Chapter VI: Preface: (xxvii.) (2)

ancipiti, longum socias tardumque putavit
expectasse manus et nostra pericula tendit 465
posthabitis pulsare suis mediumque per hostem
flammatus virtute pia propriaeque salutis
inmemor et stricto prosternens obvia ferro
barbara fulmineo secuit tentoria cursu.
“Nunc mihi Tydiden attollant carmina vatum, 470
quod iuncto fidens Ithaco patefacta Dolonis
indicio dapibusque simul religataque somno
Thracia sopiti penetraverit agmina Rhesi
Graiaque rettulerit captos ad castra iugales,
quorum, si qua fides augentibus omnia Musis, 475
impetus excessit Zephyros candorque pruinas.
ecce virum, taciti nulla qui fraude soporis
ense palam sibi pandit iter remeatque cruentus
et Diomedeis tantum praeclarior ausis,
quantum lux tenebris manifestaque proelia furtis! 480
adde quod et ripis steterat munitior hostis
et cui nec vigilem fas est componere Rhesum:
Thrax erat, hic Thracum domitor. non tela retardant,
obice non haesit fluvii. sic ille minacem
Tyrrhenam labente manum pro ponte repellens 485
traiecit clipeo Thybrim, quo texerat urbem,
Tarquinio mirante Cocles mediisque superbus
Porsennam respexit aquis. celer Addua nostro
sulcatus socero: sed, cum transnaret, Etruscis
ille dabat tergum, Geticis hic pectora bellis. 490

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thought it long and tedious to wait for reinforcements and, putting aside his own peril, was eager only to deliver me from mine; inspired by the courage that is born of love, heedless of his own danger, he broke through the enemy’s midst and, sword in hand, cutting down all who sought to bar his passage, he passed like lightning through the barbarians’ camp.

“Now let poets’ songs praise me the son of Tydeus because, relying on Odysseus’ help when the way was opened by Dolon’s wiles and all was sunk in feasting and slumber, he broke into the Thracian camp of Rhesus and brought back to the Greek lines his captured steeds, which--if we may trust the too generous Muses--surpassed the winds in speed, the snows in whiteness. Here was a man who, with no treachery ’mid silent slumber, clave a path for himself with his sword in the open light of day and arrived within our lines covered with blood, thus surpassing the brave deeds of Diomede by as much as day surpasses night and open battle ambush. Alaric’s position, moreover, on the river bank was a stronger one, and he himself a warrior with whom Rhesus, even when awake, could not be compared. Rhesus was king, Alaric the conqueror, of Thrace. Neither weapons nor the river’s bar could stop Stilicho. So Horatius, standing on the falling bridge, drave back the threatening hosts of Etruria and then swam the Tiber, still carrying the shield wherewith to the amazement of Tarquin he had defended Rome, and from mid stream looked back with scornful gaze upon Porsenna. ’Twas the swift Addua my father breasted; but, as he swam the flood, Horatius turned his back upon the Etruscans, Stilicho faced the barbarian foe.

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“Exere nunc doctos tantae certamina laudis,
Roma, choros et, quanta tuis facundia pollet
ingeniis, nostrum digno sonet ore parentem.”
Dixit et antiquae muros egressa Ravennae
signa movet; iamque ora Padi portusque relinquit 495
flumineos, certis ubi legibus advena Nereus
aestuat et pronas puppes nunc amne secundo,
nunc redeunte vehit nudataque litora fluctu
deserit, Oceani lunaribus aemula damnis.
laetior hinc Fano recipit Fortuna vetusto, 500
despiciturque vagus praerupta valle Metaurus,
qua mons arte patens vivo se perforat arcu
admisitque viam sectae per viscera rupis,
exuperans delubra Iovis saxoque minantes
Appenninigenis cultas pastoribus aras. 505
quin et Clitumni sacras victoribus undas,
candida quae Latiis praebent armenta triumphis,
visere cura fuit; nec te miracula fontis
praetereunt, tacito passu quem si quis adiret,
lentus erat; si voce gradum maiore citasset, 510
commixtis fervebat aquis; cumque omnibus una
sit natura vadis, similes ut corporis undas
ostendant, haec sola novam iactantia sortem
humanos properant imitari flumina mores.
celsa dehinc patulum prospectans Narnia campum 515
regali calcatur equo, rarique coloris
non procul amnis abest, urbi qui nominis auctor:
ilice sub densa silvis artatus opacis

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“Now, O Rome, lead forth the chorus that shall hymn a contest of such high renown and let thy best genius with all its eloquence voice the well-merited praises of my foster parent.”

