Perhaps, for that too boldly I withstand,
Nor yield my conquering eagles on command;
Since the Cilician pirate ftrikes his fail,
Since o'er the Pontic king thy arms prevail;
Since the poor prince, a weary life o'er-past,
By thee and poifon is fubdued at last;
Perhaps, one latest province yet remains,
And vanquish'd. Cæfar must receive thy chains.
But though my labours lose their just reward,
Yet let the fenate these my friends regard;
Whate'er my lot, my brave victorious bands
Deserve to triumph, whofoe'er commands.
Where fhall my weary veteran rest ? · Oh where
Shall virtue worn with years and arms repair?
What town is for his late repose affign'd?

Where are the promis'd lands he hop'd to find,
Fields for his plow, a country village feat,
Some little comfortable fafe retreat;

Where failing age at length from toil may cease, 625
And waste the poor remains of life with peace?
But march! Your long-victorious enfigns rear,
Let valour in its own juft caufe appear.
When for redress intreating armies call,
They who deny juft things, permit them all.
The righteous gods fhall furely own the cause,
Which feeks not spoil, nor empire, but the laws.
Proud lords and tyrants to depofe we come,
And save from flavery fubmiffive Rome.

630

He faid; a doubtful fullen murmuring found 635 Ran through the unrefolving vulgar round;

The

The feeds of piety their rage reftrain'd,

And fomewhat of their country's love remain'd;
These the rude paffions of their foul withstood,
Elate to conquest, and inur'd to blood:
But foon the momentary virtue fail'd,

And war and dread of Cæfar's frown prevail'd.
Straight Lelius from amidst the rest stood forth,
An old centurion of distinguish'd worth;
The oaken wreath his hardy temples wore,
Mark of a citizen preferv'd he bore.

If against thee (he cry'd) I may exclaim,
Thou greatest leader of the Roman name;
If truth for injur'd honour may be bold,

What lingering patience does thy arms withhold? 650
Canft thou diftrust our faith so often try`d,

In thy long wars not fhrinking from thy fide?
While in my veins this vital torrent flows,
This heaving breath within my bosom blows; 、
While yet these arms fufficient vigour yield
To dart the javelin, and to lift the fhield;
While these remain, my general, wilt thou own
The vile dominion of the lazy gown?

Wilt thou the lordly fenate choose to bear,
Rather than conquer in a civil war ?

With thee the Scythian wilds we 'll-wander o'er,
With thee the burning Libyan fands explore,
And tread the Syrt's inhospitable shore.
Behold! this hand, to nobler labours train'd,
For thee the fervile oar has not difdain'd,

655

660

665

For

For thee the fwelling feas were taught to plow,

Through the Rhine's whirling ftream to force thy prow,
That all the vanquish'd world to thee might bow.
Each faculty, each power, thy will obey,
And inclination ever leads the way.

No friend, no fellow-citizen I know,

Whom Cæfar's trumpet once proclaims a foe.
By the long labours of thy fword, I swear,

670

By all thy fame acquir❜d in ten years war,
By thy past triumphs, and by thofe to come,

67-5

(No matter where the vanquish'd be, nor whom) Bid me to ftrike my dearest brother dead,

To bring my aged father's hoary head,
Or ftab the pregnant partner of my bed;

Though nature plead, and ftop my trembling hand, 680
I fwear to execute thy dread command.

Doft thou delight to fpoil the wealthy gods,

And scatter flames through all their proud abodes ?
See through thy camp our ready torches burn,
Moneta foon her finking fane fhall mourn.
Wilt thou yon haughty factious senate brave,
And awe the Tufcan river's yellow wave?
On Tiber's bank thy enfigns shall be plac'd,
And thy bold foldier lay Hefperia waste.
Doft thou devote fome hoftile city's walls?
Beneath our thundering rams the ruin falls;

685

690

She falls, ev'n though thy wrathful fentence doom

The world's imperial mistress, mighty Rome..
He faid; the ready legions vow to join
Their chief belov'd, in every bold design;

695

All

།

All lift their well-approving hands on high, a
And rend with peals of loud applaufe the sky hor tevé
Such is the found when Thracian Boreas fpreadsantonio
His weighty wing o'er Offa's piney heads: sili s A
At once the noify groves are all inclin'd, an ancicol 700
And, bending, roar beneath the fweeping wind;
At once their rattling branches all they rear, so wo
And drive the leafy clamour through the air,

I

Cæfar with joy the ready bands beheld,bas a Urg'd-on by fate, and eager for the field devi 705 Swift orders ftraight the fcatter'd warriors call,w did? From every part of wide-extended Gaul;boo bo And, left his fortune languish by delay,ymbol troibed To Rome the moving enfigns fpeed their way.de Some, at the bidding of the chief, forfake Their fix'd encampment near the Leman laked bo Some from Vogesus' lofty rocks withdraw,

Plac'd on those heights the Lingones to awe; hang hm The Lingones ftill frequent in alarms,ut quoy 3d And rich in many-colour'd painted arms. brush 6715 Others from Ifara's low torrent came,

Who winding keeps through many a mead his name; But feeks the fea with waters not his own,

Loft and confounded in the nobler Rhone.

Their garrifon the Ruthen city fend,

ibaly 019.720

Whofe youth's long locks in yellow rings depend.
No more the Varus and the Atax feel

The lordly burden of the Latian keel..

Alcides' fane the troops commanded leave,

Where winding rocks the peaceful flood receive; 725

Nor Corus there, nor Zephyrus resort,
Nor roll rude furges in the Sacred Port
Circius' loud blaft alone is heard to roar,
And vex the safety of Monoechus' fhore.
The legions move from Gallia's fartheft fide,
Wash'd by the restless ocean's various tide;
Now o'er the land flows in the pouring main,
Now rears the land its rifing head again,
And feas and earth alternate rule maintain.
If driven by winds from the far distant pole,
This way and that, the floods revolving roll;
Or if, compell'd by Cynthia's filver beam,
Obedient Tethys heaves the fwelling stream;
*Or if, by heat attracted to the sky,

Old ocean lifts his heavy waves on high,
And briny deeps the wasting sun supply;
What cause foe'er the wondrous motion guide,
And prefs the ebb, or raise the flowing tide;
Be that your task, ye fages, to explore,

733

}

735

Who fearch the fecret fprings of nature's power: 745
To me, for fo the wiser gods ordain,
Untrac'd the mystery shall still remain.

From fair Nemoffus moves a warlike band,
From Atur's banks, and the Tarbellian strand,
Where winding round the coaft pursues its way,

750

And folds the fea within a gentle bay.