citizens of her owne race The scum of euery nation There now takes vp his station These slaughtring warres hath this affected And now it needs not be suspected That Rome is able in long time To act againe a ciuill crime For these harmes thanke Pharsalias field To it may bloody Cannas yeeld And Allias calamities Long kept in Latium memorie Rome lesser harmes in Annals sets But willingly this day forgets O griefe the desolation That comes by aires infection That pestilent diseases breeds That from dire famines rage proceeds Or Townes with rapting fiers burning Or fearefull earthquakes ouerturning Whole cities all such great decayes These men might well repaire and raise Whom Fortune brought frō euery quarter In this fell warre to slay and martyr And laid them prostate in this field That many yeares did breede and yeeld Of souldiers and of captains braue That in these armies so did raue And by their wracks did shew withall How great Rome was when she did fall For by how much her powre was spread Ouer huge nations vanquished The faster her prosperitie Now ranne vnto calamitie Her warres each yeare to her did giue Nations did that her store relieue Tytan as he his chariot roles Thy Empire sees in either Poles And of the East small deale remain'd That by thy conquest was not gain'd So as the circuit of thy might Was alwaies vnder day and night The wandring Planets in their rounds Did neuer passe the Empires bounds But now Emathias dismall day Her glorie did so prostrate lay As that on wracke to ruine brought What many yeares had set aloft For by that day to passe it came That Iudea dreaded not our name Nor that the Dakes would giue consents To liue in Townes and leaue their tents Nor that our Consuls guirded round Should guide the plowshare on the ground To cut Sarmatian cities bound Nor that we could due vengeance haue On Parthians as their scorns did craue And that our libertie in dread Of ciuill Tyrannie is fled Beyond the Tygris and the Rheine Without hope to returne againe Although by vs so often sought With our liues blood to haue bin bought A good denyed vs to gaine Which Scythes and Germans do retaine But neuer more will turne her face To looke vpon the Romane Race I would our state had neuer knowne That Augurie by vultures showne When first with their sinister flight Our wals foundation deepe was pight By Romulus that did surround A dismall groue within their bound But that Romes fate had bene held backe Till after this Thessalian wracke ¶ O Fortune needs I must complaine How Brutes their valours lost in vaine Why with such reuerence and such awe Haue we obseru'd our ancient law And euermore as new yeares came Did stile them by the Consuls name Ye Meads and Arabes are blest With all the nations of the East That haue bene vsde perpetually Vnto the rule of Tyranny For now mongst those of any age That kings haue held in vassalage Our destenie is to be last And seruile shame our glory blast There are no Gods to be obaid The world is but by blind chance swaid T is false that men of Ioue haue said Could he from out the lofty skie These slaughters see of Thessaly And hold from them his thundring might When he Pholoen so will smite And Oeton scorch with lightning flame And Rhodops groue so free from blame How doth he blast the stately pine What must this worke be brought to fine By Cassius hand and must he quell The Tyrants head that so doth swell The starres denide to lend their shine Vnto Thyestes odious line And Argos cittie rest of light Beclowding it with sodaine night And will the heau'ns daylight afford Vnto Thessalias bloody sword Whereas so many brethren meete With blood that do each other greete And children that their parents slay No mortall harmes the Gods do way Yet of reuenge so much we hope As heauen can to the earth giue scope These ciuill warres shall Deifie New powres like to the Gods on hie These Images shal be set out With blazing stars that beames do sprout About their heads and in their hands Ioues thunderbolts and flaming brands And in the Temples Rome shall sweare By Caesars ghost with sacred feare ¶ Now whilst both armies face to face With speedy march shortned the space That sundred them from fatall blowes And were so neare as each one knowes Which way his deadly pyle should straine And what hand threatned bane againe They saw that then was come the time That needs must act a monstrous crime The sonnes against their fathers stands Brothers confront with armed hands No man that time his place would change And yet with all a faintnesse strange Did them surprise which pittie made And cold blood did their hearts inuade So as the cohorts on both parts Forbeare to throw their ready darts Crassine the Gods on thee bestow An end that may no ending know Not such a death as all men trie But death that liuing still shall die That with a lance from thy strayn'd arme Didst first begin this ciuill harme And with the blood of Roman wound Didst first distaine Pharsalian ground O heady rage and murdrous minde Who would haue