Book I
THE CROSSING OF THE RUBICON
17
'If 'tis thy wish the very truth to hear
''Tis mine to speak it; we complain of this,
'That gifted with such strength thou did'st refrain
'From using it. Had'st thou no trust in us?
'While the hot life-blood fills these glowing veins,
'While these strong arms avail to hurl the lance,
'Wilt thou make peace and bear the Senate's rule?
'Is civil conquest then so base and vile?
'Lead us through Scythian deserts, lead us where 420
'The inhospitable Syrtes line the shore
'Of Afric's burning sands, or where thou wilt:
'This hand, to leave a conquered world behind,
'Held firm the oar that tamed the Northern Sea
'And Rhine's swift torrent foaming to the main.
'To follow thee fate gives me now the power:
'The will was mine before. No citizen
'I count the man 'gainst whom thy trumpets sound.
'By ten campaigns of victory, I swear,
'By all thy world-wide triumphs, though with hand 430
'Unwilling, should'st thou now demand the life
'Of sire or brother or of faithful spouse,
'Cæsar, the life were thine. To spoil the gods
'And sack great Juno's temple on the hill,
'To plant our arms o'er Tiber's yellow stream,
'To measure out the camp, against the wall
'To drive the fatal ram, and raze the town,
'This arm shall not refuse, though Rome the prize.'
His comrades swore consent with lifted hands
And vowed to follow wheresoe'er he led. 440
And such a clamour rent the sky as when
Some Thracian blast on Ossa's pine-clad rocks
Falls headlong, and the loud re-echoing woods,
Or bending, or rebounding from the stroke,
In sounding chorus lift the roar on high.
''Tis mine to speak it; we complain of this,
'That gifted with such strength thou did'st refrain
'From using it. Had'st thou no trust in us?
'While the hot life-blood fills these glowing veins,
'While these strong arms avail to hurl the lance,
'Wilt thou make peace and bear the Senate's rule?
'Is civil conquest then so base and vile?
'Lead us through Scythian deserts, lead us where 420
'The inhospitable Syrtes line the shore
'Of Afric's burning sands, or where thou wilt:
'This hand, to leave a conquered world behind,
'Held firm the oar that tamed the Northern Sea
'And Rhine's swift torrent foaming to the main.
'To follow thee fate gives me now the power:
'The will was mine before. No citizen
'I count the man 'gainst whom thy trumpets sound.
'By ten campaigns of victory, I swear,
'By all thy world-wide triumphs, though with hand 430
'Unwilling, should'st thou now demand the life
'Of sire or brother or of faithful spouse,
'Cæsar, the life were thine. To spoil the gods
'And sack great Juno's temple on the hill,
'To plant our arms o'er Tiber's yellow stream,
'To measure out the camp, against the wall
'To drive the fatal ram, and raze the town,
'This arm shall not refuse, though Rome the prize.'
His comrades swore consent with lifted hands
And vowed to follow wheresoe'er he led. 440
And such a clamour rent the sky as when
Some Thracian blast on Ossa's pine-clad rocks
Falls headlong, and the loud re-echoing woods,
Or bending, or rebounding from the stroke,
In sounding chorus lift the roar on high.
