his sonne can stay No weeping wife her Husband can perswade No nor their houshold gods till they haue made Vowes for their safety none an eye dares cast Back on lou'd Rome although perhaps his last Irrevocably doe the people flye You gods that easily giue prosperity But not maintaine it that great city fill'd VVith natiue soules and conquer'd that would yeeld Mankinde a dwelling is abandon'd now An easie prey to Caesar when a foe Begirts our Souldiers in a forreine Land One little trench nights danger can withstand A soddaine worke rais'd out of earth endures The foes assault th' encamped's sleepe secures Thou Rome a war but noysd art left by all Not one nights safety trusted to thy wall But pardon their amaze when Pompey flyes 'T is time to feare then lest their hearts should rise With hope of future good sad augury bodes A worse ensuing fate the threatning gods Fill heaven and earth and sea with prodigies Vnheard-of Starres by night adorne the skies Heaven seemes to flame and through the Welkin fire Obliquely flyes state-changing comets dire Display to vs their bloud portending haire Deceitfull lightnings flash in clearest ayre Strange formed Meteors the thicke ayre had bred Like Iavelins long like lampes more broadly spread Lightning without one cracke of thunder brings From the cold North his winged fires and flings Them ' gainst our Capitoll small starres that vse Onely by night their lustre to diffuse Now shine in midst of day Cynthia bright In her full orbe like Phoeâ—us at the sight Of earths blacke shades eclipses Titan hidâ—s When mounâ—ed in the midd'st of heaven he rides In cloudes his burning Chariot to enfold The world in darknesse quite day to behâ—ld No Nation hopes as once backe to the East He fled at sight of sad Thyestes feast Fierce Vulcan opts Sicilian Aetna's throate But to the sky her flames she belches noâ— But on th' Italian shore obliquely flings Bloud from her bottome blacke Charibdis brings Sadlyer barke Scyllaes doggs then they were wont The Vestall fire goes out on th'Alban mount Ioues sacrificing fire it selfe divides Into two parts and rises on two sides Like the two Theban Princes funerall fires Earth opes her threatning jawes th' Alpes nodding spires Shake off their snow Thetis does higheâ— now Twixt Libyan Atlas and Spaines Calpe flow The natiue gods did weepe Romes certaine thrall The Lares sweating shew'd the offrings fall Downe in the Temples and as we haue heard Nights fatall Birds in midst of day appear'd VVilde Beasts at midnight from the deserts come And take bold lodging in the streets of Rome Beasts make with mens articulate voice their monâ— Births monstrous both in limmes proportion And number mothers their owne infants fear'd Sibilla's fatall lines were sung and heard Among the people and with bloody armes Cybel's head-shaking Priests pronounc'd their charmes I th' peoples eares howling a balefull mone And Ghosts from out their quiet vrnes did grone Clâ—shing of armour and loude showtes they heare In desert groues and threatnings Ghosts appeare The dwellers neere without the City wall Fled fierce Erynnis had encompast all The towne her snaky haires and burning brand Shaking as when she rul'd Agauâ—'s hand Or the selfe maim'd Lycurgus such was she VVho once when sent by Inno's cruelty Great Hercules new come from Hell did fright Shrill trumpets sounded dismall ayres of night That horrid noise that meeting armies yeild Did then present in midst of Mars his field Rose Sylla's ghost and woes ensuing told Plowmen neere Aniens streames Marius behold Rise from his sepulchre and flye appall'd For these things were the Tuscan Prophets call'd As custome was the sagest of them all Dwelt in Etrurian Luna's desert wall Aruns that lightnings motion vnderstands Birds flight and entrailes op'te he first commands Those monstrous birthes that from no seede did come But horrid issues of a barren wombe To be consum'd in fire then all the towne To be encompast in procession Th' high Priests whose charge it is he next doth vrge The City walles with hallowed rites to purge Through their whole circuit following after these Th' inferiour Priests attir'd Gabinian wise The Vestall Maides with their vail'd Sister come That only may see Troy's Palladium Then those that Sibyll's secret verses keepe And Cybell yearely in still Almon steepe Septemuirâ— that governe sacred Feasts The learned Augurs and Apolloes Priests The noble Flameâ— Salius that beares On his glad neck the target of great Mars VVhilst they the towne compasse in winding tracts Aruns the Lightnings dispers'd fire collects And into th' eaâ—tn with a sad murmure flings Then names the places and to th' altar brings A chosen Bull then wine betwixt his hornes He â—owres and sprinkles ore with Salt and Corne His knife the Bull impatient long denyes Himselfe to so abhor'd a Sacrifice But by the guirded Sacrificers strength Hanging vpon his hornes ore come at length Bending his knees holds forth his conquer'd necke Nor did pure blood come out but poyson black Instead of blood from the wound open'd flyes Aruns grew pale at this sad Sacrifice And the gods wrath he in the Entrailes seekes VVhose colour scar'd him pale they were with streakes Of blacke th' infected blood congealed showes Sprinkled with different palenesse various The liver putrifi'de on th'hostile side VVere threatning veines the lungs their fillets hide A narrow line divides the vitall parts The heart lyes still and corrupt matter starts Through gaping clefts no part oth'cause is hid And that which never wâ—thout danger did Appeare on th' entrailes was a double head One head was sicke feeble and languished The other quicke his pulses nimbly beates By this when he perceâ—u'de what woe the Fates Prepar'de he cri'de aloud all that you doe O gods I must not to the People show Nor with this haplesse sacrifice can I Great Iupiter thy anger pacifie The blacke infernall deities appeare In th' entrailes woes vnspeakable we feare But greater will ensue you gods lend aydâ— And let no credit to our Art be had But counted Tages fiction thus with long Ambages darkly the old Tuscan sung But Figulâ—â— whose care it was aright To know the gods and heavens to whom for sight Of planets and the motion of each starre Not great Aegyptian Memphis might compare Either no lawes direct the world quoth he And all the starres doe moue vncertainely Or if Fates rule a swift destruction Threatens mankinde and th' earth shall Cities downe By earthquakes swallow'de be intemperately Shall ayre grow hot false earth her seedes deny Or shall the waters poyson'de be what kinde Of ruine is it gods what mischiefes finde Your cruelties many dire aspects meete If Saturne cold in midst of heaven should siâ— Aquarius would Deucatious flood haue bred And all the earth with waters overspred If Sol should mount the Nemean Lions backe In flames would all the worlds whole fabrick cracke And all the sky with Sol's burnt chariot blaze These aspects ceâ—se but thou that
burn'st the clawes And fir'st the tayle of threatning Scorpion VVhat great thing breedst thou Mars milde Ioue goes downe Oppressed in his fall and in the skyes The wholesome starre of Venus dulled is Mercury looses his swift motion And fiery Mars rules in the sky alone VVhy doe the starres their course forsaking glide Obscurely through the ayre why does the side Of sword-bearing Orion shine too bright VVarres rage is threatned the sword's power all right Confounds by force impiety shall beare The name â—f Vertue and for many a yeare This fury lasts it bootes vs not to craue A peace with peace a master we shall haue Draw out the series of thy misery O Rome to longer yeares now onely free From civill warre These prodigies did scarre The multitude enough but greater farre Ensue as on the top of Pindus mount The Thracian women full of Bacchus wont To raue so now a matron ran possest By Phoebus vrging her inspired brest VVhere am I carried now where leau'st thou me Paean already rapt aboue the Sky Pangaea's snowy top Phâ—lippi plaines I see speake Phoebus what this fury meanes VVhat swords what hands shal in Romes battels meet VVhat warres without a foe oh whither yet Am I distracted to that Easterne land VVhere Nile discolours the blew Ocean There there alas I know what man it is That on Nile's banke a trunke deformed lyes Ore Syrtes sands ore scorched Libya VVhether the reliques of Pharsalia Erinnis carry'd ore th' Alpes cloudy hill And high Pyrene am I câ—rried still Then backe againe to Rome where impious And fatall warre defiles the Senate house The Factions rise againe againe I goe Ore all the world shew me new Kingdomes now New Seas Philippi I haue seene this spoke The furious fit her wearied breast forsooke FINIS Libri primi Annotations on the first Booke a Romane Darts or Iavelins which their footmen vsed about fiue foot long If any man quarrell at the word Pile as thinking it scarse English I desire them to giue a better word For Dart or Iavelin is a wood too generall and cannot intimate a civill warre for darts had fought against darts though a Roman Army had fought against barbarous and forreigne Nations But Pilum was a peculiar name to the Roman darts and so meant by Lucan which if any deny let him read these Verses in the seventh booke of our Author sceleris sed â—râ—mine nullo Externam maculant Chalybem stetit omne coactum Circa pila nefas b Marcus Crassus a great and rich Roman ruling the Province of Syria went with a Consular Army to the Parthian warre and was there defeated and slaine together with his Sonne and his whole Army by Surena the Kings Generall c Nere Munda a City in Spaine the two Sonnes of Pompey were overcome by Iulius Caesar Câ—eius was slaine and Sextus fledde thirty thousand Pompeians were there slaine insomuch that Caesar to besiedge the conquered made a countermure of dead carkasses d Antonâ—us besiedged D. Brutus in Mutina a city of Gallia Cisalpâ—na in raising which siedge both the Consuls Hircius and Pansa were slaine but Augustus afterward raised it e Perusia a city in Thuscia whither Lucias Antonius had fledd was by Augustus forced to yeed through Famine f Where Augustus in a Sea-fight vanquished Antonius and Cleopatra g A fight on the Sicilian Sea where Sextus Pompeius had armed Slaues and bondmen against Augustus by whom