thought a hand to finde So prone to bloud or else so bold Whilst Caesars selfe his hands did hold Now with shrill noyse the aire doth ring The Cornet her strain'd notes did sing The Trumpets to the battell sounds The clamorous cries confusde rebounds From earth vnto the vaulted skie Whereas the clouds do neuer flie Nor where the thunders do engender And then these shouts thēselues do render Vnto the vales nere Tempes groues And thence againe it fleeting roues With doubling ecchoes that lowd raues From hollow vaults of Pelian caues So as therewith mount Pindus grones And trembling shooke Pangean stones Oeteus hil doth houle likewise And so the furie of these cries Doth all about those quarters flie That their owne noyse them terrifie ¶ A multitude of darts are cast And with them diuers wishes past Some hope that they their foes shal wound Others wish they may fall to ground And that no blood should soyle their hands All now on hap and hazard stands Vncertaine Fortune leades the dance The guiltie now are made by chance Of those that fall how great a part Are slaine with flying shafts and dart Now must the ciuill hate be showne But by the murdring sword alone The Romane blood is onely shed With their owne glayues embowelled Pompey now his battalions flankes With thicke and double filed rankes Poldron to poldron fast combin'd And Targateeres vnto them ioyn'd So as they scarse had roome the whiles To vse their hands or cast their piles They fear'd they were so nearely prest That their owne swords would them infest But Caesars Veterans withall Headlong on these thicke troopes do fall And through this presse of armed foes They hew a passage with their blowes Eu'n
haunt and trade Chac'd from those faire Elisian fields To blessed soules that solace yeelds Constraind I follow ciuill warre Where I beheld the Furies iarre Sparkling abroad their blazing brands Amongst thy troopes of armed bands And Charon Ferry-man of Hell More skiffes prepares then tongue can tell And Dis new torments doth deuise For soules that posting to him flies And now the Fatall Sisters try With all their speed their worke to ply Yet their three hands can scarce suffise Their webbes so fast in sunder flies O Pompey whil'st I was thy wife In Triumphes thou didst lead thy life Thy Fortune since it seemes it fled Cleane chang'd with thy new nuptiall bed Which is ordain'd by wrathfull Fates To bring her Pheeres to dolefull dates Cornelia that same strumpet vile That did her spousall bed defile Before the funerall fires were spent Wherein her husbands bones were brent She still thy Ensignes doth accost By land or sea where so thou gost Whilst me in memory to keepe Thou wilt not breake one houres sleep No vacant time there doth remaine Your mutuall loue-sports to restraine But Caesar shall thee chase by day And I by night will thee dismay Laethe from me cannot remoue The memory of thy deere loue The powers infernall licence me Throughout the earth to follow thee Amidst the fierce batalions rage I dreadlesse will my selfe ingage For by my ghost I doe protest Within thy power it shall not rest O Pompey that stile to prophane Of Sonne-in-law which thou hast tane Thou seekst in vaine with thy swords edge To cut the knot of that vowd pledge Doe what thou canst these Ciuill harmes At last shall cast thee in mine armes Thus hauing said the wandring shade From the embracements softly fade Of her old spouse herewith adrade Yet though the Gods his ruine threats And ghosts would moue him to regreats The fiercer he to armes doth flye Resolu'd his fatall chance to try ¶ What now quoth he shall slumbring sights Of visions vaine appall our sprights Either the bodies laid in graue Of mortals here no feeling haue Or nothing 'tis when death doth raue By this time Tytan dipt his head Downe into Thetis azur'd bed And onely so much light he lends Vnto the Earth as Phoebe sends From her pale face with hornes new clos'd Or when her orbe hath beene compos'd Now this desired stranger coast Affoords him leaue to land his hoast And to that end they did prepare Their Anchors and their Cables yare And as they doe approch the shoares They strike their sailes and ply their oares ¶ When Caesar saw that from the bay The windes had borne the fleet away Which now the seas hid from his sight Although his onely power and might Commanded all Hesperia soyle No glory yet in him did boyle So to put Pompey to that foyle But did his minde much more displease That so his foes had scap't by seas Fortune by no meanes could content The height whereto his minde was bent He weyes not so much conquests gaine As still in raging warres to raigne And yet now seemes that he doth meane From care of warres his thoughts to weane And to intend the publicke peace Hoping by that meanes to encrease The peoples vaine vnconstant loue And discontentments to remoue Which to effect the grateful'st way Was how the common dearth to stay For now the Cities and the rest Famine most grieuously opprest Then Awe and Loue are surest bread When by the