Book V

The Argument
What vnaccustom'd honours by decree
The Senate gi•e to Caesar's victory.
His foure rich triumphs shew'd ore Gallia,
Conquer'd Pharnaces, Aegypt, Affrica.
Whose pompous showes display the captiu'd fate
Of seuerall Princes: Caesar's high estate
To throw into the hazard once againe,
Great Pompey's sonnes reuiue the warre in Spaine.

WHen Caesar's conquest borne by winged Fame,
Had enter'd Rome, and to the Senate came,
Th' affrighted Fathers in pale haste declar'd
Their forced ioy; and while the Priests prepar'd
For Sacrifice, officiously decreed,
(Though Rome it selfe in that dayes fate did bleed)
That Supplications to the gods should be,
Twice twentie dayes for Caesar's victory;
Through all the Roman Temples they inuoke
The gods for him, and all their Altars smoke
With thankfull incense, more than when the fall
Of Carthages so feared Hannibal,
Or that defeat of all the Cimbrian powers
By Marius hand, that sau'd Quirinus Towers,
First pierc'd their ioyfull eares; no vanquish'd foe
Ere caus'd such seeming ioy. Rome's forced now
To thanke the gods for her subiection more,
Than all the greatnesse she had won before.
To that great Triumph, which so long before,
His ten yeares labour had deserued, ore
The conquer'd Gaules, and well deferr'd till now,
The forward Senate grant three Triumphs moe,
T' expresse more pompous State than ere before
The people saw, or lawrell'd Roman bore;
That all the seuerall vanquish'd Nations
From East and West, from both the Poles at once,
By his triumphant Charriot might combine,
The yellow Germans with blacke Libyans ioyne,
Gaules with Armenians meet, the Sun-burnt bands
Of Meroë with cold Pannonians,
The painted Brittaines, curl'd Sicambrians
With coale-blacke Mibians, and Mazacians.
Those that at farthest distance neuer yet
Each other view'd, at Caesar's Triumph met,
Might there acquainted in sad bondage grow,
And waile in chaines their common ouerthrow:
That the Imperiall Tyber might at once
All floods, that blesse so many regions,
In Caesar's rich Triumphall tablets see
Display'd, bewailing their captiuitie.
And bridled there by his proud conquest, ioyne
Seuen-channell'd Nilus with the German Rhine,
The swift Danubius with slow Bagrada;
And all those winding streames, which euery way
From North to South into the Ocean rowle,
Twixt fardest Thule and Tritonia's poole;
From whence Minerua deign'd her name to take,
When first within the quiet Chrystall lake
Come downe from Heauen, she view'd her virgin face.
Nor euer so did any Triumph grace
Romes power (as this had done;) nor yet in all
Those former Bayes, which deckt the Capitoll,
If here her selfe no part at all had beene
Of the subdu'd, had she more glory seene.
But lest these honours should not seeme to be
Enough for Caesar, by a new decree
The Senatours, before he enter Rome,
Make him Dictator for ten yeares to come,
And three yeares Censor; that it might be showne
How Caesar's conquering power had ouerthrowne
Their liberties, together with the fall
Of barbarous Nations: In the Capitoll
He in a Charriot was aduanc'd to sit,
To Ioue himselfe directly opposite:
A Globe terrestriall not farre from thence,
Display'd in short the vast circumference
Of all the earth; on which his Statue trod
With this inscription, He's a demy-god.
Swell'd with the Senates flattering decrees,
And fortune of so many victories,
Does Caesar now in Pompe triumphant come,
His loftie Charriot through the streets of Rome
By snow-white Horses drawne, more bright by farre
Than those fam'd Steeds, which in the Troian warre
From slaughter'd Rhesus tent Tydides tooke,
Before they drunke of Xanthus Chrystall brooke,
Or cropt the Troian pastures, a vaine aid
To falling Ilion, the first night betray'd.
Declare, ye sisters of the Thespian spring,
(For you remember well, and well can sing,)
In those foure Triumphs, which the people saw
Ore Aegypt, Pontus, France, and Libya,
How many captiu'd people sadly went
In habits, tongues, and visage different
Before Great Caesar's Charriot, shewing there
With different gestures their disdaine, or feare.
How many lands and stately Cities there,
Display'd in his triumphall tables were,
Where skilfull hands had wouen to delight,
So many Nations seuerall kindes of fight,
With his proud conquests, and succesfull toiles;
By which were borne the armes, and wealthy spoiles
Of vanquish'd Princes, Crownes of burnish'd gold
For all the wondring people to behold.
