 Book 8, Part 2, Farsalia, Dramatic Episodes of the Civil Wars This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Rita Butros Farsalia, Dramatic Episodes of the Civil Wars by Lucan Translation by J.D. Duff Book 8 Death of Pompeius, Part 2 Already had a horseman from the shore in rapid gallop to the trembling court brought news their guest was come. Short was the time for counsel given but in haste were met all who advised the base Pellian king. Monsters, inhuman, their acorius sat, less harsh in failing years in Memphis born of empty rights and guardian of the rise of fertilizing Nile. While he was priest not only once had Apis lived the space marked by the crescent on his sacred brow, first was his voice for Magnus raised and troth for the pledges of the king deceased, but skilled in counsel meet for shameless minds and tyrant hearts, Pothinas dared to claim judgment of death on Magnus. Laws and right make many guilty, Ptolema's king and faith thus lauded brings its punishment when it supports the fallen. To the fates yield thee and to the gods the wretched shun but seek the happy. As the stars from earth differ and fire from ocean so from right expedience the tyrants shorn of strength who ponders justice and regard for right brings ruin on a throne. For lawless power the best defences crime and cruel deeds find safety but in doing. He that aims at piety must flee the regal hall virtues the bane of rule. He lives in dread who shrinks from cruelty nor let this chief unpunished scorn thy youth who thinks that thou not even the conquered from our shore can spar nor to a stranger if thou wouldst not reign. Resign thy scepter for the ties of blood speak for thy banished sister. Let her rule, or Nile and Pharaohs, we shall at least preserve our Egypt from the Latian arms. What Magnus owned not ere the war was done, no more shall Caesar. Driven from all the world trusting no more to fortune now he seeks some foreign nation which may share his fate. Shades of the slaughtered in the civil war compel him nor from Caesar's arms alone but from the senate also does he fly. Whose blood out poured has gorged Thessalian fowl, monarchs he feared whose all he hath destroyed and nations piled in one ensanguined heap by him deserted. Victim of the blow Thessalia dealt refused in every land. He asks for help from ours not yet betrayed but none then Egypt with this chief from Rome has just or quarrel who has sought with arms to stain our Pharaohs distant from the strife and peaceful ever and to make our realm suspected by his victor. Why alone should this our country please thee in thy fall? Why brings thou here the burden of thy fates for Thessalia's curse? In Caesar's eyes long since we have offence which by the sword alone can find its condonation. In that we by thy persuasion from the senate gained this our dominion. By our prayers we helped if not by arms thy cause. This sword which fate bids us make ready not for thee I hold prepared but for the vanquished and on thee would it had been on Caesar falls the stroke. For we are born as all things to his side and dost thou doubt since thou art in my power thou art my victim? By what trust in us came's thou unhappy? Scarce our people till's the fields though softened by the refluent Nile no well our strength and no we can no more. Rome, neath the ruin of Pompeius lies, shalt thou king uphold him shalt thou dare to stir for Thessalia's ashes and to call war to thy kingdom? ere the fight was fought we joined not either army shall we now make Magnus friend whom all the world deserts and fling a challenge to the conquering chief and all his proud successes. Fair is help lent in disaster yet reserved for those whom fortune favors. Faith her friends selects not from the wretched. They decree the crime, proud is the boyish tyrant that so soon his slaves permit him to so great a deed to give his favoring voice and for the work they choose Achilles. Where the treacherous shore runs out in sand below the Cassian Mount and where the shallow waters of the sea attest the Sirtis near, in little boat Achilles and his partners in the crime with swords embark. Ye gods and shall the Nile and barbarous Memphis and the effeminate crew that throngs Palusian canopies raise its thoughts to such an enterprise? Do thus our fates press on the world? Is Rome thus fallen that in our civil phrase the faxian sword finds place or Egypt? Oh, may civil war be thus far faithful that the hand which strikes be of our kindred and the foreign fiend held worlds apart. Pompeus great in soul noblen spirit had deserved a death from Caesar's self, and king has thou no fear at such a ruin of so great a name? And dost thou dare when heaven's high thunder rolls thou puny boy to mingle with its tones thine impure utterance? Had he not won a world by arms and thrice in triumph scaled the sacred capital, and vanquished kings and championed the Roman senate's cause, he, kinsmen of the victor, was enough to cause forbearance in a farian king that he was Roman? Wherefore, with thy sword dost stab our breast, thou knowest not, impious boy, how stand thy fortunes? Now no more by right hast thou the scepter of the land of Nile, for prostrate vanquished in the civil wars is he who gave it. Furling now his sails, magnus with oars approached the accursed land, when in their little boat the murderous crew drew nigh, and feigning from the Egyptian court a ready welcome blamed the double tides broken by shallows and their scanty beach unfit for fleets, and bade him to their craft, leaving his loftier ship. Had not the fates eternal and unalterable laws called for their victim, and decreed his end now near at hand, his comrade's warning voice yet might have stayed his course, for if the court to magnus, who bestowed the farian crown in truth were open, should not king and fleet in pomp have come to greet him? But he yields, the fates compel, welcome to him was death rather than fear, but rushing to the side his spouse would follow, for she dared not stay, fearing the guile. Then he, abide my wife and son I pray you, from the shore afar await my fortunes, mine shall be the life to test their honour. But Cornelius still withstood his bidding, and with arms outspread frenzied she cried, and with her without me, cruel, departist, thou forbanced me share thy risks, Thessalian, dost again command that I should part from thee? No happy star breaks on our sorrow. If from every land thou dost debar me, why didst turn aside in flight to Lesbos? On the waves alone am I thy fit companion? Thus in vain leaning upon the bulwark, dazed with dread, nor could she turn her straining gaze aside, nor see her parting husband. All the fleet stood silent, anxious, waiting for the end, not that they feared the murder which befell, but thus their leader might with humble prayer kneel to the king he made. As Magnus passed, a Roman soldier from the Faryon boat, Septimius, salutes him. Gods of heaven there stood he, minion to a barbarous king, nor bearing still the javelin of Rome, but vile in all his arms, giant in form, fierce, brutal, thirsting as a beast may thirst for carnage. Dits thou, fortune, for the sake of nations, spare to dread far salis field this savage monster's blows? Or dost thou place throughout the world for thy mysterious ends some ministering swords for civil war? Thus to the shame of victors and of gods this story shall be told in days to come. A Roman swordsman once within thy ranks slave to the orders of a puny prince severed Pompeius' neck, and what shall be Septimius' fame hereafter? By what name this deed be called if Brutus wrought a crime? Now came the end, the latest hour of all, wrapped to the boat was Magnus, of himself no longer master, and the miscreant crew unsheathed their swords which when the chieftain saw he swathed his visage, for he scorned unveiled to yield his life to fortune, closed his eyes and held his breath within him, lest some word or sob escaped might mar the deathless fame his deeds had won. And when within his side Achilles plunged his blade, nor sound nor cry he gaze, but calm consented to the blow and proved himself in dying in his breast these thoughts revolving. In the years to come men shall make mention of our Roman toils, gaze on this boat, ponder the farion faith, and think upon thy fame and all the years while fortune smiled. But for the ills of life how thou couldst bear them, this men shall not know save by thy death, than way thou not the shame that waits on thine undoing. Whose strikes the blow is Caesar's. Men may tear this frame and cast it mangled to the winds of heaven. Yet have I prospered, nor can all the gods call back my triumphs. Life may bring defeat, but death no misery. If my spouse and son behold me murdered silently the more I suffer, admiration at my death shall prove their love. Thus did Pompeus die, guarding his thoughts. But now Cornelia filled the air with lamentations at the sight. O husband whom my wicked self hath slain, that lonely isle apart thy bane hath been, and stayed thy coming. Caesar to the Nile has won before us, for what other hand may do such work. But whosoever thou art sent from the gods with power, for Caesar's ire, or thine own sake, to slay thou dost not know where lies the heart of Magnus. Haste and do, such were his prayer, no other punishment befits the conquered. Yet let him air his end, see mine, Cornelius. On me the blame of all these wars, whose soul of Roman wives followed my spouse afield, nor feared the fates, and in disaster when the kings refused, received and cherished him. Did I deserve thus to be left of thee, and didst thou seek to spare me? And when, rushing on thine end, was I to live? Without the monarch's help death shall be mine, either by headlong leap beneath the waters, or some sailor's hand shall bind around this neck the fatal cord. Or else some comrade, worthy of his chief, drive to my heart his blade for Magnus' sake, and claim the service done to Caesar's arms. What, does your cruelty withhold my fate? Ah, still he lives, nor is it mine as yet to win this freedom. They forbid me death kept for the victor's triumph. Thus she spake while friendly hands upheld her fainting form and sped the trembling vessel from the shore. Men say that Magnus, when the deadly blows fell thick upon him, lost nor form divine, nor venerated main. And as they gazed upon his lacerated head, they marked still on his features anger with the gods. Nor death could change his visage, for in act of striking fierce, septimious, murderous hand, thus making worse his crime, severed the folds that swayed the face, and seized the noble head and drooping neck ere yet was fled the life. Then placed upon the bench and with his blade slow at its hideous task and blows unskilled, hacked through the flesh and break the knotted bone. For yet man had not learned by swoop of sword deftly to lop the neck. Achilles claimed the gory head dissevered. What shall thou a Roman soldier, while thy blade yet reeks from Magnus slaughter, play the second part to