On every fide proud palaces arife,
And lavish gold each common use supplies.
Their fathers frugal tables stand abhorr'd,
And Afia now and Afric are explor'd,
For high-pric'd dainties, and the citron board.
In filken robes the minion men appear,
Which maids and youthful brides should blush to wear. That age by honeft poverty adorn'd,
Which brought the manly Romans forth, is fcorn'd; Where-ever aught pernicious does abound,
For luxury all lands are ranfack'd round,
And dear-bought deaths the finking ftate confound.
The Curii's and Camilli's little field,
To vaft extended territories yield;
And foreign tenants reap the harvest now,
Where once the great Dictator held the plow.
Rome, ever fond of war, was tir'd with eafe;
Ev'n liberty had loft the power to please:
Hence rage and wrath their ready minds invade,
And want could every wickedness perfuade :
Hence impious power was firft efteem'd a good,
Worth being fought with arms, and bought with blood: With glory, fyrants did their country awe,
And violence prescrib'd the rule to law.
Hence pliant fervile voices were constrain'd,
And force in popular affemblies reign'd;
Confuls and tribunes, with oppofing might,
Join'd to confound and overturn the right:
Hence fhameful magiftrates were made for gold,
And a base people by themselves were fold:
Hence flaughter in the venal field returns,
And Rome her yearly competitions mourns:
Hence death unthrifty, careless to repay,
And ufury still watching for its day :
Hence perjuries in every wrangling court;
And war, the needy bankrupt's last resort.
Now Cæfar, marching fwift with winged haste, The fummits of the frozen Alps had paft; With vast events and enterprizes fraught, And future wars revolving in his thought. Now near the banks of Rubicon he stood; When lo! as he furvey'd the narrow flood, Amidst the dusky horrors the night, A wondrous vifion ftood confeft to fight. Her awful head Rome's reverend image rear'd, Trembling and fad the matron form appear'd; A towery crown her hoary temples bound, And her torn treffes rudely hung around: Her naked arms uplifted ere the spoke, Then groaning, thus the mournful filence broke. Presumptuous men! oh, whither do you run? Oh, whither bear you these my ensigns on? If friends to right, if citizens of Rome, Here to your utmost barrier are you come. She faid; and funk within the clofing fhade: Astonishment and dread the chief invade; Stiff rofe his ftarting hair, he ftood dismay'd, And on the bank his flackening steps were ftay'd. 365 O thou (at length he cry'd) whofe hand controls
The forky fire, and rattling thunder rolls;
Who from thy capitol's exalted height,
Doft o'er the wide-fpread city caft thy fight!
Ye Phrygian gods, who guard the Julian, line!
Ye myfteries of Romulus divine!
Thou, Jove! to whom from young Afcanius came
Thy Alban temple, and thy Latian name:
And thou, immortal facred Veftal flame !
But chief, oh! chiefly, thou, majestic Rome!
My firit, my great divinity, to whom
Thy ftill fuccessful Cæfar am I come ;
Nor do thou fear the fword's destructive rage,
With thee my arms no impious war fhall wage.
On him thy hate, on him thy curfe bestow,
Who would perfuade thee Cæfar is.thy foe;
And fince to thee I confecrate my toil,
Oh favour thou my caufe, and on thy foldier smile.
He faid; and ftraight, impatient of delay,
Across the fwelling flood, purfued his way..
So when on fultry Libya's defert fand
The lion spies the hunter hard at hand,
Couch'd on the earth the doubtful falvage lies,
And waits a while till all his fury rife;
His lafhing tail provokes his fwelling fides,
And high upon his neck, his mane with horror rides
Then if at length the flying dart infest,
Or the broad fpear invade his ample breast,
Scorning the wound, he yawns a dreadful roar,
And flies like lightning on the hostile Moor.
While with hot fkies the fervent fummer glows,
The Rubicon an humble river flows;
Through lowly vales he cuts his winding way,
And rolls his ruddy waters to the fea.
His bank on either fide a limit stands,
Between the Gallic and Aufonian lands.
But ftronger now the wintery torrent grows,
The wetting winds had thaw'd the Alpine fnows,
And Cynthia rifing with a blunted beam
In the third circle, drove her watery team,
A fignal fure to raise the swelling stream.
For this, to ftem the rapid water's course,
Firft plung'd amidst the flood the bolder horse;
With ftrength oppos'd against the stream they lead,
While to the fmoother ford, the foot with eafe fucceed.
The leader now had pafs'd the torrent o'er,
And reach'd fair Italy's forbidden fhore:
Then rearing on the hoftile bank his head,
Here farewell peace and injur'd laws! (he faid.)
Since faith is broke, and leagues are fet afide,
Henceforth thou, goddess Fortune, art my guide;
Let fate and war the great event decide.
He fpoke; and, on the dreadful task intent,
Speedy to near Ariminum he bent;
To him the Balearic fling is flow,
And the fhaft loiters from the Parthian bow.
With eager marches fwift he reach'd the town,
As the fhades fled, the finking stars were gone,
And Lucifer the laft was left alone.
At length the morn, the dreadful morn arofe,
Whose beams the firft tumultuous rage disclose:
Whether the ftormy fouth prolong'd the night,
Or the good gods abhorr'd the impious fight,
The clouds a while withheld the mournful light.
To the mid Forum on the foldier pafs'd.
There halted, and his victor enfigns plac'd :
With dire alarms from band to band around,
The fife, hoarfe horn, and rattling trumpets found.
The ftarting citizens uprear their heads;
The luftier youth at once forsake their beds;
Hafty they fnatch the weapons, which among
Their houfhold-gods in peace had refted long;
Old bucklers of the covering hides bereft,
The mouldering frames disjoin'd and barely left;
Swords with foul ruft indented deep they take,
And useless fpears with points inverted shake.
Soon as their crefts the Roman eagles rear'd,
And Cæfar high above the rest appear'd;
Each trembling heart with fecret horror shook,
And filent thus within themselves they spoke.
Oh, hapless city! oh, ill-fated walls!
Rear'd for a cui fe fo near the neighbouring Gauls!
By us deftruction ever takes its way,
We first become each bold invader's prey;
Oh, that by fate we rather had been plac'd
Upon the confines of the utmost east!
The frozen north much better might we know,
Mountains of ice, and everlasting (now.
Better with wandering Scythians choose to roam,
Than fix in fruitful Italy our home,
And guard thefe dreadful paffages to Rome.
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