But if ye Muses in so high a State,
Disdaine to mourne for each plebeian Fate;
Yet passe not slightly by that princely Gaule,
Stout Vercingetorix, for whose great fall
Some hearts relented there; whose stubborne thought,
Could not at all in nine yeares warre be taught
To brooke with patience the proud yoke of Rome:
Who now reseru'd for death by Caesar's doome,
Before the Charriot a chain'd Captiue went,
Striuing in vaine t' orecome the discontent
Of that dayes shame; and, though his hands were ty'd,
Shaking his blacke curl'd lockes, he sought to hide
His angry front, whil'st his vndaunted looke
Seem'd more to wish than feare deaths fatall stroke.
Another obiect, though vnlike to this,
Yet fall'n alike from height of worldly blisse,
Mou'd the beholders hearts; they earn'd to see,
The tender beauties of Arsinoë
A virgin branch of Lagus royall Stem,
That once had worne th' Aegyptian Diadem,
By Fortune throwne into so low a state
Of bondage now; pittying her changed fate:
Those snow-white armes, that did a Scepter hold,
(Oh mocke of Fortune!) manicled in gold:
Although for her a gentler doome then death
Remaine, and Caesar's pitie spare her breath,
Or else his ends in loue restore her backe
Againe to Aegypt for her sisters sake:
How much (alas) had there her blood beene spilt,
Had Fortune tane from Cleopatra's guilt?
For all the fauour, which t' Arsinoë
Rome shew'd, repriu'd her but a while, to be
In after-times her sisters crime, and die
By Cleopatra's foule impietie.
But that in Libya's triumph, which aboue
All other obiects might deserue to moue
A iust compassion (if true innocence
In misery may iustly moue the sense)
Was young Prince Iuba, led in chaines, the sonne
Of that great Juba, whose dominion
From Mauritania's farthest Westerne end,
To Thera's sands so lately did extend:
Whose puissant hand a prouder Scepter bore,
Than euer Libyan Monarch did before.
This poore young Prince by Fortune seem'd to be
Brought as a spectacle of misery,
Depriu'd so lately of so many lands,
And, ere his yeares could act a crime, in bands.
But Oh (how blinde are mortall eyes?) that day
Of seeming woe, first made the glorious way
To Iuba's future happinesse; and he
Was farre more blest in that captiuitie,
Than if his Fathers greatnesse still had stood.
Train'd vp at Rome he gain'd a truer good;
And freed from barbarisme, was taught to know
What Rome, or learned Athens could bestow:
Adorning so his minde, as wisest men
In euery age admir'd his happy pen.
So that to grace his future prosperous reigne,
(For great Augustus hand restor'd againe
This captiue Iuba to a kingly Throne)
A lasting name his Histories haue wonne,
And fame vnto his natiue Libya giue;
Where with himselfe those mention'd Kings shall liue,
When brazen Monuments are eat with rust.
And marble Columnes time shall bruise to dust.
And had the Ponticke King Pharnaces beene
In person there and by the people seene,
That obiect well had ballanc'd with delight
The others ruth; but he was scap'd by flight:
Whose absence one proud sentence must supply,
J came, I saw, and vanquish'd th' enemy.
But those sad stories, which the tables show,
More than the liuing spectacles could doe,
Affect the peoples hearts: for there (although
No vanquish'd Roman might a captiue goe)
The bleeding wounds of Rome it selfe are spread;
And each man there his owne deare losse may read.
For mixt with forren conquests, with the falls
Of barbarous Captaines, Princes of the Gaules,
With dying Juba, drowned Ptolomey,
Those enuious tables to the eyes display
Domestike losse; and in sad figures tell,
By Caesar's Sword what vanquish'd Romans fell.
Here with King Iuba old Petreius dies,
Here slaughter'd Sylla, there Afranius lies:
There Damasippus and Torquatus fall;
And here (Oh wofull sight!) Romes Generall,
The Noble Scipio by his owne hand slaine,
Falls bleeding downe into the watery maine;
And sinking leaues a Noble crimson dye
On Neptunes face: but what true Roman eye
Refrain'd from teares, when he beheld the fall
Of matchlesse Cato, who, in spight of all
His friends preuention, dy'd, and wider tore
With his owne hands the wounds he made before?