this base-barlet of the farion king? Nor bear thyself the bleeding trophy home? Then that the impious boy, ah, shameful fate, might know the features of the hero's slain seized by the locks, the dread of kings, which waved upon his stately front on farion pike the head was lifted, while almost the life gave to the tongue its accents, and the eyes were yet scarce glazed. That head, at whose command was peace or war, that tongue whose eloquent tones would move assemblies, and that noble brow on which were showered the rewards of Rome. Nor to the tyrant did the sight suffice to prove the murder done, the perishing flesh, the tissues, and the brain he bids removed by art nefarious. The shriveled skin draws tight upon the bone, and poisonous juice gives to the face its liniments in death. Last of thy race, thou base degenerate boy, about to perish soon, and yield the throne to thine incestuous sister, while the prince from Macedon here in consecrated vault now rests, and ashes of the kings are closed in mighty pyramids, and lofty tombs of thine unworthy fathers mark the graves. Shall Magnus body hither and thither borne be battered headless by the ocean wave? Too much it troubled thee to guard the course unmutilated, for his kinsmen's eye to witness, such the faith which fortune kept with prosperous Pompeius to the end, twas not for him in evil days some ray of light to hope for, shattered from the height of power in one short moment to his death, years of unbroken victories balanced down by one day's carnage. In his happy time heaven did not harass him, nor did she spare in misery. Long fortune held the hand that dashed him down, now beaten by the sands torn upon rocks the sport of ocean waves poured through its wounds his headless carcass lies saved by the lacerated trunk unknown. Yet ere the victor touched the farrian sands some scanty rites to Magnus fortune gave, lest he should want all burial. Pale with fear came Cordus, hasting from his hiding place. Quaester, he joined Pompeius on thy shore, idalian Cyprus bringing in his train a cloud of evils. Through the darkening shades love for the dead compelled his trembling steps hard by the maran of the deep to search and drag to land his master through the clouds the moon shone sadly and her rays were dim but by its hue upon the hoary mane he knew the body. In a fast embrace he holds it wrestling with the greedy sea and deftly watching for a refluent wave gains help to bring his burden to the land. Then clinging to the loved remains the wounds washed with his tears thus to the gods he speaks and misty stars obscure. Here fortune lies Pompeius thine no costly incense rare or pomp of funeral he dares to ask nor that the smoke rise heavenward from his pyre with eastern odors rich nor that the necks of pious bear him to the tomb their parent while the forums shall resound with dirges nor that triumphs one of your be born before him nor for sorrowing hosts to cast their weapons forth some little shell he begs as for the meanest laid in which his mutilated course may reach the flame grudge not his misery the pile of wood lit by this menial hand is not enough that his Cornelia with disheveled hair weeps not beside him at his obsequies nor with a last embrace shall place the torch beneath her husband dead but on the deep hard by still wonders burning from afar he sees the pyre of some ignoble youth deserted of his own with none to guard and quickly drawing from beneath the limbs some glowing logs where the RT said neglected shade uncared for dear to none yet happier than Pompeus in thy death pardon I ask that this my stranger hand should violate thy tomb yet if two shades be sense or memory gladly shall thou yield this from thy pyre to Magnus to where thy shame blessed with do burial if his remains were homeless speaking thus the wood of flame back to the headless trunk at speed he bore which hanging on the margin of the deep almost the sea had won in sandy trench the gathered fragments of a broken boat trembling he placed around the noble limbs no pile above the corpse nor under lay nor was the fire beneath then as he crouched beside the blaze oh greatest chief he cried majestic champion of Hesperia's name if to be tossed unburied on the deep rather than these poor rights thy shade prefer from these mine offices thy mighty soul withdraw Pompeus injuries dealt by fate command this duty lest some bird or beast or ocean monster or fierce Caesar's wrath should venture ought against thee take the fire all that thou canst by Roman hand at least and kindled and should fortune grant return to loved Hesperia's land not here shall rest thy sacred ashes but within an urn Cornelia from this humble hand received shall place them here upon a meager stone we draw the characters to mark thy tomb these letters reading may some kindly friend bring back thine head to severed and may grant full funeral honors to thine earthly frame then did he cherish the enfeebled fire till Magnus body mingled with its flames but now the harbinger of coming dawn had paled the constellations he and fear seeks for his hiding place whom Doss thou dread madman what punishment for such a crime for which thy fame by rumor trumpet tongued has been sent down to ages praise is thine for this thy work at impious Caesar's hands sure of a pardon go confess thy task and beg the head dissever'd but his work was still unfinished and with pious hand fearing some foe he seizes on the bones now half consumed and sinews and the wave pours in upon them and in shallow trench commits them to the earth unless some breeze might bear away the ashes or by chance some sailor's anchor might disturb the tomb a stone he places and with stick half burned traces the sacred name here Magnus lies and art thou fortune pleased that such a spot should be his tomb which even Caesar's self had chosen rather than permit his course to rest unburied why with thoughtless hand confine his shade within the narrow bounds of this poor sepulcher where the furthest sand hangs on the margin of the baffled deep cabined he lies yet where the Roman name is known and empire such in truth shall be the boundless measure of his resting place blot out this stone this proof against the gods Ata finds room for Hercules alone and Nisa's mountain for the Bromian God not all the lands of Egypt should suffice for Magnus dead and shall one Faryon stone mark his remains yet should no turf disclose his title peoples of the earth would fear to spurn his ashes and the sands of Nile no foot would tread but if the stone deserves so great a name then add his mighty deeds right lepidus conquered and the alpine war and fierce sartorius by his aiding arm or thrown the chariots which as night he drove salicy and pirates driven from the main and commerce safe to nations eastern kings defeated and the barbarous northern tribes right that from arms he ever sought the robe right that content upon the capital thrice only triumph tea nor asked his do what mausoleum were for such a chief a fitting monument this paltry stone records no syllable of the lengthy tale of honors and the name which men have read upon the sacred temples of the gods and lofty arches built of hostile spoils on desolate sands here in the holy grave with characters uncouth such as the glance of passing traveler or roman guest might pass unnoticed thou egyptian land by destiny for doomed to bear apart in civil warfare not unreasoning sang high cumase prophetess whom she forbade the stream pollution to the roman arms and all the banks which in the summer covered by his flood what grievous fate shall I call down upon thee may the Nile turn back his water to his source thy fields want for the winter rain and all the land crumble to desert waste here in our faines have known thine ices and thy hideous gods half hounds half human and the drum that bids to sorrow this whom thy dirge proclaims for men thou egypt in thy sand are dead containst nor though her temples now serve a proud master yet has Rome required Pompeis ashes in a foreign land still lies her chief but though men feared at first the victor's vengeance now at length receive thy magnus bones still the restless wave hath not prevailed upon that hated shore shall men have fear of tombs and dread to move the dust of those who should be with the gods oh may my country place the crime on me if crime it be to violate such a tomb of such a hero and to bear his dust home to Orsonia happy happy he who bears such holy office in his trust happily when famine rages in the land or burning southern winds or fires abound and earthquake shocks and Rome shall pray an end from angry heaven by the gods command in council given shalt thou be transferred to thine own city and the priest shall bear thy sacred ashes to their last abode now may seek beneath the raging crab or hot Sieny's waist or thieves a thirst under the rainy Pleiades to gaze on Nile's broad stream or whose may exchange on the red sea or in Arabian ports some eastern merchandise shall turn in awe to view the venerable stone that marks thy grave Pompeis and shall worship more co-mingled with the arid sand thy shade though exiled than the fain upreared on Cassius mount to Jove in temples shrined and gold thy memory were vile or deemed fortune lies with thee in thy lowly tomb and makes thee rival of Olympus king more awful is that stone by Libyan seas lashed than our conquerors altars there in earth a deity rests to whom all men shall bow more than to God's Torpean and his name shall shine the brighter in the days to come for that no marble tomb about him stands nor lofty monument that little dust time shall soon scatter and the tomb shall fall and all the proofs shall perish of his death shall come when men shall gaze upon the stone nor yet believe the tale and Egypt's fable that she holds the grave of great Pompeis be believed no more than Crete's which boasts the sepulcher of Jove End of Book 8, Part 2 I yet in those ashes on the farian shore in that small heap of dust was not confined so great a shade but from the limbs half burnt and narrow cells sprang forth and sought the sky where dwells the thunderer black the space of air upreaching to the poles that bear on high the constellations in their nightly round their twix the orbit of the moon and earth abide those lofty spirits half divine who by their blameless lives and fire of soul are fit to tolerate the pure expanse that bounds the lower aether there shall dwell nor the monument encased in gold nor richest incense shall suffice to bring the buried dead in union with the spheres Pompeis's spirit when with heavenly light his soul was filled first on the wandering stars and fixed orbs he bent his wandering gaze then saw what darkness veils our earthly day and scorned the insults heaped upon his course there o'er a mathian plains he winged his flight and ruthless Caesar's standards and the fleet tossed on the deep and brutus' blameless breast terried a while and roused his angered soul to reap the vengeance last possessed the mind of