While the confenting host the victims view'd,
And, in that blood, their broken faith renew'd.

Now to Brundufium's walls he bids them tend,
Where ten long days their weary marches end;
There he commands affembling barks to meet,
And furnish from the neighbouring fhores his fleet.
Thither the crooked keels from Leuca glide,
From Taras old, and Hydrus' winding tide;
Thither with fwelling fails their way they take,
From lowly Sipus, and Salapia's lake ;
From where Apulia's fruitful mountains rise,
Where high along the coaft Garganus lies,
And beating feas and fighting winds defies.

545

550

}

Mean-while the chief to Rome directs his way, 555 Now fearful, aw'd, and fashion'd to his fway. There, with mock prayers, the fuppliant vulgar wait, And urge on him the great dictator's state. Obedient he, fince thus their wills ordain, A gracious tyrant condefcends to reign. His mighty name the joyful Fafti wear, Worthy to usher in the curft Pharsalian year. Then was the time, when fycophants began To heap all titles on one lordly man;

560

Then learn'd our fires that fawning lying strain, 565 Which we, their flavish fons, fo well retain :

Then, first, were seen to join, an ill-match'd pair,

The ax of juftice, with the sword of war;

Fasces, and eagles, mingling, march along,
And in proud Cæfar's train promifcuous throng. 57.
And while all powers in him alone unite,

He mocks the people with the fhews of right.

The

The Martian field th' affembling tribes receives,
And each his unregarded fuffrage gives;
Still with the fame folemnity of face,

575

The reverend augur feems to fill his place:
Though now he hears not when the thunders roll,
Nor fees the flight of the ill-boding owl.
Then funk the state and dignity of Rome,
Thence monthly confuls nominally come :
Juft as the fovereign bids, their names appear,
To head the calendar, and mark the year.
Then too, to finish out the pageant show,
With formal rites to Alban Jove they go;
By night the festival was huddled o'er,
Nor could the god, unworthy, ask for more;
He who look'd on, and saw such foul disgrace,]
Such flavery befall his Trojan race.

580

585

595

Now Cæfar, like the flame that cuts the skies, And swifter than the vengeful tigrefs, flies Where waste and overgrown Apulia lies ; O'er-paffing foon the rude abandon'd plains, Brundufium's crooked shores, and Cretan walls he gains. Loud Boreas there his navy clofe confines, While wary feamen dread the wintery signs. But he, th' impatient chief, difdains to spare Those hours that better may be spent in war: He grieves to see his ready fleet withheld, While others boldly plow the watery field. Eager to rouze their sloth, behold, (he cries) The conftant wind that rules the wintery skies, With what a fettled certainty it flies!

599

Unlike the wanton fickle gales, that bring
The cloudy changes of the faithlefs fpring.
Nor need we now to fhift, to tack, and veer:
Steady the friendly north commands to fteer.
Oh! that the fury of the driving blast
May fwell the fail, and bend the lofty mast.
So, fhall our navy foon be wafted o'er,

yon

Ere Phæacian gallies dip the oar,
And intercept the wifh'd-for Grecian shore.
Cut every cable then, and haste away;

605

6.12

620

The waiting winds and feas upbraid our long delay.
Low in the west the setting fun was laid,
Up rofe the night in glittering stars array'd,
And filver Cynthia cast a lengthening shade;
When loofing from the fhore the moving fleet,
All hands at once unfurl the spreading sheet;
The flacker tacklings let the canvas flow,
To gather all the breath the winds can blow.
Swift, for a while, they fcud before the wind,
And leave Hefperia's leffening fhores behind;
When, lo! the dying breeze begins to fail,
And flutters on the mast the flagging fail:
The duller waves with flower heavings creep,
And a dead calm benumbs the lazy deep.
As when the winter's potent breath constrains
The Scythian Euxine in her icy chains;
No more the Bosphori their streams maintain,
Nor rushing Ifter heaves the languid main;
Each keel inclos'd, at once forgets its course,
While o'er the new-made champion bounds the horfe :

625

630

635

640

Bold on the crystal plains the Thracians ride,
And print with founding keels the stable tide.
So ftill a form th' Ionian waters take,
Dull as the muddy marsh and standing lake :
No breezes o'er the curling furface pafs,
Nor fun-beams tremble in the liquid glafs;
No ufual turns revolving Tethys knows,
Nor with alternate rollings ebbs and flows:
But fluggish ocean fleeps in ftupid peace,
And weary nature's motions feem to cease.
With differing eyes the hoftile fleets beheld
The falling winds, and useless watery field.
There Pompey's daring powers attempt in vain
To plow their paffage through th' unyielding main;
While, pinch'd by want, proud Cæfar's legions here
The dire diftrefs of meagre famine fear.

645

With vows unknown before they reach the skies,
That waves may dash, and mounting billows rife; 650
That ftorms may with returning fury reign,
And the rude ocean be itself again.
At length the ftill, the fluggish darkness fled,
And cloudy morning rear'd its louring head.
The rolling flood the gliding navy bore,
And hills appear'd to pass upon the shore.
Attending breezes waft them to the land,
And Cæfar's anchors bite Palæfte's ftrand.

655

660

In neighbouring camps the hoftile chiefs fit down, Where Genufus the fwift, and Apfus run; Among th' ignobler croud of rivers, these Soon lofe their waters in the mingling seas :

N.

No mighty ftreams nor distant springs they know,
But rife from muddy lakes, and melting fnow.
Here meet the rivals who the world divide,
Once by the tenderest bands of kindred ty’d.
The world with joy their interview beheld,
Now only parted by a fingle field.

Fond of the hopes of peace, mankind believe,

665.

Whene'er they come thus near, they muft forgive. 670 Vain hopes for foon they part to meet no more,

Till both shall reach the curft Ægyptian fhore;
Till the proud father fhall in arms fucceed,

674

And fee his vanquifh'd fon untimely bleed ;
Till he beholds his afhes on the strand,
Views his pale head within a villain's hand;
Till Pompey's fate fhall Cæfar's tears demand.
The latter yet his eager rage reftrains,

While Antony the lingering troops detains.
Repining much, and griev'd at war's delay,
Impatient Cæfar often chides his stay,

679

Oft he is heard to threat, and humbly oft to pray.

Still fhall the world (he cries) thus anxious wait? Still wilt thou ftop the gods, and hinder fate ? What could be done before, was done by me :

Now ready fortune only ftays for thee.

685

What holds thee then? Do rocks thy course withstand ?
Or Libyan Syrts oppose their faithless strand ?
Or doft thou fear new dangers to explore?

I call thee not, but where I pafs'd before.

690

For all thofe hours thou lofeft, I complain,
And sue to heaven for profperous winds in vain.

My