28
PHARSALIA
Book I
Speeds some Bacchante, thus in Roman streets
Behold a matron run, who, in her trance,
Relieves her bosom of the god within. 750
'Where dost thou snatch me, Pæan, to what shore
'Through airy regions borne? I see the snows
'Of Thracian mountains; and Philippi's plains
'Lie broad beneath. But why these battle lines,
'No foe to vanquish—Rome on either hand?
'Again I wander 'neath the rosy hues
'That paint thine eastern skies, where regal Nile
'Meets with his flowing wave the rising tide.
'Known to mine eyes that mutilated trunk
'That lies upon the sand! Across the seas 760
'By changing whirlpools to the burning climes
'Of Libya borne, again I see the hosts
'From Thracia brought by fate's command. And now
'Thou bear'st me o'er the cloud-compelling Alps
'And Pyrenean summits; next to Rome.
'There in mid-Senate see the closing scene
'Of this foul war in foulest murder done.
'Again the factions rise; through all the world
'Once more I pass; but give me some new land,
'Some other region, Phœbus, to behold! 770
'Washed by the Pontic billows! for these eyes
'Already once have seen Philippi's plains!'[1]
The frenzy left her and she speechless fell.
Behold a matron run, who, in her trance,
Relieves her bosom of the god within. 750
'Where dost thou snatch me, Pæan, to what shore
'Through airy regions borne? I see the snows
'Of Thracian mountains; and Philippi's plains
'Lie broad beneath. But why these battle lines,
'No foe to vanquish—Rome on either hand?
'Again I wander 'neath the rosy hues
'That paint thine eastern skies, where regal Nile
'Meets with his flowing wave the rising tide.
'Known to mine eyes that mutilated trunk
'That lies upon the sand! Across the seas 760
'By changing whirlpools to the burning climes
'Of Libya borne, again I see the hosts
'From Thracia brought by fate's command. And now
'Thou bear'st me o'er the cloud-compelling Alps
'And Pyrenean summits; next to Rome.
'There in mid-Senate see the closing scene
'Of this foul war in foulest murder done.
'Again the factions rise; through all the world
'Once more I pass; but give me some new land,
'Some other region, Phœbus, to behold! 770
'Washed by the Pontic billows! for these eyes
'Already once have seen Philippi's plains!'[1]
The frenzy left her and she speechless fell.
- ↑ The confusion between the site of the battle of Philippi and that of the battle of Pharsalia is common among the Roman writers. (See the note to Merivale, chapter xxvi.)
