Page:The Pharsalia of Lucan; (IA cu31924026485809).pdf/36
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
12
PHARSALIA
Book I
Then in the shades of night he leads the troopsSwifter than Balearic sling or shaft 260Winged by retreating Parthian, to the wallsOf threatened Rimini, while fled the stars,Save Lucifer, before the coming sun,Whose fires were veiled in clouds, by south wind driven,Or else at heaven's command: and thus drew onThe first dark morning of the civil war.Now stand the troops within the captured town,Their standards planted; and the trumpet clangRings forth in harsh alarums, giving noteOf impious strife: roused from their sleep the men 270Rush to the hall and snatch the ancient armsLong hanging through the years of peace; the shieldWith crumbling frame; dark with the tooth of rustTheir swords;[1] and javelins with blunted point.But when the well-known signs and eagles shone,And Cæsar towering o'er the throng was seen,They shook for terror, fear possessed their limbs,And thoughts unuttered stirred within their souls.'O miserable those to whom their home'Denies the peace that all men else enjoy! 280'Placed as we are beside the Northern bounds'And scarce a footstep from the restless Gaul,'We fall the first; would that our lot had been'Beneath the Eastern sky, or frozen North,'To lead a wandering life, rather than keep'The gates of Latium. Brennus sacked the town'And Hannibal, and all the Teuton hosts.'For when the fate of Rome is in the scale'By this path war advances.' Thus they moan