Haudicato he while yet the scales were poised and balanced nor the war had given the world its master hating both the chiefs he followed Magnus for the senate's cause and for his country since Farsalia's field ran red with carnage now was all his heart bound to Pompeus Roman him received her guardian a people's trembling limbs he cherished with new hope and weapons gave back to the craven hands that cast them forth nor yet for empire did he wage the war nor fearing slavery nor an arms achieved ought for himself freedom since Magnus fell the aim of all his host and lest the foe and rapid course triumphant should collect his scattered bands he sought Corsaira's gulfs concealed and thence and ships unnumbered bore the fragments of the ruin wrought in thrace who in such mighty armament had thought a routed army sailed upon the main thronging the sea with keels round Malaya's cape and Tynurus open to the shades below and fair Scythera's isle the avancing fleet sweeps over the yielding wave by northern breeze born past the Cretan shores but Ficus dared refuse her harbor and the avenging hand left her in ruins thus with gentle airs they glide along the main and reach the shore from Palinurus named for not alone this Italian pilot of the deep has thou thy monument and Libya too claims that her water pleased thy soul of yore then in the distance on the main arose the shining canvas of a stranger fleet or friend or foe they knew not yet they dread in every keel the presence of that chief their fear compelling conqueror but in truth that navy tears and sorrow bore and woes like even Cato weep for when in vain Cornelia prayed her stepson and the crew to stay their flight less happily from the shore back to the sea might float the headless corpse and when the flame arising marked the place of that unhallowed right fortune didst thou judge me unfit she cried to light the pyre to cast myself upon the hero dead to lock to sever and compose the limbs tossed by the cruel billows of the deep and to shed a flood of tears upon his wounds and from the flickering flame to bear away and place within the temples of the gods all that I could his dust that pyre bestows no honour happily by some fairy in hand piled up an insult to his mighty shade happy the cross thy line on the waist unburied to the greater shame of heaven pompous has such funeral and shall this forever be my lot her husband slain Cornelia narrow to enclose within the tomb nor shed the tear beside the urn that holds the ashes of the lovid yet for my grief what boots or monument or ordered pomp dost thou not impious upon thy heart pompous's image and upon thy soul bear ineffasible dust closed in urns is for the wife who would survive her lord not such as thee Cornelia and yet yon scanty light that glimmers from afar upon the fairy and shore somewhat of thee records pompous now the flames sinks down and smoke drifts up across the eastern sky bearing thine ashes and the rising wind sighs hateful in the sail to me no more dearer than this whatever land may yield pompous's victory nor the frequent car that carried him in triumph to the hill gone is that happy husband from my thoughts here did I lose a hero whom I knew here let me stay his presence shall end here the sands of Nile where fell the fatal blow thou sex'stus brave the chances of the war and bear pompous's standard through the world for thus thy father spake within my ear when sounds my fatal hour let both my sons urge on the war nor let some Caesar find room for an empire while shall live on earth still one in whom pompous's blood shall run this your appointed task all cities strong and freedom of their own all kingdoms urge to join the combat for pompous calls nor shall a chieftain of that famous name ride on the seas and fail to find a fleet urged by his sire's unconquerable will and mindful of his rights mine air shall rouse all nations to the conflict one alone should he contend for freedom may you serve Cato none else thus have I kept the faith thy plot prevailed upon me and I lived thy mandate to discharge now through the void of space and shades of hell of such there be I follow yet how distant be my doom I know not first my spirit must endure the punishment of life which saw thine end and could survive it sigh shall break my heart tears shall dissolve it sword nor news I need nor headlong plunge where shameful since thy death were ought but grief required to cause my own she seeks the cabin veiled in funeral garb and tears to find her solace and to love grief in her husband's room no prayers were hers for life she was lost by the height of peril moved her soul nor angered waves but sorrowing there she lay resigned to death and welcoming the storm first reached they Cyprus on the foamy brine then as the eastern breeze more gently held the favoring deep they touched the Libyan shore where stood the camp of Cato sad as one who deep in fear presages ills to come Gnius beheld his brother and his band of patriot comrades swift into the wave he leaps and cries where brother is our sire still stands our country mistress of the world or are we fallen Rome with Magnus's death wrapped to the shades thus he but sextus said oh happy thou who by report alone hearest of the deed that chanced on yonder shore these eyes that saw my brother share the guilt not Caesar rot the murder of our sire not any captain worthy in the fray he fell beneath the orders of a king shameful and base while trusting to the gods who shield the guest a king who in that land by his concession ruled this the reward for favors arsed bestowed within my sight pierced through with wounds our noble father fell yet deeming not the petty prince of Nile so felid deed would dare to Egypt strand I thought great Caesar come but worse than all worse than the wounds of his frame struck me with horror to the inmost heart our murdered father's head shorn from the trunk and borne aloft on javelin this sight as rumor said the cruel victor asked to feast his eyes and prove the bloody deed for whether ravenous birds and fairy and dogs have torn his corpse asunder or a fire consumed it which with stealthy flame arose upon the shore I know not for the parts devoured by destiny to blame the gods I weep the part preserved by men thus sex to spake and Gnaeus at the words flamed into fury for his father's shame sailors launch forth our navies by your oars forced through the deep the wind and sea oppose captains lead on for civil strife narrow gave so great a prize to lay in earth the limbs of Magnus and avenge him with the blood of that unmanly tyrant shall I spare great alexander's fort nor sack the shrine and plunge his body in the tideless marsh nor drag a mysis from the pyramids and all their ancient kings to swim the Nile torn from his tomb that god of all mankind Isis unburied shall avenge thy shade and veldo Cyrus shall I hurl abroad and mutilated fragments and the form of sacred apis and with these their gods shall light a furnace that shall burn the head they held in insult thus their land shall pay the fullest penalty for the shameful deed no husband men shall live to till the fields nor reap the benefit of brimming Nile thou only father gods and men alike fallen and perished shalt possess the land such were the words he spake and soon the fleet had dared the angry deep Baccheto's voice while praising calm the youthful chieftain's rage meanwhile when Magnus's fate was known the air sounded with lamentations which the shore re-echoed never through the ages passed by history recorded was it known that thus the people mourned their ruler's death yet more when worn with tears her pallid cheek veiled by her loosened tresses from the ship Cornelia came they wept and beat the breast their friendly land once gained her husband's garb his arms and spoils embroidered deep in gold thrice worn of old upon the sacred hill she placed upon the flame such were for her the ashes of her spouse and such the love which glowed in every heart that soon the shore blazed with his obsequies thus at winter tide by frequent fires the Apulean herdsmen seeks to render to the fields their verdant growth till blaze Garganus's uplands and the Medes of Volta and the pasture of the herds by warm matinium yet pompous his shade not else so gratified not all the blame the people dared to heap upon the gods for him their hero slain as these few words from Cato's noble breast instinct with truth gone as a citizen who though no peer of those who disciplined the state of your and due submission to the bonds of right yet in this age reverent of law has played a noble part great with his power but freedom's safe when all the pleads were prone to be his slaves he chose the private gown so that the senate ruled the roman state the senate's ruler not by right of arms he air demanded willing took he gifts yet from a willing giver wealth was his vast yet the coffers of the state he filled beyond his own he seized upon the sword knew when to sheat war did he prefer to arts of peace yet armed loved peace the more please took his power pleased he laid it down chased was his home and simple by his wealth untarnished made the people's great his name and venerated to his native roam he brought much good true faith and liberty long since with marius and sulla fled now when pompias has been reft away its counterfeit has perished now unshamed sell sees the despot on imperial power unshamed shall cringe the senate happy he who with disaster found his latest breath and met the faring sword prepared to slay life might have been his lot and despot rule prone at his kingsman throne best gift of all the knowledge how to die next death compelled if cruel fortune doth reserve for me an alien conqueror may do will be as petal my us so he take my head my body graces triumph if he will more than had roam resounded with his praise words such as these give honor to the shade of that most noble dead meanwhile the crowd weary warfare since pompias's fall broke into discord as their ancient chief Sicilian called them to desert the camp but cato hailed them from the furthest beach untamed Sicilian is that course now set for ocean left again pompias gone once more a pirate thus he spake and gazed at all the stirring throng but one whose mind was fixed on flight thus answered pardon chief towards love of magnus not of civil war that led us to fight his side was ours with him whom all the world preferred to peace our causes perished let us seek our homes long since unseen our children and our wives if nor the root nor dread we feel nor yet pompias's death shall close the war whence comes the end the vigor of a life for us is vanished in our failing years give us at least some pious hand to speed the parting soul and light the funeral pyre scarce even to its captains civil strife conceives do burial nor in our debt does fortune threaten us with the savage yoke of distant nations in the garb of roman with her rights I leave thee I have been second to magnus living he shall be my first hereafter to that sacred shade be