74
PHARSALIA
Book III
'Than those which custom and the gods allow.
'For us, this is our prayer: Leave, Cæsar, here
'Thy dreadful eagles, keep thy hostile signs
'Back from our gates, but enter thou in peace 380
'Massilia's ramparts; let our city rest
'Withdrawn from crime, to Magnus and to thee
'Safe: and should favouring fate preserve our walls
'Inviolate, when both shall wish for peace
'Here meet unarmed. Why hither turn'st thou now
'Thy rapid march? Nor weight nor power have we
'To sway the mighty conflicts of the world.
'We boast no victories since our fatherland
'We left in exile: when Phocæa's fort
'Perished in flames, we sought another here; 390
'And here on foreign shores, in narrow bounds
'Confined and safe, our boast is sturdy faith;
'Nought else. But if our city to blockade
'Is now thy mind — to force the gates, and hurl
'Javelin and blazing torch upon our homes —
'Do what thou wilt: cut off the source that fills
'Our foaming river, force us, prone in thirst,
'To dig the earth and lap the scanty pool;
'Seize on our corn and leave us food abhorred:
'Nor shall this people shun, for freedom's sake, 400
'The ills Saguntum bore in Punic siege;[1]
'Torn, vainly clinging, from the shrunken breast
'The starving babe shall perish in the flames.
'Wives at their husbands' hands shall pray their fate,
'And brothers' weapons deal a mutual death.
'Such be our civil war; not, Cæsar, thine.'
But Cæsar's visage stern betrayed his ire
Which thus broke forth in words: 'Vain is the hope
'For us, this is our prayer: Leave, Cæsar, here
'Thy dreadful eagles, keep thy hostile signs
'Back from our gates, but enter thou in peace 380
'Massilia's ramparts; let our city rest
'Withdrawn from crime, to Magnus and to thee
'Safe: and should favouring fate preserve our walls
'Inviolate, when both shall wish for peace
'Here meet unarmed. Why hither turn'st thou now
'Thy rapid march? Nor weight nor power have we
'To sway the mighty conflicts of the world.
'We boast no victories since our fatherland
'We left in exile: when Phocæa's fort
'Perished in flames, we sought another here; 390
'And here on foreign shores, in narrow bounds
'Confined and safe, our boast is sturdy faith;
'Nought else. But if our city to blockade
'Is now thy mind — to force the gates, and hurl
'Javelin and blazing torch upon our homes —
'Do what thou wilt: cut off the source that fills
'Our foaming river, force us, prone in thirst,
'To dig the earth and lap the scanty pool;
'Seize on our corn and leave us food abhorred:
'Nor shall this people shun, for freedom's sake, 400
'The ills Saguntum bore in Punic siege;[1]
'Torn, vainly clinging, from the shrunken breast
'The starving babe shall perish in the flames.
'Wives at their husbands' hands shall pray their fate,
'And brothers' weapons deal a mutual death.
'Such be our civil war; not, Cæsar, thine.'
But Cæsar's visage stern betrayed his ire
Which thus broke forth in words: 'Vain is the hope
- ↑ Murviedro of the present day. Its gallant defence against Hannibal has been compared to that of Saragossa against the French.