he was there defeated h These three were Crassus Caesar and Pompey who all excelling in wealth dignity fame and ambition reconciled to each other and linked together in affinity entred into such a league that nothing should be done in the Common wealth that displeased themselues dividing among themselues Provinces and Armies Pompey by his Lieutenants governed Spaine and Affrica Caesar had his government over all Gallia prorogued for another fiue yeares Crassus governed all Syria i Iulia a vertuous Roman Lady daughter to Caesar and wife to Pompey the great who dyed vntimely for the Common-wealth since her life might haue preserved peace betweene her husband and her father k Beside Rubicon was a pillar raised vp and vpon it a decree of the Senate engraven that it should not bee lawfull for any to come armed homeward beyond that place l Quintus Cassius and Marcus Antonius Tribunes of the people for speaking boldly in the behalfe of Caesar were commaunded out of the Court by the two Consulls Marcellus and Lentulus who vpbraided them with the sedition of the Gracchi and threatned the same ende to them vnlesse they departed the Tribunes escaping out of the Citty by night in poore and base attire fled to Caesar and with them Curio m This Curio had lately beene Tribune of the people and a great enemy to Caesar he was beloved by the vulgar and an excellent speaker but being much in debt Caesar relieved him and made him of his Faction n The lawfull age to triumphin was thirty yeares-old but Pompey the great had triumphed over Hiarbas King of Numidia when hee was but foure and twenty yeares old o The Praetorship Pompey without voyces tooke to himselfe being twenty three yeares olde he was Consull alone and had held other Honours contrary to custome p Pompey the great that hee might beech â—sen at Rome overseer for Corne tooke a course that none should bee brought in from other parts insomuch as that the City endured famiâ—e vpon which Clodius could say The law was not made for the Famine but a Famine was brought in of purpose that such a Law might bee made q When Milo was arraigned for Clodius death Pompey to suppresse the tumult of the people environed the iudgement place with armed men a thing vnlawfull to doe r Sylla 60. yeares old gaue over his Dictatorshippe and lived privatly at Putcoli s Mithridates King of Pontus warred with the Romans forty yeares he was weakened and received overthrowes from Sylla and Lucullus and conquered by Pompey being besiedged in a towne by his sonne Pharnaces he could not poyson himselfe having much vsed Antidotes but fell vpon his sword and dyed t Pompey the great had made a Colony of Cicilian pirats whom he had vanquished v Lac de Lorange those severall townes and Countries of France where Caesars Army lay in Garrison and from whence they were now drawne are heere set downe by their old â—amos and this little volume will not afford roome so far to enlarge my Annotations as to set down the names as they are now called being all changed x The most fierce people of the Belgians where Tâ—turius Sabinus and Arunculus Cotta two of Caesars Lieutenants with fiue Cohorts were entrapped and slaine by fraude of Ambiotix LVCANS Pharsalia The Second Booke The Argument of the second Booke Th' author complaines that future fates are known The sorrow of affrighted Rome is showne An old man calls to minde the civill crimes Of Marius and Syla's bloudy times Brutuâ— with Cato does conferre to whom Chast Martia come from
bring to passe to dye By his owne hand no land from me is free My Trophees all that Titan sees possesse Going from thence Phâ—sis cold river sees Me conquerour in the North in the hote Zone Knowne Aegypt and Syene that at noone No shadow spreads my lawes the West obeyes Baetis that meets the faâ—thest VVesterne seas Me tam'd Arabia knowes th'Aenio he bold And Colchos fam'd for her stoâ—ne fleece of gold The Cappadorians from my Colours flie And lewes that serue an vnknowne Deitie Me soft Sophene feares th' Armenians Taurus and the subdu'd Cilicians VVhat warres for him but civill doe I leaue These words his souldiers with no shout receiue Nor are they eager of the fight their feares Great Pompey sees and backe his Standard beares Loath in so great a war to venture men Orecome with same of Caesar yet not seene As a Bull beat in the first fight he tries Through th' empty fields and desart forrests flies Exil'd and tries ' gainst ev'ry tree his hornes Nor till his strength be perfited returnes To pasture then recovering his command Maugure the Heardsman leads them to what land He lift so now as weakest Italy Dooes Pompey leaue and through Apuliâ— fly Himselfe immuring in Brundufirm's hold A towne by Cretan colonies of old Possest that in th' Athenian nauy fled VVhen lying sailes reported Theseus dead Hence Italy's now straightned coast extends Her selfe in forme of a thin tongue and bends Her hornes t' inclose the Adriaticke sea Nor yet could these straight shut vp waters be A haven if high cliffes winds violence Did not restraine and the tir'd waters fence On both sides Nature the windes tyranny To stop high cliffes opposes to the sea That ships by trembling cables held may stand Hence all the Maine lyes ope if to thy land We saile Corcyra or our courses bend On the left hand where Epidamnus tends To the Ionian thither Saylers flye When th'Adrian's rough and cloudes obscure the high Ceraunian mountaines and with violent dash The foaming seas Calabrian Sason wash When of forsaken Italy there was No hope at all nor that the war could passe Into the Spanish coast for twixt that land The lofty Alpes did interposed stand Thus th' eldest of his noble progeny Pompey bespake the worlds far Regions try Nile and Euphrates wheresoere my name Is spread and all the Cities where Romes fame I haue advaunc'd bring backe vnto the seas The now dispers'd Cicilian colonies The strength Pharnaces holds I charge thee bring Arme my Tigranes and th'Aegyptian King Those that inhabit both Armenia's ore And the fierce nation by the Euxine Shore Riphaean bands and those where Scythian carres On his slow back congeal'd Maeotis beares Why speake I more through all the East my Sonne Carry this war through every conquer'd towne I' th' world to vs all triumph'd regions joyne But you whose names the Latian feasts doe signe To Epire saile with the first Northeast winde Through Greece and Macedon new strength to finde While winter giues vs respite from the war To his commands they all obedient are And from th'Italian shore their anchors weigh Caesar impatient of warres long delay Or rest lest changing fates might ought withstand His flying Sonne in law pursues at hand So many townes at first assault surpriz'de And Forts disarmed others had suffic'de Rome the worlds head warres greatest booty left A prey but Caesar in all actions swift Thinking nought done whilst ought vndone remain'd Feircely pursues and though he haue obtain'de All Italy and that great Pompey liues In th' vtmost edge that both are there he grieues Nor would he let his foes passe foorth againe By Sea but seekes to stop the watry maine And with vast hills damme vp the Ocean But this great labour is bestow'de in vaine The Sea those mountaines swallowes mixing all With sands below so if high Erix fall Into the midst of the Aegaean Sea No land aboue the water seene can be Or if the lofty Gaurus quite torne downe Were to the bottome of Avernus throwne But when no earth throwne in would firmely stand Then with a bridge of fastned ships the Land He joynes each Galley doe foure anchors stay Once ore the Sea proud Xerxes such a way Made by report when ioyn'd by bridge he saw Sestos t' Abydos Europe t' Asia And fearing not th'Eastwinde nor Wests affront Walk'd ore the curled backe of Hellespont When ships their sayles round about Athos spread So now this Haven's mouth Ships straightened On which their Bulwarkes vp apace they raise And lofty towers stand trembling on the seas When Pompey saw that a new land orespread The ocean's face care in his brest is bred To ope the sea and carry foorth the warre Fill'd sailes and stretching shrowds the Ships oft bare Against these works breaking them downe made roome Into the Sea for other ships to come Oft well driven engines lighten'd the darke night With flying fires When time for their stolne flight Was come he warnes his men no Sailers noyse Might on the shore be heard nor trumpets voice Divide the houres nor cornets sound at all The marriners should to their charges call Now neere her end Virgo began to be And Libra followes his first day to see The silent fleete departs the anchors made No noise when from thicke sands their hookes are weigh'd Silent while they the sayle-yard bow and reare The maine-mast vp the fearefull masters are The Saylers softly spread their sailes nor dare Shake their strong shrowds within the whizzing aire The Generall makes his prayer Fortune to thee To giue him leaue t' abandon Italy Since thou 'lt not let him keepe it but alas The Fates will scarce grant that the waters flash And furrow'd with so many keeles at once The stâ—mme beat sea with a vast murmur grones The foes let in by gates and vp the wall Which faith by Fortune turn'd had open'd all Along the havens stagge-like Hornes they runne Swiftly to shore griev'd that the fleete was gon Is Pompey's flight so small a victory A straighter passage let him out to sea Then where th'Eubaean channell Chaleis beates Here stuck two shipps which fast the engine gets In fight and neere the shore the skirmish tri'de Heere first the Sea with civill blood was dy'de The Fleet escap'd of those two ships bereft So when Thessalia Iasons Argo left For Colchos bound Cyanean Isles at sea Shot foorth the tayle-maim'd Ship escap'd away Amidst the rockes in vaine the Ilands beat The empty sea she comes a sayler yet Now that the Sunne was neere the Easterne skie Declar'd palefac'd before his rosie dye The Plejades grow dimme each neerer star Looses his light Bootes lazy carre Turnes to the plaine complexion of the skies And Lucifer the great starres darkned flies From the hot day and now wert thou at sea Pompey not with such Fate as when from thee The fearefull Pirats through all seas retir'd Fortune revolts with thy oft triumphs tyr'd Now with thy
