Book X

Soon as the victor reach'd the guilty shore,
Yet red with stains of murder'd Pompey's gore,
New toils his still prevailing fortune met,
By impious Egypt's genius hard beset.
The strife was now, — if this detested land
Should own imperial Rome's supreme command,
Or Caesar bleed beneath some Pharian hand.
But thou, oil Pompey! thy diviner shade,
Came timely to this cruel father's aid;
Thy influence the deadly sword withstood,
Nor suffer'd Nile, again, to blush with Roman blood.
Safe in the pledge of Pompey, slain so late,
Proud Caesar enters Alexandria's gate:
Ensigns on high the long procession lead;
The warrior and his armed train succeed.
Meanwhile, loud-murmuring, the moody throng
Behold his Fasces borne in state along:
Of innovations fiercely they complain,
And scornfully reject the Roman reign.
Soon saw the chief the' untoward bent they take,
And found that Pompey fell not for his sake.
Wisely, howe'er, he hid his secret fear,
And held his way with well-dissembled cheer.
Careless, he runs their gods and temples o'er,
The monuments of Macedonian pow'r!;
But. neither god, nor shrine, nor mystic rite,
Their city, nor her walls, his soul delight:
Their caves beneath his fancy chiefly led,
To search the gloomy mansions of the dead:
Thither with secret pleasure he descends,
And to the guide's recording tale attends.
There the vain youth who made the world his prize,
That prosperous robber, Alexander, lies.
When pitying death at length had freed mankind,
To sacred rest his bones were here consign'd:
His bones, that better had been toss'd and hurl'd,
With just contempt, around the injur'd world.
But fortune spar'd the dead; and partial fate,
For ages, fix'd his Pharian empire's date.
If e'er our long-lost liberty return,
That carcase is reserv'd for public scorn:
Now it remains a monument confess'd,
How one proud man could lord it o'er the rest.
To Macedon, a comer of the earth,
The vast ambitious spoiler ow'd his birth:
There soon he scorn'd his father's humbler reign,
And view'd his vanquish'd Athens with disdain.
Driv'n headlong on, by fate's resistless force,
Through Asia's realms he took his dreadful course:
His ruthless sword laid human nature waste,
And desolation follow'd where he pass'd.
Red Ganges blush'd, and fam'd Euphrates' flood,
With Persian this, and that with Indian blood.
Such is the bolt which angry Jove employs,
When, undistinguishing, his wrath destroys:
Such to mankind portentous meteors rise,
Trouble the gazing earth, and blast the skies.
Nor flame, nor flood, his restless rage withstand,
Nor Syrts unfaithful, nor the Libyan sand:
O'er waves unknown he meditates his way,
And seeks the boundless empire of the sea s
Ev'n to the utmost west he would have gone,
Where Tethys' lap receives the setting sun;
Around each pole his circuit would have made,
And drunk from secret Nile's remotest head,
When nature's hand his wild ambition stay'd:
With him, that power his pride had lov'd so well.
His monstrous universal empire fell:
No heir, no just successor, left behind.
Eternal wars he to his friends assign'd,
To tear the world, and scramble for mankind.
Yet still he died the master of his fame,
And Parthia to the last rever'd his name:
The haughty East from Greece receiv'd her doom.
With lower homage than she pays to Rome.
Though from the frozen pole our empire run,
Far as the journeys of the southern sun:
In triumph though our conquering eagles fly,
Where'er soft Zephyrs fan the western sky;
Still to the haughty Parthian must we yield,
And mourn the loss of Carrae's dreadful field:
Still shall the race untam'd their pride avow,
And lift those heads aloft, which Pella taught to bow.
From Casium now the beardless monarch came,
To quench the kindling Alexandrian's flame.
The' unwarlike rabble soon the tumult cease,
And he, their king, remains the pledge of peace;
When veil'd in secresy, and dark disguise,
To mighty Caesar, Cleopatra flies.
Won by persuasive gold, and rich reward,
Her keeper's hand her prison-gates unbar'd,
And a light galley for her flight prepar'd.
Oh, fatal form! thy native Egypt's shame!
Thou lewd perdition of the Latian name!
How wert thou doom'd our furies to increase,
And be what Helen was to Troy and Greece!
When with an host, from vile Canopus led
Thy vengeance aim'd at great Augustus' head;
When thy shrill timbrel's sound was heard from far,
And Rome herself shook at the coming war;
When doubtful fortune, near Leucadia's strand,
Suspended long the world's supreme command,
And almost gave it to a woman's hand.