rich the poore are fed The starued vulgar nothing dread ¶ Curio therefore to this intent Into Sycilia Ile is sent Whereas the seas with furious waues Either the mouldring shores still shaues Or else the clyffes so beates and shakes As in the land great indraughts makes And still their fury so maintaine As keepes the parted confines twaine That they can neuer ioyne againe Now rage of warre but new begunne Doth ouer all Sardinia runne Both of which Ilands still abound With fertill croppes vpon the ground So as no coast on all that maine Hesperia serues with so much graine The Roman barnes no land so feeds Scarcely the stalkes the eares exceeds Not Affricke doth affoord like store When as the clouds with Boreas rore Breeds fruitful years and moists the shore Thus Caesar did with care prouide How these defects might be suply'd Then marcheth on with stately port But not in any warlicke sort His countenance seem'd to peace design'd And so to Rome his course enclin'd ¶ O had he come vnto that Towne Only adorn'd with the renowne And Trophies of the Gallicke spoyles And glory of his Northerne broyles How great a traine what worthy showes Might he haue made of conquered foes Of all his Rhene and Ocean thralles His conquest of the noble Gaules And with them all his captiue flockes Of Brittons with their yellow lockes O what a triumph did he leefe In winning more then all of these ¶ The Cities now as he remoues Did not in troopes to shew their loues Meet him with shouts and friendly cries But silent and with fearfull eyes No flockes of people in the fields To see him there applauses yeelds Yet his contentment stands in this That he to them a terror is For he did euer more approue The peoples feare then their vaine loue ¶ Now he the steepy Towres had past Of strong Anxuris and at last The fennie way withall he takes That lies between Pontinas lakes Neere which the groue aloft is seene Of Diane Scythians heauenly Queene And not farre thence high Albas way Where Latium rites make Holiday From whence vpon a rocke on hye A loofe the Citty he did eye Which since his Gallicke warre began He neuer yet had seene till than And now admiring that prospect To Rome this speech he did direct ¶ O seate of Gods could this men so Forsake thee ere they saw a foe If thou canst not what Citty can Deserue to be fought for by man Well haue the higher powers represt The humors of the armed East From ioyning with the Hungars stout And all that fierce outragious rout Of Dakes of Getes and Sarmatans From bringing downe their bloudy bands To thee poore Rome by Fortune spar'd Whom fearefull Pompey durst not guard So weakely mand more blest art farre With Ciuill then with Forraigne warre ¶ Thus said forthwith he did invest The Citty then with feares possest For sure they thought that in his ire All should haue beene consum'd with fire And Temples should to ruine runne As soone as hee the walles had wonne Such was the measure of their fright His will they constru'd by his might And in such sudden mazements weare That they their sacred rites forbeare The common sort to sportings bent Their merry tunes turn'd to lament No spleen they had their sprights were spent The Roman Fathers reuerend troope In Phoebus Pallace sitting droope Not thither called at an houre By order of the Senates powre No Consuls with
houses breake or faile With whirling showers of ratling haile Which on the tile stones sound and dance So from this fence the stones did glance Yet still the Burgers grew more fierce And with continuall heaps did pierce This Target-fence and at the length Disioyn'd their strong connexed strength So as the Cohorts ouer-toyl'd Seuer'd themselues and then recoy'ld But therewithall came new supplies Who then another Engine tries Their Vinias to the wall they brought Couerd with greene turfes all aloft Whose hollow pent-house sheluing steepe Did them from blowes and danger keepe Then with the Pick-axe and the spade The walles foundation they inuade And so began to vndermine Safely protected with their Vine The battering Ramme then forth they bring Whose hanging huge heft with a swing Firme couched stones down tottring bring And whilst the force thereof they try The Burgers heape downe from a hye Such monstrous logs and quenchlesse flames VVith fiered brands to burne these frames And still these fires doe so renew That the scorch't flames in sunder flew VVhereat the Souldiers tyr'd with paine Seing their labour lost in vaine Home to their Tents retir'd againe ¶ The Burgers then the Gods did craue Their Citty walles from wracke to saue And therewithall with courage stout Their youths by night did sally out Pressing vpon the Roman bands And closely carried in their hands Fierce wild-fire balles which they with slings Amongst the hostile army flings No other Armes with them they tooke Their darts for that time they forsooke Their bended bowes were laid aside Onely those whorling fires they try'd Which kindling flame with winde enrag'd Their campe most desperatly ingag'd And with such