So spake he and, issuing from the walls of old Ravenna, advanced his standards. He crossed the mouths of the Po and left behind him that river harbour[38] where, in fixed succession, in flows the foaming main and bears up the vessels that ride there at anchor on forward and backward flowing stream, and again deserts the waveless shore, like moon-led tides upon the marge of Ocean. Next he comes to the old city of Fortune’s Temple that bids him glad welcome and from its height looks down upon Metaurus threading its rocky valley where an arch, tunnelled through the living rock, affords a path through the mountain’s very heart, rising above the temple of Jove and the dizzy altars set up by the shepherds of the Apennines. ’Twas thy good pleasure, too, to visit Clitumnus’ wave,[39] beloved of them that triumph, for thence do victors get them white-coated animals for sacrifice at Rome. Thou markest well also the stream’s strange property, flowing gently on when one approaches with silent step, but swirling and eddying should one hasten with louder utterance; and while it is the common nature of water to mirror the exact image of the body it alone boasts the strange power that it mimics not human form but human character. Next thy royal charger treads the streets of Narnia, looking out from its eminence upon the plain below: not far therefrom flows the strange-coloured stream which gives the town its name, its sulphurous waters

[38] Classis Portus, a harbour formed by means of the Fossa
Augusta which led the southern arm of the Po to Ravenna. It was in
existence in 38 B.C. (App. _B.C._ v. 78, 80) and held 250 ships
(Jordanes, _Get._ 150; _cf._ Pliny, _H.N._ iii. 119; Sid. Apol.
_Epp._ i. 5. 5).

[39] For a description of the Clitumnus see Pliny, _Epp._ viii. 8.

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inter utrumque iugum tortis anfractibus albet.
inde salutato libatis Thybride lymphis 520
excipiunt arcus operosaque semita vastis
molibus et quidquid tantae praemittitur urbi.

Ac velut officiis trepidantibus ora puellae
spe propiore tori mater sollertior ornat
adveniente proco vestesque et cingula comit 525
saepe manu viridique angustat iaspide pectus
substringitque comam gemmis et colla monili
circuit et bacis onerat candentibus aures:
sic oculis placitura tuis insignior auctis
collibus et nota maior se Roma videndam 530
obtulit. addebant pulchrum nova moenia vultum
audito perfecta recens rumore Getarum,
profecitque opifex decori timor, et vice mira,
quam pax intulerat, bello discussa senectus
erexit subitas turres cunctosque coëgit 535
septem continuo colles iuvenescere muro.
ipse favens votis solitoque decentior aër,
quamvis adsiduo noctem foedaverat imbre,
principis et solis radiis detersa removit
nubila; namque ideo pluviis turbaverat omnes 540
ante dies lunamque rudem madefecerat Auster,
ut tibi servatum scirent convexa serenum.

Omne Palatino quod pons a colle recedit
Mulvius et quantum licuit consurgere tectis,

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flowing in tortuous course between opposed mountains through dense forests of holm-oak. Then when in greeting to Father Tiber thou hast poured a libation of his waters thou art welcomed by Rome’s arches and all the magnificent buildings which line the roads of that noble city’s suburbs.

And as a careful mother at the approach of her daughter’s lover does all that trembling hand can do to enhance the charms that are to win a husband, oft readjusts dress and girdle, confines her breast with bands of green jasper, gathers up her hair with jewels, sets a necklace about her neck, and hangs glistening pearls from her ears, so Rome, in order to be pleasing in thy sight, offers herself to thy admiring gaze more glorious and with hills made higher and herself greater than thou hadst known her. Still fairer than of old she seemed by reason of those new walls that the rumour of the Getae’s approach had just caused to be built; fear was the architect of that beauteous work and, by a strange freak of fortune, war put an end to the decay that peace had brought. For fear it was that caused the sudden upspringing of all those towers and renewed the youth of Rome’s seven hills by enclosing them all within one long wall. Even the weather listened favourably to our prayers and was finer than its wont, although continuous rain had spoiled the preceding night; but the clouds melted away before the glory of the sun and the emperor. All the days before had the south wind troubled with rain and dimmed the moon’s young disc that heaven might know it was for thee that the sunshine waited.

