The spreading fire o'er-runs their unctuous fides, And, nimbly mounting, on the top-mast rides : Planks, yards and cordage, feed the dreadful blaze; The drowning vessel hisses in the feas;
While floating arms and men, promifcuous ftrow'd, 730 Hide the whole furface of the azure flood.
Nor dwells deftruction on their fleet alone,
But, driven by winds, invades the neighbouring town:
On rapid wings the sheety flames they bear,
In wavy lengths, along the reddening air.
Not much unlike, the fhooting meteors fly,
In gleamy trails, athwart the midnight sky.
Soon as the croud behold their city burn,
Thither, all headlong, from the fiege they turn.
But Cæfar, prone to vigilance and haste,
To fnatch the juft occafion ere it pass'd,
Hid in the friendly night's involving shade,
A fafe retreat to Pharos timely made.
In elder times of holy Proteus' reign,
An ifle it stood, incompafs'd by the main:
Now by a mighty mole the town it joins,
And from wide feas the fafer port confines.
Of high importance to the chief it lies,
To him brings aid, and to the foe denies :
In close restraint the captive town is held,
While free behind he views the watery field.
There fafe, with curs'd Pothinus in his power,
Cæfar defers the villain's doom no more.
Yet, ah! by means too gentle he expires;
No gafhing knives he feels, no fcorching fires;
Nor were his limbs by grinning tigers torn,
Nor pendent on the horrid crofs are borne:
Beneath the fword the wretch refigns his breath,
And dies too gloriously by Pompey's death.
Mean-while, by wily Ganymede convey'd,
Arfinoë, the younger royal maid,
Fled to the camp; and with a daring hand
Affumes the fceptre of fupreme command:
And, for her feeble brother was not there,
She calls herself the sole Lagæan heir.
Then, fince he dares difpute her right to reign,
She dooms the fierce Achillas to be flain.
With just remorfe, repenting fortune paid
This fecond victim to her Pompey's fhade.
But oh! nor this, nor Ptolemy, nor all
The race of Lagos doom'd at once to fall,
Not hecatombs of tyrants shall suffice,
Till Brutus strikes, and haughty Cæsar dies.
Nor yet the rage of war was hufh'd in peace,
Nor would that ftorm, with him who rais'd it, cease.
A fecond eunuch to the task fucceeds,
And Ganymede the power of Ægypt leads :
He chears the drooping Pharians with success,
And urg'd the Roman chief with new distress.
Such dangers did one dreadful day afford,
As annals might to latest times record,
And confecrate to fame the warrior's fword.
While to their barks his faithful band defcends,
Cæfar the mole's contracted space defends.
Part from the crouded key aboard were pafs'd, 785 The careful chief remain'd among the last ;
When fudden Ægypt's furious powers unite,
And fix on him alone th' unequal fight.
By land the numerous foot, by fea the fleet,
At once furround him, and prevent retreat.
No means for fafety or escape remain,
To fight, or fly, were equally in vain :
A vulgar period on his wars attends,
And his ambitious life obfcurely ends.
No feas of gore, no mountains of the flain,
Renown the fight on some distinguish'd plain :
But meanly in a tumult must he die,
And, over-borne by crouds, inglorious lie :
No room was left to fall as Cæfar fhould,
So little were the hopes, his foes and fate allow'd. 800
At once the place and danger he surveys,
The rifing mound, and the near neighbouring feas:
Some fainting struggling doubts as yet remain :
Can he, perhaps, his navy ftill regain?
Or fhall he die, and end th' uncertain pain?
At length, while madly thus perplex'd he burns,
His own brave Sceva to his thought returns ;
Scæva, who in the breach undaunted stood,
And fingly made the dreadful battle good;
Whofe arm advancing Pompey's hoft repell'd,
And, coop'd within a wall, the captive leader held.
Strong in his foul the glorious image rofe,
And taught him, fudden, to difdain his foes;
The force oppos'd in equal scales to weigh,
Himself was Cæfar, and Ægyptians they;
To truft that fortune, and thofe gods, once more,
That never fail'd his daring hopes before.
Threatening, aloft his flaming blade he shook,
And through the throng his courfe refiftlefs took :
Hands, arms, and helmed heads before him fly,
While mingling fcreams and groans afcend the sky.
So winds, imprifon'd, force their furious way,
Tear up the earth, and drive the foamy fea.
Juft on the margin of the mound he stay'd,
And for a moment, thence, the flood furvey'd :
Fortune divine! be prefent now, he cry'd;
And plung'd, undaunted, in the foamy tide.
Th' obedient deep, at fortune's high command,
Receiv'd the mighty mafter of the land ;
Her fervile waves officious Tethys fpread,
To raife with proud support his awful head.
And, for he fcorn'd th' inglorious race of Nile
Should pride themselves in aught of Cæfar's spoil,
In his left hand, above the water's power,
Papers and fcrolls of high import he bore;
Where his own labours faithfully record
The battles of ambition's ruthlefs fword:
Safe in his right, the deadly steel he held,
And plow'd, with many a stroke, the liquid field;
While his fix'd teeth tenacioufly retain
His ample Tyrian robe's imperial train;
Th' incumber'd folds the curling furface sweep,
Come flow behind, and drag along the deep.
From the high mole, from every Pharian prow,
A thousand hands a thoufand javelins throw ;
The thrilling points dip bloodless in the waves,
While he their idle wrath fecurely braves.
So when fome mighty serpent of the main
Rolls his huge length athwart the liquid plain,
Whether he range voracious for the prey,
Or to the funny fhore directs his way,
Him if by chance the fishers view from far,
With flying darts they wage a distant war :
But the fell monster, unappall'd with dread,
Above the feas exerts his poifonous head;
He rears his livid creft and kindling eyes,
And, terrible, the feeble foe defies;
His fwelling breast a foamy path divides,
And, careless, o'er the murmuring flood he glides.
Some loofer Muse, perhaps, who lightly treads
The devious paths where wanton fancy leads,
In heaven's high court, would feign the queen of love,
Kneeling in tears before the throne of Jove,
Imploring, fad, th' almighty father's grace,
For the dear offspring of her Julian race.
While to the juft recording Romans eyes,
Far other forms, and other gods arise;
The guardian furies round him rear their heads,
And Nemefis the fhield of fafety spreads;
Justice and fate the floating chief convey,
And Rome's glad genius wafts him on his way;
Freedom and laws the Pharian darts withstand,
And fave him for avenging Brutus' hand.
His friends, unknowing what the gods decree,
With joy receive him from the fwelling fea ;
In peals on peals their fhouts triumphant rise,
Roll o'er the diftant flood, and thunder to the skies.
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