Such daring courage swells her wanton heart,
While Roman lovers Roman fires impart:
Glowing alike with greatness and delight.
She rose still bolder from each guilty night.
Then blame we hapless Anthony no more,
Lost and undone by fatal beauty's pow'r;
If Caesar, long inur'd to rage and arms,
Submits his stubborn heart to those soft charms;
If reeking from Emathia's dreadful plain,
And horrid with the blood of thousands slain,
He sinks lascivious in a lewd embrace,
While Pompey's ghastly spectre haunts the place;
If Julia's chastest name he (tan forget,
And raise her brethren of a bastard-set;
If indolently he permits from far
Bold Cato to revive the fainting war;
If he can give away the fruits of blood,
And fight to make a strumpet's title good.
To him, disdaining or to feign a tear,
Or spread her artfully dishevell'd hair IJ,
In comely sorrow's decent garb array'd,
And trusting to her beauty's certain aid,
In words like these began the Pharian maid:
"If loyal birth, and the Lagasan name.
Thy favouring pity, greatest Caesar! claim;
Redress my wrongs, thus humbly I implore,
And to her state an injur'd queen restore.
Here shed thy juster influence, and rise
A star auspicious to Egyptian skies.
Nor is it strange for Pharos to behold
A woman's temples bound with regal gold:
No laws our softer sex's powers restrain,
But undistinguish'd equally we reign.
Vouchsafe my royal father's will to read.
And learn what dying Ptolemy decreed;
My just pretensions stand recorded there,
My brother's empire and his bed to share.
Nor would the gentle boy his love refuse,
Did curs'd Pothinus leave him free to choose;
But now in vassalage he holds his crown,
And acts by power and passions not his own.
Nor is my soul on empire fondly set,
But could with ease my royal rights forget;
So thou the throne from vile dishonour save.
Restore the master, and depose the slave.
What scorn, what pride his haughty bosom swell.
Since at his bidding Roman Pompey fell!
(Ev'n now, which, oh f ye righteous gods avert,
His sword is levell'd at thy noble heart)
Thou and mankind are wrong'd, when he shall dare,
Or in thy prize, or in thy crime, to share."
In vain her words the warrior's ears assail'd.
Had not her face beyond her tongue prevail'd
From thence resistless eloquence she draws.
And with the sweet persuasion gains her cause.
His stubborn heart dissolves in loose delight.
And grants her suit, for one lascivious night.
Egypt and Caesar now, in peace agreed,
Riot and feasting to the war succeed:
The wanton queen displays her wealthy store,
Excess unknown to frugal Rome before.
Rich as some fane by lavish zealots rear'd,
For the proud banquet, stood the hall prepar'd:
Thick golden plates the latent beams infold.
And the high roof was fretted o'er with gold:
Of solid marble all the walls were made,
And onyx ev'n the meaner floor inlaid;
While porphyry and agate round the court,
In massy columns, rose a proud support.
Of solid ebony,s each post was wrought,
From swarthy Meroe profusely brought:
With ivory was the entrance crusted o'er,
And polish'd tortoise hid each shilling door;
While on the cloudy spots enchas'd was seen
The lively emerald's never-fading green.
Within, the royal beds and couches shone
Beamy and bright with many a costly stone;
In glowing purple rich the coverings lie;
Twice had they drank the noblest Tyrian dye:
Others (as Pharian artists have the skill
To mix the party-colour'd web at will)
With winding trails of various silks were made.
Where branching gold set off the rich brocade.
Around, of every age and choicer form,
Huge crowds, whole nations of attendants swarm
Some wait in yellow rings of golden hair,
The vanquish'd Rhine show'd Caesar none so fair;
Others were seen with swarthy woolly heads,
Black as eternal night's unchanging shades.
Here squealing eunuchs, a dismember'd train.
Lament the loss of genial joys in vain:
There nature's noblest work, a youthful band.
In the full pride of blooming manhood stand.
All duteous on the Pharian princes wait;
The princes round the board recline in state,
With mighty Caesar, more than princes great.
On ivory feet the citron board was wrought.
Richer than those with captive Juba brought.
With every wile ambitious beauty tries
To fix the daring Roman's heart her prize.
Her brother's meaner bed and crown she scorns,
And with fierce hopes for nobler empire burns;
Collects the mischiefs of her wanton eyes,
And her faint cheeks with deeper roses dies;
Amidst the braidings of her flowing hair,
The spoils of orient rocks and shells appear;
Like midnight stars, ten thousand diamonds deck
The comely rising of her graceful neck:
Of wondrous work, a thin transparent lawn
O'er each soft breast in decency was drawn;
Where still by turns the parting threads withdrew,
And all the panting bosom rose to view.