One huge crowd filled all the slope between the Palatine hill and the Mulvian bridge and as far up

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una replet turbae facies: undare videres 545
ima viris, altas effulgere matribus aedes.
exultant iuvenes aequaevi principis annis;
temnunt prisca senes et in hunc sibi prospera fati
gratantur durasse diem moderataque laudant
tempora, quod clemens aditu, quod pectore solus 550
Romanos vetuit currum praecedere patres:
cum tamen Eucherius, cui regius undique sanguis,
atque Augusta soror fratri praeberet ovanti
militis obsequium; sic illum dura parentis
instituit pietas in se vel pignora parci 555
quique neget nato, procerum quod praestat honori.
haec sibi curva[40] senum maturaque comprobat aetas
idque inter veteris speciem praesentis et aulae
iudicat: hunc civem, dominos venisse priores.
Conspicuas tum flore genas, diademate crinem 560
membraque gemmato trabeae viridantia cinctu
et fortes umeros et certatura Lyaeo
inter Erythraeas surgentia colla smaragdos
mirari sine fine nurus; ignaraque virgo,
cui simplex calet ore pudor, per singula cernens 565
nutricem consultat anum: quid fixa draconum
ora velint? ventis fluitent an vera minentur
sibila suspensum rapturi faucibus hostem?
ut chalybe indutos equites et in aere latentes
vidit cornipedes: “quanam de gente” rogabat 570
“ferrati venere viri? quae terra metallo
nascentes informat equos? num Lemnius auctor

[40] _curva_ Birt; codd. _cura_.

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as it was possible to go on the house roofs; the ground seethed with men, the lofty buildings were aglow with women. Those who are young rejoice in an emperor of their own age, the old cease to belaud the past and count their destiny happy that they have lived to see such a day, blessing the kindly times when a prince so easy of access, so singular in courtesy, forbade the senators of Rome to march before his chariot, even though Eucherius, in whose veins ran regal blood on father’s and on mother’s side, and his own sister did honour to his triumph like simple soldiers. Such has been the teaching of that stern but loving parent who showed no more favour to his children than to himself, and refused a son honours he granted to nobles. Bent age and upstanding youth alike are loud in his praises and, comparing the new with the ancient rule, recognize in Honorius a true citizen, in his predecessors tyrants.

The women of Rome never tire of gazing at those blooming cheeks, those crowned locks, those limbs clothed in the consul’s jasper-studded robes, those mighty shoulders, and that neck, beauteous as Bacchus’ own, with its necklace of Red Sea emeralds. Many an innocent maid, while simple modesty blushes in her cheek, would bend her gaze o’er all and inquire of her aged nurse the meaning of the dragons on the colours. “Do they,” she would ask, “but wave in the air or is theirs a veritable hiss, uttered as they are about to seize an enemy in their jaws?” When she sees the mail-clad knights and brazen-armoured horses she would fain know whence that iron race of men is sprung and what land it is gives birth to steeds of bronze. “Has the god of Lemnos,”

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indidit hinnitum ferro simulacraque belli
viva dedit?” gaudet metuens et pollice monstrat.
quod picturatas galeae Iunonia cristas 575
ornet avis vel quod rigidos vibrata per armos
rubra sub aurato crispentur serica dorso.
Tunc tibi magnorum mercem Fortuna laborum
persolvit, Stilicho, curru cum vectus eodem
urbe triumphantem generum florente iuventa 580
conspiceres illumque diem sub corde referres,
quo tibi confusa dubiis formidine rebus
infantem genitor moriens commisit alendum.
virtutes variae fructus sensere receptos;
depositum servasse, fides; constantia, parvum 585
praefecisse orbi; pietas, fovisse propinquum.
hic est ille puer, qui nunc ad rostra Quirites
evocat et solio fultus genitoris eburno
gestarum patribus causas ex ordine rerum
eventusque refert veterumque exempla secutus 590
digerit imperii sub iudice facta senatu.
nil cumulat verbis quae nil fiducia celat;
fucati sermonis opem mens conscia laudis
abnuit. agnoscunt proceres; habituque Gabino
principis et ducibus circumstipata togatis 595
iure paludatae iam curia militat aulae.
adfuit ipsa suis ales Victoria templis
Romanae tutela togae: quae divite penna
patricii reverenda fovet sacraria coetus

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she would ask, “bestowed on metal the power to neigh, and forged living statues for the fight?” Joy and fear fill her mind; she points with her finger how Juno’s bird decks the gay crests upon their helmets, or how, beneath the golden armour on their horses’ backs, the red silk waves and ripples over the strong shoulders.