fury did inuade The workes and Towers that they had made Of wood and timber though but greene Yet did the flames so creepe betweene With smouldring heat the ioints and floores That searching fire the boords deuoures which spred abrode such swarth-thick smokes As that the aire it dampes and chokes At last this flame was growne so fierce As that it did not onely pierce Their timber-frames so strong compact But with like force in sunder crack't The very stones new dig'd from ground Wherwith their structurs were compound So wasting fire did all confound And these maine ruines ouer-cast In hugenesse farre the workes surpast ¶ The Romans thus distrest by land Do now resolue to take in hand To try their fortunes on the seas But not with ships the eye to please Adorn'd and painted on their sides With formes of Gods their sailes that guides But rough and rude made vp in haste Of trees new cut strong built and vaste Compact with knees and timber sure That seas and tempests would endure This nauy rig'd forthwith they guide Assisted both with winde and tide Vnto the mouth of Rhodanus Where being all assembled thus On Brutus they attendance gaue Whose ship was stout high carg'd braue Then hoysing sailes they rang'd the seas Alongst the shores of Staecades The Greeke Massilians in like sort Prouide themselues within their port No lesse resolu'd to venter blowes Vpon the seas against their foes And in this minde with courage bold They man their ships with yong and old And doe not set out to this fight Onely those vessels in good plight But rig'd vp ships decay'd and torne That in the dockes lay then forlorne ¶ Phoebus no sooner with his beames Glitter'd vpon the Ocean streames Blunting his darts on Neptunes face And from the skies the clouds did chase The North-winds laid the South-wind still The seas all calme for fight at will But they wey'd anchor and did load Their yards with sailes and left the roade ¶ Here Caesars fleet their Oares do plye There do the Grekes like labour try And with such sway their strokes they take As that the very keeles did quake The lofty ships are drawne on fast By those that to the fight make haste ¶ The Roman wings composed were Of many ships whereof some beare Three bankes of Oares and foure some Others had more the seas to scumme And with this strength into the deepe They lanch and crescent order keepe Whereas Liburnian Gallies goe With Oares of two bankes and no moe Yet Brutus Gallion Admirall With sixe bankes went stoutest of all And with long Oares their strokes let fall ¶ When in the maine both of these fleets In battell rang'd together meetes Confronting with their force so neere As that their Oares could scarce goe cleere Such shouts and clamors they did make As that the very aire did shake And with the voyces that rebound The clashing of the Oares were drown'd And did suppresse the Trumpets sound The rowers then the blew waues teare And on their benches fall and reare Whilst Oares each other ouer-beare Their beake heads first together foyne Then cast about their sternes to ioyne And did so fast their darts let flye As that their numbers cloud the skye And on the sea in heapes did lye About againe with speed they tacke Prow against Prow doth shocke and cracke And many ships scattred abrode Againe relying lay on loade As when the Easterne windes oppose The Southerne gales that sternly blowes One way with force the billowes sweepes Another way the current keepes So in the deepes the Gallies range Vncertainly with flitting change For when their Oares haue forward ply'd Backe are they checkt with winde and tide But the Massilian gallies are Of saile and stirrage much more yare Nimble and light to leaue or take And on their staies quicke speed can make Whereas the Roman steady ships With deeper draughts their bottomes dips And in the seas do vpright stand As fierce for fight as on the land The maister of that Gallion stout That Admiral'd the Roman rout Sitting vpon the puppe on hye From whence he all the course might eye Brutus to him aloud thus spake What worke quoth he meane you to make Shall my fleet idle range the coast That you your marine Art may boast We hither come prepar'd for fight Against our foes to shew our might Come bring vs therefore sword to sword Lay me the stoutest Greekes aboord These words of Brutus he obayes His broad side to the foe he layes But whosoeuer of the foes Did shocke their sides or changed blowes With Brutus shippe him grappling fast He boords and ouercame at last The other Gallies wast to wast With hookes and chaines doe grapple fast And by the Oares did hold each other The fighting ships the seas did smother But now they doe not make their warre With slings and engines cast a farre Those deadly wounds the life that parts Are not from Iron-headed darts But now they buckle hand to hand The sea-fight doth on sharpe swords stand The ships aloft are man'd and arm'd And fist to fist incountring swarm'd Dead bodies on the hatches fell Their bloud amongst the waues doe mell In such