Her robe, her every part, her air confess
The power of female skill exhausted in her dress.
Fantastic manners of unthinking pride,
To boast that wealth which prudence strives to hide!
In civil wars such treasures to display,
And tempt a soldier with the hopes of prey!
Had Caesar not been Caesar, impious, bold.
And ready to lay waste the world for gold,
But just as all our frugal names of old;
This wealth could Curius or Fabricius know,
Or ruder Cincinnatus from the plough,
As Caesar, they had seiz'd the mighty spoil,
And to enrich their Tiber robb'd the Nile.
Now, by a train of slaves, the various feast
In massy gold magnificent was plac'd:
Whatever earth, or air, or seas afford,
In vast profusion crowns the labouring board.
For dainties, Egypt every land explores,
Nor spares those very gods her zeal adores.
The Nile's sweet wave capacious crystals pen?,
And gems of price the grape's delicious store;
No growth of Mareotis' marshy fields,
But such as Meroe maturer yields;
Where the warm sun the racy juice refines,
And mellows into age the infant wines,
With wreaths of Nard the guests their temples bind,
And blooming roses of immortal kind:
Their dropping locks with oily odours flow,
Recent from near Arabia, where they grow:
The vigorous spices breathe their strong perfume.
And the rich vapour fills the spacious room.
Here Caesar Pompey's poverty disdain'd,
And teem'd to waste that world his arms had gain'd.
He saw the' Egyptian wealth with greedy eyes,
And wish'd some fair pretence to seize the prize.
Sated, at length, with the prodigious feast,
Their weary appetites from riot ceas'd;
When Caesar, curious of some new delight,
In conversation sought to wear the night:
Then gently thus address'd the good old priest,
Reclining decent in his linen vest.
"O wise Achoreus! venerable seer!
Whose age bespeaks thee heaven's peculiar care,
Say, from what origin thy nation sprung,
What boundaries to Egypt's land belong?
What are thy people's customs, and their modes,
What rites they teach, what forms they give their gods?
Each ancient sacred mystery explain,
Which monumental sculptures yet retain.
Divinity disdains to be confin'd,
Fain would be known, and reverenc'd by mankind.
'Tis said, thy holy predecessors thought
Cecropian Plato worthy to be taught:
And sure the sages of your schools have known
No soul more form'd for science than my own.
Fame of my potent rival's flight, 'tis true.
To this your Pharian shore my journey drew;
Yet know, the love of learning led me too.
In all the hurries of tumultuous war,
The stars, the gods, and heavens were still my care.
Nor shall my skill to fix the rolling year
Inferior to Eudoxus' art appear.
Long has my curious soul, from early youth,
Toil'd in the noble search of sacred truth:
Yet still no views have urg'd my ardour more,
Than Nile's remotest fountain to explore.
Then say, what source the famous stream supplies,
And bids it at revolving periods rise;
Show me that head from whence, since time begun,
The long succession of his waves has run;
This let me know, and all my toils shall cease,
The sword be sheath'd, and earth be bless'd with peace."
The warrior spoke; and thus the seer replied:
Nor shalt thou, mighty Caesar, be denied.
Our sires forbade all but themselves to know.
And kept with care profaner laymen low:
My soul, I own, more generously inclin'd,
Would let in daylight to inform the blind.
Nor would I truth in mysteries restrain,
But make the gods, their power, and precepts, plain;
Would teach their miracles, would spread their praise,
And well-taught minds to just devotion raise.
Know then, to all those stars, by Nature driv'n
In opposition to revolving Heav'n,
Some one peculiar influence was giv'n.
The sun the seasons of the year supplies,
And bids the evening and the morning rise;
Commands the planets with superior force,
And keeps each wandering light to his appointed course.
The silver moon o'er briny seas presides,
And heaves huge ocean with alternate tides.
Saturn's cold rays in icy climes prevail;
Mars rules the winds, the storm, and rattling hail;
Where Jove ascends, the skies are still serene;
And fruitful Venus is the genial queen:
While every limpid spring, and falling stream,
Submits to radiant Hermes' reigning beam.
When in the Crab the humid ruler shines,
And to the sultry Lion near inclines,
There fix'd immediate o'er Nile's latent source,
He strikes the watery stores with pondrous force;
Nor can the flood bright Maia's son withstand,
But heaves, like ocean at the moon's command;
His waves ascend obedient as the seas,
And reach their destin'd height by just degrees.