Countrey Houshold gods thy Sonne And Wife art thou a mighty exile gone A place for thy sad death is sought afar Not that the gods enuy thee Sepulcher At home but damn'd is Aegypt to that crime And Latium spar'd that Fates in forreine clime May hide this mischiefe and the Romane land Cleare from the blood of her deare Pompey stand FINIS Libri secundi Annotations on the second Booke a An old man to expresse the present calamity repeats the whole course of the civill war betweene Mariuâ— and Sylla as it followes in this discourse b Marius had twice triumphed once over Iugurtha King of Numidia and afterward over the Cimbrians and Teutones but afterwards envying the honour of Sylla to whose hands Bocchas King of Mauritania had delivered Iugurtha and endeavouring by the ayde of Sulpitius Tribune of the People to hinder Sylla from his expedition against Mithridates King of Pontus bed incensed Sylla being then warring in Campania so farre that Sylla brought his Army to Rome and entring the Citie subduing his adversaries got them to be iudged enemies by the Senates decree and banished the citty Marius escaping by flight hid himselfe in the Fennes neere Minturna but being there taken he was put in a dungeon at Minturna c Marius suffered before hand at Minturna for those cruelties which he afterwards acted at Rome when he returned and was Consull the seventh time d The executioner of Minturnae being a Cymbrian entering the darke dungeon to kill Marius saw fire sparkling out of Marius his eyes and heard a voyce saying darest then kill Carus Marius at which the Cymbrian affrighted fled away and the men of Minturnae mooved with pitty and reverence of the man that once had saved Italy released C. Marius and let him goe e Marius escaped from Minturnae tooke flight by obscure passages toward the Sea and getting into a ship a tempest arising was cast vpon the â—â—anas câ—lled Meninges where he receivâ—d some companions and heard that his Sonne with Cethegus were â—otten safe into Affrick to Hyâ—mpsall he then sayed to the coast of Carthaâ—e but being forbidden by the Lictor of Sextilius the Prator to set foot in Affrick Gee tell thy Praetor quoth he that thou hast seene Caâ—us Marius sitting in the ruines of Carthage not vnfitly comparing the ruin'de estate of that great City to his owne now decayed fortunes f When Caius Cinna the Consull appealed to the people for restering those banished men whom the Senate at request of Sylla had iudged enemies a great contention arising Cinna was expelled the City by his colleague Cneius Octavius and flying sollicited the cities of Italy to war he armed slaues and prisoners and ioyning himselfe to Marius returning they entred Rome in a fourefold army Cinna Marius Carbo Sertâ—rius And tyrannized over their Adversaries g Marius had given this token to his Souldiers that they should kill all whom he did not resolute and offer his hand to kisse h Baebius was torne in pieces by the Souldiers i Marcus Antonius an excellent Orator that by his eloquence made the Murtherers relent at last his head being cut off Anius the Tribune brought it to Marius as he was at supper who handling it a while and scoffing at it commanded it to be nayled to the Rostra k Fimbria a cruell Souldier of Marius killed the two Crassi Father and Sonne in each others sight l That place of the prison from whence offenders vsed to he cast downe headlong was stained with the bloud of Licinius the Tribune whose Office was sacred m Mucius Scaevola the high Priest an old man embracing the Altar of Vesta was there slaine n C. Marius entring his seventh Consulship within thirteene dayes after dyed mad of a disease in his side being 70. yeeres old having tasted the extremities of prosperity and adversity o At Sacriportum not far from Praeneste Sylla overcame Caius Marius the Sonne of old C. Marius who fled to Praneste Sylla sent Lucretius Oâ—â—lia to besieage him there but Marius offering to escape through a Minâ— vnder ground and being discovered there killed himselfe Sylla then not ten furlongâ— from Porta Collina overthew Lamponius and Telesinus two Captaines of the Samnites who came to raise Ofellas siedge At these two places Sylla flew aboue seventy thousand men p Marius had promised the Samnites who had been of his party that he would translate the seat of the Empire from Rome to them who now conceived a hope of subiecting the Romans mere then once they did ad Furcas Caudinas where the Romans vnder the conduct of Titus Veturius and Spurius Posthumius received a disgracefull overthrow q Quintus Luctatius Catulus which had been Colleague with C. Marius and triumphed with him over the Cimbrians hearing that Marius was determined to put him to death entring his chamber voluntarily choaked himselfe In revenge of which his brother Catulus obtained of Sylla that Marius the brother of C. Marius might he delivered into his hands who sacrificed him at his brothers Tombe and wounding his armes thighes and legs he cut off his nose and eares cut out his tongue and digged out his eyes letting him so liue awhile that he might die in paine of every limme r Lucretius Offella by Sylla's command and having taken Praneste had killed or cast in Prison all the Senators that he found there of Marius faction but Sylla comming thither commaunded fiue thousand and men of Praeneste who in hope of mercy had cast away their armes and prostrated themselues vpon the ground to be all slaine f Sylla commanded foure whole Legions which had beene of his Enemies side among whom were many Samnites to be all killed at one time in the field of Mars t Sylla called himselfe Felix he named his Sonne Faustus and his Daughter Fausta leaving his Dictatorship he lived privately at Puteoli where be dyed eaten with Lice his Funeralls were kept with great honour in the field of Mars v Martia being a virgin was married to Cato by whom she had three children and then his friend Hortensius desiring to haue her and wanting children Cato bestowed her vpon him being theâ— great with childe after Hortensius his death she returned thus to Cato x Cornelia the daughter of Lucius Scipio and widdow of Publius Crassus was married to Pompey after Iuliaes death y At the fame of Caesars approach the Governors through Italy all fled not daring to withstand him or maintaine any Forts against him many of those are here named First Scribonius Libo leaues his charge at Hetruria and Thermus forsakes Vmbria Faustus Sylla son to Sylla the Dictator wanting his Fathers spirit and fortune in civill war fled at the name of Caesar z Atius Varus when hee perceived that the chiefe Citizens of Auximum favoured Caesar tooke his Garison from thence and fled a Lentulus Spinther with ten cohorts kept the Towne of Asculum who hearing of Caesars comming fled away thinking to carry with him his cohorts but was forsaken by most of his sâ—uldiers b
death that vvas most neare Among a thousand deaths they most did feare Nor did their shipwrackt valouridly liue Darts floating on the waues they take and giue Their fellowes in the ship or on the seas Themselues those darts though feebly exercise When vveapons vvant the seas their vveapons be Foes grasping foes together gladly die But in that fight one Phocian did excell To search the seas he vnder vvater vvell Could keepe his breath diue to the lowest sands And loosen fastned anchors with his hands He grapling vvith a foe downe in the maine Had sunke and drown'd him and himselfe againe Safe and a conquerour rose but rising found Ships in his vvay and so at last was drown'd Some with their armes on their foes oares lay hold To stay their flight deare as they could they sold Their liues some vvounded to keepe off the blowes From their friends ships their bodies enterpose Tyrrhenus standing on the decke aloft â—â—gdamus vvith a Balearicke shaft VVounded the ponderous lead his temples broke His falling eyes their hollow feate forsooke The opticke nerues and ligaments were broke He now starke blind amazed at the stroake Thinks this to be deaths darknesse finding than That all his limmes their perfect strength retaine Fellowes quoth he place me vvhere I may throw A pile and plant me as you vse to doe Engines of vvar this little life that now Remaines Tyrrenus on all hazzards throw This body though in part already dead VVill serue for vvarlike vses and instead Of men aliue take vvounds Thus hauing spoke In his blind aymelesse hand a Pile he shooke And threw it not in vaine vvhich as it light Below his belly noble Argus hit VVhose vveight now falling made it further glide Argus vnhappy Sire on t'other side The beaten ship then stood to none vvould he VVhen he vvas young in feates of souldiery Giue place his strength is now by age decay'de And he no Souldier but a patterne made He seeing his sonne fall vvith trembling step Stumbling along came to that side the ship And finding there the body panting yet No teares fell from his cheekes nor did he beat His vvofull breast His hands now stiffe vvere growne And all his joynts cold numnesse seizes on A suddaine darkenesse closes vp his eyes That he discernes not Argus vvhom he sees Argus his dying head began to reare And feebâ—e necke seeing his Father there Speachlesse yet seem'd in silence to demand A kisse and to invite his Fathers hand To close his dying eyes but the old man Free from amaze vvhen bloody griefe began To recollect his strength I vvill not loose That time quoth he that angry fâ—te bestowes Pardon thy wretched father that from thee Argus and from thy last embrace I flee Thy wounds warme bloud yet signes of life do giue Th' art but halfe dead and yet a whilâ— maist liue I le goe before thee Sonne these words exprest And with a bloudy sword piercing his brest He leapt into the sea hasting to death Before his dearest Sonne his flitting breath Vnto one single kind of destiny He durst not trust Now great commanders dye And now no longer doubtfull is the fight Some of the Greekes are sunke by hasty flight Some get into the haven others beare Changing their loade the Roman Conquerer But now sad Parents mournings fill the towne The shore with mothers lamentation Did ring instead of her deare husbands face A weeping wife mistaken did embrace A Roman Fathers funerall rites to giue About their Sonnes deformed bodies striue But Brutus Conquerer on the