the prime honor chance of war appoints my lord but not my leader thee alone I follow of magnus after thee the fates nor hope we now for victory nor wish for all our thracian army is fled in Caesar's victory whose potent star of fortune rules the world and none but he has power to keep or save that civil war which while was loyalty is in pious now if in the public right thou patriot Cato findest thy guide we seek the standards of the console thus he spake and with him leaped into the ship a throng of eager comrades then was Rome undone for all the shore was stirring with a crowd of thirst for slavery but burst these words from Cato's blameless breast then with like vows of Caesar's rival host ye too did seek a lord more than master not for Rome the fight but for pompous for that now no more ye fight for tyranny but for yourselves not for some despot chief ye live and die since now to safe to conquer and no lord shall rob you victors of a world subdued ye flee the war and on your abject necks feel for the absent yoke nor can endure without a despot yet to mend the prize were worth the danger magnus might have used to evil ends blood refuse ye now with liberty so near your country's call now lives one tyrant only of the three thus far in favor of the laws have wrought the ferry and weapons and the party and bow now you degenerate be gone and spurn this gift of patol mayas who would think your hands were stained with blood the foe will deem that you upon that dread the salient day first turned your backs then flee in safety flee but neither battle nor blockade subdued Caesar shall give you life oh slaves most base your former master slain ye seek his heir why doth it please you not yet more to earn than life and pardon bear across the sea metolus's daughter magnus's weeping spouse and both his sons outstrip the ferry and gift nor spare this head which laid before the feet of that detested tyrant shall deserve a full reward thus coward shall ye learn and that ye followed me how great your gain quick to your task and purchase thus with blood your claim on Caesar dastardly as flight which crime commends not cato thus recalled the parting vessels so when bees and swarm desert their wax and cells forget the hive ceasing to cling together and with wings untrammeled seek the air nor slothful light on thine to taste its bitterness then rings the friggin gong at once they pause aloft astonished and with love of toil resumed through all the flowers of their honey store and ceaseless wandering search the shepherd joys sure that the hive lion mead for him has kept his cottage store the riches of his home now in the act of conduct of the war were brought to discipline their minds untaught to bear repose first on the sandy shore toiling they learned fatigue then swarmed thy walls sirene priceless fort to cato's mind twas prize enough to conquer juba next he bids attack though nature on the path has placed the sirtis which his dirty heart aspire to conquer either at first when nature gave the universe its form she left this region neither land nor sea not holy shrunk so that it should receive the ocean flood nor firm enough its buffets all the pathless coast lies in uncertain shape the land by earth as parted from the deep on sandy banks the seas are broken and from shoal to shoal the waves advanced to sound upon the shore nature in spite thus left her work undone unfashioned to men's use or else of old a foaming ocean filled the wide expanse but tighten feeding from the brining depth his burning fires near to the heat reduced the waters and the sea still fights with phoebeus's beans which in the length of time drank deeper of its fountains when the mains struck by the oars gave passage to the fleet black from the sky rushed down a southern gale upon his realm and from the watery plain draved back the invading ships and from the shoals compelled the billows and in middle sea raised up a bank forth flew the belling sails beyond the prow's despite the ropes that dared resist the tempest fury and for those who prescient housed their canvas to the storm bear masted they were driven from their course best was their lot who gained the open waves of ocean others lightened of their masts shook off the tempest but a sweeping tide hurried them southwards victor of the gale some freed of shallows on a bank were forced which broke the deep their ship in part was fast part hanging on the sea their fates out fierce rage the waves till hems them in the land nor ostr's force in frequent buffets spent prevails upon the shore high from the main by seas and violet one bank of sand far from the coast arose their watched in vain the storm tossed mariners their keel aground no shore discrrying the essence were lost some portion but the major part by helm and rudder guided and by pilot's who knew the devious channel safe at length floated the marsh of triton loved as saith the fable by that god whose sounding shell all seas and shores re echo and by her palace who springing from her father's head first lit on Libya nearest land to heaven as by its heat is proved here on the brink she stood reflected in the placid wave and called herself trotinous let they as flood flow silent near and fable from a source infernal sprung oblivion in his stream here too that garden of the hesperids where once the sleepless dragon held his watch shorn of its leafy wealth shame beyond him who calls upon the poet for the proof of that which in the ancient days befall but here where golden grows by yellow growth weighed down in richness here a maiden band were guardians and a serpent this sleep never fell was coiled around the trees whose branches bowed beneath their ruddy load but great alchities stripped the bending bows and bore their shining apples thus his task accomplished to the court of Argos's king driven on the Libyan realms more fruitful here pompias stayed the fleet nor further dared and garamantean waves but Kato's soul leaped in his breast impatient of delay to pass the sirtees by a sword march untrusting to their swords against tribes unknown to lead his legions in the storm which closed the man to navies gave them hope of rain nor biting frosts they feared in Libyan climb nor sons too scorching in the falling year thus ere they trod the desert Kato's spake ye men of Rome who through mine arms alone can find the death ye covet and shall find with pride unbroken should the fates command seek this ye weighty task ye're high and prized with hearts resolved to conquer for we march on sterile wastes burnt regions of the world scarce are the wells and titan from the height burns pityless unclouded and the slime of poisonous serpents fouls the dusty earth yet shall men venture for the love of laws and country perishing upon the stands of trackless Libya men who in brave soul rely not on the end attempt will risk there all Tizna and Kato's thoughts on this art enterprise to lead a band blind to the truth unwitting of the risk nay give me comrades for the danger's sake whom I shall see for honor and for Rome bear up against the worst but whose needs a pledge of safety to whom life is sweet let him by fairer journey seek his lord first be my foot upon the sand on me first strike cast my path the serpent void his venom by my fate no ye your perils let him only thirst who sees me at the spring who sees me seek the shade alone sink fainting in the heat or who so sees me ride before the ranks plotting their weary march such be the lot of each who toiling finds in me a chief and not a comrade snakes thirst burning sand the brave man welcomes and the patient breast finds happiness and labor by its cost courage is sweeter in this Libyan land such cloud of ills can furnish as might make men flee unshamed to as thus that Kato's spake kindling the torture valour and the love of toil then reckless of his fate he strode the desert path from which was no return and Libya ruled his destinies to shut his sacred name within a narrow tomb one third of all the world if fame we trust is Libya yet by winds guys she yield some part to Europe for the shores of Nile no more than Skidion Tanias are remote from furthest Gaids where with bending coast yielding a place to ocean Europe parts from afric shores yet falls the larger world to Asia only from the former two issues the western wind but Asia's right touches the southern limits and her left the northern tempest's home and of the east she's mistress to the rising of the sun all that is fertile of the afric lands lies to the west but even here bound no wells of water though the northern wind and frequent leaving us with skies serene falls there in showers not gold nor wealth of brass that yields the seeker pure and unalloyed down to its lowest depths is Libyan soil yet citron forests to Marusian tribes were riches had they known but they content beneath the shady foliage to glean the acts of Rome amid the virgin grove to bring from furthest limits of the world our banquet tables and the fruit they bear but sun's excessive and scorching air burn all the glee beside the shifting sands there die the harvests on the crumbling mold no root find sustenance nor kindly jove makes rich the furrow nor matures the vine sleep binds on nature the track of sand lies ever fruitless save that by the shore the hardy Nassaman plucks the scanty grass unclothed their race and living on the woes worked by the cruel Certes on mankind for spoilers are they of the luckless ships cast on the shoals and with the world by wrecks their only commerce here at Kato's word his soldiers past and fancy from the winds that sweep the seas secure here on them fell smiting with greater strength upon the shore then on the ocean Oster's tempest force and yet more fraught with mischief for no crags repelled his strength nor lofty mountains tamed his furious oncent nor in sturdy woods he found a bar but free from reigning hand raged at his will over the defenseless earth nor did he mingle dust and clouds of rain and whirling circles but the earth was swept and hung suspended till a maze the Nassaman saw his scanty field and home reft by the tempest and the native huts from roof to base were hurried on the blast not higher when some all devouring flame has seized upon its prey and volumes dense rolls up the smoke and darkens all the air then with fresh might he fell upon the host of marching Romans snatching from their feet the sand they trod had Oster been enclosed in some vast cavernous vault with solid walls and mighty barriers he had moved the world upon its ancient base and made the lands to tremble but the facile livian soil by not resisting stood and blasts that whirl the surface upwards left the depths unmoved helmet and shield and spear were turn away by his most violent breath and born aloft through all the regions of the boundless sky perchance a wonder in some distant land where men may fear the weapons in the heaven they're falling as the armor of the gods nor deem them ravished from a soldier's arm twas thus unhuman by the sacred fire those