Nor to its bank returns the' enormous tide,
Till Libra's equal scales the days and nights divide.
Antiquity, unknowing and deceiv'd,
In dreams of Ethiopian snows believ'd:
From hills they taught, how melting currents ran,
When the first swelling of (he flood began.
But ah, how vain the thought! no Boreas there
In icy bonds constrains the wintry year;
But sultry southern winds eternal reign,
And scorching suns the swarthy natives Stain.
Yet more, whatever flood the frost congeals,
Melts as the genial spring's return he feels;
While Nile's redundant waters never rise,
Till the hot Dog inflames the summer skies;
Nor to his banks his shrinking stream confines.
Till high in Heaven the' autumnal Balance shines.
Unlike his watry brethren he presides,
And by new laws his liquid empire guides.
From dropping seasons no increase he knows,
Nor feels the fleecy showers of melting snows.
His river swells not idly, ere the land
The timely office of his waves demand;
But knows his lot, by providence assign'd.
To cool the season, and refresh mankind.
Whene'er the Lion sheds his fires around,
And Cancer burns Syene's parching ground;
Then at the prayer of nations comes the Nile,
And kindly tempers up the mouldering soil.
Nor from the plains the covering god retreats,
Till the rude fervour of the skies abates;
Till Phoebus into milder autumn fades,
And Meroe projects her lengthening shade.
Nor let inquiring sceptics ask the cause,
'Tis Jove's command, and these are nature's laws.
"Others of old, as vainly too, have thought
By western winds the spreading deluge brought:
While at fix'd times, for many a day, they last,
Possess the skies, and drive a constant blast;
Collected clouds united zephyrs bring,
And shed huge rains from many a dropping wing,
To heave the flood, and swell the' abounding spring.
Or when the airy brethren's stedfast force
Resists the rushing current's downward course,
Backward he rolls indignant to his head,
While o'er the plains his heapy waves are spread.
"Some have believ'd that spacious channels go
Through the dark entrails of the earth below:
Through these, by turns, revolving rivers pass,
And secretly pervade the mighty mass;
Through these the sun, when from the north he flies
And cuts the glowing Ethiopic skies,
From distant streams attracts their liquid stoves.
And through Nile's spring the' assembled waters pours:
Till Nile, o'erburden'd, disembogues the load,
And spews the foamy deluge all abroad.
"Sages there have been too who long maintain'd.
That ocean's waves through porous earth are drain'd;
'Tis thence their saltness they no longer keep,
By slow degrees still freshening as they creep:
Till at a period Nile receives them all,
And pours them loosely spreading as they fall.
"The stars, and sun himself, as some have said,
By exhalations from the deep are fed;
And when the golden ruler of the day
Through Cancer's fiery sign pursues his way,
His beams attract too largely from the sea;
The refuse of his draughts the nights return,
And more than fill the Nile's capacious urn.
"Were I the dictates of my soul to tell,
And speak the reasons of the watery swell;
To Providence tire task I should assign,
And find the cause in workmanship divine.
Bess streams we trace, unerring, to their birth,
And know the parent earth which brought them forth:
While this, as early as the world begun,
Ran thus, and must continue thus to run;
And still, unfathom'd by our search, shall own
No cause, but Jove's commanding will alone.
"Nor, Caesar, is thy search of knowledge strange:
Well may thy boundless soul desire to range,
Well may she strive Nile's fountain to explore,
Since mighty kings have sought the same before;
Each for the first discoverer would be known,
And hand, to future times, the secret down;
But still their powers were exercis'd in vain,
While latent nature mock'd their fruitless pain.
Philip's great son, whom Memphis still records,
The chief of her illustrious scepter'd lords,
Sent of his own a chosen number forth,
To trace the wondrous stream's mysterious birth.
Through Ethiopia's plains they journey'd on,
Till the hot sun oppos'd the burning zone:
There, by the gods resistless beams repell'd,
An unbeginning stream they still beheld.
Fierce came Sesostris from the eastern dawn,
On his proud car by captive monarchs drawn;
His lawless will, impatient of a bound,
Commanded Nile's hid fountain to be found:
But sooner much the tyrant might have known
Thy fam'd Hesperian Po, or Gallic Rhone.
Cambyses too, his daring Persians led,
Where hoary age makes white the Ethiop's head;
Till sore distress'd, and destitute of food,
He stain'd his hungry jaws with human blood
Till half his host the other half devour'd,
And left the Nile behind them unexplor'd.
