fasces, Caesar knew Their minds were adverse, and that not for him Was Magnus’ murder wrought. And yet with brow Dissembling fear, intrepid, through the shrines Of Egypt’s gods he strode, and round the fane Of ancient Isis; bearing witness all
To Macedon’s vigour in the days of old. Yet did nor gold nor ornament restrain
His hasting steps, nor worship of the gods, Nor city ramparts: but in greed of gain
He sought the cave dug out amid the tombs. (1) The madman offspring there of Philip lies The famed Pellaean robber, fortune’s friend, Snatched off by fate, avenging so the world. In sacred sepulchre the hero’s limbs,
Which should be scattered o’er the earth, repose, Still spared by Fortune to these tyrant days: For in a world to freedom once recalled, All men had mocked the dust of him who set The baneful lesson that so many lands
Can serve one master. Macedon he left His home obscure; Athena he despised
The conquest of his sire, and spurred by fate Through Asia rushed with havoc of mankind, Plunging his sword through peoples; streams unknown Ran red with Persian and with Indian blood. Curse of all earth and thunderbolt of ill To every nation! On the outer sea (2)
He launched his fleet to sail the ocean wave: Nor flame nor flood nor sterile Libyan sands Stayed back his course, nor Hammon’s pathless shoals; Far to the west, where downward slopes the world He would have led his armies, and the poles Had compassed, and had drunk the fount of Nile: But came his latest day; such end alone
Could nature place upon the madman king, Who jealous in death as when he won the world His empire with him took, nor left an heir. Thus every city to the spoiler’s hand
Was victim made: Yet in his fall was his Babylon; and Parthia feared him. Shame on us That eastern nations dreaded more the lance Of Macedon than now the Roman spear.
True that we rule beyond where takes its rise The burning southern breeze, beyond the homes Of western winds, and to the northern star; But towards the rising of the sun, we yield To him who kept the Arsacids in awe;
And puny Pella held as province sure The Parthia fatal to our Roman arms.
Now from the stream Pelusian of the Nile, Was come the boyish king, taming the rage Of his effeminate people: pledge of peace; And Caesar safely trod Pellaean halls;
When Cleopatra bribed her guard to break The harbour chains, and borne in little boat Within the Macedonian palace gates,
Caesar unknowing, entered: Egypt’s shame; Fury of Latium; to the bane of Rome
Unchaste. For as the Spartan queen of yore By fatal beauty Argos urged to strife
And Ilium’s homes, so Cleopatra roused Italia’s frenzy. By her drum (3) she called Down on the Capitol terror (if to speak
Such word be lawful); mixed with Roman arms Coward Canopus, hoping she might lead
A Pharian triumph, Caesar in her train; And ’twas in doubt upon Leucadian (4) waves Whether a woman, not of Roman blood,
Should hold the world in awe. Such lofty thoughts Seized on her soul upon that night in which The wanton daughter of Pellaean kings
First shared our leaders’ couches. Who shall blame Antonius for the madness of his love,
When Caesar’s haughty breast drew in the flame? Who red with carnage, ‘mid the clash of arms, In palace haunted by Pompeius’ shade,
Gave place to love; and in adulterous bed, Magnus forgotten, from the Queen impure, To Julia gave a brother: on the bounds,
Of furthest Libya permitting thus
His foe to gather: he in dalliance base Waited upon his mistress, and to her
Pharos would give, for her would conquer all.
Then Cleopatra, trusting to her charms, Tearless approached him, though in form of grief; Her tresses loose as though in sorrow torn, So best becoming her; and thus began:
“If, mighty Caesar, aught to noble birth Be due, give ear. Of Lagian race am I
Offspring illustrious; from my father’s throne Cast forth to banishment; unless thy hand Restore to me the sceptre: then a Queen
Falls at thy feet embracing. To our race Bright star of justice thou! Nor first shall I As woman rule the cities of the Nile;
For, neither sex preferring, Pharos bows To queenly governance. Of my parted sire Read the last words, by which ’tis mine to share With equal rights the kingdom and the bed. And loves the boy his sister, were he free; But his affections and his sword alike
Pothinus orders. Nor wish I myself
To wield my father’s power; but this my prayer: Save from this foul disgrace our royal house, Bid that the king shall reign, and from the court Remove this hateful varlet, and his arms. How swells his bosom for that his the hand That shore Pompeius’ head! And now he threats Thee, Caesar, also; which the Fates avert! ‘Twas shame enough upon the earth and thee That of Pothinus Magnus should have been The guilt or merit.”