shields descended which are chosen priests bear on their shoulders from some war like race by tempest wrapped to be the prize of Rome fearing the storm prone fell the host to earth winding their garments tight and with clenched hands gripping the earth for not their weight alone withstood the tempest which upon their bowed mighty heaps and their recumbent limbs buried in sand at length they struggling rose back to their feet when low around them stood forth by the storm a growing bank of earth which held them motionless and from afar where walls lay prostrate mighty stones were hurled thus piling ills on ills in wondrous form no dwellings had they seen yet at their feet beheld the ruins all the earth was hid in vast envelopment nor found they guide safe from the stars which as in middle deep flamed o'er them wandering yet some were hid beneath the circle of the Libyan earth which tending downwards hid the northern sky when warmth dispersed the tempest driven air and rose upon the earth the flaming day bathed where their limbs and sweat but parched and dry their gaping lips when to a scanty spring far off beheld they came whose meager drops all gathered in the hollow of a helm they offered to their chief caked where their throats with dust and panting and when little drop had made him envied retch and dost thou deem me wanting in a brave band's heart he cried me only in this throng and have I seem tender unfit to bear the morning heat he who would quench his thirst mid such a host doth most deserve its pangs then in his wrath dash down the helmet in the scanty spring thus by their leaders spurned sufficed for all now had they reached that temple which possessed soul and all Libya the untutored tribes of Garamantians here holds his seats to say of the story a prophetic jove wielding no thunderbolts nor light to ours the Libyan hemmen of the curved horn no wealth adorns his fame by afric tribes bestowed nor glittering horde of eastern gems though rich Arabians end in Ethiope know him alone as jove still as he poor holding his shrine by riches undefiled through time and God as of the olden days burns all the wealth of Rome that here some God dwells witnesses the only grove that buds in Libya for that which grows upon the arid dust which leptis parts from Bernice knows no leaves alone hemmen up rears a wood afound the cause which with its water binds the crumbling soil yet shall the sun when poised upon the height strike through the foliage hardly can the tree protect its trunk into a little space his rays draw in the circle of the shade here have men found the spot where that high bands Philistial divides in middle sky the zodiac stars not here oblique their course nor scorpion rises straighter than the bull nor to the scales does ram give back his hours nor does astraya bid the fishes sink more slowly down but watery capricorn is equal with the crab and with the twins the archer neither does the lion rise above Aquarius but the race that dwells beyond the fervor of the Libyan fires sees to the south that shadow which with us falls to the north slow sinosher sinks for them below the deep and dry with us the wagon plunges far from either pole no star they know that does not seek the main but all the constellations and their course whirl to their vision through the middle sky doors the eastern people stood seeking from Horned Jove to know their fates yet to the Roman chief they yielded place whose comrades prayed him to entreat the gods famed through the Libyan world and judged the voice renowned from distant ages first of these was Labianus chance he said to us the voice and council of the Spidey God has offered as we march from such a guide to know the issues of the war and learn to track the surty's for to whom on earth if not to blameless Cato shall the gods entrust their secrets faithful thou at least their follower through all thy life hast been now hast thou liberty to speak with Jove ask impious Caesar's fates and learn the laws that wait our country in the future days whether the people shall be free to use their rights and customs or the civil war for us is wasted to the sacred breast lover of virtue the voice divine demand what virtue is and guide thy steps by heavens high counselor but Cato full of godlike thoughts born in his quiet breast this answer uttered worthy of the shrines what Labianus doth thou bid me ask whether in arms and freedom I should wish to perish rather than endure a king is longest life worth ought and doth its term make difference can violence to the good do injury outweighed by virtue doth it not suffice to aim at deeds of bravery can feign grow by achievement nay no Hammond's voice shall teach us this more surely than we know bound are we to the gods no voice we need they live in all our acts although the shrine be silent at our birth and once for all what may be known the author of our being revealed nor chose these thirsty sands to chant to few his truth formed in the dusty waste God has his dwelling in all things that be an earth and air and sea and starry vault and virtuous deeds and all that thou canst see and all thy thoughts contained why further than seek we our deities let those who doubt and haltingly tremble for their coming fates go ask the oracles no mystic words make sure my heart but surely coming death coward alike and brave we all must die thus hath joe spoken seek to know no more thus kaito spake and faithful to his creed he parted from the temple of the god and left the oracle of Hammond dumb end of book nine part one book nine part two of far salia dramatic episodes of the civil wars this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Elsie Selwyn far salia by Lucan translated by J.D. Duff book nine kaito part two burying his javelin as one of them before the troops he marched no panting slave with bending neck no litter bore his form he bade them not but showed them how to toil sparing his sleep the less sip the spring when at some rivulet to quench their thirst the eager ranks pressed onward he alone until the humblest follower might drink stood motionless if for the truly good his fame and virtue by the deed itself not by a successful issue should be judged yield famous ancestors fortune not worth gained you your glory but such name as his who ever merited by successful war or slaughtered peoples rather would I lead with him his triumph through the pathless sands and Libya's bounds then in Pompeius's car three times ascend the capital or break the proud jugertha Rome in him behold his country's father worthiest of thy vows a name by which men shall not blush to swear whom shouldest thou break the fetters from thy neck thou mayest in distant days decree divine now was the heat more dense and through that climb then which no further on the southern side the gods permit they trod and scarce are still the water and soil sands they found one bounteous spring which clustered serpents held though scarce the space sufficed by thirsting snakes the font was thronged and asps pressed on the march but when the chieftain saw that speedy fate was on the host if they should lead the well untasted vain he cried your fear of death drink nor delay tis from the threatening tooth men draw their deaths and fatal from the fang issues with the blood the cup is harmless then he sipped the fount still doubting and all the libyan waste there only was he first to touch the stream why fertile thus in death the pestilent air of libya what poison in her soil her several nature mixed my care to know has not availed but from the days of old a fabled story has deceived the world far on her limits where the burning shore admits the ocean fervid from the sun plunged in its waters lay medusa's fields untilled nor forest shaded nor the plough for the soil which by its mistresses gaze was hardened into stone forcus her sire malevolent nature from her body first drew forth these noisome pests first from her jaws issued the sibilant rattle of serpent tongues clustered around her head the poisonous brood like to a woman's hair wreathed on her neck which gloried in their touch glittering heads advanced towards her and her tresses kempt dripped down with vipers venom this alone thou hast accursed one which men can see unharmed for who upon that gaping mouth looked and could dread to whom whom met her gaze was death permitted fate delayed no more but air the victim feared had struck him down perished the limbs while living and the soul grew stiff and stark air yet had fled the frame men have been frenzied by the fury's that killed in Cerberus at Orpheus's song seized from his hissing and Alcides saw the hydra air he slew this monster born brought horror with her birth upon her sire forcus and second order god of waves and upon Keto and the gorgon brood her sisters she could treat the sea and sky with deadly calm unknown and from the world bid cease the soil born down by instant weight vows fell from the air and beasts were fixed in stone whole ethioc tribes who tilled the neighboring lands rigid and marble stood the gorgon sight no creature bore and even her serpents turned back from her visage atlas in his place beside the western columns by her look was turned to rocks and when on snakes of old filigriant giant stood and fried at heaven she made the mountains and the gorgon head born on Athena's bosom closed the war here born of Danai and the golden shower born on wings parhasian by the god Arcadian given author of the lyre and wrestling art came Perseus down from heaven swooping Salaean harp did he bear still crimson from another monster slain the guardian of the heifer loved by jove this to her winged brother palace lent price of the monsters head by her command upon the limits of the Libyan land he sought the rising sun with flight averse or Medusa's realm a burnished shield of yellow brass upon his other arm her gift he bore in which she made him see the fatal face unscathed nor yet in sleep lay all the monster for such total rest to her were death so faded serpent locks and vigilant watch some reaching forth defend her head while others lay upon her face and slumbering eyes then hero Perseus shook though turn diverse trembled his dexter hand but palace held and the descending blade sure the broad neck went sprang the viper brood what visage bore the Gorgon as the steel thus wrapped her life what poison from her throat breathed from her eyes what venom of death distilled the goddess dared not look and Perseus his face had frozen averse had not Athena veiled with coils of riding snakes the features dead then with the Gorgon head the hero up lifted on his wings and sought the sky shorter had been his voyage through the midst of Europe's cities but Athena bade to spare her peoples and their fruitful lands for who in such an area coarser past had not looked up to heaven Western winds now sped his pinions and he took his course or Libya's regions from the stars and suns veiled by no culture Phoebus is nearer track there burns the soil and loftiest on the sky there fails the