Of thy forbidden head, thou sacred stream?
Nor fiction dares to speak, nor poets dream.
Through various nations roll thy waters down,
B y.many seen, though still by all unknown;
Nor and presumes to claim thee for her ow n.
For me my humble tale no more shall tell,
Than what our just records demonstrate well;
Than God, who bade thee thus mysterious flow,
Permits the narrow mind of man to know.
"Far in the south the daring waters rise.
As in disdain of Cancer's burning skies:
Thence with a downward course they seek the main
Direct against the lazy northern wain;
Unless when, partially, thy winding tide
Turns to the Libyan or Arabian side.
The distant Seres first behold thee flow.
Nor yet thy spring the distant Seres know.
Midst sooty Ethiops next thy current roams;
The sooty Ethiops wonder whence it comes:
Nature conceals thy infant stream with care,
Nor lets thee, but in majesty, appear.
Upon thy banks astonish'd nations stand,
Nor dare assign thy rise to one peculiar land.
Exempt from vulgar laws thy waters run,
Nor take their various seasons from the sun;
Though high in Heaven the fiery solstice stand,
Obedient winter comes at thy command.
From Pole to Pole thy boundless waves extend
One never knows thy rise, nor one thy end.
By Meroe thy stream divided roves,
And winds encircling round her ebon groves;
Of sable hue the costly timbers stand,
Dark as the swarthy natives of the land:
Yet though tall woods in wide abundance spread.
Their leafy tops afford no friendly shade
So vertically shine the solar rays,
And from the lion dart the downward blaze.
From thence, through deserts dry, thou journey'st on,
Nor shrink'st, diminish'd by the torrid zone,
Strong in thyself, collected, fall, and one.
Anon thy streams are parcell'd o'er the plain,
Anon the scatter'd currents meet again;
Jointly they flow where Philae's gates divide
Our fertile Egypt from Arabia's side:
Thence with a peaceful soft descent they creep,
And seek, insensibly, the distant deep;
Till through seven mouths the famous flood is lost,
On the last limits of our Pharian coast;
Where Gaza's isthmus rises, to restrain
The Erythraean from the midland main.
Who that beholds thee, Nile! thus gently flow,
With scarce a wrinkle on thy glassy brow,
Can guess thy rage when rocks resist thy force,
And hurl thee headlong in thy downward course;
When spouting cataracts thy torrent pour,
And nations tremble at the deafening roar;
When thy proud waves with indignation rise,
And dash their foamy fury to the skies?
These wonders reedy Abatos can tell,
And the tall cliffs that first declare thy swell;
The cliffs with ignorance of old believ'd
'Thy parent veins, and for thy spring receiv'd.
From thence huge mountains nature's hand provides
To bank thy too luxurious river's sides;
As in a vale thy current she restrains,
Nor suffers thee to spread the Libyan plains:
At Memphis first free liberty she yields,
And lets thee loose to float the thirsty fields.
In unsuspected peace securely laid,
Thus waste they silent night's declining shade.
Meanwhile accustom'd furies still infest -
With usual rage Pothinus' horrid breast;
Nor can the ruffian's hand from slaughter rest,
Well may the wretch, distain'd with Pompey's blood,
Think every other dreadful action good.
Within him still the snaky sisters dwell,
And urge his soul with all the powers of hell.
Can fortune to such hands such mischief doom,
And let a slave revenge the wrongs of Rome!
Prevent the' example, preordain'd to stand
The great renown of Brutus' righteous hand!
Forbid it, gods! that Caesar's hallow'd blood,
To liberty by fate a victim vow'd,
Should on a less occasion ere be spilt,
And prove a vile Egyptian eunuch's guilt.
Harden'd by crimes, the bolder villain now
Avows his purpose with a daring brow;
Scorns the mean aids of falsehood and surprise,
And openly the victor-chief defies.
Vain in his hopes, nor doubting to succeed,
He trusts that Caesar must, like Pompey, bleed.
The feeble boy to curs'd Achillas' hand
Had, with his army, given his crown's command:
To him by wicked sympathy of mind.
By leagues and brotherhood of murder join'd
To him, the first and fittest of his friends,
Thus by a trusty slave Pothinus sends.
"While stretch'd at ease the great Achillas lies,
And sleep sits heavy on his slothful eyes;
The bargain for our native land is made,
And the dishonest price already paid.
The former rule no longer now we own,
Usurping Cleopatra wears the crown.
Dost thou alone withdraw thee from her state,
Nor on the bridals of thy mistress wait?