Yet 'mongst so many wofull stories showne,
One Noble name was spar'd, one Fate alone
Was thought too sad; nor to the peoples eye
Durst they present Great Pompey's tragedy,
For feare so great a sorrow might outweigh
The pompous ioyes of that triumphant day:
But that conceal'd, which most of all was sought,
Remain'd more deeply fixt in euery thought▪
And they, without a picture, can supply
Each part of his lamented History.
What tongue, what pen can at the height relate
Each sumptuous part of that so enuy'd State?
The publike feasts, rare spectacles deuis'd,
And games by all the people exercis'd;
Who without number flock'd to doe him grace:
When all the Senate from the Iulian Place
Waited him home, and seem'd not then to be
The Worlds high Lords, but Caesar's family.
And as they passe, to gild their pompous way,
Numberlesse lights the Elephants display
Vpon their captiue backes, and mouing through
The streets, like heauenly Constellations show,
Like those great beasts, which in th' Horizon plac'd
Through euery part with glorious Starres are grac'd.
Nor in vaine showes was this Magnificence
Alone consum'd, but reall Monuments,
Which his great power to after-ages prais'd:
A stately Temple he to Venus rais'd,
Or in Deuotion, or in pride to grace
That Deitie from whom he drew his race,
That now the Paphian Queene, by Caesar's reigne,
Might seeme a truer conquest to obtaine,
Ore blew-ey'd Pallas, and the wife of Ioue,
Than when they for the golden Apple stroue,
And Paris fatall iudgement did bestow,
The prize on her to Iliums ouerthrow.
For Rome and all the conquer'd World farre more,
Are forced now to honour and adore
Her name than theirs, so much it was to be
Th' originall of Caesar's pedigree,
More than the daughter, or the wife of Ioue:
The Temples structure in rare beautie stroue,
With what the height of fancy could expresse,
Or any pennes most gracefull happinesse
Describe aright: vpon the walls did stand
In Parian marble wrought with curious hand,
That amorous story where the Phrygian boy
The beautie of a goddesse did enioy:
The vale of Ida there was shadowed such,
As Poets made it, Ida vale so much
Indebted to the Muses, seemed now
Vnto a Painters hand as much to owe:
The bower of Loue was richly carued there,
That happie bower of blisse and pleasure, where
Venus descended from the Chrystall skie,
To generate the Iulian family;
Was as a Bride in all her glories led,
To fill with beautie young Anchifes bed.
Neere them their Noble issue, in whose blood
A Goddesse mixt with man, Aeneas stood;
Such was his shape, so shone his cheerefull face
As young Apollo's, when he goes to grace
His natiue Delos, and in height of State
That Festiuall intends to celebrate,
Or Bacchus, when from conquer'd India,
The yoked Tygers his proud Charriot draw,
Troian Aeneas, whose fam'd History,
Great Maro's Muse did after raise as high,
As th' old Maeonian did Achilles fame.
But that most pious posture more became
Aeneas farre, when at the fatall sacke
Of Troy, he stoop'd, and on a willing backe
Flying from thence, carry'd his aged Sire
From the Greekes Swords, and all-deuouring Fire,
Together with his gods, whom he priz'd more
Than Priam's wealth, and all Troyes burning store.
Behinde was young Iulus, and did seeme
With short vnequall steps to follow him,
That Prince, from whom the Iulian family
Deriue their name as well as pedigree,
Who the foundations of long Alba lay'd,
And ore that land a powerfull Scepter sway'd.
By him the Scepter'd issues of his blood,
In their successiue order carued stood;
Till Alba was destroy'd by Tullus doome,
And all her people were transfer'd to Rome:
From Alba's sacke the pedigree went on,
And was deduced lineally downe
To Caesar's time; in whose successe and reigne
Alba had seem'd to conquer Rome againe.
But into th' hazard once againe to throw
A State so strong, so sure as Caesar's now
Seem'd to the World to be, a furious warre
More full of threats, of doubt and danger farre
Than euer had as yet oppos'd his reigne,
The two young Pompeys raise in farthest Spaine
There where the Great Alcides pillars stand,
And proudly boast to bound the farthest land.
That part of Spaine must proue the third sad stage
Of Ciuill warre, and Romes selfe-wounding rage.
Those, that inhabit that farre Westerne shore,
Vainely suppose that they alone, before
The setting Sunne forsake this Hemisphere,
Doe view his face at nearer distance there
Than other men, than other Countries can;
And that he falls into their Ocean
As Poets taught; or else his loftie Sphere
Bowes downe more neare the Globe terrestriall there,
Because his beautious Orbe, before the set,
Vnto their eyes appeares more large and great.