Ocean To Caesar's side first navall honour wan FINIS Libri tertii Annotations on the third Booke a The vsuall time of mourning among the Romans for the losse of Husband or wife was ten moneths within which space of time it was accounted infamous to marry and therefore Cornelia daughter to Lucius Scipio and Widow of Pub. Crassus who was married to Pompey the great within that time it here stiled by Iulia strumpet b Caesar although it much concerned him to pursue Pompey and overtake him before his strength were too much encreased by forreine aide yet partly for want of ships and partly fearing lest in his absence there might happen some new commotion in Italy and withall fearing the Pompeian army that was then in Spaine vnder the conduct of Afranius and Peticius he resolved first to goe and settle things at Rome and afterwards to goe fight against those armies in Spaine c Valerius was sent into Sardinia to fetch Corne and Curio into Sicily as Propraetor with three legions those countreys were two the greatest Granaries of the Romane Empire d Caesar assembled the Senators into Apolloes temple and there with curteous language excused himselfe concerning this war as a thing vndertaken only to preserue his owne dignity against the envy and iniury of a few he entreateth them to take care of the common-wealth and ioyne with him in it likewise to send Embassadors to Pompey and the Consuls concerning peace e The Tribunitiall power was held so sacred that whosoever did offer any violence vnto it they thought the gods would take revenge and conceived the reason of that great and miserable overthrow which Marcus Crassus received in Parthia to be because Atâ—ejus the Tribune had cursed him as he went away f Caesar passing through the further Gallia and vnderstanding that Domitius whom he had lately taken prisoner at Coâ—finium and released againe was come into Massylia a city that favoured Pompey's faction he called out some of the chiefe of the city and admonished them not too much to obey one man and so draw a warre vpon themselues thâ—y shut the gates against Caesar but requested him gently to passe by them hoping by that meanes to haue kept themselues in safety and to haue remained as neuters in the war but that drew this heavy seidge vpon them Vnhappy Massilia saith Florus which desiring too much to preserue her peace for feare of war fell into a war g Caesar had sent Caius Fabius his Lieutenant with three legions into Spaine to dislodge Afranius a Lieutenant of Pompey's in the Pyrenaean straights and now himselfe leaving Caius Trebonius to besiedge Massilia by land and Decius Brutus to besiedge it by Sea goes with nine hundred horsemen into Spayne to Fabius his campe h The story in the place concerning the firing of these workes which Caesars souldiers had raised and the actions of the Massyâ—ians is not rightly related by Lucan but differs much from the relation of true histories LVCANS Pharsasia The Fourth Booke The Argument Caesar in Spaine neere high â—erdaes walls Eâ—campes ' gainst two Pompeyan generalls By suddaine floods his campe endanger'd iâ— Caesar divides the streame of Sicoris Oretakes Petrejus flight who bloodily Breakes off his Souldiers new-made amity But by extremity of thirst compell'd Afranius and himselfe to Caesar yeild Famish'â— Antonius yeilds t' his enemy Vulteius and his valiant cohort dye By their owne swords Curio on Libyaâ— sandâ—
Sword-players to meete they hate by faction This said in open field he leades them on Whom the warres fortune meaning to deceiue After at first does prosperously receiue For Varus he defeated following on Their flying backes in execution Even to the campe When Iuba first did know Of this sad field and Varus overthrow Glad that the glory of the war did stay For him by stealth he leade his troupes away And without noise commanding silence goes Fearing he should be feared of his foes Sabura next in honour to the King With a small troope is sent before to bring Curio on by provocation As if the war were left to him alone Himselfe with all his kingdomes strength below Keepes in the valley The Ichneumon so Provoking by his tailes deceitfull shade Th' Aegyptian Aspe dooes at the last invade Free'd from the deadly venoms danger quite The sâ—rpents throate stretch'd out in vaine to meete A slying shade out the lost poison goes And all about the Aspes jawes vainely flowes Fortune assists this fraud fierce Curio Descrying not the strength of his hid foe Enâ—oines his horsemen all to issue out By night and range the vnknowne fields about And after them himselfe by breake of day With all his Eagles spread marches away Much but in vaine entreated to suspect Libyan deceite and fraudes that still infect The Punicke warres but to his funerall Fate gaue him vp and civill war did call Her author on ore rockes and mountaines high They march when on the hill from farre they spy The foe who cunning seemes to flye away Till he haue set his battells in array Vnder the hill this Curio did not know But thought it flight and like a conquerour now Brings forth his troopes into the open plaine Then first discover'd they this guilefull trainâ— The seeming-fled Numidians they espy'd On the hills tops enclosing every side Curio and his lost troopes astonisht quite The fearefull could not flye the valiant fight The horses now not feirce attrumpets sound Chaw not their foamng bitts beate not the ground Spread not their manes nor doe their eares advance Nor with their wonted spright curyet and prance Their sweating shoulders fum'd their tir'd necks hung And their dry'd mouth thrust out their weary tongue Their breasts and throates hoarse with oft blowing grew Their heavy pulse far their spent bowels drew The fomings dry and hote grew hard vpon The bloody bits no strokes could force them on Nor often spurrings make them mend their speed Wounds make them goe to hasten on the steed Bootes not the rider for the weary horse In comming on wants courage strength and force He onely brings his Rider to the foes And does his breast to all their speares expose But when the Lybian horse came coursing nigh The ground did shake and clouds of dust did flie As great as Thracian whirlewinds blow about Ore the skies cover'd face and darkenesse wrought But when warres miserable fate did fall Vpon the foot no doubtfull field at all Was fought the battell in that time was done That men could die for forth they could not run To make their flight enclos'd on every side From far by darts directly throwne they dy'd Obliquely neere not wounds alone they feele Orewhelm'd with stormes of darts weight of steele Pent vp in a straight roome the army 's kept Those that for feare neer'st to the middle crept Amongst their fellowes swords are not secure For the forefront not able to endure The foes assault slept backe and straighter made The Globe no roome to weild their armes they had Their crowded limmes are prest one armed breast Against another driven to death is prest The conquering Mauritanian could not haue So glad a spectacle as fortune gaue He saw no bodies fall no streames of blood Kept so by crowde vpright the bodies stood Let Fortune this new parentation make For hated Carthages dire spirits sake Let bloody Hanniball and Punicke ghosts Of this sad Roman expiation boast Let not in Lybia gods a Roman fall For Pompey or the Senate make at all Vs rather for her selfe let Affrica Conquer his men ore'throwne when Curio saw And the dust lay'd with blood gaue leaue to see Scorning t'out-liue such a calamity Or hope in flight he meete his death to dye Forward and valiant by necessity What now availes thy place and troubled barres From whence a Tribune to seditious wars Thou stirr'dst the people and the Senates right Betray'dst and could'st to civill war encite The sonne and father in law thy death is wrought Before these Lords haue in Pharsalia fought To see that field is not permitted thee This satisfaction in your bloods giue ye Great ones to wretched Rome and pay for war Oh happy Rome and Romans happyer far Would but the gods aboue as carefull be To keepe as to revenge our liberty Vnburied Curio's noble flesh is food For Libyan birds but since t' will doe no good To conceale that which from times injury Fame still will vindicate wee 'll giue to thee The praise that to thy life dooes appertaine Rome never nurtur'd a more able man Nor one to whom whilest good the lawes ow'd more But vice then hurt our city when the store Of wealth Ambition Riot had declin'd To the worst part his yet vnsetled minde And changed Curio the states fate controul'd Brib'd by the spoiles of France and Caesars gold Though potent Sylla and fierce Marius Cinna and Caesars line got rule ore vs By sword to whom did such power ever fall This man sold Rome the other bought it all FINIS Libri quarts Annotations on the fourth Booke a For this conquest much avayled Caesar having quieted Spaine he might securely prosecute the rest of the war having debarr'd Pompey of those legions on which he most relyed this conquest cost little blood for Afranius and Petreius forced by famine yeilded to Caesar b Afranius and Petreius with aequall power with mutuall loue and care governed fiue legions for Pompey in Spaine and chose Ilerda by the appointment of Pompey as a convenient seate for the war c The Celtae leaving France and passing the Pyrenâ—an mountaines seated themselues by the river Iberus and were called Celtâ—beri d Cinga falling into Iber looses his name to Iber which also giues name to all Spaine e Afranius and Petreius when Caesar's horsemen had stopped their wayes of forraging and fetching in Corne and withall frighted because many cities in that part had revolted to Caesar and the rest were like to follow their example resâ—lved to transserre the war into Celtiberia which remained yet in the friendship of Pompey at having received great benefits from him in the Sertorian war besides they supposed that the fame of Caesar was yet more obscure among those barbarous people therefore at the third watch they secretly dislâ—dged and passing over the river Sicoris they marched with speede toward Iberus When Caesar by his scouts vnderstood this and hearing that beyond there were mountainous strait and