To-night at large she lavishes her charms,
And riots in luxurious Caesar's arms.
Ere long her brother may the wanton wed,
And reap the refuse of the Roman's bed:
Doubly a bride, then doubly shall she reign,
While Rome and Egypt wear, by turns, her chain.
Nor trust thou to thy credit with the boy,
When arts and eyes, like her's, their powers employ.
Mark with what ease her fatal charms can mould
The heart of Caesar, ruthless, hard, and old?
Were the soft king his thoughtless head to rest,
But for a night, on her incestuous breast;
His crown and friends he'd barter for the bliss,
And give thy head, and mine, for one lewd kiss:
On crosses, or in flames, we should deplore
Her beauty's terrible resistless pow'r.
On both her sentence is already pass'd,
She dooms us dead because we kept her chaste.
What potent hand shall then assistance bring?
Caesar's her lover, and her husband-king.
Haste I adjure thee by our common guilt,
By that great blood which we in vain have spilt;
Haste and let war, let death with thee return,
And the funereal torch for Hymen's burn.
Whate'er embrace the hostile charmer hold,
Find and transfix her in the luscious fold.
Nor let the fortune of this Latian lord
Abash thy courage, or restrain thy sword;
In the same glorious guilty paths we tread,
That rais'd him up, the world's imperious head.
Like him we seek dominion for our prize,
And hope, like him, by Pompey's fall to rise.
Witness the stains of yonder blushing wave,
Yon bloody shore, and yon inglorious grave.
Why fear we then to bring our wish to pass?
This Caesar is not more than Pompey was.
What though we boast nor birth, nor noble name.
Nor kindred with some purple monarch claim?
Conscious of fate's decree such aid we scorn;
And know we were for mighty mischief born.
See how kind fortune by this offer'd prey
Finds means to purge all past offence away:
With grateful thanks Rome shall the deed approve,
And this last merit the first crime remove.
Stript of his titles, and the pomp of pow'r,
Caesar's a single soldier, and no more.
Think then how easily the task were done,
How soon we may an injur'd world atone;
Finish all wars, appease each Roman shade.
By sacrificing one devoted head.
Fearless, ye dread united legions, go;
Rush all, undaunted, on your common foe:
This right, ye Romans! to your country do;
Ye Pharians! this your king expects from you.
But chief, Achillas! may the praise be thine:
Haste thou and find him on his bed supine,
Weary with toiling lust, and gorg'd with wine;
Then strike, and what their Cato's prayers demand,
The gods shall give to thy more favour'd hand."
Nor fail'd the message, fitted to persuade;
But, prone to blood, the willing chief obey'd.
No noisy trumpets sound the loud alarm,
But silently the moving legions arm:
AH unperceiv'd, for battle they prepare,
And bustle through the night with busy care.
The mingled bands who form'd this mungrel host,
To the disgrace of Rome, were Romans most;
A herd, who, had they not been lost to shame
And long forgetful of their country's name,
Had blush'd to own ev'n Ptolemy their head;
Yet now were by his meaner vassal led.
Oh! mercenary war, thou slave of gold! e
How is thy faithless courage bought and sold!
For base reward thy hireling hands obey;
Unknowing right or wrong, they fight for pay,
And give their country's great revenge away.
Ah wretched Rome! for whom thy fate prepares,
In every nation, new domestic wars;
The fury that from pale Thessalia fled,
Rears on the banks of Nile her baleful head.
What could protecting Egypt more have done,
Had she receiv'd the haughty victor's son?
But thus the gods our sinking state confound,
Thus tear our mangled empire all around;
In every land fit instruments employ,
And suffer ruthless slaughter to destroy.
Thus ev'n Egyptian parricides presume
To meddle in the sacred cause of Rome;
Thus had not fate those hands of murder tied,
Success had crown'd the vile Achillas' side.
Nor wanted fit occasion for the deed;
Timely the traitors to the place succeed,
While in security the careless guest,
Lingering as yet, his couch supinely press'd:
No gates, no guards forbade their open way,
But all dissolv'd in sleep and surfeits lay:
With ease the victor at the board had bleed,
And lost in riot his defenceless head.
But pious caution now their rage withstands,
And care for Ptolemy withholds their hands:
With reverence and remorse, unknown before.
They dread to spill their royal master's gore;
Lest in the tumult of the murderous night
Some erring mischief on his youth may light.
Sway'd by this thought, not doubting to succeed.
They hold it fitting to defer the deed.
Gods! that such wretches should so proudly dare!
Can such a life be theirs to take, or spare?