from Cassium hill And Phoebus first gan to distill His warmth vpon the Pharian coast When from the walles they saw the hoast A farre off marching on the sands Not rang'd abrode in single bands Nor yet in seuerall cohorts spred But in one squared front were led As if they should now charge their foes In armed bulke with present blowes But Caesar puts no trust at all Of safety in the Citties wall The Palace his defence he makes And base by-wayes he vndertakes For all the Court in this hot Mart Did not to him their aid impart Therefore a little place he guards And thither all his force awards Then feare and fury him possest Doubting the place might be opprest And yet to dread he did detest So doth the noble Lyon rage When he is pend within his cage And with his tearing teeth hee tries To force the prison where he lies And so O Mulciber like vent Would thy flames seeke for their assent That in Scycillias cauernes blast If Aetnas top were closed fast He that of late by Aemus mount At Pharsals field made slight acccount Of all Hesperias noble traine And did the Senates force constraine Though Pompey did their Army guide And small hope in his right affide All feare at that time did disdaine And hop't a wrongfull cause to gaine Yet this man so a captiue slaue With hazard of his life did braue And in the Court where he did rest VVith darts and weapons him opprest He whom the fierce Alani's might Nor Scythians rage could ought affright Nor yet the Moore that killes in iest VVith wounding darts his friendly guest Yea he that could not bee content VVhen all Romes Empire he had hent But thought all those dominions small From Inde to Tytans westerne fall Now like a boy in warres vntrain'd Or woman-like with walles restraind VVithin a house for succour flyes And so to rescue life relies Vpon the hope of shut vp wayes And in and out vncertaine straies But with him doth the King retaine To be partaker of the paine And as a sacrifice be slaine If Caesar must his life resigne For Ptolemey that head of thine Shall pay the price if sword or fire Cannot suppresse thy seruants ire So did that sauage Colchis Queene With murdrous sword expresse her spleene Vpon her brothers members shred Fearing reuenge because she fled When as her father and the state Pursued her with deadly hate But Caesars last hope that remain'd Was that a peace might be obtain'd And sends one of the Tyrants guard To check those men that thus had dar'd And from the King and in his name To disallow this heynous blame And learne the Authors of the same But lawes of Nations were reiected And he that was for peace directed As legat from the Tyrant sent Thought that those vipers neuer meant The holy lawes of leagues to hold Nor that those monsters vncontrold Which thy soyle wicked Aegypt breedes VVould Iustice keepe in their false deedes But neither the Thessalian warre Nor Iubas kingdome stretching farre Nor yet the force of Pontus Realme Nor those dire Ensignes that did streame Amidst Pharnaces armed hoast Nor toyles of the Iberean coast Inuiron'd with the circling maine Nor Syrts with their Barbarian traine Could Caesars fate so much distress As banqueting and wantonnesse VVith force on all sides he is prest And showres of darts the house molest The buildings shake and yet no stroke Of battring Ramme did them prouoke The walles they would haue ouer-throwne But Engines for the warre had none Nor fireworks that should make the way The giddy rout do gadding stray And round about the Palace runne All is without direction done And no one place for all their rage With one maine strength they do engage The fates forbid and fortunes hand Doth as a wall for Caesar stand ¶ The court likewise on all that side Whereas the seas with swelling tide Vp to the banke doth bring his waues And that lasciuious structure lanes The armed ships assalting braues But Caesar at defence doth stand In euery place with valiant hand Some with the sword he doth affray And some with fire doth chace away During this siege in all affrunts Himselfe sustaines the chiefest brunts His resolution neuer quaild Such courage in his mind preuaild Then he commands his men to greet With wild-fire bals the neighbor fleete And flaming darts amongst them throwes Which they of pitch and tarre compose And such like stuffe that soone would take And where it lights quicke riddance make The sailes and ropes are all on flame The decks and ore-lops do the same Each where the pitch and tarre that melts Amongst the timbers burning swelts And in a trice the fier doth flit Vnto the Benches where doe sit The Gally slaues and then likewise Vnto the yards and masts it flies So as the ships burnt past the brinke Amidst the seas downe right do sinke And now the foes and all their armes Vpon the waues do flote in swarms Neither the ships alone do frie But all the houses standing nie The shore are with these flames opprest Ann with the wind the rage encreast Whose blasts disperse the sparks aloofe And so do creepe from roofe to roofe· Which through the