Caesar’s ears in vain
Had she implored, but aided by her charms The wanton’s prayers prevailed, and by a night Of shame ineffable, passed with her judge, She won his favour.
When between the pair (5) Caesar had made a peace, by costliest gifts Purchased, a banquet of such glad event
Made fit memorial; and with pomp the Queen Displayed her luxuries, as yet unknown
To Roman fashions. First uprose the hall Like to a fane which this corrupted age
Could scarcely rear: the lofty ceiling shone With richest tracery, the beams were bound In golden coverings; no scant veneer
Lay on its walls, but built in solid blocks Of marble, gleamed the palace. Agate stood In sturdy columns, bearing up the roof;
Onyx and porphyry on the spacious floor Were trodden ‘neath the foot; the mighty gates Of Maroe’s throughout were formed,
He mere adornment; ivory clothed the hall, And fixed upon the doors with labour rare Shells of the tortoise gleamed, from Indian seas, With frequent emeralds studded. Gems of price And yellow jasper on the couches shone.
Lustrous the coverlets; the major part Dipped more than once within the vats of Tyre Had drunk their juice: part feathered as with gold; Part crimson dyed, in manner as are passed Through Pharian leash the threads. There waited slaves In number as a people, some in ranks
By different blood distinguished, some by age; This band with Libyan, that with auburn hair Red so that Caesar on the banks of Rhine None such had witnessed; some with features scorched By torrid suns, their locks in twisted coils Drawn from their foreheads. Eunuchs too were there, Unhappy race; and on the other side
Men of full age whose cheeks with growth of hair Were hardly darkened.
Upon either hand
Lay kings, and Caesar in the midst supreme. There in her fatal beauty lay the Queen
Thick daubed with unguents, nor with throne content Nor with her brother spouse; laden she lay On neck and hair with all the Red Sea spoils, And faint beneath the weight of gems and gold. Her snowy breast shone through Sidonian lawn Which woven close by shuttles of the east The art of Nile had loosened. Ivory feet Bore citron tables brought from woods that wave (6) On Atlas, such as Caesar never saw
When Juba was his captive. Blind in soul By madness of ambition, thus to fire
By such profusion of her wealth, the mind Of Caesar armed, her guest in civil war! Not though he aimed with pitiless hand to grasp The riches of a world; not though were here Those ancient leaders of the simple age, Fabricius or Curius stern of soul,
Or he who, Consul, left in sordid garb His Tuscan plough, could all their several hopes Have risen to such spoil. On plates of gold They piled the banquet sought in earth and air And from the deepest seas and Nilus’ waves, Through all the world; in craving for display, No hunger urging. Frequent birds and beasts, Egypt’s high gods, they placed upon the board: In crystal goblets water of the Nile
They handed, and in massive cups of price Was poured the wine; no juice of Mareot grape (7) But noble vintage of Falernian growth
Which in few years in Meroe’s vats had foamed, (For such the clime) to ripeness. On their brows Chaplets were placed of roses ever young With glistening nard entwined; and in their locks Was cinnamon infused, not yet in air
Its fragrance perished, nor in foreign climes; And rich amomum from the neighbouring fields. Thus Caesar learned the booty of a world To lavish, and his breast was shamed of war Waged with his son-in-law for meagre spoil, And with the Pharian realm he longed to find A cause of battle.
When of wine and feast
They wearied and their pleasure found an end, Caesar drew out in colloquy the night
Thus with Achoreus, on the highest couch With linen ephod as a priest begirt:
“O thou devoted to all sacred rites, Loved by the gods, as proves thy length of days, Tell, if thou wilt, whence sprang the Pharian race; How lie their lands, the manners of their tribes, The form and worship of their deities.
Expound the sculptures on your ancient fanes: Reveal your gods if willing to be known: If to th’ Athenian sage your fathers taught Their mysteries, who worthier than I
To bear in trust the secrets of the world? True, by the rumour of my kinsman’s flight Here was I drawn; yet also by your fame: And even in the midst of war’s alarms
The stars and heavenly spaces have I conned; Nor shall Eudoxus’ year (8) excel mine own. But though such ardour burns within my breast, Such zeal to know the truth, yet my chief wish To learn the source of your mysterious flood Through ages hidden: give me certain hope To see the fount of Nile — and civil war Then shall I leave.”