Till dawn of day the warrior stood repriev'd,
And Caesar at Achillas' bidding liv'd.
Now o'er aspiring Casium's eastern head
The rosy light by Lucifer was led:
Swift through the land the piercing beams were borne,
And glowing Egypt felt the kindling morn:
When from proud Alexandria's walls, afar,
The citizens behold the coming war.
The dreadful legions shine in just array,
And firm, as to the battle, hold their way.
Conscious, meanwhile, of his unequal force,
Straight to the palace Caesar bends his course:
Nor in the lofty bulwarks dares confide,
Their ample circuit stretching far too wide:
To one fix'd part his little band retreats,
There mans the walls and towers, and bars the gates.
There fear, there wrath, by turns, his bosom tears;
He fears, but still with indignation fears.
His daring soul restrain'd, more fiercely burns,
And proudly the ignoble refuge scorns.
The captive lion thus, with generous rage,
Reluctant foams, and roars, and bites his cage.
Thus, if some power could Mulciber enslave,
And bind him down in Etna's smoky cave,
With fires more fierce the' imprison'd god would glow,
And bellow in the dreadful deeps below.
He who so lately, with undaunted pride,
The power of mighty Pompey's arms defied,
With justice and the senate on his side; '
Who with a cause, which gods and men must hate,
Stood up and struggled for success with fate;
Now abject foes and slaves insulting fears,
And sinks beneath a shower of Pharian spears.
The warrior who disdain'd to be confin'd
By Tyrian Gades, or the eastern Inde,
Now in a narrow house conceals that head,
From which the fiercest Scythians once had fled,
And horrid Moors beheld with awful dread.
From room to room irresolute he flies,
And on some guardian bar or door relies.
So boys and helpless maids, when towns are won,
To secret corners for protection run.
Still by his side the beardless king he bears,
Ordain'd to share in every ill he fears:
If he must die, he dooms the boy to go,
Alike devoted to the shades below;
Resolves his head a victim first shall fall,
Hurl'd at his slaves from off the lofty wall.
So from Aeetes fierce Medea fled,
Her sword still aim'd at young Absyrtos' head;
Whene'er she sees her vengeful sire draw nigh.
Ruthless she dooms the wretched boy should die.
Yet ere these cruel last extremes he proves,
By gentler steps of peace the Roman moves:
He sends an envoy, in the royal name,
To chide their fury, and the war disclaim.
But impious they, nor gods nor kings regard,
Nor universal laws, by all rever'd;
No right of sacred characters they know,
But tear the olive from the hallow'd brow;
To death the messenger of peace pursue,
And in his blood their horrid hands embrue.
Such are the palms which curs'd Egyptians claim,
Such prodigies exalt their nation's name.
Nor purple Thessaly's destructive shore,
Nor dire Pharnaces, nor the Libyan Moor,
Nor every barbarous land, in every age,
Equal a soft Egyptian eunuch's rage.
Incessant still the roar of war prevails,
While the wild host the royal pile assails.
Void of device, no thundering rams they bring,
Nor kindling flames with spreading mischief fling:
Bellowing, around they run with fruitless pain,
Heave at the doors, and thrust and strive in vain:
More than a wall, great Caesar's fortune stands,
And mocks the madness of their feeble hands.
On one proud side the lofty fabric stood
Projected bold into the' adjoining flood;
There, fill'd with armed bands, their barks draw near,
But find the same defending Caesar there:
To every part the ready warrior flies,
And with new rage the fainting fight supplies;
Headlong he drives them with his deadly blade,
Nor seems to' be invaded, but to' invade.
Against the ships Phalaric darts he aims;
Each dart with pitch and livid sulphur flames.
The spreading fire o'er-runs their unctuous sides,
And, nimbly mounting, on the topmast rides:
Planks, yards, and cordage, feed the dreadful blaze;
The drowning vessel hisses in the seas;
While floating arms and men, promiscuous strew'd,
Hide the whole surface of the azure flood.
Nor dwells destruction 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 shooting meteors fly,
In gleamy trails, athwart the midnight sky.
Soon as the crowd behold their city burn si,
Thither all headlong from the siege they turn.
But Caesar, prone to vigilance and haste,
To snatch the just occasion ere it pass'd,
Hid in the friendly night's involving shade,
A safe retreat to Pharos timely made.
In elder times of holy Proteus' reign,
An isle it stood, encompass'd by the main:
Now by a mighty mole the town it joins,
And from wide seas the safer 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 safe, with curs'd Pothinus in his pow'r,
Caesar defers the villain's doom no more.