Those mistie fogges and vapours that arise
From that great Sea, which interposed lies,
Breaking diffuse the rayes, from th' eyes that went,
Or else inlarge the obiects figure sent,
And make the setting Sunne seeme greater so,
As bright things largest in the water show:
Whence they scarce any twilight haue at all,
Either at Phaebus rising, or his fall;
Day breakes together with the rising Sunne,
And day together with the set is done.
All Spaine, in figure of a bullockes hide,
Is by the Ocean wash'd on euery side,
And made almost an Ile, saue where her ground
The Pyrenaean hills from France doe bound:
From whose East end (for old description makes
Fiue sides of Spaine) the first beginning takes,
And Westward thence vnto the Gades extends,
But by the way to South obliquely bends;
And is inuiron'd by the mid-land Seas,
Where stand those Ilands Balearides,
From whence Metellus tooke his famous stile,
Faire Ebusu•, and that small snaky Ile.
The second side from Gades, (of small extent)
Is to the sacred promontory bent;
In which short space two riuers, of no small
Account in Spaine, into the Ocean fall,
Baetis and Anas; farre their channells spread,
And from the siluer Mountaines both take head:
Both their great channells doe at last diuide,
And make two Ilands by the Oceans side:
From thence the third side in a line extends,
And at the Nerian promontory ends,
From South directly North it goes; this bound
Of Spaine doth Westward know no further ground:
That all along the boundlesse Ocean laues;
Thither the golden Tagus rowles his waues,
Winding through Lusitania, and into
That Ocean doth in one great channell flow:
From thence the Northerne side of Spaine extends,
And at the Pyrenaean Mountaines ends,
Bounded along by the Cantabrian Sea;
Within those shores the wildest Nations be
The barbarous Celtae, rough Asturians,
And (those that name the Sea) Cantabrians▪
But last of all, the fifth, and North-East side
The Pyrenaei make, which doe diuide
Gallia from Spaine, which by their wondrous height
Might seeme to threat the Skies, and once more fright
The gods with a Gigantike warre: that side
Of those high Mountaines, which surueyes the pride
Of wealthy France, doth bare and barren show,
Cloth'd with no grasse, no trees at all there grow▪
The other side, which barren Spaine oresees,
Shewes like a fruitfull Summer, cloth'd with trees
Which neuer doe their verdant colour lose:
And so to both th' adiacent Countries showes,
As if to clothe himselfe, he had robb'd Spaine,
And lost his owne, to make France rich againe.
That loftie Mountaine (if we trust to fame)
Did from the faire Pyrene take his name,
When Great Alcides moued by the fame
Of King Geryon's stately cattell, came
From Greece, to fetch that wealthy spoile away,
Entring the bounds of Spaine, he there made stay.
King Bebrix then ore all those Mountaines reign'd,
And there with Feasts Alcides entertain'd:
The conquering guest, by Fate vnhappie, spy'd
Pyrene daughter to the King, and fry'd
With inward flames; at last, while there he stay'd,
His charming words had wonne the royall maid:
He vowes his loue still constant shall remaine,
And, when with Conquest he returnes againe,
Espousall rites: But cruell Fates deny,
And make Alcides slow in victory,
Too slow, alas; nor could the fight be try'd
Ere faire Pyrene miserably dy'd.
Her swelling wombe now gan the fact reueale,
Nor could she longer her stoll'n loue conceale,
When fearing her sterne Fathers wrathfull spight,
Into the woods she takes a secret flight:
There all alone to caues and senselesse trees
She wailes her Fate, and calls Great Hercules,
Or false, or slow; till some fell beasts, that were
More sauage than their kinde, had seized her,
And whilest in vaine, alas, she did implore
Her absent louer, her to peeces tore.
Seuen times had Cynthia fill'd her waned light,
When he return'd with Conquest from the fight;
And laden with G•ryons wealthy spoiles,
The recompence of his successefull toiles,
Sought for Pyrene, but inforc'd to finde
What oft before his sad misgiuing minde
Made him suspect, distraught with griefe and woes
Among the woods, and craggy hills he goes
In search of her, and with a mournefull sound,
Calls his Pyrene; all the hills rebound
Pyrenes name; the hills themselues did shake,
The sauage beasts, and mountaine robbers quake;
No Tygers prey'd, nor Lions durst to moue,
Whilest Great Alcides sought his wretched Loue.
