26
PHARSALIA
Book I
Aghast, upon the entrails of the beast
Essayed to read the anger of the gods.
Their very colour terrified the seer;
Spotted they were and pale, with sable streaks
Of lukewarm gore bespread; the liver damp
With foul disease, and on the hostile part
The angry veins defiant; of the lungs
The fibre hid, and through the vital parts
The membrane small; the heart had ceased to throb; 690
Blood oozes through the ducts; the caul is split:
And, fatal omen of impending ill,
One lobe o'ergrows the other; of the twain
The one lies flat and sick, the other beats
And keeps the pulse in rapid strokes astir.
Disaster's near approach thus learned, he cries—
'Whate'er may be the purpose of the gods,
''Tis not for me to tell; this offered beast
'Not Jove possesses, but the gods below.
'We dare not speak our fears, yet fear doth make 700
'The future worse than fact. May all the gods
'Prosper the tokens, and the sacrifice
'Be void of truth, and Tages (famous seer)
'Have vainly taught these mysteries.' Such his words
Involved, mysterious. Figulus, to whom
For knowledge of the secret depths of space
And laws harmonious that guide the stars,
Memphis could find no peer, then spake at large:
'Either,' he said, 'the world and countless orbs
'Throughout the ages wander at their will; 710
'Or, if the fates control them, ruin huge
'Hangs o'er this city and o'er all mankind.
'Shall Earth yawn open and engulph the towns?
'Shall scorching heat usurp the temperate air
Essayed to read the anger of the gods.
Their very colour terrified the seer;
Spotted they were and pale, with sable streaks
Of lukewarm gore bespread; the liver damp
With foul disease, and on the hostile part
The angry veins defiant; of the lungs
The fibre hid, and through the vital parts
The membrane small; the heart had ceased to throb; 690
Blood oozes through the ducts; the caul is split:
And, fatal omen of impending ill,
One lobe o'ergrows the other; of the twain
The one lies flat and sick, the other beats
And keeps the pulse in rapid strokes astir.
Disaster's near approach thus learned, he cries—
'Whate'er may be the purpose of the gods,
''Tis not for me to tell; this offered beast
'Not Jove possesses, but the gods below.
'We dare not speak our fears, yet fear doth make 700
'The future worse than fact. May all the gods
'Prosper the tokens, and the sacrifice
'Be void of truth, and Tages (famous seer)
'Have vainly taught these mysteries.' Such his words
Involved, mysterious. Figulus, to whom
For knowledge of the secret depths of space
And laws harmonious that guide the stars,
Memphis could find no peer, then spake at large:
'Either,' he said, 'the world and countless orbs
'Throughout the ages wander at their will; 710
'Or, if the fates control them, ruin huge
'Hangs o'er this city and o'er all mankind.
'Shall Earth yawn open and engulph the towns?
'Shall scorching heat usurp the temperate air