He spake, and then the priest: “The secrets, Caesar, of our mighty sires (9) Kept from the common people until now
I hold it right to utter. Some may deem That silence on these wonders of the earth Were greater piety. But to the gods
I hold it grateful that their handiwork And sacred edicts should be known to men.
“A different power by the primal law, Each star possesses: (10) these alone control The movement of the sky, with adverse force Opposing: while the sun divides the year, And day from night, and by his potent rays Forbids the stars to pass their stated course. The moon by her alternate phases sets
The varying limits of the sea and shore. ‘Neath Saturn’s sway the zone of ice and snow Has passed; while Mars in lightning’s fitful flames And winds abounds’ beneath high Jupiter
Unvexed by storms abides a temperate air; And fruitful Venus’ star contains the seeds Of all things. Ruler of the boundless deep The god (11) Cyllenian: whene’er he holds That part of heaven where the Lion dwells With neighbouring Cancer joined, and Sirius star Flames in its fury; where the circular path (Which marks the changes of the varying year) Gives to hot Cancer and to Capricorn
Their several stations, under which doth lie The fount of Nile, he, master of the waves, Strikes with his beam the waters. Forth the stream Brims from his fount, as Ocean when the moon Commands an increase; nor shall curb his flow Till night wins back her losses from the sun. (12)
“Vain is the ancient faith that Ethiop snows (13) Send Nile abundant forth upon the lands. Those mountains know nor northern wind nor star. Of this are proof the breezes of the South, Fraught with warm vapours, and the people’s hue Burned dark by suns: and ’tis in time of spring, When first are thawed the snows, that ice-fed streams In swollen torrents tumble; but the Nile Nor lifts his wave before the Dog star burns; Nor seeks again his banks, until the sun In equal balance measures night and day. Nor are the laws that govern other streams Obeyed by Nile. For in the wintry year
Were he in flood, when distant far the sun, His waters lacked their office; but he leaves His channel when the summer is at height, Tempering the torrid heat of Egypt’s clime. Such is the task of Nile; thus in the world He finds his purpose, lest exceeding heat Consume the lands: and rising thus to meet Enkindled Lion, to Syene’s prayers
By Cancer burnt gives ear; nor curbs his wave Till the slant sun and Meroe’s lengthening shades Proclaim the autumn. Who shall give the cause? ‘Twas Parent Nature’s self which gave command Thus for the needs of earth should flow the Nile.
“Vain too the fable that the western winds (14) Control his current, in continuous course At stated seasons governing the air;
Or hurrying from Occident to South
Clouds without number which in misty folds Press on the waters; or by constant blast, Forcing his current back whose several mouths Burst on the sea; — so, forced by seas and wind, Men say, his billows pour upon the land. Some speak of hollow caverns, breathing holes Deep in the earth, within whose mighty jaws Waters in noiseless current underneath
From northern cold to southern climes are drawn: And when hot Meroe pants beneath the sun, Then, say they, Ganges through the silent depths And Padus pass: and from a single fount
The Nile arising not in single streams Pours all the rivers forth. And rumour says That when the sea which girdles in the world (15) O’erflows, thence rushes Nile, by lengthy course, Softening his saltness. More, if it be true That ocean feeds the sun and heavenly fires, Then Phoebus journeying by the burning Crab Sucks from its waters more than air can hold Upon his passage — this the cool of night Pours on the Nile.
“If, Caesar, ’tis my part
To judge such difference, ‘twould seem that since Creation’s age has passed, earth’s veins by chance Some waters hold, and shaken cast them forth: But others took when first the globe was formed A sure abode; by Him who framed the world Fixed with the Universe.