Antonius to transport the rest of his legions and his horsemen whose slow comming made Caesar defer the fight s This Marcus Antonius after the death of Iulius Caesar had warre with Augustus by whom he was vanquished in a sea fight neere Leucas t When part of the army for want of Ships stay'd at Brundusium vnder Antonius Gabinius and Calenus Caesar impatient of delay resolved to goe himselfe as a messenger to call them in a stormy night and a little vessell some say a boate that would beare twelue oares but vnknowne to all his army he past in a disguised habite through all the courts of guard and went to Sea LVCANS Pharsalia The Sixt Booke The Argument Caesar enclosing Pompey with a fence And trenches of a vast circumference Endures a famine Pompey pestilence Who breaking through escapes a conquerer thence Braue Scaeva's valour and admired fight Into Thessalia Caesar takes his flight Great Pompey followes the description And Poets tales That Thessaly renâ—wne To the dire witch Ericttho Sextus goes This fatall warres sad issue to disclose She quickens a dead carcasse which relates To Sixtus eare his and his fathers fates And craving then deaths freedome to obtaine â—s by a magicke spell dissolv'd againe WHen on neere a hils both Generalls fierce b of fight Had pitch'd their tents and drawne their troâ—pes in sight And the gods saw their match Caesar in Greece â—cornes to take towes or owne the destinyes For any conquest but his sonne in law's The worlds sad howre that to a tryall drawes This wars maine-chance he wishes for alone That cast of fortune that must ruine one Thrice on the hills his battell he array'd And all his threatning Eagles thrice display'd Shewing that he would neuer wanting be T'oreâ—hrow the Roman state But when he see No provocations could his sonne in law Who close entrenched lay to battell draw From thence c he march'd by woody passages And close to take Dyrrachiums fortâ—esses Thither a neerer way great Pompey takes Along the shore and on high Petra makes His campe to guard from thence Dyrrachium towne Safe without men by her owne strength alone No human labour no old structure made Her fence which would though nere so lofty fade By force â—f war or eating time oretaken A strength that by no engine can be shaken Her scite and nature giue the sea profound And steepe waue-breaking rockes enclose it round But for on little hill an Iland 't were Ship-threatning rockes susteine the walls and there Th' Ionian sea rais'd by the Southwindes blasts Her temples shakes and frothy foamings casts Ore houses topps War-thirsty Caesar then Conceiv'd d a cruell hope spreading his men Round on the hills from every side t' enclose With joyned trenches his vnwarâ— foes And all the ground surveying with his eye Is not content alone to fortefie His workes with brittle earth but weighty-stone From quarryes digs vast rockes houses torne downe And Greekish walls brought thither make a fence Able the rams assaulting violence And all wars furious engines to withstand Hills levell'd valleyes rais'd make even lâ—nd In Caesars woâ—kes with trenches wide enclos'd And towâ—â—d castels on the hills dispos'd With a vast circuite he takes in the ground About the pastures woods and shelters round As 't were for deere spreading a wide-stretch'd toile Pompey no roome nor pasture wants for while He thus enclos'd by Caesars trenches is He remooues campes so many rivers rise And their whole course within this circuite run And Caesar tir'd going to looke vpon His workes makes often stayes Let ancient tales To the gods worke adscribe the Trojan wall Let flying Parthians still admire alone The brittle earth-built walls of Babylon As far as Tigris and Orontes run As the Assyrian Kings dominion Stretch'd in the East a suddaine worke of war Encloses heere Lost those great labours are So many hâ—nds would to Abydos put Sestos fill vp the Hellespont and cut Corinth from Pelops land and from the seas Take long Malea for the saâ—lers ease Or mende some part though nature should deny Of the worlds structure Here wars quarters lye Here feedes that blood that in all lands must flow The Libyan and Thessalian overthrow Wars civill fury boiles kept straitly in The woâ—kes first structure Pompey had not seene As who in middest of Sâ—â—ily safe dwell When rough Pelorous barkes can never â—ell As Northren Britâ—ainâ—s câ—nnâ—t heare the rore Of flowing seas agaiâ—st the Kâ—ntâ—sh shore But when himselfe beâ—uâ—t to faâ— he â—new By a vast trench he from safe Petra drew His troopes and ore the hills dispos'd them so To keepe the rankes of his beseidging foe More thin and tooke of the enclosed ground As much in length as in true distance fouâ—d Twixt lofty Rome and th' Aâ—icinian wood VVhere Scythian Dian's ador'd image stood As far as Tyber's streame from Romes walls ends By straight account not as the river bends No trumpets sound piles vncommanded flye Mischeifes oft done as they their javelinstry Both cheifes are kept from fight bâ— greater care Pompey because his pasture feilds are bare The ground he had by hoâ—se orâ—tramâ—led was VVhose horny hoofes trode downe the springing grasse The war-like steed weary'd in those bar'd feilds VVhen the full racke proviâ—der far brought yeilâ—s Tasting his new-brought food falls downe and dyes Treading the ring fail'd by his trembling thighs Their bodyes wast by dire consumption The vnstirr'd aire drâ—wes moist contagion Into a pestilentiall â—loud such breath Nasis exhales from her darke caues beneath Such poison'd aire where bury'd Typhon lyes The ground sends forth apace the army dyes The water from the aire infection taking VVith costiuenesse toâ—ments the bowells aking Dry's their discolour'd skin their blood-swolne eyes Doe breake the fiery plague with botâ—â—es flyes All ore the face their heavy heads fall downe Now more and more suddaine their death was growne Twixt life and death the siâ—kenesse has no roome But death does with the first faint symptomes come By carcasses which all vnburyed lye Among the living growes mortality T was all the souâ—dâ—ers buriall to be cast Out of the tents This plague was staid at last By blasts of strong aire-stirring Northern winde Ships fraught with Corne the shore and sea behinde But Caesar free vpon the spacious hills No pâ—stilence from aire or water feâ—les But as if straight beseig'd a famine strong Is forc'd to suffer corne as yet not sprong To the full height his wretched men he sees Fall to beasts food eate grasse and rob the trees Of leaues and tender twigs and venturing more Death-thrâ—atning herbes from rootes vnknowne they tore What ever they could bite soften with heat Or through their wounded palats downe could get And things that human tables nere did know Content to eate besidg'd c their full fed foe When through the trenches Pompey pleas'd to make His way and freedome of all lands to take He seekes not th' obscure time of duskâ— night Scorning to steale a
with thy Thessalian bow Feirce wars first seedes did from this countrey grow Heere the first horse for war sprang from a rocke Which mighty Neptune with his trident stroke To chew on the steele bit he not disdain'd And fom'd by his Thessalian rider rain'd From hence the first of ships the Ocean plow'd And seas hid paths to earth-bred mortalls show'd Itonus first of all Thessalia's King To forme by hammer did hot mettalls bring Made silver liquid stamp'd his coines impresse In gold and melted brasse in furnaces Hence did th' account of money first arise The fatall cause of war and tragedies Heere was that hideous serpent Python bred VVhose skin the Delphian Tripos covered Whence to those games Thessalian bayes are brought Aloeus wicked brood ' gainst heaven here fought When Ossa on high Pelions top was set And the Celestiall orbes swift motion let When both the generalls in this land by fate Destin'd encamp'd the wars ensuing state Fills all presaging mindes all saw at hand That hower on which this wars last cast should stand Cowards now trembled that wars fate so neare Was drawne and fear'd the worst both hope and feare To this yet-doubtfull tryall brought the stout But one alas among the fearefull rout Was Sextus Pempey's most vnworthy son Who afterwards a banisht man vpon Sicilian seas turn'd Pirate and there stain'd The fam'd sea-triumphs his great father gain'd He brooking no delay but weake to beare A doubtfull state endeauoures vrg'd by feare To find fates future course Nor does he craue From Delphian Phoebus from the Pyâ—hian caue Or that fam'd Oake fruitfull in akehornes where Ioues mouth giues answere this event to heare Nor seekes advice from them to whom are knowne Birds flights beasts entrailes lightnings motion Nor the Chaldaean skill'd Astrologer Nor any secret wayes that lawfull were But magicke damn'd by all the gods aboue And her detested secrets seekes to prooue Aide from the ghosts and feinds below to craue Thinking ah wretch the gods small knowledge haue The place it selfe this vaine dire madnesse helpt Nere to the campe th' Aemonian witches dwelt Whom no invented monâ—â—ers can excell Their art 's what ere 's incredible to tell Besides Thessaliaes fields and rockes doe beare Strange killing hearbes and plants and stones that heare The charming Witches murmurs there arise Plants that haue power to force the deityes Medea there a stranger in those fields Gather'd worse herbes then any Colchos yeilds Those wretches impious charmes turne the gods cares Though deafe to many nations zealous prayers Their voice alone beares through the inmost skyes Commands to the vnwilling deityes Which not their care of heavens high motions Can turne away when those dire murmurs once Enter the sky though the Aegyptians wise And Babylonians their deepe misteryes Should vtter all th'Aemonian witch still beares From all their altars the gods forced eares These witches spells loues soft desires haue sent Into the hardest hearts ' gainst fates intent Severe old men haue burn'd in impious loue VVhich tempered drinkes and philtrums could not moue Nor that to which the fole his damms loue owes The swelling flesh that on his forehead growes Mindes by no poyson hurt have perished By spells those whom no loue of marriage bed Nor tempting beautyes power could ere inflame By Magicke knot-ty'd thread together came The course of things has stay'd to keepe out day Night has stood still