But wandring through the solitary wood,
When he had found her limbes, and vnderstood
Pyrenes wretched Fate, Oh loue, (quoth he)
'Twas my accursed absence murder'd thee:
What sauage beast durst this? What power aboue
Suffer'd so much against Alcides loue?
Oh would Geryons spoiles had all beene lost,
And I nere stirr'd from this beloued coast:
Then gathering vp those sad deare reliques, there
Within the Mountaines side he did interre
His loue and sorrow. This small Tombe (alas)
When Times strong hand (quoth he) shall quite deface,
Thy state shall greater be, and time to come,
Shall reckon all these hills Pyrenes Tombe:
The Fates consented, and by lasting fame
Those Mountaines euer bore Pyrenes name.
The two young Pompey's with their powers, not farre
From Gades now marching, meant to seat the warre
In that rich Countrey, where faire Baetis flowes,
And on the region his owne name bestowes,
(Though Turdetania, from the men that came
To plant it first, be yet another name.)
There they the fatall Munda doe possesse,
A Towne yet famous for their dire successe,
With other Townes not farre, Ategua,
And Vcubis, and stately Corduba
That old Patritian colony, whose name
The births of great and learned Romans fame.
The Turdetanian region may for rare
And wondrous gifts of nature well compare,
With any peece of earth; no other soile
Does more reward th' industrious plowmans toile
With rich increase; no other pastures keepe
Moe horned heards, moe wealthy-fleeced Sheepe,
Those many branches, which from Baetis flow,
Such wealth on all the neighbouring fields bestow;
Whose yellow bankes, no lesse than Tagus is,
Are stor'd with metalls of the highest price
In euery place; more gold no barren ground
Affords, than in that wealthy glebe is found:
Which nature seldome does together giue;
And happy might the Turdetanians liue,
But that their Countrey too too happy is,
And on their conquest sets too high a price.
Their wealthy grounds are oft the seat of warre,
And prey to euery powerfull conqueror:
There Rome and Carthage fought, and did maintaine
Their riuall forces with the wealth that Spaine
Afforded there, while Fortune doubted yet
Which land to make the Worlds Imperiall seat.
When like to Titius fruitfull liuer, they
Sustein'd those birds, to whom they were a prey;
And suffring Spaine by those great factions rent,
That Vultur fed which did it selfe torment;
Nor lies the gold of that rich region
Deepe in the bowells of the earth alone,
Thence to be digg'd vp with a toile as great
At is the value; there they need not sweat
In gathering wealth, nor need they farre to fire
From day, or threaten Pluto's monarchy
With their deepe labours; the rich metall's found
Vpon the glistering surface of the ground,
And lies on riuers bankes commixt with sand,
Or else with dust vpon the drier land,
And Mountaines tops: what reason can be found
Should so inrich the vpper part of ground
Vnlesse you trust a tale? When Phaëton
Did erst misguide the Charriot of the Sunne,
And scorch'd the earth; the nature then of all
These grounds Sulphurious was, and Minerall,
The metalls melted by the Sunne, fry'd vp,
And so with ease are gather'd at the top.
To Pompey's army, while they there remaine,
The seuerall nations from all parts of Spaine
(Besides those scattered troops, from Thapsus fled,
Which Labienus there and Varus led)
Adioyne themselues; the fierce Cantabrians,
That thinke it base to yeeld to Natures hands
Their liues, as if bestow'd for warre alone;
Gallecians skill'd in diuination;
The Callaicians too, whose men intend
Nothing but warre, and still in rapine spend
Their ventrous liues, vsing the womens hands
To all workes else, to sow and plow the lands:
From old Ilerda, that so lately try'd
Romes Ciuill warrs, comes aid to Pompey's side:
From Minius bankes come bold Asturians,
From golden Tagus Lusitanians;
Fierce Ceretans, Alcides Souldiers,
The light-arm'd Vascon, that no helmet weares:
And Concani, that in their drinke expresse
Themselues deriu'd from wilde Massagetes,
Their greatest thirst with horses blood they slake.
The Celtiberians, that mixt birth did take
From Gaules and Spaniards; who doe euer burne
Their friends dead bodies, and extremely mourne
(Accounting it the worst vnhappinesse)
If Wolues, or Vulturs their dead limbes should seize.
From Sucro's bankes come Hedetan supplies,
And from the loftie Towers of Serabis:
The Vettones, the Oretanians too,
And th' ensignes of Parnassian Castulo,
With all the Spanish Nations else, whom loue
Of old dead Pompey to the warre did moue.