night to shade the wandering moon if our forgetful of her course oblique straight through the stars nor bending to the north nor to the south she hastens yet that earth is nothing fertile void of fruitful yield drank in the poison of Medusa's blood dripping in dreadful dues upon the soil and in the crumbling sands by heat matured first from the dust was raised a gory clout and guys of asp sleep hanging swollen of neck full was the blood and thick the poison drop that were its making and no other snake more copious held greedy of warmth it seeks no frozen world itself nor haunts the sands beyond the Nile yet has our thirst of gain no shame nor limit and this Libyan death this fatal pest we purchase for our own Heimorhois huge spreads out his scaly coils who suffers not his hapless victims but to stay within their veins chair side-draws sprang to life to dwell within the doubtful marsh where land nor sea prevails a cloud of spray marked fell shelled air's track and kink chris rose straight gliding to his prey his belly tinged with various spots unnumbered more than those which paint the thiebing marble horned snakes with spines contorted like to torrid sand emotities of hue invisible soul of all serpents scitalae to shed in vernal frosts his slow and thirsty dipsos dread and fistbina with his double head tapering and natrix who in bubbling fount fuses his venom greedy prestor swells his foaming jaws paraeus heterept furs with tail alone his sandy path swift jaculous there and seps whose poisonous juice makes putrid flesh and frame and thereup reared his regal head and frighted from his track with sibilant terror all the subjects swam baneful air darts his poison basilisk and sands deserted king ye serpents too who all in other regions harmless glide adored as gods and bright with golden scales and those hot wastes are deadly poised in air whose herds of kin ye follow and with coils encircling close crush in the mighty bull nor does the elephant in his giant balk nor ought find safety and ye need no fang nor poison to compel the fatal end amid these pests undaunted cato urged his desert journey on his hardy troops beneath his eyes pricked up a scanty wound and strangest forms of death unnumbered fall tyrannian owlis bearer of a flag trot on dipsos quick with head reverse the serpents struck no mark betrayed the tooth the aspect of the wound nor threatened death nor any evil but the poison germ in silence worked as consuming fire absorbed the moisture of his inward frame draining the natural juices that were spread around his vitals and his arid jaws set flame upon his tongue his weary limbs no sweat bedued dried up the fount of tears fled from his eyelids tortured by the fire sacred charge the honor could withhold him but he dared to dash his standard down through the plains raging to seek for water that might slake the fatal venom thirsting at his heart plunge him into niacin ron and po pour on his burning tongue the flood of nile yet were the fire unquenched so fell the fang of dipsos in the torrid Libyan lands and other climbs less fatal next he seeks amid the sands all barren to the depths for moisture then returning to the shoals laps them with greed and vain the brining drought scarce quenched the thirst it made nor knowing yet the poison in his frame he steals himself to rip his swollen veins and drink the gore Cato bids lift the standard lest his troops may find in thirst a pardon for the deed but on Sibelius's yet more piteous death their eyes were fastened clinging to his skin as steps with curving tooth of little size he seized and tore away until the sands pierced with his javelin small the serpent's bulk none deals a death more horrible in form for swift the flesh dissolving round the wound bared the pale bone swam all his limbs and blood wasted the tissue of his calves and knees and all the muscles of his thighs were thawed in black distillment and foul membrane sheath parted that bound his vitals which abroad flowed upon earth yet seemed it not that all his frame was loosed for by the venomous drop were all the bands that held his muscles drawn down to a juice his chest was bare its cavity and all the parts hid by the organs of life that make the man so by unholy death their stood revealed his inmost nature head and stalwart arms and neck and shoulders from their solid mass melt and corruption not more swiftly flows wax at the sun's command nor snow compelled by southern breezes yet not all is said for so to noxious humors fire consumes bones have perished these dissolve no less than did the moldered tissues nor of death thus swift is left to trace of afric pests thou bearest the palm for hurtfulness the life they snatch away thou only with the life the clay that held it lo a different fate not this by melting for oppressors fang nasidius struck who arsed and marcian fields guided the plowshare burned upon his face a redness swallowing the skin his features hidden swallowing all his limbs till more than human and his definite frame when tumor huge concealed a ghastly gore is puffed from inwards as the virulent juice courses through all his body which thus grown his corselet holds not not in cauldron so boils up to mountainous height the steaming wave nor in such bellying curves does canvas bend to eastern tempests now the ponderous bulk rejects the limbs and as a shapeless trunk burdens the earth and there to beasts and birds a fatal feast his comrades left the corpse nor dare to place yet swelling in the tomb but for their eyes the libyan pests prepared more dreadful sights untull us great in heart and bound to Cato with admiring soul a fierce high morhoise fixed from every limb as from a statue saffron spray is showered in every part there spouted forth for blood a sable poison from the natural pores of moisture gore profuse his mouth was filled in gaping nostrils and his tears were blood brim full his veins his very sweat was red all was one wound then piteous levis next in sleep was victim for around his heart stood still the blood congealed no pain he felt of venomous tooth but swift upon him fell death and he sought the shades more swift to kill no drought and poisonous cops from ripened plants of direst growth sabion wizards brew low upon branchless trunk a serpent named by libyans jaculas rose in coils to dart his venom from afar through powerless his brain at rush north stayed for in the wound itself was death then did they know how slowly flies flow from a sling the stone how gently speed through air the shafts of skithia what availed murris the lance by which thou didst transfix a basilisk swift though the weapon ran the poison to his hand he draws his sword and severs arm and shoulder out of blow then gaze secure upon his severed hand which perished as he looked so had thou died and such had been thy fate whoever had thought a scorpion had strength o'er death or fate yet with his threatening coils and barbed erect he won the glory of orion slain so bear the stars their witness and who would fear thy haunt salpuga yet deviant maids have given thee power to snap the fatal threads thus nor the day with brightness nor the night with darkness gave them peace the very earth on which they lay they feared nor leaves nor straw they piled for couches but upon the ground unshielded from the fates they laid their limbs cherished beneath whose warmth and chill of night the frozen pests found shelter and whose jaws harmless the wild the lurking venom slept nor did they know the measure of their march nor their path the stars in heaven their only guide return ye gods they cried in frequent wail the arms from which we fled give back the cilia sworn to meet the sword while lingering fall we thus and Caesar's place the thirsty dipsaw and the horned snake now wage the warfare rather let us seek that region by the horses of the sun scorched and the zone most torrid let us fall slain by some heavenly cause and from the sky descend our fate not Africa of thee complain we nor of nature from mankind cut off this quarter teaming thus with pests she gave to snakes into the barren fields denied the husband men nor wish that men should perish by their venom to the realms of serpents have we come hater of men receive thy vengeance whoso of the gods severed this region upon either hand with death and middle space our march is set through thy sequestered kingdom and the host which knows the secret seeks the furthest world perchance some greater wonders on our path may still await us in the waves be plunged heaven's constellations and the lofty pole stoop from its height by further space remove no land than juba's realm by rumors voiced drear mournful happily for this serpent land there may we long where yet some living thing gives consolation not my native land nor European fields I hope for now lit by far other suns nor Asia's plains but in what land what region of the sky where left we Africa but now with frost's sirene stiffened here we changed the laws which rule the seasons in this little space cast from the world we know neath other skies and stars we tread behind our backs the home of southern tempests Rome herself perchance now lies beneath our feet yet for our fates this solace pray we that on this track pursuing his host may come thus was there stirred in patience of its plains disburdened but the bravery of their chief forced them to bear their toils upon the sand all there he lies and dares at every hour fortune to strike he only at the fate of each is present flies to every call and greatest boon of all greater than life brought strength to die to groaning death was shame in such a presence what power had all the ills possessed upon him and another he conquers misery teaching by his mean that pain is powerless hardly aid at length did fortune wearied of their perils grant alone unharmed of all who till the earth by deadly serpents dwells the facility race potent as herbs their song safe is their blood nor gives admission to the poison germ even when the chant has ceased their home itself placed in such venomous tract and serpent thronged gain them this vantage and a truce with death else could they not have lived such as their trust and purity of blood that newly born each babe they prove by test of deadly ask for foreign lineage so the bird of joe turns his new fledglings to the rising sun and such as gaze upon the beams of day with eyes unwavering for the use of heaven he rears but such as blink at Phoebus his raeus casts from the nest thus of unmixed descent the babe who dreading not the serpent touch plays in his cradle with the deadly snake nor with their own immunity from harm contented do they rest but watch for guests who need their help against the noisome plague now to the Roman standards are they common with the chieftain made the tents be fixed first all the sandy space within the lines with song they purify and magic words from which all serpents flee next round the camp and widest circuit from a kindled fire they rise aromatic odors Dan wort burns and juice distills