Book I
THE CROSSING OF THE RUBICON
15
'Were hard upon our track, we would not fly.
'And now, when fortune smiles and kindly gods
'Beckon us on to glory!—Let him come
'Fresh from his years of peace, with all his crowd
'Of conscript burgesses, Marcellus' tongue[1]
'And Cato's empty name! We will not fly.
'Shall Eastern hordes and greedy hirelings keep
'Their loved Pompeius ever at the helm?
'Shall chariots of triumph be for him 360
'Though youth and law forbad them? Shall he seize
'On Rome's chief honours ne'er to be resigned?
'And what of harvests[2] blighted through the world
'And ghastly famine made to serve his ends?
'Who hath forgotten how Pompeius' bands
'Seized on the forum, and with glittering arms
'Made outraged justice tremble, while their swords
'Hemmed in the judgment-seat where Milo[3] stood?
'And now when worn and old and ripe for rest,[4]
'Greedy of power, the impious sword again 370
'He draws. As tigers in Hyrcanian woods
'Wandering, or in the caves that saw their birth,
'Once having lapped the blood of slaughtered kine,
'Shall never cease from rage; e'en so this whelp
'Of cruel Sulla, nursed in civil war,
'Outstrips his master; and the tongue which licked
'That reeking weapon ever thirsts for more.
'And now, when fortune smiles and kindly gods
'Beckon us on to glory!—Let him come
'Fresh from his years of peace, with all his crowd
'Of conscript burgesses, Marcellus' tongue[1]
'And Cato's empty name! We will not fly.
'Shall Eastern hordes and greedy hirelings keep
'Their loved Pompeius ever at the helm?
'Shall chariots of triumph be for him 360
'Though youth and law forbad them? Shall he seize
'On Rome's chief honours ne'er to be resigned?
'And what of harvests[2] blighted through the world
'And ghastly famine made to serve his ends?
'Who hath forgotten how Pompeius' bands
'Seized on the forum, and with glittering arms
'Made outraged justice tremble, while their swords
'Hemmed in the judgment-seat where Milo[3] stood?
'And now when worn and old and ripe for rest,[4]
'Greedy of power, the impious sword again 370
'He draws. As tigers in Hyrcanian woods
'Wandering, or in the caves that saw their birth,
'Once having lapped the blood of slaughtered kine,
'Shall never cease from rage; e'en so this whelp
'Of cruel Sulla, nursed in civil war,
'Outstrips his master; and the tongue which licked
'That reeking weapon ever thirsts for more.
- ↑ Marcus Marcellus, Consul in B.C. 51.
- ↑ Plutarch, ‘Pomp.,' 49. The harbours and places of trade were placed under his control in order that he might find a remedy for the scarcity of grain. But his enemies said that he had caused the scarcity in order to get the power.
- ↑ Milo was brought to trial for the murder of Clodius in B.C. 52, about three years before this. Pompeius, then sole Consul, had surrounded the tribunal with soldiers, who at one time charged the crowd. Milo was sent into exile at Massilia.
- ↑ See Book II., 630.
