Page:The Pharsalia of Lucan; (IA cu31924026485809).pdf/92

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PHARSALIA
Book III
And all Epirus rushes to the war.And proud Athena, mistress of the seas,Sends three poor ships (alas! her all) to proveHer ancient victory o'er the Persian King.Next seek the battle Creta's hundred tribes 210Beloved of Jove and rivalling the eastIn skill to wing the arrow from the bow.The walls of Dardan Oricum, the woodsWhere Athamanians wander, and the banksOf swift Absyrtus foaming to the mainAre left forsaken. Enchelæan tribesWhose king was Cadmus, and whose name recordsHis transformation,[1] join the host; and thoseWho till Penean fields and turn the shareAbove Iolcos in Thessalian lands. 220There first men steeled their hearts to dare the waves[2]And 'gainst the rage of ocean and the stormTo match their strength, when the rude Argo sailedUpon that distant quest, and spurned the shore,Joining remotest nations in her flight,And gave the fates another form of death.Left too was Pholoë; pretended homeWhere dwelt the fabled race of double form;[3]Arcadian Mænalus; the Thracian mountNamed Hæmus; Strymon whence, as autumn falls, 230Winged squadrons seek the banks of warmer Nile;And all the isles the mouths of Ister batheMixed with the tidal wave; the land through whichThe cooling eddies of Cäicus flowIdalian; and Arisbe bare of glebe.The hinds of Pitane, and those who till
  1. ↑ As a serpent. ἔγχελυς is the Greek word for serpent.
  2. ↑ Conf. Book VI., 472.
  3. ↑ The Centaurs.
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