from syrian galbenum then tamarisk in costume eastern herbs strong panacea mixed with sentry from Thrace and leaves of fennel feed the flames and thespus brought from Eryx and they burn larch southern wood and antlers of a deer which lived afar from these in densest fumes deadly to snakes a pungent smoker rose and thus in safety passed the night away but should some victim feel the fatal fang upon the march then of this magic race we're seeing the wonders for a mighty strife rose twix the facility and the poison germ first with saliva they anoint the limbs that held the venomous juice within the wound nor suffer it to spread from foaming mouth next with continuous cadence would they pour unceasing chance nor breathing space nor pause else spreads the poison nor fate permit a moment's silence oft from the black flesh flies forth the pest beneath the magic song but should it linger nor obey the voice repugnant to the summons on the wound prostrate they lay their lips and from the depths now paling draw the venom and their mouths sucked from the freezing flesh they hold the death then spew it forth and from the taste shall know the snake they conquer aided thus at length wanders the roman host and better guys upon the barren fields in a lengthy march twice veiled the moon her light and twice renewed yet still with waning or with growing orbs saucados steps upon the sandy waste but more and more beneath their feet the dust began to harden till the libyan tracks once more were earth and in the distance rose some groves of scanty foliage and huts of plastered straw unfashioned and their hearts leaped at the prospect of a better land how fled their sorrow how with growing joy they met the savage lion in their path and tranquil leptis first they found retreat and passed a winter free from heat and rain when Caesar sated with Amanthia's slain forsook the battlefield all other cares neglected he pursued his kinsmen fled on him alone intent by land his steps he traced in vain then rumour for his guide he crossed the sea and reached the thration straight for love renowned where on the mournful shore rose heroes tower and hell born of cloud took from the rolling waves their former name nowhere with shorter space the sea divides Europe from Asia though Pontus parts by scant division from Byzantium's hold Chalcadon oyster rich and small the straight through which propontis pours the uxen wave then marveling at their ancient fame he seeks to gain sandy beach and some moises stream Reutium noble for its Grecian tomb and all the hero's shades the theme of song next by the town of Troy burnt down of old now by a memorable name he turns his steps and searches for the mighty stones relics of Phoebus' wall but bear with age forests of trees and hollow motoring trunks pressed down asorax this is palace and with roots we read possess the temples of the gods all Pergamus with densest break was veiled and even her stones were perished he beheld thy rock has soyne the hidden grove and Caesae's nuptial chamber and the cave where sat the arbiter the spot from which was snatched the beautiest youth the mountain lawn where played onone not a stone but told the story of the past a little stream scarce trickling through the arid plain he passed nor knew Twazanthus deep in the grass he placed careless his footstep and cried thou treadest the dust of Hector stones confused lay at his feet in sacred shape no more look on the otter of Jove thus spake the guide god of the household guardian of the home O sacred task of poets toil supreme which rescuing all things from allotted fate dust give eternity to mortal men grudge not the glory Caesar of such fame for if the Latian muse may promise the heroes of the Trojan time shall live upon the page of Smyrna's bard so long shall future races read of thee and this my poem and far salius song live unforgotten in the age to come when by the ancient grandeur of the place the chieftain's sight was filled of gathered turf altars he raised and as the sacred flame cast forth its odors these not idle vows gave to the gods ye deities of the dead freguin ruins ye who now Levinia's homes inhabit and Alba's height gods of my Sire Aeneas and whose faines the Trojan fire so burns pledge of the past mysterious palace of the inmost shrine unseen of men here in your ancient seat most famous offspring of Eulis's race I call upon you when with pious hand burn frequent offerings to my empress give prosperous ending here shall I replace the freguin peoples here with glad return Italia's sons shall build another Troy here wise a Roman Pergamus this set he seeks his fleet and eager to regain time spent at Ilium to the favoring breeze spreads all his canvas past rich Asia born roads soon he left while filmed the sparkling main beneath his keels nor ceased the wind to stretch his bending sails till on the seventh night the farion being proclaimed Egyptian shores but day arose and veiled the nightly lamp arrowed his barks on waters safe from storm then Caesar saw that tumult held ashore and mingled voices of uncertain sounds struck on his ear and trusting not himself to doubtful kingdoms of uncertain troth he kept his ships from land but from the king came his violinion forth upon the wave bearing his dreadful gift pompous his head wrapped in a covering of theory and wool first took he speech and thus in aimless words commends the murder conqueror of the world first of the Roman race and what is yet thou dost not know safe by thy kinsman's slain this gift received from the Pelyon king sole trophy absent from the Thracian field to crown thy toils on lands and on the deep here in thine absence have we placed for thee an end upon the war here Magnus came to mend his fallen fortunes on our swords here met his death with such pledge of faith here have we brought the Caesar with his blood seal we this treaty take the ferry and realm sought by no bloodshed take the rule of Nile take all that thou wouldst give for Magnus's life and hold him facile worthy of thy camp to whom the fates against thy son in law such power entrusted nor hold thou the deed lightly accomplished by the swordsman's stroke and so the merit guest ancestral he who was him who his sire expelled gave back to him the sceptre for a deed so great thou to find a name or ask the world if it was a crime thou must confess the debt to us the greater for that from thy hand we took the doing then he held and showed unveiled the head now had the hand of death passed with its changing touch upon the face nor at first sight did Caesar on the gift pass condemnation nor avert his gaze but dwelt upon the features till he knew the crime then when truth was sure the loving father rose and tears he shed which flowed at his command and gladdened heart forced from his breast groan thus by the flow of fain tears and grief he hoped to hide his joy else manifest and the ghastly boon sent by the king disparaging professed rather to mourn his son's dissevered head than count it for a debt for thee alone Magnus he durst not failed to find a tear he Caesar who with Mian on altered spurned the Roman senate and with eyes undimmed looked on for salius field oh fate most hard didst thou with impious war pursue the man whom twas thy lot to mourn no kindred ties no memory of thy daughter and her son touch on thy heart didst think per chance that grief might help that cause mid lovers of his name or happily moved by envy of the king grievous that other hands that thine was given to shed the captives of lifeblood incomplainest thy vengeance perished and the conquered chief snatched from thy haughty hand what error the cause that urged thy grief twas far removed from love was this forsooth the object of thy toil or lands and oceans that without thy ken he should not perish nay but well was ref from thine arbitrament his fate what crime did cruel fortune spare what depth of shame to Roman honor since she was not perfidious traitor while yet Magnus lived that thou shouldst pity him thus by words he dared to gain their credence and his assembled grief hence from my sight with thy detested gift thou minion to thy king worse does your crime deserve from Caesar than from Magnus's hands the only prize that civil war affords thus have we lost to bid the conquered live if but the sister of this farion king were not by him detested by the head of Cleopatra had gave this gift such were the fit return why did he draw his separate sword in in the toil that's ours mingle his weapons and Thessalias Field gave us such right to the Palaean blade Magnus's partner in the rule of Rome I had not brooked and shall I tolerate thee Patul mayas and 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 prowls of Latium fame forbids less men should whisper that I did not damn this deed of blood but feared the farion 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 far Thessalias chance at greater risk so seems it that we dreamed of took we arms exile and Magnus's threats in Rome I knew not Patul mayas but we spare the boy pass by the murder let the princely well we give no more than pardon for his crime and now in honor of the mighty dead not merely that the earth may hide your guilt lay ye the chieftains head within the tomb with proper sepals her appease his shade and places scattered ashes and an urn thus may he know my coming and may hear affections accents and my fond complaints me sought he not but rather for his life this farion vassal snatching from mankind a happy morning which had shown the world a peace between us but my prayers to heaven no favoring answer found that arms lay down and happy victory Magnus once again I might embrace thee begging thee to grant thine ancient love to Caesar and thy life thus for my labors with a worthy prize content thine equal bound and faithful peace I might have brought thee to forgive the gods for thy disaster thou hadst 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 all famous freedom on the deed of blood and dare to laugh when mighty Caesar wept end of book nine part two book ten part one of far salia dramatic episodes of the civil wars this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Phil Shampf for salia by Lucan translated by J.D. Duff book ten Caesar and Egypt part one 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 or the guilty land or Memphis's arms should ravish the world victor and vanquished and the warning shade of Magnus saved his kinsman from the sword first by crime assured his standards born before he marched upon the farion town and when the people jealous of their laws murmured against the facies Caesar knew their minds were adverse and that not for him was Magnus's murder and yet with brow dissembling fear intrepid through the shrines of Egypt's gods he strode and round the feign of ancient Isis bearing witness all to Macedon's vigor 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 the mad man offspring there of Philip lies the famed Palaean robber fortune's friend snatched off by fate avenging so the world in