48
PHARSALIA
Book II
And all the billows follow in its track:
Then, by the Storm-king smitten, should the earth
Set Eurus free upon the swollen deep,
It shall not yield to him, though cloud and sky
Confess his strength; but in the former wind
Still find its master. But their fears prevailed,
And Cæsar's fortune, o'er their wavering faith. 520
For Libo fled Etruria; Umbria lost
Her freedom, driving Thermus[1] from her bounds;
Great Sulla's son, unworthy of his sire,
Feared at the name of Cæsar: Varus sought
The caves and woods, when smote the hostile horse
The gates of Auximon; and Spinther driven
From Asculum, the victor on his track,
Fled with his standards, soldierless; and thou,
Scipio, did'st leave Nuceria's citadel
Deserted, though by bravest legions held 530
Sent home by Cæsar for the Parthian war;[2]
Whom Magnus earlier, to his kinsman gave
A loan of Roman blood, to fight the Gaul.
But brave Domitius held firm his post[3]
Behind Corfinium's ramparts; his the troops
Who newly levied kept the judgment hall
At Milo's trial.[4] When from far the plain
Rolled up a dusty cloud, beneath whose veil
The sheen of armour glistening in the sun,
Revealed a marching host. "Dash down," he cried, 540
Then, by the Storm-king smitten, should the earth
Set Eurus free upon the swollen deep,
It shall not yield to him, though cloud and sky
Confess his strength; but in the former wind
Still find its master. But their fears prevailed,
And Cæsar's fortune, o'er their wavering faith. 520
For Libo fled Etruria; Umbria lost
Her freedom, driving Thermus[1] from her bounds;
Great Sulla's son, unworthy of his sire,
Feared at the name of Cæsar: Varus sought
The caves and woods, when smote the hostile horse
The gates of Auximon; and Spinther driven
From Asculum, the victor on his track,
Fled with his standards, soldierless; and thou,
Scipio, did'st leave Nuceria's citadel
Deserted, though by bravest legions held 530
Sent home by Cæsar for the Parthian war;[2]
Whom Magnus earlier, to his kinsman gave
A loan of Roman blood, to fight the Gaul.
But brave Domitius held firm his post[3]
Behind Corfinium's ramparts; his the troops
Who newly levied kept the judgment hall
At Milo's trial.[4] When from far the plain
Rolled up a dusty cloud, beneath whose veil
The sheen of armour glistening in the sun,
Revealed a marching host. "Dash down," he cried, 540
- ↑ Thermus, to whom Iguvium had been entrusted by the Senate, was compelled to quit it owing to the disaffection of the inhabitants. (Merivale, chapter xiv.) Auximon in a similar way rose against Varus.
- ↑ After Cæsar's campaign with the Nervii, Pompeius had lent him a legion. When the Parthian war broke out and the Senate required each of the two leaders to supply a legion for it, Pompeius demanded the return of the legion which he had sent to Gaul; and Cæsar returned it, together with one of his own. They were, however, retained in Italy.
- ↑ See Book VII., 695.
- ↑ Book I., 368.