Then it was, Stilicho, that Fortune repaid thee for the labour of so many years when, mounted in the same chariot, thou sawest thy son-in-law in his prime pass in triumph through the streets of Rome, and didst recall that day when in troubled terror mid uncertain fortune the dying father entrusted his son to thy care. Now thy many virtues have found their meet reward: loyalty that has kept safe that which was confided to it, singleness of purpose that made a boy the master of the world, affection that has bestowed such loving care on an adopted son. This is the boy who to-day summons Rome’s citizens to the place of meeting and from his father’s ivory throne tells to the fathers the causes and the issues of his acts, and, following ancient precedent, directs the deeds of empire at the judgement-seat of the Senate. He piles up no words, for confidence has nothing to conceal; his mind, conscious of true worth, refuses the aid of artificial speech. The senators learn to know him; their chief wears the Gabine[41] garb, and thronged with generals in the rôle of peace the Senate-house prepares for service under the auspices of the warlike court. Winged victory herself, Rome’s faithful guardian, was in her temple;[42] her golden pinions stretched in protection over the holy sanctuary where the fathers meet together, and she herself, a tireless

[41] See note on vii. 3.

[42] A reference to the statue of Victory in the Senate House.
Ambrose had persuaded Gratian to turn it out (A.D. 384) but
Honorius had had it replaced (_cf._ xxiii. 19 and Paulinus, _Vita
S. Ambr._ viii. § 26).

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castrorumque eadem comes indefessa tuorum 600
nunc tandem fruitur votis atque omne futurum
te Romae seseque tibi promittit in aevum.
Hinc te iam patriis laribus via nomine vero
sacra refert. flagrat studiis concordia vulgi,
quam non inlecebris dispersi colligis auri; 605
nec tibi venales captant aeraria plausus
corruptura fidem: meritis offertur inemptus
pura mente favor. nam munere carior omni
obstringit sua quemque salus. procul ambitus erret!
non quaerit pretium, vitam qui debet amori. 610
O quantum populo secreti numinis addit
imperii praesens genius! quantamque rependit
maiestas alterna vicem, cum regia circi
conexum gradibus veneratur purpura vulgus,
adsensuque cavae sublatus in aethera vallis 615
plebis adoratae reboat fragor, unaque totis
intonat Augustum septenis arcibus Echo!
nec solis hic cursus equis: adsueta quadrigis
cingunt arva trabes, subitaeque adspectus harenae
diffundit Libycos aliena valle cruores. 620
haec et belligeros exercuit area lusus,
armatos haec saepe choros, certaque vagandi
textas lege fugas inconfusosque recursus
et pulchras errorum artes iucundaque Martis
cernimus. insonuit cum verbere signa magister, 625

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attendant on thine armies, now at last has had her wish granted and is able to promise that for all time to come thou shalt be Rome’s guardian and she thine.

Hence the Sacred Way (now truly named) brings thee back to thy home. Eagerly breaks out the world’s one-hearted welcome, that thou dost not woo with lure of scattered gold; nor for thee does the treasury, seeking to corrupt good faith, court venal applause; to worth unpurchased love is offered by a pure heart. For life that is dearer than any gift makes all thy debtors. Away with wooing of applause! He can ask no payment who owes his life to love.

Oh what mysterious power over the people does the Empire’s guardian-genius bring! What majesty bows to majesty as the prince, clad in imperial scarlet, returns the salutations of the people that crowd the tiers of the Circus! The shouts of the adoring populace rising from that immense circle thunder to the sky, while the echoes of Rome’s seven hills repeat as with one voice the name of Honorius. Nor does the Circus display only horse-races; its floor, whereon chariots were wont to drive, is surrounded by a palisade, and in this new amphitheatre, so far, so different, from their native valleys, Libyan lions shed their blood. This is the scene, too, of a military display; here we often see armed bands advancing and retiring in mazèd movements that are nevertheless executed according to a fixed plan; we watch them wheel in perfect order, extend with disciplined precision, affording us the pleasing spectacle of mimic warfare. The leader cracks his whip and a thousand bodies execute in unison