aire casts blazing beams Like to a fierie Meteors streames Whose substance being spent and gone Yet flashes in the aire alone ¶ This raging wracke and burning rut Out of the Court still being shut Doth peoples aide from thence desire To free the cittie from this fire And Caesar now the meanes doth take And of this fright aduantage make The time he doth not sleepe away But safely doth himselfe conuay Into a ship by darke of night Vsing therein a happy sleight His wont was such in all his mart To vse dispatch and take the start When as occasion was presented Whereby the foe he still preuented And Pharos now he doth surprise Which barre before the hauen lies Whilom an Iland but it stood In midst of that same Pharion flood When Proteus their Prophet was But now this Ilands heaped masse With trackt of time and sands that fall Stands nearer to the citties wall Caesar when he the place did take A double vse thereof did make It stops the pursuit of his foes And can the hauens mouth dispose Now when at first he had suruaide The sea made free to bring him aide He then resolu'd without delay Photinus head the price should pay But therein Caesar nought obseru'd The rigor that the wretch deseru'd Vnto no torment was he put Nor yet amongst wilde lyons shut Nor liuing was with fire blasted He died but neuer torture tasted They him to good a death afford His necke but sundred with the sword A wretched worke it was God wot That Pompeys death should be his lot Now had Arsinoe obtaind Her libertie that was restraind By secret slights along time sought Which Ganimed her seruant wrought And then
thy verse Who hoping to be reuenged on Nero he ioyned himselfe to the Pisionian treason But the plot being discouered hee persisted not in the deniall of his fault but crauing mercy for himselfe he accused his innocent mother to be also one of this conspiracie hoping that this empiety might bee a meanes to procure pardon at the hands of an impious Prince But hauing receiued the sentence of condemnation and liberty giuen to him to chuse what death he would he writ certaine verses vnto his father and after a large banquet causing the veines of his armes to be opened he dyed bleeding But when his feet and hands began to waxe cold and that he was now at the point to resigne his latest breath hee recited certaine verses of his which hee had made on a Souldier in the same case Lib. 3. Scinditur avulsus nec sicut vulnere sanguis Emicuit lentus ruptis cadit vndique venis Discursusque animae diuersa in membra meantis Interceptus aquis nullius vita perempti Est tanta dimissa via His body made of fennie mud Was torne asunder us he stood So that his bloud dropt not so slow As that which from a wound doth flow But from each broken hollow vaine A streame of crimson gusht amaine And that which wont was to impart Life to the limbes from out the heart With that same element was mixt That earth and aire lyes betwixt Neuer did any dying wight So many wayes breath out his spright He ended his life the day before the Calends of May Atticus Vestinius and Nerua Silius being Consuls in the 27 yeare of his age He was intombed in his owne garden on whom might be ingraued this inscription Bethis habet natale solum est Annaea propago De genitore Mela dat mater Acilia terris Vix Luna octouos coelo confecerat orbes Cum me Roma sui c. My natiue Countrey Betique Spaine Th' Annaean bloud I did retaine My noble father Mela hight Acilia brought me to the light Eight times had scarse the nightly Queene This massie round with full face seene When Rome did wash my infant sides With moisture that in Tyber glides Then was I from the Forum tane And consecrate to Phoebus Fane Then I composed Syluaes ten And flames of Rome and Troy did pen. I did declaime gainst Sagita That fouly murdred Pontia Then that which moued Nero's hate Orpheus praise I and relate Next hauing tane the warre in hand That rau'd throughout Pharsalia land The tyrant that could not away My fame should grow and his decay Did quell my Muse with Enuies blade Before the worke was perfect made My veines in sunder being shred He all besmear'd my sacred head With bloud which did my soule set free When from my body it did flee Papinius saith that being but a Boy he writ the combate of Hector and Achilles he wrot also the feasts of Saturne ten Bookes of Sylues the Tragedie of Medea not perfected the iourney of Orpheus to Hell the burning of Rome the sacking of Troy with the misery of King Priamus Hee wrote an inuectiue Oration against Octauius Sagitta that murthered Pontia with many other Fables and Epistles He vndertooke the ciuill warres of Caesar and Pompey but being preuented by death he wrot but onely ten Bookes and of them ten perfected but three with the helpe of his wife the other seuen were diligently corrected and published after his death Fabius Quintilian saith that hee was rather to bee accounted an Orator then a Poet as being loftie and vehement in his stile full of excellent sentences so admirable and wittie in his Orations as