Book II
THE FLIGHT OF POMPEIUS
33
'Rush forth from Susa; Scythian Ister curb
'No more the Massagete: unconquered Rhine
'Let loose from furthest North her fair-haired tribes: 60
'Elbe, pour thy Suevians forth! Let us be foes
'Of all the peoples. May the Getan press
'Here, and the Dacian there; Pompeius meet
'The Eastern archers, Cæsar in the West
'Confront th' Iberian. Leave to Rome no hand
'To raise against herself in civil strife.
'Or, if Italia by the gods be doomed,
'Let all the sky, fierce Parent, be dissolved
'And falling on the earth in flaming bolts,
'Their hands still bloodless, strike both leaders down, 70
'With both their hosts! Why plunge in novel crime
'To settle which of them shall rule in Rome?
'Scarce were it worth the price of civil war
'To hinder either.' Thus the patriot voice
Still found an utterance, soon to speak no more.
Meantime, the aged fathers o'er their fates
In anguish grieved, detesting life prolonged
That brought with it another civil war.
And thus spake one, to justify his fears:
'No other deeds the fates laid up in store 80
'When Marius,[1] victor over Teuton hosts,
'Afric's high conqueror, cast out from Rome,
'Lay hid in marshy ooze, at thy behest,
'O Fortune! by the yielding soil concealed
'And waving rushes; but ere long the chains
'No more the Massagete: unconquered Rhine
'Let loose from furthest North her fair-haired tribes: 60
'Elbe, pour thy Suevians forth! Let us be foes
'Of all the peoples. May the Getan press
'Here, and the Dacian there; Pompeius meet
'The Eastern archers, Cæsar in the West
'Confront th' Iberian. Leave to Rome no hand
'To raise against herself in civil strife.
'Or, if Italia by the gods be doomed,
'Let all the sky, fierce Parent, be dissolved
'And falling on the earth in flaming bolts,
'Their hands still bloodless, strike both leaders down, 70
'With both their hosts! Why plunge in novel crime
'To settle which of them shall rule in Rome?
'Scarce were it worth the price of civil war
'To hinder either.' Thus the patriot voice
Still found an utterance, soon to speak no more.
Meantime, the aged fathers o'er their fates
In anguish grieved, detesting life prolonged
That brought with it another civil war.
And thus spake one, to justify his fears:
'No other deeds the fates laid up in store 80
'When Marius,[1] victor over Teuton hosts,
'Afric's high conqueror, cast out from Rome,
'Lay hid in marshy ooze, at thy behest,
'O Fortune! by the yielding soil concealed
'And waving rushes; but ere long the chains
- ↑ When dragged from his hiding place in the marsh, Marius was sent by the magistrates of Minturnæ to the house of a woman named Fannia, and there locked up in a dark apartment. It does not appear that he was there long. A Gallic soldier was sent to kill him; 'and the eyes of Marius appeared to him to dart a strong flame, and a loud voice issued from the gloom, "Man, do you dare to kill Caius Marius? "' He rushed out exclaiming, 'I cannot kill Caius Marius.' (Plutarch, 'Marius,' 38.