Yet ah! by means too gentle he expires;
No gashing knives he feels, no scorching fires;
Nor were his limbs by grinning tigers torne,
Nor pendent on the horrid cross are borne:
Beneath the sword the wretch resigns his breath',
And dies too gloriously by Pompey's death.
Meanwhile, by wily Ganymede convey'd,
Arsinoe, the younger royal maid.
Fled to the camp, and with a daring hand
Assumes the sceptre of supreme command:
And, for her feeble brother was not there,
She calls herself the sole Lagaean heir.
Then, since he dares dispute her right to reign,
She dooms the fierce Achillas to be slain.
With just remorse repenting Fortune paid
This second victim to her Pompey's shade.
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 Caesar dies.
Nor yet the rage of war was hush'd in peace.
Nor would that storm, with him who rais'd it, cease.
A second eunuch to the task succeeds,
And Ganymede the power of Egypt leads:
He cheers 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 consecrate to fame the warrior's sword.
While to their barks his faithful band descends,
Caesar the mole's contracted space defends.
Part from the crowded key aboard were pass'd,
The careful chief remain'd among the last:
When sudden Egypt's furious powers unite,
And fix on him alone the' unequal fight.
By land the numerous foot, by sea the fleet,
At once surround him, and prevent retreat.
No means for safety or escape remain,
To fight or fly were equally in vain:
A vulgar period on his wars attends,
And his ambitious life obscurely ends.
No seas of gore, no mountains of the slain,
Renown the fight on some distinguish'd plain:
But meanly in a tumult must he die,
And overborne by crowds inglorious lie:
No room was left to fall as Caesar shou'd,
So little were the hopes his foes and fate allow'd.
At once the place and danger he surveys,
The rising mound, and the near neighbouring seas;
Some fainting struggling doubts as yet remain:
Can he, perhaps, his navy still regain?
Or shall he die, and end the' uncertain pain?
At length, while madly thus perplex'd he burns,
His own brave Scaeva to his thought returns;
Scaeva, who in the breach undaunted stood,
And singly made the dreadful battle good;
Whose arm advancing Pompey's host repell'd,
And, coop'd within a wall, the captive leader held.
Strong in his soul the glorious image rose,
And taught him, sudden, to disdain his foes;
The force oppos'd in equal scales to weigh.
Himself was Caesar, and Egyptians they;
To trust that fortune and those gods once more,
That never fail'd his daring hopes before
Threatening, aloft his flaming blade he shook,
And through the throng his course resistless took;
Hands, arms, and helmed heads, before him fly,
While mingling screams and groans ascend the sky:
So winds imprison'd force their furious way,
Tear up the earth, and drive the foamy sea.
Just on the margin of the mound he stay'd,
And for a moment thence the flood survey'd:
Fortune divine! be present now," he cried,
And plung'd undaunted in the foamy tide.
The' obedient deep, at Fortune's high command.
Receiv'd the mighty master of the land.
Her servile waves officious Tethys spread,
To raise with proud support his awful head.
And, for he scorn'd the' inglorious race of Nile
Should pride themselves in aught of Caesar's spoil.
In his left-hand, above the water's pow'r,
Papers and scrolls of high import he bore;
"Where his own labours faithfully record
The battles of ambition's ruthless sword:
Safe in his right the deadly steel he held,
And plough'd with many a stroke the liquid field;
While his fix'd teeth tenaciously retain
His ample Tyrian robe's imperial train:
The' encumber'd folds the curling surface sweep,
Come slow behind, and drag along the deep.
From the high mole, from every Pharian prow,
A thousand hands a thousand javelins throw;
The thrilling points dip bloodless in the waves,.
While he their idle wrath securely braves.
So when some mighty serpent of the main
Rolls his huge length athwart the liquid plain;
Whether he range voracious for the prey,
Or to the sunny shore 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 seas exerts his poisonous head;
He rears his livid crest and kindling eyes,
And terrible the feeble foe defies;
His swelling breast a foamy path divides,
And careless o'er the murmuring flood he glides.
Some looser 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 sad the' almighty father's grace
For the dear offspring of her Julian race.
While to the just recording Romans' eyes
Far other forms and other gods arise;
The guardian Furies round him rear their heads,
And Nemesis the shield of safety 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 save him for avenging Brutus' hand.
His friends, unknowing what the gods decree.
With joy receive him from the swelling sea;
In peals on peals their shouts triumphant rise,
Roll o'er the distant flood, and thunder to the skies.