Book III
MASSILIA
73
Held to their pledged obedience, and dared
To follow right not fate; but first of all
With olive boughs of truce before them borne
The chieftain they approach, with peaceful words 350
In hope to alter his unbending will
And tame his fury. 'Search the ancient books
'Which chronicle the deeds of Latian fame;
'Thou'lt ever find, when foreign foes pressed hard,
'Massilia's prowess on the side of Rome.
'And now, if triumphs in an unknown world
'Thou seekest, Cæsar, here our arms and swords
'Accept in aid: but if, in impious strife
'Of civil discord, with a Roman foe
'Thou seek'st to join in battle, weeping then 360
'We hold aloof: no stranger hand may touch
'Celestial wounds. Should all Olympus' hosts
'Have rushed to war, or should the giant brood
'Assault the stars, yet men would not presume
'Or by their prayers or arms to help the gods:
'And, ignorant of the fortunes of the sky,
'Taught by the thunderbolts alone, would know
'That Jupiter supreme still held the throne.
'Add that unnumbered nations join the fray:
'Nor shrinks the world so much from taint of crime 370
'That civil wars reluctant swords require.
'But grant that strangers shun thy destinies
'And only Romans fight—shall not the son
'Shrink ere he strike his father? on both sides
'Brothers forbid the weapon to be hurled?
[1]'The world's end comes when other hands are armed
To follow right not fate; but first of all
With olive boughs of truce before them borne
The chieftain they approach, with peaceful words 350
In hope to alter his unbending will
And tame his fury. 'Search the ancient books
'Which chronicle the deeds of Latian fame;
'Thou'lt ever find, when foreign foes pressed hard,
'Massilia's prowess on the side of Rome.
'And now, if triumphs in an unknown world
'Thou seekest, Cæsar, here our arms and swords
'Accept in aid: but if, in impious strife
'Of civil discord, with a Roman foe
'Thou seek'st to join in battle, weeping then 360
'We hold aloof: no stranger hand may touch
'Celestial wounds. Should all Olympus' hosts
'Have rushed to war, or should the giant brood
'Assault the stars, yet men would not presume
'Or by their prayers or arms to help the gods:
'And, ignorant of the fortunes of the sky,
'Taught by the thunderbolts alone, would know
'That Jupiter supreme still held the throne.
'Add that unnumbered nations join the fray:
'Nor shrinks the world so much from taint of crime 370
'That civil wars reluctant swords require.
'But grant that strangers shun thy destinies
'And only Romans fight—shall not the son
'Shrink ere he strike his father? on both sides
'Brothers forbid the weapon to be hurled?
[1]'The world's end comes when other hands are armed
- ↑ A difficult passage, of which this seems to be the meaning least free from objection.
from their city when it was stormed by the Persians sixty years later. See Thucydides I., 13; Grote, 'History of Greece,' chapter xxii.
