Book II
THE FLIGHT OF POMPEIUS
51
'We wreak the vengeance; as when Catiline
'Lifted against her roofs the flaming brand
'And, partner in his fury, Lentulus,
'And mad Cethegus[1] with his naked arm.
'Is such thy madness, Cæsar? when the Fates 610
'With great Camillus' and Metellus' names
'Might place thine own, dost thou prefer to rank
'With Marius and Cinna? Swift shall be
'Thy fall: as Lepidus before the sword
'Of Catulus; or who my axes felt,
'Carbo,[2] now buried in Sicanian tomb;
'Or who, in exile, roused Iberia's hordes,
'Sertorius—yet, witness Heaven, with these
'I hate to rank thee; hate the task that Rome
'Has laid upon me, to oppose thy rage. 620
'Would that in safety from the Parthian war
'And Scythian steppes had conquering Crassus come!
'Then haply had'st thou fallen by the hand
'That smote vile Spartacus the robber foe.
'But if among my triumphs fate has said
'Thy conquest shall be written, know this heart
'Still sends the life blood coursing: and this arm[3]
'Still vigorously flings the dart afield.
'He deems me slothful. Cæsar, thou shalt learn
'We brook not peace because we lag in war. 630
'Old, does he call me? Fear not ye mine age.
'Let me be elder, if his soldiers are.
'Lifted against her roofs the flaming brand
'And, partner in his fury, Lentulus,
'And mad Cethegus[1] with his naked arm.
'Is such thy madness, Cæsar? when the Fates 610
'With great Camillus' and Metellus' names
'Might place thine own, dost thou prefer to rank
'With Marius and Cinna? Swift shall be
'Thy fall: as Lepidus before the sword
'Of Catulus; or who my axes felt,
'Carbo,[2] now buried in Sicanian tomb;
'Or who, in exile, roused Iberia's hordes,
'Sertorius—yet, witness Heaven, with these
'I hate to rank thee; hate the task that Rome
'Has laid upon me, to oppose thy rage. 620
'Would that in safety from the Parthian war
'And Scythian steppes had conquering Crassus come!
'Then haply had'st thou fallen by the hand
'That smote vile Spartacus the robber foe.
'But if among my triumphs fate has said
'Thy conquest shall be written, know this heart
'Still sends the life blood coursing: and this arm[3]
'Still vigorously flings the dart afield.
'He deems me slothful. Cæsar, thou shalt learn
'We brook not peace because we lag in war. 630
'Old, does he call me? Fear not ye mine age.
'Let me be elder, if his soldiers are.
- ↑ This family is also alluded to by Horace ('Ars Poetica,' 50) as having worn a garment of ancient fashion leaving their arms bare. (See also Book VI., 945.)
- ↑ In B.C. 77, after the death of Sulla. Carbo had been defeated by Pompeius in 81 B.C., on which occasion Pompeius had, at the early age of twenty-five, demanded and obtained his first triumph. The war with Sertorius lasted till 71 B.C., when Pompeius and Metellus triumphed in respect of his overthrow.
- ↑ See Book I., line 369.