“And, Roman, thou,
In thirsting thus to know the source of Nile Dost as the Pharian and Persian kings
And those of Macedon; nor any age
Refused the secret, but the place prevailed Remote by nature. Greatest of the kings
By Memphis worshipped, Alexander grudged (16) To Nile its mystery, and to furthest earth Sent chosen Ethiops whom the crimson zone Stayed in their further march, while flowed his stream Warm at their feet. Sesostris (17) westward far Reached, to the ends of earth; and necks of kings Bent ‘neath his chariot yoke: but of the springs Which fill your rivers, Rhone and Po, he drank. Not of the fount of Nile. Cambyses king
In madman quest led forth his host to where The long-lived races dwell: then famine struck, Ate of his dead (17) and, Nile unknown, returned. No lying rumour of thy hidden source
Has e’er made mention; wheresoe’er thou art Yet art thou sought, nor yet has nation claimed In pride of place thy river as its own.
Yet shall I tell, so far as has the god, Who veils thy fountain, given me to know. Thy progress. Daring to upraise thy banks ‘Gainst fiery Cancer’s heat, thou tak’st thy rise Beneath the zenith: straight towards the north And mid Bootes flowing; to the couch
Bending, or to the risings, of the sun In sinuous bends alternate; just alike
To Araby’s peoples and to Libyan sands. By Seres (18) first beheld, yet know they not
Whence art thou come; and with no native stream Strik’st thou the Ethiop fields. Nor knows the world To whom it owes thee. Nature ne’er revealed Thy secret origin, removed afar.
Nor did she wish thee to be seen of men While still a tiny rivulet, but preferred Their wonder to their knowledge. Where the sun Stays at his limit, dost thou rise in flood Untimely; such try right: to other lands Bearing try winter: and by both the poles Thou only wanderest. Here men ask thy rise And there thine ending. Meroe rich in soil And tilled by swarthy husbandmen divides Thy broad expanse, rejoicing in the leaves Of groves of ebony, which though spreading far Their branching foliage, by no breadth of shade Soften the summer sun — whose rays direct Pass from the Lion to the fervid earth. (20) Next dost thou journey onwards past the realm Of burning Phoebus, and the sterile sands, With equal volume; now with all thy strength Gathered in one, and now in devious streams Parting the bank that crumbles at thy touch. Then by our kingdom’s gates, where Philae parts Arabian peoples from Egyptian fields
The sluggish bosom of thy flood recalls Try wandering currents, which through desert wastes Flow gently on to where the merchant track Divides the Red Sea waters from our own. Who, gazing, Nile, upon thy tranquil flow, Could picture how in wild array of foam
(Where shelves the earth) thy billows shall be plunged Down the steep cataracts, in fuming wrath That rocks should bar the passage of thy stream Free from its source? For whirled on high the spray Aims at the stars, and trembles all the air With rush of waters; and with sounding roar The foaming mass down from the summit pours In hoary waves victorious. Next an isle
In all our ancient lore “untrodden” named Stems firm thy torrent; and the rocks we call Springs of the river, for that here are marked The earliest tokens of the coming flood. With mountain shores now nature hems thee in And shuts thy waves from Libya; in the midst Hence do thy waters run, till Memphis first Forbids the barrier placed upon thy stream And gives thee access to the open fields.”
Thus did they pass, as though in peace profound, The nightly watches. But Pothinus’ mind, Once with accursed butchery imbued,
Was frenzied still; since great Pompeius fell No deed to him was crime; his rabid soul Th’ avenging goddesses and Magnus’ shade Stirred to fresh horrors; and a Pharian hand No less was worthy, as he deemed, to shed That blood which Fortune purposed should bedew The conquered fathers: and the fell revenge Due to the senate for the civil war
This hireling almost snatched. Avert, ye fates, Far hence the shame that not by Brutus’ hand This blow be struck! Shall thus the tyrant’s fall Just at our hands, become a Pharian crime, Reft of example? To prepare a plan
(Fated to fail) he dares; nor veils in fraud A plot for murder, but with open war
Attacks th’ unconquered chieftain: from his crimes He gained such courage as to send command To lop the head of Caesar, and to join
In death the kinsmen chiefs.
These words by night
His faithful servants to Achillas bear, His foul associate, whom the boy had made Chief of his armies, and who ruled alone O’er Egypt’s land and o’er himself her king: “Now lay thy limbs upon the sumptuous couch And sleep in luxury, for the Queen hath seized The palace; nor alone by her betrayed,
But Caesar’s gift, is Pharos. Dost delay Nor hasten to the chamber of thy Queen?