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mutatos edunt pariter tot pectora motus
in latus adlisis clipeis aut rursus in altum
vibratis; grave parma sonat, mucronis acutum
murmur, et umbonum pulsu modulante resultans
ferreus alterno concentus clauditur ense. 630
una omnis summissa phalanx tantaeque salutant
te, princeps, galeae. partitis inde catervis
in varios docto discurritur ordine gyros,
quos neque semiviri Gortynia tecta iuvenci
flumina nec crebro vincant Maeandria flexu. 635
discreto revoluta gradu torquentur in orbes
agmina, perpetuisque inmoto cardine claustris
Ianus bella premens laeta sub imagine pugnae
armorum innocuos paci largitur honores.
Iamque novum fastis aperit felicibus annum 640
ore coronatus gemino; iam Thybris in uno
et Bruti cernit trabeas et sceptra Quirini.
consule laetatur post plurima saecula viso
Pallanteus apex; agnoscunt rostra curules
auditas quondam proavis, desuetaque cingit 645
regius auratis fora fascibus Ulpia lictor,
et sextas Getica praevelans fronde secures
colla triumphati proculcat Honorius Histri.
exeat in populos cunctis inlustrior annus,
natus fonte suo, quem non aliena per arva 650
induit hospes honos, cuius cunabula fovit
curia, quem primi tandem videre Quirites,
quem domitis auspex peperit Victoria bellis!

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their new movements; now they clap their bucklers to their sides, now they brandish them above their heads; deeply sound the clashing shields, sharply ring the engaging swords, and, to the rhythm of beaten targes, the echoing song of steel is punctuated by the interclash of weapons. Suddenly the whole phalanx falls on its knees before thee and a thousand helmets bow down in reverence. Then the companies separate, wheeling and counter-wheeling with ordered skill, following a course more tortuous than the corridors of the Minotaur’s Cretan palace or the reaches of Meander’s wandering stream. Then wheeling apart they form with circular masses, and Janus,[43] emprisoning war behind his ever unopening doors, after a happy mimicry of battle bestows on peace the innocent rewards of combat.

And now, his double head crowned with laurel, Janus opens the new year with auspicious calendar; now Tiber sees united in Honorius Brutus’ consular robe and Romulus’ kingly sceptre. The Palatine hill rejoices after many generations again to look upon a consul; the rostra learn to know the curule chair famed of old among our forefathers, and royal lictors, a long unwonted sight, encircle with their golden fasces the Forum of Trajan; while Honorius, wreathing with Getic laurels the axes borne for the sixth time before him, places a conqueror’s foot upon the neck of subdued Danube. Let this year springing from its true source go forth among the nations more glorious than any--a year the consul inaugurated, not a stranger in a strange land, whose cradle the Senate-house guarded, that Roman citizens first beheld, that Victory, all wars o’ercome, auspiciously

[43] Mentioned, no doubt, as symbolical of the New Year.

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hunc et privati titulis famulantibus anni
et, quos armipotens genitor retroque priores 655
diversis gessere locis, ceu numen adorent;
hunc et quinque tui vel quos habiturus in urbe
post alios, Auguste, colant. licet unus in omnes
consul eas, magno sextus tamen iste superbit
nomine: praeteritis melior, venientibus auctor. 660

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brought to birth. Years in which mere commoners held the consulship, and ye years when Theodosius and his predecessors graced that office in Rome or elsewhere, count your honours as nought and worship this present year. Ay, you five previous consulships of Honorius, even you that our emperor shall hold in Rome in the days to come, give place to this one. Wert thou, Honorius, to be consul every year, yet is this thy sixth to be magnified above all thy consulships, excelling all that are past and model of all that are to come.

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DE BELLO GOTHICO

PRAEFATIO

(XXV.)

Post resides annos longo velut excita somno
Romanis fruitur nostra Thalia choris.
optatos renovant eadem mihi culmina coetus,
personat et noto Pythia vate domus:
consulis hic fasces cecini Libyamque receptam, 5
hic mihi prostratis bella canenda Getis.

Sed prior effigiem tribuit successus aënam,
oraque patricius nostra dicavit honos;
adnuit his princeps titulum poscente senatu;
respice iudicium quam grave, Musa, subis! 10
ingenio minuit merces properata favorem:
carminibus veniam praemia tanta negant;
et magis intento studium censore laborat,
quod legimur medio conspicimurque foro.

Materies tamen ipsa iuvat solitumque timorem 15
dicturo magna sedula parte levat.
nam mihi conciliat gratas impensius aures
vel meritum belli vel Stilichonis amor.

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THE GOTHIC WAR