Book II
THE FLIGHT OF POMPEIUS
39
'Unshuddering sat the author of the whole,
'Nor feared that at his word such thousands fell. 230
'At length the Tuscan flood received the dead—
'The first upon his waves; the last on those
'That lay beneath them; vessels in their course
'Were stayed, and while the lower current flowed
'Still to the sea, the upper stood on high
'Dammed back by carnage. Through the streets meanwhile
'In headlong torrents ran a tide of blood,
'Which furrowing its path through town and field
'Forced the slow river on. But now his banks
'No longer held him, and the dead were thrown 240
'Back on the fields above. With labour huge
'At length he struggled to his goal and stretched
'In crimson streak across the Tuscan sea.
'For deeds like these, shall Sulla now be styled
'"Darling of Fortune", "Saviour of the State"?
'For these, a tomb in middle field of Mars
'Record his fame? Like horrors now return
'For us to suffer; and the civil war
'Thus shall be waged again and thus shall end.
'Yet worse disasters may our fears suggest, 250
'For now with greater carnage of mankind
'The rival hosts in weightier battle meet.
'To exiled Marius, successful strife
'Was Rome regained; triumphant Sulla knew
'No greater joy than on his hated foes
'To wreak his vengeance with unsparing sword.
'But these more powerful rivals Fortune calls
'To worse ambitions; nor would either chief
'For such reward as Sulla's wage the war.'
Thus, mindful of his youth, the aged man 260
Wept for the past, but feared the coming days.
'Nor feared that at his word such thousands fell. 230
'At length the Tuscan flood received the dead—
'The first upon his waves; the last on those
'That lay beneath them; vessels in their course
'Were stayed, and while the lower current flowed
'Still to the sea, the upper stood on high
'Dammed back by carnage. Through the streets meanwhile
'In headlong torrents ran a tide of blood,
'Which furrowing its path through town and field
'Forced the slow river on. But now his banks
'No longer held him, and the dead were thrown 240
'Back on the fields above. With labour huge
'At length he struggled to his goal and stretched
'In crimson streak across the Tuscan sea.
'For deeds like these, shall Sulla now be styled
'"Darling of Fortune", "Saviour of the State"?
'For these, a tomb in middle field of Mars
'Record his fame? Like horrors now return
'For us to suffer; and the civil war
'Thus shall be waged again and thus shall end.
'Yet worse disasters may our fears suggest, 250
'For now with greater carnage of mankind
'The rival hosts in weightier battle meet.
'To exiled Marius, successful strife
'Was Rome regained; triumphant Sulla knew
'No greater joy than on his hated foes
'To wreak his vengeance with unsparing sword.
'But these more powerful rivals Fortune calls
'To worse ambitions; nor would either chief
'For such reward as Sulla's wage the war.'
Thus, mindful of his youth, the aged man 260
Wept for the past, but feared the coming days.