the sky would not obey The law of Nature the dull world at their Dire voice has beene benumn'd great Iupiter Vrging their course himselfe admir'd to see The poles not moov'd by their swift axeltree Showres they have made clouded the clearest sky And heaven has thunder'd Ioue not knowing why By the same voyce with haire loose hanging they Moist swelling clouds and stormes haue chas'd away The sea without one puffe of wind has swell'd Againe in spite of Auster has beene still'd Ships sailes haue quite against the windes been sway'd Steepe waters torrents in their fall haue stay'd And rivers haue run backe Nile not oreflowne In Summer time Maeander straight has run Arar has hasten'd Rhodanus growne slow High hills sunke downe haue aequall'd vales below Aboue his head the cloudes Olympus saw In midst of VVinter Scythian snowes did thaw VVithout the Sunne the tide-rais'd Ocean Aemonian spells beat from the shore againe The ponderous earth out of her center tost Her middle place in the worlds orbe has lost So great a weight strooke by that voyce was stirr'd And on both sides the face of heaven appear'd All deadly creatures and for mischeife borne Both feare and serue by death the witches turne The Tigers fierce and Lyons nobly bold Fawne vpon them cold snakes themselues vnfold And in the frosty fields lye all vntwin'd Dissected vipers by their power are joyn'd Their poison'd breathings poison'd serpents kill Why are the gods thus troubled to fulfill And fearefull their enchantments to contemne What bargaine has thus ty'd the gods to them Doe they obey vpon necessity Or pleasure or some vnknowne piety Deserues it or some secret threats prevaile Or haue they jurisdiction over all The gods or does one certaine deity feare Their most imperious charmes who what so ere Himselfe is forc'd too can the world compell By them the starres oft from the pole downe fell And by their voices poyson Phaebe turn'd Growne pale with darke and earthly fires has burn'd No lesse then if debarr'd her brothers shine By enterposall of the earth betweene Her Orbe and his these labours vndergone Has she deprest by incantation Vntill more nigh she foam'd her gelly on Their herbes These spells of this dire nation And damned rites dreadfull Erictho scornes As too too good and this foule art adornes With newer rites in townes her dismall head Or houses roofes is never covered Forsaken graues and tombes the ghosts expell'd She haunts by fiends in aestimation held To heare hells silent counsells and to know The Stygian cells and misteryes below Of Dis her breathing heere no hindrance was A yellow leanenesse spreads her lothed face Her dreadfull lookes knowne to no lightsome aire With heavy hell-like paâ—enesse clogged are Laden she is with long vnkemmed haires But when darke stormes or clouds obscure the starres From naked graues then forth Ericttho stalkes To catch the nights quicke sulphur as she walkes The corne burnes vp and blasts where ere she tread And by her breath cleare aires are poisoned She prayes not to the gods nor humbly cryes For helpe nor knowes she pleasing sacrifice But funerall flames to th' altars she preferres Frankincense snatch'd from burning sepulchres The gods at her first voice grant any harme She askes and dare not heare her second charme Liue soules that rule their limbs she does entombe Death though vnwilling seizes those to whom The fates owe yeeres with a crosse pompe men dead Returne from grâ—ue coarses from tombes haue fled Young mens hot ashes and burnt bones she snatches Out of the midst of funerall Piles and
catches The kindling brand in their sad parents hand The funerall beds blacke smoaking fragments and Their ashy garments and flesh-smelling coales But when she findes a coarse entombed whole Whose moisture is drawne out and marrow growne Hard by corruption greedy havocke on Each limbe she makes and from their orbes doth teare His congeal'd eyes and stickes her knucles there She gnawes his nailes now pale oregrowne and long Bites halters killing knotts where dead men hung Teares from the gibbetts strangled bodies downe And from the gallowes licks corruption Shee gathers dead mens limmes which showres haue wet And marrow harden'd in Sols scorching â—eate She keepes the nailes that pierc'd crucifi'd hands And gathers poysonous filth and slime that stands On the cold joynts and biting with her fanges The harden'd sinewes vp from ground she hangs And where so ere a naked carcasse ly Before the beasts and ravenous fowles sits she But teares or cuts no limbe till it be bit By Wolves from whose dry jawes she snatches it Nor spares she murdering if life blood she need That from a throat new open'd must proceede She murders when her sacrifices dire Life-blood and panting entrailes doe require And births abortiue by vnnaturall wayes From wounded wombes she takes and burning layes Them on her wicked altars when she lacks Stout cruell ghosts such ghosts forthwith she makes All deaths of men serue for her action From young mens chinns she puls the growing downe And dying striplings haire she cuts away Ericttho oft when ore the coarse she lay Of her dead kinseman and did seeme to kisse Off from his maimed head would bite a piece And opening his pale lips gelled and clung In his dry throat she bites his cold stiffe tongue And whispering murmurs dire by him she sends Her banefull secrets to the Stygian feinds By generall fame when Sextus notice had Of her in depth of night when Titan made At the Antipodes their noone of day Over the desart fields he takes his way The servants waiting on his folly then Searching through broken tombes and graues of men Spy'd on a rocke at last where Aemus bends And the Pharsalian lofty hills extends Ericttho sitting she was trying there Spells which nere witch nor magicke god did heare And for new purposes was framing charmes For fearing lest the civill warres alarmes Should to some other land be carryed thence And Thessaly should want that blood's expence Phillippi feilds with incantations stain'd And sprinâ—kled with dire iuice she did command Not to transferre the war meaning t' enioy So many deaths and the worlds blood t' employ The carcasses of slaughter'd Kings to maâ—me And turne the Roman ashes was her aime To search for princes bones and each great ghost But what best pleas'd her and she study'd most Was what from Pompey's coarse to take away Or vpon which of Caesars limmes to prey Whom first thus Pompey's fearefull sonne bespake Wisest of all Thessalians that canst make Foreknowne all thingâ— to come and turne away The course of destiny to me I pray The certaine end of this wars chance relate I am no meane part of the Roman state Great Pompey's sonne now either lord of all Or wofull heir of his great funerall My minde though wounded now with doubtfull feare Is well resolv'd any knowne woe to beare Oh take from chance this power it may not fall Vnseene and suddaine on me the gods call Or spare the gods and force the truth out from The ghosts below open Elysium Call forth grim death himselfe bid him relate Which of the two is given to him by fate T is no meane taske but labour worthy thee To search what end of this great war shall be The impious Witch proud of a fame to spread Replyes young man wouldst thou haue altered Some meaner fate it had beene easily done I could haue forc'd to any action Th' vnwilling gods I can preserue the breath Of him whom all the starres haue doom'd to death And though the planets all conspire to make Him old the midst of his lifes course can breake But fates and th' order of great causes all Worke downeward from the worlds originall When all mankinde depend on one successe If there you would change ought our arts confesse Fortune has greater power but if content You be alone to know this wars event Many and easie wayes for vs there be To finde out truth the earth the sea the sky The dead the Rodopejan rockes and fields Shall speake to vs. But since late slaughter yeilds Such choise of carcasses in Thessaly To raise vpone of those will easyest be That a warme new-slaine carcasse with a cleare Intelligible voice may greete your eare Least by the Sunne the organs parch'd and spill'd The dismall ghost vncertaine hizzings yeild Then double darkenesse ore nights face she spred And wrapping in a foggy cloud her head She searches where th'unbury'd bodyes lye Away the wolues and hungry vultures flye Loosening their tallands when Ericttho comes To choose her prophet griping with her thummes Their now cold marrows seeking where a tongue And lungs with fillets whole vnwounded hung The fates of those slaine men stand doubtfull all Which of their ghosts she from the dead would call Had she desir'd to raise th' whole army slaine And to reviue them for the war againe Hell had obey'd from Styx by her strange might The people all had beene drawne backe to fight When she a carcas sitting had espy'd An hooke she fasten'd in his throate and ty'd To it a fatall rope by which the hag Ore rockes and stones the wretched carcasse drag That must reviue Vnder the hollow side Of an high mountaine which to this blacke deede The witch had destin'd she the carcasse layes A deepe and vast descent of ground there was As low almost at the blinde caues of Diâ— Which a pale wood with thicke and spreading treâ— Barring the sight of heaven and by Sol's light Not penetrable did oreshadow quite Within the caue was bred by dreary night Pale mouldy filth darkensse sad no lighâ— But light by magicke made ere shined there Within the jawes of Tanarâ—â— the aire Is not so dull that balefull bound twixt hell And vs the princes in those shades that dwell Send without feare their spirits hitherto For though this hag can force the fates to doe What ere she please t is doubtfull whether here Or there those ghosts in their true place appeare She puts a various colour'd cloathing on And fury-like her haire loose hanging downe Was bound about with vipers her face hid But when young Sextus and his traine she spy'd Shaking for feare and his astonisht eye Fixt on the ground banish those feares quoth she His life 's true figure you shall see him take That cowards neede not feare to heare him speake But if the furyes to your eyes were showne The Stygian lakes and burning Phlegeton The gyants bound and Cerberus that shakes His dreadfull curled mane of hissing snakes Why
