Is there a land, to fum up all at last,
Through which my arms with conquest have not past ? The world, by me, the world is overcome,
And Caefar finds no enemy but Rome.
He faid. The croud in dull suspension hung, Nor with applauding acclamations rung; No chearful ardour waves the lifted hand, Nor military cries the fight demand. The chief perceiv'd the foldier's fire to fail, And Cæfar's fame forerunning to prevail; His eagles he withdraws wirh timely care, Nor trufts Rome's fates to fuch uncertain war. As when, with fury ftung and jealous rage, Two mighty bulls for fovereignty engage; The vanquish'd far to banishment removes, To lonely fields and unfrequented groves;
There, for a while, with conscious fhame he burns, 930 And tries on every tree his angry horns:
But when his former vigour stands confeft, And larger muscles shake his ample breast, With better chance he feeks the fight again, And drives his rival bellowing o'er the plain; Then uncontrol'd the fubject herd he leads, And reigns the master of the fruitful meads. Unequal thus to Cæfar, Pompey yields The fair dominion of Hefperia's fields: Swift through Apulia march his flying powers, And seek the safety of Brundufium's towers. This city a Dictaan people hold,
Here plac'd by tall Athenian barks of old;
When with false omens from the Cretan fhore,
Their fable fails victorious Thefeus bore. Here Italy a narrow length extends,
And in a scanty flip projected ends.
A crooked mole around the waves the winds, And in her folds the Adriatic binds.bang da Nor yet the bending fhores could form a bay, Did not a barrier isle the winds delay, *And break the feas tempeftuous in their way. Huge mounds of rocks are plac'd by nature's hand, To guard around the hofpitable ftrand; To turn the ftorm, repulse the rushing tide, And bid the anchoring bark fecurely ride. Hence Nereus wide the liquid main displays, a And fpreads to various ports his watery ways; w Whether the pilot from Corcyra stand,
Or for Illyrian Epidamnus' ftrand. up uv sa noin960 Hither when all the Adriatic roars,
And thundering billows vex the double shores ; When fable clouds around the welkin spread, And frowning storms involve Ceraunia's head ;
When white with froth Calabrian Safon lies, la 0965 Hither the tempeft-beaten veffel flies.
Now Pompey, on Hefperia's utmost coast,
Sadly furvey'd how all behind was loft; Nor to Iberia could he force his way; Long interpofing Alps his paffage stay. At length amongst the pledges of his bed, He chofe his eldeft-born; and thus he faid: Hafte thee, my fon! to every distant land, And bid the nations roufe at my command; I
Where fam'd Euphrates flows, or where the Nile 975 With muddy waves improves the fattening foil; Where-e'er diffus'd by victory and fame,
Thy father's arms have borne the Roman name. Bid the Cilician quit the fhore again,
And stretch the swelling canvas on the main 8 Bid Ptolemy with my Tigranes come, And bold Pharnaces lend his aid to Rome. Through each Armenia spread the loud alarm, And bid the cold Riphean mountains arm. Pontus and Scythia's wandering tribes explore, The Euxine and Mæotis' icy fhore; Where heavy-loaded wains flow journeys take, And print with groaning wheels the frozen lake. But wherefore should my words delay thy hafte? Scatter my wars around through all the east. Summon the vanquish'd world to share my fate, And let my triumphs on my enfigns wait. whofe names the Roman annals bear, You who diftinguish the revolving year; Ye confuls! to Epirus ftraight repair,
With the first northern winds that wing the air; From thence the powers of Greece united raise, While yet the wintery year the war delays. So fpoke the chief; his bidding all obey; mont Their fhips forfake the port without delay, And speed their paffage o'er the yielding way.
But Cæfar, never patient long in peace, Nor trufting in his fortune's present face; id Clofely pursues his flying fon behind, While yet his fate continued to be kind.
Sach towns, fuch fortreffes, fuch hoftile force, Swept in the torrent of one rapid course; Such trains of long fuccefs attending ftill, And Rome herself abandon'd his will ; Rome, the contending party nobleft prize, To every with but Cæfar's might fuffice. But he with empire fir'd and vaft defires, To all, and nothing lefs than all, afpires; He reckons not the past, while aught remain'd Great to be done, or mighty to be gain'd. Though Italy obey his wide command, Though Pompey linger on the farthest strand, He grieves to think they tread one common land; His heart difdains to brook a rival power, Ev'n on the utmost margin of the fhore; Nor would he leave, or earth, or ocean free; The foe he drives from lands, he bars from fea. With moles the opening flood he would restrain, Would block the port, and intercept the main ; But deep devouring feas his toil deride, The plunging quarries fink beneath the tide, And yielding fands the rocky fragments hide. Thus, if huge Gaurus headlong should be thrown, In fathomlefs Avermus' deep to drown;
Or if from fair Sicilia's diftant strand,
Fryx uprooted by fome giant hand,
If, ponderous with his rocks, the mountain vast, Amidst the wide gean fhould be caft; The rolling waves o'er either mafs would flow, And each be loft within the depths below.
When no firm bafis for his work he found, But ftill it fail'd in ocean's faithless ground, Huge trees and barks in maffy chains he bound. For planks and beams he ravages the wood,
And the tough boom extends across the flood. 1040 Such was the road by haughty Xerxes made,
When o'er the Hellefpont his bridge he laid. Vast was the task, and daring the defign, Europe and Afia's distant fhores to join,
And make the world's divided parts combine, oftes Proudly he pafs'd the flood tumultuous o'er,T Fearless of waves that beat, and winds that roarmor
Then fpread his fails, and bid the land obey,
And through mid Athos find his fleet a way.
Like him bold Cæfar yok'd the swelling tide, Like him the boisterous elements defy'd; This floating bank the ftraitening entrance bound, And rifing turrets trembled on the mound. But anxious cares revolve in Pompey's breaft,
The new furrounding shores his thoughts moleft; 1055 Secret he meditates the means, to free
And spread the war wide-ranging o'er the fea. Oft driving on the work with well-fill'd fails,
The cordage stretching with the freshening gales, 1 Ships with a thundering fhock the mole divide, 1060 And through the watery beach fecurely glide. Huge engines oft by night their vengeance pour, And dreadful fhoot from far a fiery shower Through the black shade the darting flame descends, And kindling o'er the wooden wall extends.
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