that hee seemes to expresse that singular Elegancie and Maiesty that is obserued in Virgil. His Epitaph may yet bee seene in Rome graued on a marble Monument in old Characters thus Corduba me genuit rapuit Nero praelia dixi Quae gessere pares hinc gener inde socer Continuo nunquam direxi carmina ductu Quae tractum serpant plus mihi comma placet Fluminis in morem quae sunt miranda citentur Haec vero sapiet dictio quae feriet In Corduba I first drew breath By Nero I was doom'd to death Before I made an end to write Two Riuall Romans ciuill fight Where Ensignes opposite did runne The Father-in-law against the Sonne I haue not kept a steady course In powring out my Muses source But where the matter large did fall A Comma pleas'd me best of all When wonders come I make them slide Like to a full-brim'd swelling tide But that which beares the stampe of wit Are well-couch't numbers shortly knit LVCANS PHARSALIA The first Booke THE ARGVMENT WHat motiues did this warre incense Caesars and Pompeys insolence Forbidden Rubicon is past Aryminum surpris'd in haste Tribunes disgrac'd from Rome retire They Caesars heart doe set on fire To warres his Legions he exhorts And calles from farre his old Cohorts The wofull Citties mazed plight With Pompeys base vntimely flight A stowt Decree the Senate make And then for feare doe Rome forsake Lastly prodigious signes are seene And what the Augures answers beene A More then ciuill warre I sing That through th' Emathian fields did ring Where reins let loose to head-strong pride A potent people did misguide Whose conquering hand enrag'd rebounds On his owne bowels with deepe wounds Where Hosts confronting neare alies All faith and Empires Lawes defies A world of force in faction meetes And common guilt like torrents fleets Where like infestuous ensignes waue The Aegle doth the Aegle braue And Pyle against the Pyle doth raue ¶ Deare Cittizens what brainsick charmes What outrage of disordered armes Leades you to feast your enuious foes To see you goar'd with your owne blowes Proud Babylon your force doth scorne Whose spoyles your trophies might adorne And Crassus vnreuenged ghost Roames wayling through the Parthian coast Doth now your hearts such warre desire As yeelds no triumphs for your hyre O what a world by Lands and Seas Mought you haue won with much more ease Then halfe the bloud your weapons draines In ciuill strife from out your vaines As farre as Phoebus first doth rise Vntill in Thaetis lap he lies Or where his parching golde-beam'd ray Doth dart downe flames at mid of day Or frostie Hyems shiuering stands Glazing the Sea with ycie hands Whose ayre benum'd with Scythian flawes No Summers sunne-shine euer thawes The Seres and Araxes rude Not to our Empire yet subdued Or what Barbarians else are bred About old Nylus vnknowne head All these might you haue vanquished ¶ And then O Rome when thou hadst hent The whole worlds homage to thy bent And plaid at full this mastering prise If Enuies spleene thee then agrize Against thy selfe thy selfe oppose For yet thou want'st no forraine foes But Italy lies now aspoile Her Citties leuelld with the soile Their lostie walles with breaches torne The vacant houses all forlorne The Markets vnfrequented beene The vntrod streets ore-growne with greene The fruitfull
faire Hesperian fields That nothing now but thistles yeilds Cries out for hands to plow and plant Her labourers are growne so scant ¶ This dismall state wherein she stands Proceedes not from fierce Pyrrhus hands Nor yet could Hannibals despight Inflict on vs this wretched plight No forraine foes could so preuaile Our setled state to rent and quaile Th' audacious sword worne by thy side Hath hewen in thee these gashes wide ¶ And yet if Fates haue so decreed That thou O Nero shouldst succeed By these meanes to the Empires throne Our fore-past armes the lesse we moane For Iupiter was not possest Of heauens sole rule in setled rest Before the Gyants were supprest Let then Pharsalia fields be spread With yron legions scorning dread So to appease the whining mood Of Punique Ghosts with Latium blood Let Munda be the fatall place Where Caesar quailes great Pompeys race And let as hard a siege betide As earst Mutina did abide Yea let as great a famine flow As euer did Perusia know And two such Fleetes confronting rage As did the Axium battell wage With as much broyle and hammering dinne As when that Vulcan did beginne To set his Cyclops to their taskes Whose sparkling forges Aetna maâ—kes ¶ And yet thou Rome shalt be in debt Vnto these wrackes that did beget This happy peace wherein we liue And to our toyles an end did giue But when O Nero Atrops knife Shall shred in twaine thy time of life And thou vnto the starres bequeau'd With Heauens ioy shalt be receiu'd There shalt thou freely take thy choyce Whether thy humor more reioyce To sit in the Empiring Throne As ruling ouer all alone Or whether thou doe more desire To sway the Carre of Phoebus fire And thence with wandring flames suruay The earth in all her rich array