Page:The Pharsalia of Lucan; (IA cu31924026485809).pdf/42

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
18
PHARSALIA
Book I
When Cæsar saw them welcome thus the warAnd Fortune leading on, and favouring fates,He seized the moment, called his troops from Gaul,And breaking up his camp set on for Rome.The tents are vacant by Lake Leman's side; 450The camps upon the beetling crags of VosgesNo longer hold the warlike Lingon down,Fierce in his painted arms; Isara is left,Who past his shallows gliding, flows at lastInto the current of more famous Rhone,To reach the ocean in another name.The fair-haired people of Cevennes are free:Soft Aude rejoicing bears no Roman keel,Nor pleasant Var, since then Italia's bound;The harbour sacred to Alcides' name 460Where hollow crags encroach upon the sea,Is left in freedom: there nor Zephyr gainsNor Caurus access, but the Circian blast[1]Forbids the roadstead by Monæcus' hold.And others left the doubtful shore, which seaAnd land alternate claim, whene'er the tidePours in amain or when the wave rolls back—Be it the wind which thus compels the deepFrom furthest pole, and leaves it at the flood;Or else the moon that makes the tide to swell, 470Or else, in search of fuel[2] for his fires,The sun draws heavenward the ocean wave;—Whate'er the cause that may control the mainI leave to others; let the gods for meLock in their breasts the secrets of the world.
  1. ↑ The north-west wind. Circius was a violent wind from about the same quarter, but peculiar to the district.
  2. ↑ This idea that the sun found fuel in the clouds appears again in Book VII., line 7; Book IX., line 379; and Book X., 1ine 317.
This article is issued from Wikisource. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.