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 Cæfar finds no enemy but Rome.

He faid. The croud in dull fufpenfion 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 stung and jealous rage,
Two mighty bulls for fovereignty engage;
The vanquish'd far to banishment removes,
To lonely fields and unfrequented groves;

920

925

There, for a while, with confcious fhame he burns, 930
And tries on every tree his angry horns

But when his former vigour ftands confeft,
And larger mufcles fhake his ample breast,
With better chance he feeks the fight again,
And drives his rival bellowing o'er the plain;
Then uncontrol'd the subject 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 feek the fafety of Brundufium's towers.
This city a Dictæan people hold,

Here plac'd by tall Athenian barks of old;

935

940

When

When with falfe omens from the Cretan shore,

Their fable fails victorious Thefeus bore.
Here Italy a narrow length extends,

And in a fcanty ship projected ends.

A crooked mole around the waves the winds,
And in her folds the Adriatic binds.

945

}

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 strand;
To turn the storm, repulfe the rushing tide,
And bid the anchoring bark fecurely ride.
Hence Nereus wide the liquid main displays,
And fpreads to various ports his watery ways; we
Whether the pilot from Corcyra stand,

955

Or for Illyrian Epidamnus' ftrand.mpany and non960
Hither when all the Adriatic roars,

And thundering billows vex the double shores
When fable clouds around the welkin fpread,
And frowning ftorms involve Ceraunia's head ;
When white with froth Calabrian Safon lies,ih 1965
Hither the tempeft-beaten veffel flies.goda saurod

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 chose his eldeft-born; and thus he said:

Hafte thee, my fon! to every diftant land, vid And bid the nations roufe at my command; I

Where

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,

980

And stretch the swelling canvas on the main :
Bid Ptolemy with my Tigranes come,
And bold Pharnaces lend his aid to Rome.
Through each Artnenia 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.
But you whofe names the Roman annals bear,
You who distinguish 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;
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 prefent face;
Closely pursues his flying fon behind,
While yet his fate continued to be kind.

985

990

995

}

1005 Such

Such towns, fuch fortreffes, fuch hoftile force,

Swept in the torrent of one rapid course;

Sach trains of long fuccefs attending ftill,
And Rome herself abandon'd

to

his will;
Rome, the contending party's nobleft prize,
Το every with but Cæfar's might suffice.
But he with empire fir'd and vaft desires,
To all, and nothing lefs than all, afpires;
He reckons not the paft, 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 utmoft 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,

1015

}

1020

The plunging quarries fink beneath the tide,
And yielding fands the rocky fragments hide.
Thus, if huge Gaurus headlong should be thrown,
In fathomless Avermus' deep to drown;

Or if from fair Sicilia's distant strand,
Fryx uprooted by fome giant hand,

If, ponderous with his rocks, the mountain vast,
Amidst the wide Ægean fhould be caft;
The rolling waves o'er either mafs would flow,
And each be loft within the depths below.

12

}

1030

1035

Whe

When no firm bafis for his work he found,

But ftill it fail'd in ocean's faithlefs 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.
Vaft was the talk, and daring the defign,

Europe and Afia's diftant fhores to join,

And make the world's divided parts combine, or text) Proudly he pass'd the flood tumultuous o'er,

Fearless of waves that beat, and winds that roar :

Then spread his fails, and bid the land obey,

And through mid Athos find his fleet a way.

10501

Like him bold Cæfar yok'd the fwelling 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 breast,
The new furrounding fhores 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,

1060

T

The cordage ftretching with the freshening gales, mi
Ships with a thundering fhock the mole divide,
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 defcends,
And kindling o'er the wooden wall extends,

1065