sacred sepulchre the hero's limbs which should be scattered or 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 so many lands conserved one master Macedon he left his home obscure Athena he despised the conquest of his sire and spurred by feet 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 he launched a fleet to sail the ocean wave nor flame nor flood nor sterile Libyan sands stayed back his course nor Hammond'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 mad man king who jealous in death as when he won the world his empire with him took nor left an air thus every city to the spoilers hand was victim made yet in his fall was his Babylon and Parthia feared him shame on us that eastern nations dreaded more the lands 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 the northern star but towards the rising of the sun we yield to him who kept the our sausage in awe and puny Pella held as province sure the Parthian fatal to our roman arms now the stream palusian of the Nile was come the boyish king taming the rage of his effeminate people pledge of peace and Caesar safely trod Pella Ian halls when Cleopatra bribed her guard to break the harbor chains and born 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 our ghost urged to strife and Ilium's homes so Cleopatra roused Italy as frenzy by her drum she called down on the capital terror to speak such word be lawful mixed with roman arms coward Canopus hoping she might lead a farian triumph Caesar in her train and was in doubt upon Lucadian 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 Pella Ian 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 read with carnage mid the clash of arms in palace haunted by Pompeus' 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 Dallion's base waited upon his mistress and to her pharaohs 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 ought to noble birth be due give ear of logian race am I offspring illustrious from my father's throne cast forth banishment unless thy hand restore me to the scepter then a queen falls at thy feet embracing to our race bright star of justice though nor first shall I as woman rule the cities of the Nile for neither sex preferring pharaohs bows to queenly governance of my parted sire read the last words by which his mind 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 pothinous orders nor wish I myself to wield my father's power but this my prayer save from this foul disgrace our royal house mid that the king shall reign and from the court remove this hateful varlet and his arms how swells his bosom for that his hand that shore Pompeus's head and now he threats the Caesar also which the fates avert upon the earth and the that apotheous 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 and affable passed with her judge she won his favor when between the pair 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 up rose the hall like to a feign which this corrupted age could scarcely rear the lofty ceiling shown with richest tracery the beams were bound in golden coverings no scant veneer lay on its walls but built in solid blocks of marble the hall gleamed the palace agate stood in sturdy columns bearing up the roof onyx and porphyry on the spacious floor were trodden beneath the foot the mighty gates of marrows throughout were formed he mere adornment I've reclothed the hall and fixed upon the doors with labor rare shells of the tortoise gleamed from indian seas with frequent emerald studded gems of price hollow jasper on the coaches shown lustrous the coverlets the major part dipped more than once within the vats of tire had drunk their juice part feathered as with gold part crimson died in manner as are passed through farion leash the threads their weighted slaves in number as a people some in ranks by different blood distinguished some by age this band with libyan that with brown hair red so that Caesar on the banks of Rhine none such had witnessed some with features scorched by torrid sons their locks and twisted coils drawn from their foreheads eunuchs too were there unhappy race and on the other side men full of age whose cheeks with growth of hair were hardly darkened upon either hand lay kings and Caesar in the mid supreme in her fatal beauty lay the queen thick dogged with unguents nor with thrown content nor with her brother spouse laden she on neck and hair with all the red sea spoils and faint beneath the weight of gems and gold her snowy breast shown through Sidonian lawn which woven close by shuttles of the east the art of Nile had loosened ivory feet bore citron tablets brought from woods that wave 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 we're here those ancient leaders of the simple age Fabricius or Corius stern of soul or he who console left in sore at garb his tusken plow 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 Nile's 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 marriott grape but noble vintage of filerian growth which in few years and Maro's vats had foamed for such the climb 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 flooring climbs and rich ammum from the neighboring 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 meager spoil and with the ferrian realm he longed to find a cause of battle when of wine and feast they worried and their pleasure found an end Caesar drew out in light thus with a courius on the highest couch with linen a-fod as a priest to be Gert oh thou devoted to all sacred rites loved by the gods as proves thy length of days tell if thou wilt when sprang the farion race how lie their lands the manners of their tribes the form and worship of their deities expound the sculptures of your ancient feigns reveal to be known if to the Athenian sage your fathers taught their mysteries who worthier than I to bear in trust the secrets of the world true by the rumor of my kinsman's flight here I was drawn yet also by your fame and even in the midst of war's alarms the stars and heavenly spaces have iconed nor shall eudoxus's year excel my known but those such in 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 kept from the common people until now I hold it right to utter some may deem that silence on these earth were greater piety but to the gods I hold it grateful that their handy work and sacred edicts should be known to man a different power by the primal law each star possesses 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 while 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 of bounds beneath high Jupiter unvexed by storms abides a temperate air and fruitful venus's star contains the seeds of all things ruler of the boundless deep the gods selenium holds that part of heaven where the lion dwells with neighboring cancer joined and serious 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 gut 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 vain is the ancient earth that Ethiop snows send Nile abundant forth upon the lands those mountains know nor north wind nor star of this are proof the breezes of the south fraught with warm vapors and the people's hue burn dark by suns and tis in time of spring when first are thawed the snows that ice fed streams and 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 wintery year where he and flood when distant far the sun his fires lack their office but he leaves his channel when the summer is at height tempering the torrent heat of Egypt's climb such as the task of Nile thus in the world he finds his purpose lest exceeding heat consume the lands and rising thus to meet and kindled lion to Syene's prayer by cancer burnt gives ear nor curbs his wave till the slant sun and Merrill's lengthening shades who shall give the cause to his parent nature's self that gave command thus for the needs of earth should flow the Nile vain to the fable that the western winds control his current in continuous course at stated seasons governing the air or hurrying from oxidant to south clouds without number which in misty folds press on the waters or by constant blast forcing his current back who several mouse burst on the sea so forced by seas and wind men say his billows poor upon the land some speak of hollow caverns breathing holes deep in the earth within whose mighty jaws waters and noiseless current underneath from northern cold to southern climbs are drawn and when hot Merrill pants beneath the sun then say they Ganges through the silent depths and pod us pass and from a single fountain the Nile arising not in single streams pours all the rivers forth and rumor says that when the sea which girdles in the world or flows thence rushes Nile by lengthy course softening his saltiness 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 would 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 thus as the Faryon 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 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 Sassastras far reached to the ends of earth and necks of kings bent neath his chariot yoke but of the springs which fill your rivers ron and po he drank not of the fount of Nile Cambyses king and mad man quest that forth his host to where the long lived races dwell then famine struck eight of his dead and Nile unknown returned no lying rumor of thy hidden source as air made mention where so air 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 the god who veils thy fountain given me to know thy progress daring to up raise thy banks against fiery cancer's heat thou takes thy rise beneath the zenith straight towards the north and mid Buoti's flowing to the couch bending or to the risings of the sun insinuous bends alternate just a like to Araby's peoples and to Libyan sands by Sare's first beheld yet know they not whence art thou come and with no native stream strikes thou the aethiop fields nor knows the world to whom it owes thee nature nare 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 thus thou rise in flood untimely such try right to other lands a bearing try winter and by both the poles thou only wanderest here men ask thy rise and there thine ending marrow rich in soil and tilled by swarthy husbandmen divides thy broad expanse rejoicing 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 next thus thou journey onwards past the realm of burning Phoebus and the sterile sands with equal volume now with all thy strength gathering in one now in devious streams parting the bank that crumbles at thy touch by our kingdoms gates where filet parts Arabian peoples from Egyptian fields the sluggish bosom of thy flood recalls thy 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 world 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 denial in all our ancient lore untrodden named stems firm thy torrent and the rocks we called springs of the river for that are here marked the earliest tokens of the coming flood with mountain shards now's nature hams the inn 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 the access to the open fields end of book 10 part 1