should yon feare cowards whilest I am by To see those fiends that shake at sight of me Then with warme blood opening fresh wounds she fills His breast and gore to th' inward parts distills Of the Moones poisonous gelly store she takes And all the hurtfull broodes that nature makes Foame of mad dogs which sight of water dread The pyth of staggs with serpents nourished Was mixed there the dire Hyaena's knot The spotted Lynx his bowells wanted not Nor that small fish whose strength though Eurus rise Can stay the course of ships the Dragons eyes The sounding stone that brooding Eagles make Warme in their nests th' Arabian nimble snake The red sea-viper pretious gemms that kept Skins from th' aliue Libyan Cerastes stript The Phoenix ashes lay'd in Araby With these when vile and namelesse poisons she Had mixt and leaues fill'd with enchantments strong And herbes which her dire mouth had spit on young What poyson she did on the world bestow Then adds a voyce to charme the gods below More powerfull then all herbes confounding noises Much dissonant and far from humane voices There was the barke of dogs the wolues sad howle The scriches waâ—ling hollowing of the Owle All voices of wilde beasts hissing of snakes The sound that beat from rockes the water makeâ— The murmur of stirr'd woods the thunders noise Broke from a cloud all â—â—is was in her voice The rest Aemonian incantations tell And thus her voice peirces the lowest hell Furyes and Stygian fiends whose scourges wound All guilty soules Chaos that wouldst confound Vn-number'd worlds king of the earth beneath That griev'st to see the gods exempt from death Thou Styx and faire Elysium which no spirit To a Thessalian witch deserues t'enherit Thou that thy mother hat'st Persephone And heaven thou lowest part of Hecate By whom the silent tongues of fienes with vs Haue entercourse hells porter Cerberus That currishnesse into our breasts doest put You destinyes that twice this thread must cut And thou the burning streames old ferriman Tired with ghosts brought backe to me againe If I invoke you with a mouth prophane And foule enough to heare these prayers daine If with a breath fasting from humane flesh These incantations I did nere expresse If womens wombes whole burdens vpon you And luke-warme braines I often did bestow If one your altâ—rs heads of infants slaine I set and bowells that must liue againe Obey my voice no ghost that long has felt The Stygian shades nor long in darkenesse dwelt But one that lately from the living went And is but yet at pale hells first descent And one which though obedient to this spell Could be but once transported ore to hell I aske let some knowne souldiers ghost relate Before great Pompey's sonne his fathers fate If civill war of you haue merited Then lifting vp her foaming mouth and head She saw hard by the ghost of that dead man Trembling to enter his old goale againe Fearing those cold pale members and into Thâ—â—â—ounded breast and entrailes torne to go Ah wretch from whom deaths gift is tane away To dye no more that fates durst thus delay Ericttho wonder'd wrath with death and fate The liueles coarse with living snakes she beateâ— And through earths craneys which her charmes had broke Bark'd to the fiends and thus hells silence shooke Maegera and Tisiphone that slight My voice through hell with your dire whips affright Hither that wretched spirit or from below By your true names of Stygian bitches you I will call vp and to the Sunnes light leaue No dead mens graues shall harbour or receiue Your heads I le follow you observing well And from all tombes and quiet vrnes expell False Hecate thee to the gods I le show To whom thou vsest with bright lookes to goe In thy pale rotten forme and so provide Thou shalt not thy Tartarian visage hide Vnder the earths vast weight I will relate VVhat food destaines thee in what wedlockes state Thou lou'st the nights sad king with such a staine That Ceres shall not wish thee backe againe ' Gainst thee the worlds worst judge I will set free The giants or let to the day to thee VVill you obey or shall I him invoke VVhose name the earths foundations ever shooke VVho without hurt th'vnvailed Gorgon sees Of whose strong stripes Erinnys fearefull is VVho keepes an hell vnknowne to you and where You are aboue that dare by Styx forsweare Then straight the clotted blood grows warme againe Feedes the blacke wounds and runnes through every veine And th' outward parts the vitall pulses beate In his cold breast and life 's restored heate Mixt with cold death through parts disused runns And to each joynt giues trembling motions The sinnews stretch the carkasse from the ground Rises not by degrees but at one bound Stands bolt vpright the eyes with twincking hard Are op'd not dead nor yet aliue appear'd The face his palenesse still and stiffenesse stayes He stands at this revivall in amaze But his dumbe seal'd-vp lips no murmur made Only an answering tongue and voice he had Speake quoth Ericttho what I aske and well Shalt thou rewarded be if truth thou tell By our Haemonian art I le set thee free Throughout all ages and bestow on thee Such funeralls with charmes so burne thy bones Thy ghost shall heare no incantations Let this the fruit of thy revivall be No spells no herbs shall dare to take from thee Thy long safe rest when I haue made thee dy The gods and Prophets answere doubtfully But he that dares enquire of ghosts beneath And boldly goe to th' oracles of death Is plainly told the truth spare not but name Plainely the things and places all and frame A speech wherein I may conferre with fate Adding a charme to make him know the state Of whatsoere she askt thus presently The weeping carcasse spake I did not see The sisters fatall threds so soone alas Backe from those silent bankes enforc'd to passe But what by speech from all the spirits I gain'd Among the Roman ghosts fell discord reign'd Romes wicked war disturb'd hells quiet rest Some Captaines from sad hell some from the blest Elysian fields come forth and there what fate Entends to doe they openly relate The happy ghosts look'd sad the Decii then Father and sonne wars-expiating men I saw the Curii and Camillus wailing Sylla himselfe against thee fortune railing His issues Libyan fate braue Scipio Bewail'd and Cato Carthages great foe His nephew's bondage-scaping death did monc â—mong the blessed spirits Brutus alone Reioyc'd first Consul that Romes king exil'd Fierce Catiline sterne Marius and the wilde Câ—thegs breaking chaines orejoyed were The popular law promulging Drusi there And daring Gracchi shouting clapt their hands Fetter'd for euer with strong iron bands In Plutoes dungeons impious ghosts had hopes Of blessed seates Pluto pale dungeons opes Prepares hard stones and adamantine chaines To punish the proud Conquerour ordaines Take you this comfort in a blessed roome The
wife and son Sextus Pompejus he repeated these two Iambike verses of Sophocles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 These were the last words hee spake to his friends and so entred into the boate where Achillas was e When Pompey was now farre from his ship and perceived no courteous entertainement in the boate hee looked vpon Septimius and thus spake Haue not I knowne thee heretofore my fellow souldier Septimius disdaining to answere him at all only nodded his head to him and when Pompey was rising out of the boate Septimius first run him through with his sword LVCANS Pharsalia The Ninth Booke The Argument Pompey's departed spirit to heaven ascends His wife and sons lament Cato commends His worthy life checks the Cilicians And marching are the scorched Libyan sands To Iuba's Kingdome with strong patience Endures the heat the Southwinds violence And killing serpents venome Caesar sees Renowned Troys defac'd antiquities To Aegypt comes and with dissembling breath Complaines and weepes for noble Pompey's death IN Pharian coales his ghost could not remaine Nor those few ashes his great spirit containe Out from the graue he issues and forsakes Th' vnworthy fire and halfe burnt limbs and takes Vp to the convexe of the sky his flight Where with blacke ayre the starry poles doe meete The space betwixt the regions of the moone And earth halfe-deify'd soules possesse alone Whom fiery worth in guiltlesse liues has taught To brooke the lower part of heaven and brought Them to th'aeternall sphaeres which not they hold That are with incense bury'd tomb'd in gold There filled with true light with wondring eyes The wandring planets and first stars he sees He sees our day involv'd in midst of night And laughes at his torne trunkes ridiculous plight Then ore the Aemathian fields his scatter'd fleete And bloody Caesars troopes he tooke his flight And with revenge for these dire facts possest Catoâ—s bold hart and brutus noble breast Cato while chance was a doubtfull and at stake Whom civill war Lord of the world would make Then hated Pompey though with Pompey he Led by the Senate and Romes Auspicy Had fought but when Pharsaliaes field was try'd He altogether favour'd Pompey's side His countrey wanting a protector then He tooke and chear'd the trembling hearts of men And â—utting swords in fearefull hands againe Made civill war neither for hope of reigne Nor feare of bondage nought at all in war For his owne sake did he his forces are Since Pompey's death alone for liberty VVhich lest the speed of Caesars victory Should seaze vpon being dispersed ore The coast he sailes vnto Corcyra's b shore And in a thousand ships carryes away The conquer'd remnant of Pharsalia Who would haue thouâ—ht so great a fleete had held All flying men that conquer'd ships had fill'd The straitned seas from thence they saile away To ghost-fill'd Taenarus and long Males Thence to Cytherus Boreas blowing faire Crete flyes and getting a good sea they cleare The Cretan coast Phycus that durst deny Their men to land they sacke deservedly And thence along the deepe while faire winds blow Vnto thy shore oh Palinurus goe For not alone doth our Italian sea Keepe monuments of thee but Libya Can witnesse well calme harbours once did please Thy Phrygian master when vpon the seas Descrying shâ—pâ— afar they gan to feare Whether the men their foes or partners were Caesars