Thou only? Married to the Latian chief, The impious sister now her brother weds
And hurrying from rival spouse to spouse Hath Egypt won, and plays the bawd for Rome. By amorous potions she has won the man:
Then trust the boy! Yet give him but a night In her enfondling arms, and drunk with love Thy life and mine he’ll barter for a kiss. We for his sister’s charms by cross and flame Shall pay the penalty: nor hope of aid;
Here stands adulterous Caesar, here the King Her spouse: how hope we from so stern a judge To gain acquittal? Shall she not condemn Those who ne’er sought her favours? By the deed We dared together and lost, by Magnus’ blood Which wrought the bond between us, be thou swift With hasty tumult to arouse the war:
Dash in with nightly band, and mar with death Their shameless nuptials: on the very bed With either lover smite the ruthless Queen. Nor let the fortunes of the Western chief Make pause our enterprise. We share with him The glory of his empire o’er the world.
Pompeius fallen makes us too sublime. There lies the shore that bids us hope success: Ask of our power from the polluted wave, And gaze upon the scanty tomb which holds Not all Pompeius’ ashes. Peer to him
Was he whom now thou fearest. Noble blood True, is not ours: what boots it? Nor are realms Nor wealth of peoples given to our command. Yet have we risen to a height of power
For deeds of blood, and Fortune to our hands Attracts her victims. Lo! a nobler now
Lies in our compass, and a second death Hesperia shall appease; for Caesar’s blood, Shed by these hands, shall give us this, that Rome Shall love us, guilty of Pompeius’ fall. Why fear these titles, why this chieftain’s strength? For shorn of these, before your swords he lies A common soldier. To the civil war
This night shall bring completion, and shall give To peoples slain fit offerings, and send That life the world demands beneath the shades. Rise then in all your hardihood and smite This Caesar down, and let the Roman youths Strike for themselves, and Lagos for its King. Nor do thou tarry: full of wine and feast Thou’lt fall upon him in the lists of love; Then dare the venture, and the heavenly gods Shall grant of Cato’s and of Brutus’ prayers To thee fulfilment.”
Nor was Achillas slow
To hear the voice that counselled him to crime. No sounding clarion summoned, as is wont, His troops to arms; nor trumpet blare betrayed Their nightly march: but rapidly he seized All needed instruments of blood and war. Of Latian race the most part of his train, Yet to barbarian customs were their minds By long forgetfulness of Rome debased:
Else had it shamed to serve the Pharian King; But now his vassal and his minion’s word Compel obedience. Those who serve in camps Lose faith and love of kin: their pittance earned (21) Makes just the deed: and for their sordid pay, Not for themselves, they threaten Caesar’s life. Where finds the piteous destiny of the realm Rome with herself at peace? The host withdrawn From dread Thessalia raves on Nilus’ banks As all the race of Rome. What more had dared, With Magnus welcomed, the Lagean house?
Each hand must render to the gods their due, Nor son of Rome may cease from civil war; By Heaven’s command our state was rent in twain; Nor love for husband nor regard for sire Parted our peoples. ‘Twas a slave who stirred Afresh the conflict, and Achillas grasped In turn the sword of Rome: nay more, had won, Had not the fates adverse restrained his hand From Caesar’s slaughter.
For the murderous pair Ripe for their plot were met; the spacious hall Still busied with the feast. So might have flowed Into the kingly cups a stream of gore,
And in mid banquet fallen Caesar’s head. Yet did they fear lest in the nightly strife (The fates permitting) some incautious hand — So did they trust the sword — might slay the King. Thus stayed the deed, for in the minds of slaves The chance of doing Caesar to the death
Might bear postponement: when the day arose Then should he suffer; and a night of life Thus by Pothinus was to Caesar given.