Whom thy milde beames will not dismay The Deities bend to thy hest And Nature yeelds thee thy request To be what God-head likes thee best And where thy Empires seate shall rest But I beseech thee of high grace Doe not thy Soueraigne Mansion place About the North or Southerne starre Which is from vs remote so farre For then should Rome fall to mischance If thou on her looke but a scance But if a part of heauens huge sphere Thou choose thy ponderous heft to beare O let the Axle-tree sustaine The paise of thy Maiesticke traine Amidst the firmament be plac'd For that with brightest beames is grac'd So Neroes shine shall still subsist Neuer obscur'd with cloudy mist Then shall men lay aside their Armes And rue the shame of ciuill harmes All Nations then shall be at peace With mutuall leagues and Trades increase So when all iarres doe end their dates Ianus may sparre his Iron gates But whilst that I some power Diuine Inuoke to strength this Muse of mine If I thy fauour can obtaine O Nero to assist my vaine I will not then desire or craue Apollo's furtherance to haue Nor yet intreat the God of wine To aid this Tragicke worke of mine For thou alone canst life infuse And spirit to my Latine muse ¶ My minde giues me the cause to write That did this humorous rage incite A taske that will much labour cost To shew what franticke feuers tost This peoples moode to raue in spoyle And banish peace from Latium soyle It was conspiring Destiny The bane of all felicity And that which is by heauenly reed As doome to greatnesse still decreed Not long to stand in setled state But being too much eleuate The owne paize must it ruinate And Rome her selfe too powrfull growne With insolence was ouer-throwne So when by great resistlesse Fate The world dissolues to her last date Returning to that formlesse masse Which was before ought formed was Starres shall with starres confusedly In clusters meet within the skye The fiery Element displac't Shall downe into the deepe be cast The massy globe in this disease Denie due bounds vnto the seas Belphoebe will runne counter quite To Titan that doth lend her light And scorning her owne oblique way Would guide the Lanthorne of the day So that the course of this vaste All Into confusions lappe will fall For Ioue to great things this doome left They should be crusht with their owne heft Fortune doth scorne to cast a frowne On those that meane estate keepes downe But enuies those that lofty stand Empiring ouer sea and land O Rome then bondage pressed thee When thou wert first made slaue to three Diuided kingdomes staggring stand One Scepter fits one soueraigne hand ¶ O yee contentious Roman knights Whom blinde Ambition so incites What solace yeelds that Soueraignty That 's gain'd with such hostility As doth your hands and hearts diuide And turmoiles all the world beside But otherwise it neuer sorts For whilst the land the seas supports Or that the Aire in heats and colds The Earth in her soft mantle folds And Phoebus shall maintaine his race Or Cinthia supply his place So long Competitors of States In iealousie shall cloke debates Faith holds not firme twixt crowned Mates We need not farre examples seeke What other clymate breedes the like For when Rome first her walles ordain'd With brothers blood they were distain'd Yet all the whole worlds worth that time Could not requite so foule a crime A petty structure scarce begun Hath this fraternall outrage spun Our two great Chiefetaines for a space A iarring concord did embrace And so an outward peace maintain'd Which their ambitious hopes disdain'd But Crassus power doth interpose And hold them off from fatall blowes Like Istmos that diuided keepes The raging concurse of the deepes And doth so strongly part the waues That each with other neuer raues But if this Istmos breake asunder How would th' Aegean billowes thunder Incountering the Ionian seas And struggle with their counterpaise So Crassus whilst he was a life Held these two worthies off from strife And with perswasiue powerfull words Within their sheathes confin'd their swords But when the haplesse Carran fight Brought Crassus to his latest night This Parthian blow dissolu'd the Chaine That did these head-strong Peeres restraine And bred more scath vnto our state Then it was ware by home-debate For now the Roman Lordly guides Diuide themselues in factious sides And our great fortune that had long Subsisted by a people strong That conquered worlds on seas and maine Could not two haughty mindes containe For Iulia with like cruell fate Vntimely brought vnto her date By Atrops life-destroying hands Dissolu'd the neere-allianc'd bands Betwixt her father and her spouse Forgetting their contracted vowes Whereas if Iulias line of life Had longer scap't the fatall knife Euen she had beene of power alone Betwixt them two to make attone And from insulting force to cease With ioyning armed hands in peace As did the Sabines daughters earst Who sweetly all dislikes dispearst Betwixt their Fathers and their Pheeres But by thy death