knowne speed gaue them just cause to feare And still suspect his comming every where But those sad ships brought greife and woes and crys Able to draw soft teares from Catoes eyes For after that Cornelia all in vaine â—est Pompey's tâ—unke beat from the shore againe Should floate at sea by prayers had striv'd to draw From flight the sailers and her son in law When from the shore that little fire descry'd His most vâ—worthy funerall she cry'd Seem'd I not worthy then fortune to thee To light my husbands funerall fire and ly Stretch'd out on his cold limbs burne his torne haires And gathering his sea-scatterd limbs with teares To bath each wound with bones and ashes hot To fiâ—l my lap and in the temples put The sad remainder of his funerall That fir's no honour to his hearse at all Besides perhaps some hands of Aegypt now This loathed office to his ashes doe Well did the Crassi's ashes naked ly For by the gods far greater cruelty Is Pompey burnt Still shall my woes appeare In the same shape and shall I nere interre My slaughter'd Lords and at full vâ—nes lament What need'st thou tombe or any instrument Of sorrow wretch doth not thy breast containe Thy Pompey and his image still remaine VVithin thee let those wiues that meane to liue After their Lords vrnes to their ashes giue But yet the fire that lends you envious light From Aegypts shore brings nothing to my sight Of thee deare Pompey now the flame is gone The vanisht smoake beares to the rising Sunne Pompey aloft the windes vnwillingly Beare vs from thence yet is no land to me Though triumph'd by my Lord as Conquerer Nor chariot deck'd with laurell halfe so deare My breast has quite forgot his happinesse And loues that Pompey whom Niles shores possesse Faine would â— stay vnder this guilty clime The land 's enobled by so great a crime I would not leaue beleeue me Aegypts shore Sextus try thou the chance of war and ore The spacious world thy fathers colours beare This his last will was trusted to my care VVhen me of breath deaths fatall hower shall reaue To you my sonnes this civill warre I leaue And let not Caesar's race in quiet â—eigne VVhilest any of our stocke on earth remaine Solicite kingdomes and free powerfull townes By my names fame these are the factions These are the armes I leaue what Pompey ere VVould goe to sea shall finde a navy there My heires may stirre war in what land they will Be but couragious and remember still Your fathers lawfull power Serue vnder none But Cato whilest he fights for Rome alone I haue perform'd thy trust done thy behest Deare Lord thy cunning did prevaile and lest False I those words of trust should nere deliver Deceiu'd I liv'd Now Pompey wheresoever Th' art gone through hell if any hell there be Or empty Chaos I will follow thee How long my life 's decree'd I doe not know If long I le punish it for lasting so For not expiring when it first did see Thy wounds with sorrow broken it shall dy It shall dissolue in teares no halter sword Or praecipâ—ce shall death to me afford It were a shame for me now thou art gone Not to haue power to dye with griefe alone This said and covering with a vaile her head Vnder the hatches she resolv'd to lead A life in darkenesse neerely hugging woe She feedes on teares and for her husband now Embraces greife The noise of stormy winde Nor cryes of fearefull saâ—lers mooue her minde Her hope contrary to the sailers is Compos'd for
Quiet well temper'd aire doth Ioue possesse The seedes of all things Venus cherishes Cyllenius rules ore waters which are great He when he enters where the dog-stâ—rs heat And burning fire 's display'd there where thâ— signe Of Cancer hot doth with the Lyon joyne And where the Zodiacke holds his Capricorne And Cancer vnder which Niles head is borne Ore which when Mercuryes proud fires doe stand And in a line direct as by command Of Phaebe the obeying Ocean growes So from his open'd fountaine Nilus flowes Nor ebâ—s againe till night haue from the Sun Those howers recover'd which the summer wor. Vaine was the old opinion that Niles flow Was caus'd or help'd by Aethiopian snow For on those hills cold Boreas never blowes As there the natiues Sunburnt visage showes And moist hot Southerne windes Besides the head Of every streame that from thaw'd iâ—e is bred Swells then when first the spring dissolues the snowes But Nile before the dogâ—dayes never flowes Nor is confin'd within his bankes againe Till the Autumnal aequinoctian Thence t is he knowes no lawes of other streames Nor swells in winter when Sols scorching beames Are far remote his waters want their end But Nile comes forth in summer time to lend A cooler temper to the sweltring aire Vnder the torrid zone least fire impaire The earth vnto her succour Nilus drawes And swells against the Lyons burning jawes And when hot Cancer his Siene burnes Vnto her aide implored Nilus turnes Nor till the Sun to Autumne doe descend And that hot Meroë her shades extend Doth he restore againe the drowned field Who can the causes of this flowing yeild Even so our mother nature hath decreed That Nile should flow and so the world hath neede As vainely doth antiquity declare The West windes cause of this increases are Which keepe their seasons strictly and long stay And beare within the aire continu'd sway These from the Westerne parts all clouds exile Beyond the South and hang them over Nile Or else their blasts the rivers current meete And will not let it to the Ocean get Prevented so from falling to the maine The streame swells backe and overflowes the plaine Some through the cavernes of earths hollow won be In secret channells thinke these waters come Attracted to th' aequator from the cold North clime when Sol his Merâ—ë doth hold The scorched earth attracting water thither Ganges and Padus flow vnseene together Venting all rivers at one fountaine so VVithin one channell Nilus cannot goe From th' Ocean swelling which beguirts about All lands some thinke encreased Nile breakes out The waters loose ere they so far haue ran Their saltnesse quite Besides the Ocean Is the stars fond we thinke which Phoebius drawes VVhen he possesseth fiery Cancers claws More then the aire digests attraced so Falls backe by night and causes Nilus flow I thinke if I may judge so great a case Some waters since the world created was In after ages from some broken vaine Of earth haue growne some god did then ordaine VVhen he created all the world whose tides By certaine lawes the great Creator guides Caesar's desire to know our Nilus spring Possest th Aegyptian Persian Graecian King No age but striv'd to future time to teach This skill none yet his hidden nature reach Philipp's great son Memphis most honourd King Sent to th' earths vtmost bounds to finde Niles spring Choise Aethiops they trode the sunburnt ground Of the hot zone and there warme Nilus found The farthest VVest our great Sesostris saw VVhilest captiue Kings did his proud charriot draw Yet there your Rhodanus and Padus spy'd Before our Nâ—les hid fountaine he descry'd The mad Cambises to the Easterne lands And lonâ—-liv'd people came His famisht bands Qâ—te spent and with each others a slaughter fed Return'd thou Nile yet vndiscovered No tale dares mention thine originall Th' art sought wherever seene No land at all Can boast that Nile is hers Yet I le reveale As far as that same god that doth conceale Thy spring inspires me From th' Antarticke pole Vnder hot Cancer doe thy surges rowle Directly North winding to East and VVest Sometimes th' Arabians sometimes Libyans blest VVith fruitfullnesse thou mak'st the Seres spy Thee first and seeke thee too thy channell by The Aethiopians as a stranger flowes And the world knowes not to what land it owes Thy sacred head which nature hid from all Lest any land should see thee Nilus small She turn'd away thy spring and did desire No land should know it but all lands admire Thou in the summer Solstice art oreflowne Bringing with thee a winter of thine owne VVhen winter is not ours nature alone Suffers thy streames to both the poles to run Not there thy mouth not heere thy spring is found Thy parted channell doth encompasse round Meroë fruitfull to blacke husband-men And rich in Eben wood whose leaues though greene Can with no shade asswage the summers heat Vnder the Lion so directly set From thence thy current with no waters losse Ore the hot zone and barren deserts goes Sometimes collected in one channell going Sometimes dispers'd and yeilding bankes oreflowing His parted armes againe collected slide In one slow streame where Philas doth divide Arabia from Aegypt Ore the sand VVhere the red sea by one small necke of land From ours is kept thou Nile doest gently flow Oh who would thinke thou ere so rough couldst grow That sees thee gentle heere but when thy way Steâ—pe Catarackts and craggy rockes would stay Thy never-curbed waues with scorne despise Those petty lets and foaming Iaue the skyes Thy waters sound with noise the neighbouring hills Thy conquering streame with froath grown hoary fills Hence he with fury first assaults that I le Which our forefathers did Abatos stile And those neare rockes which they were pleas'to call The rivers veines because they first of all His swelling growth did show Hence nature did His stragling waues within high mountaines hide Which part thee Nile from Affricke betwixt those As in a vale thy pent vp water flowes At Memphis first thou runn'st in fields and plaines VVhere thy proud streame all bankes and bounds disdaines Thus they secure as if in peace a part Of night discours'd But base Photinus heart Once stain'd with sacred blood could nere be free From horrid thoughts Since Pompey's murder he Counts nought a crime great Pompey's Manes bide Within his breast and vengefull furyes guide His thoughts to monsters new hoping to staine Base hands with Caesars blood which fates ordaine Great Senators shall shed Fate to a slaue That day almost the Senates vengeance gaue The mulct of civill war Oh gods defend Let none that life in Brutus absence end Shall th' execution of Romes tirant be Base Aegypts crime and that example dy Bold man he makes attempt against fates course Nor at close murder aimes by opâ—n force A most vnconquer'd Captaine he assaults So much are mindes embolden'd by their faults He durst the death of Caesar