Now from the Casian rock looked forth the Sun Flooding the land of Egypt with a day
Warm from its earliest dawn, when from the walls Not wandering in disorder are they seen, But drown in close array, as though to meet A foe opposing; ready to receive
Or give the battle. Caesar, in the town Placing no trust, within the palace courts Lay in ignoble hiding place, the gates
Close barred: nor all the kingly rooms possessed, But in the narrowest portion of the space He drew his band together. There in arms They stood, with dread and fury in their souls. He feared attack, indignant at his fear. Thus will a noble beast in little cage
Imprisoned, fume, and break upon the bars His teeth in frenzied wrath; nor more would rage The flames of Vulcan in Sicilian depths
Should Etna’s top be closed. He who but now By Haemus’ mount against Pompeius chief, Italia’s leaders and the Senate line,
His cause forbidding hope, looked at the fates He knew were hostile, with unfaltering gaze, Now fears before the crime of hireling slaves, And in mid palace trembles at the blow:
He whom nor Scythian nor Alaun (22) had dared To violate, nor the Moor who aims the dart Upon his victim slain, to prove his skill. The Roman world but now did not suffice
To hold him, nor the realms from furthest Ind To Tyrian Gades. Now, as puny boy,
Or woman, trembling when a town is sacked, Within the narrow corners of a house
He seeks for safety; on the portals closed His hope of life; and with uncertain gait He treads the hails; yet not without the King; In purpose, Ptolemaeus, that thy life
For his shall give atonement; and to hurl Thy severed head among the servant throng Should darts and torches fail. So story tells The Colchian princess (23) with sword in hand, And with her brother’s neck bared to the blow, Waited her sire, avenger of his realm
Despoiled, and of her flight. In the imminent risk Caesar, in hopes of peace, an envoy sent To the fierce vassals, from their absent lord Bearing a message, thus: “At whose command Wage ye the war?” But not the laws which bind All nations upon earth, nor sacred rights, Availed to save or messenger of peace,
Or King’s ambassador; or thee from crime Such as befitted thee, thou land of Nile Fruitful in monstrous deeds: not Juba’s realm Vast though it be, nor Pontus, nor the land Thessalian, nor the arms of Pharnaces,
Nor yet the tracts which chill Iberus girds, Nor Libyan coasts such wickedness have dared, As thou, with all thy luxuries. Closer now War hemmed them in, and weapons in the courts, Shaking the innermost recesses, fell.
Yet did no ram, fatal with single stroke, Assail the portal, nor machine of war;
Nor flame they called in aid; but blind of plan They wander purposeless, in separate bands Around the circuit, nor at any spot
With strength combined attempt to breach the wall. The fates forbad, and Fortune from their hands Held fast the palace as a battlement.
Nor failed they to attack from ships of war The regal dwelling, where its frontage bold Made stand apart the waters of the deep: There, too, was Caesar’s all-protecting arm; For these at point of sword, and those with fire (24) He forces back, and though besieged he dares To storm th’ assailants: and as lay the ships Joined rank to rank, bids drop upon their sides Lamps drenched with reeking tar. Nor slow the fire To seize the hempen cables and the decks Oozing with melting pitch; the oarsman’s bench All in one moment, and the topmost yards Burst into flame: half merged the vessels lay While swam the foemen, all in arms, the wave; Nor fell the blaze upon the ships alone, But seized with writhing tongues the neighbouring homes, And fanned to fury by the Southern breeze Tempestuous, it leaped from roof to roof; Not otherwise than on its heavenly track, Unfed by matter, glides the ball of light, By air alone aflame.
This pest recalled
Some of the forces to the city’s aid From the besieged halls. Nor Caesar gave To sleep its season; swifter than all else To seize the crucial moment of the war.
Quick in the darkest watches of the night He leaped upon his ships, and Pharos (25) seized, Gate of the main; an island in the days
Of Proteus seer, now bordering the walls Of Alexander’s city. Thus he gained
A double vantage, for his foes were pent Within the narrow entrance, which for him And for his aids gave access to the sea.
Nor longer was Pothinus’ doom delayed, Yet not with cross or flame, nor with the wrath His crime demanded; nor by savage beasts Torn, did he suffer; but by Magnus’ death, Alas the shame! he fell; his head by sword Hacked from his shoulders. Next by frauds prepared By Ganymede her base attendant, fled
Arsinoe (26) from the Court to Caesar’s foes; There in the absence of the King she ruled As of Lagean blood: there at her hands,
The savage minion of the tyrant boy, Achillas, fell by just avenging sword.
Thus did another victim to thy shade Atone, Pompeius; but the gods forbid
That this be all thy vengeance! Not the king Nor all the stock of Lagos for thy death Would make fit sacrifice! So Fortune deemed; And not till patriot swords shall drink the blood Of Caesar, Magnus, shalt thou be appeased. Still, though was slain the author of the strife, Sank not their rage: with Ganymede for chief Again they rush to arms; in deeds of fight Again they conquer. So might that one day Have witnessed Caesar’s fate; so might its fame Have lived through ages.
As the Roman Chief,
Crushed on the narrow surface of the mole, Prepared to throw his troops upon the ships, Sudden upon him the surrounding foes
With all their terrors came. In dense array Their navy lined the shores, while on the rear The footmen ceaseless charged. No hope was left, For flight was not, nor could the brave man’s arm Achieve or safety or a glorious death.
Not now were needed for great Caesar’s fall, Caught in the toils of nature, routed host Or mighty heaps of slain: his only doubt To fear or hope for death: while on his brain Brave Scaeva’s image flashed, now vainly sought, Who on the wall by Epidamnus’ fields
Earned fame immortal, and with single arm Drove back Pompeius as he trod the breach….
ENDNOTES:
(1) The body of Alexander was embalmed, and the mummy placed in a glass case. The sarcophagus which enclosed them is stated to be now in the British Museum.
(2) See Book III., 268.
(3) The kettledrum used in the worship of Isis. (See Book VIII, line 974.)
(4) At the Battle of Actium. The island of Leucas, close to the promontory of Actium, is always named by Lucan when he refers to this battle. (See also Virgil, “Aeneid”, viii., 677.)
(5) Between Cleopatra and her brother. (6) See Book IX., 507.
(7) Yet the Mareot grape was greatly celebrated. (See Professor Rawlinson’s note to Herodotus. ii., 18.) (8) The calendar introduced by Caesar, in B.C. 45, was founded on the Egyptian or solar year. (See Herodotus, ii., 4.) Eudoxus seems to have dealt with this year and to have corrected it. He is probably alluded to by Virgil, “Eclogue” iii., 41.
(9) Herodotus was less fortunate. For he says “Concerning the nature of the river I was not able to gain any information either from the priests or others.” (ii., 19.) (10) It was supposed that the Sun and Moon and the planets (Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, and Venus) were points which restrained the motion of the sky in its revolution. (See Book VI., 576.)
(11) Mercury. (See Book IX., 777.)
(12) That is, at the autumnal equinox. The priest states that the planet Mercury causes the rise of the Nile. The passage is difficult to follow; but the idea would seem to be that this god, who controlled the rise and fall of the waves of the sea, also when he was placed directly over the Nile caused the rise of that river.
(13) So also Herodotus, Book ii., 22. Yet modern discoveries have proved the snows.
(14) So, too, Herodotus, Book ii., 20, who attributes the theory to Greeks who wish to get a reputation for cleverness. (15) See on Book V., 709. Herodotus mentions this theory also, to dismiss it.
(16) The historians state that Alexander made an expedition to the temple of Jupiter Hammon and consulted the oracle. Jupiter assisted his march, and an army of crows pointed out the path (Plutarch). It is, however stated, in a note in Langhorne’s edition, that Maximus Tyrius informs us that the object of the journey was the discovery of the sources of the Nile.
(17) Sesostris, the great king, does not appear to have pushed his conquests to the west of Europe.
(18) See Herodotus, iii., 17. These Ethiopian races were supposed to live to the age of 120 years, drinking milk, and eating boiled flesh. On Cambyses’s march his starving troops cast lots by tens for the one man who was to be eaten.
(19) The Seres are, of course, the Chinese. The ancients seem to have thought that the Nile came from the east. But it is possible that there was another tribe of this name dwelling in Africa.
(20) A passage of difficulty. I understand it to mean that at this spot the summer sun (in Leo) strikes the earth with direct rays.
(21) Reading “ibi fas ubi proxima merees”, with Hosius. (22) See Book VIII., 253.
(23) Medea, who fled from Colchis with her brother, Absyrtus. Pursued by her father Aeetes, she killed her brother and strewed the parts of his body into the sea. The king paused to collect them.
(24) It was in this conflagration that a large part of the library of the Ptolemies was destroyed. 400,000 volumes are stated to have perished.
(25) The island of Pharos, which lay over against the port of Alexandria, had been connected with the mainland in the middle by a narrow causeway. On it stood the lighthouse. (See Book IX, 1191.) Proteus, the old man of the sea, kept here his flock of seals, according to the Homeric story. (“Odyssey”, Book IV, 400.)
(26) Younger sister of Cleopatra.