And they of Nilus' mouth (if there live any).
Rome, if thou take delight in impious war,
First conquer all the earth, then turn thy force
Against thyself: as yet thou want'st not foes,
That now the walls of houses half reafer'd (?) totter,
That rampiers fallen down, huge heaps of stone
Lye in our towns, that houses are abandon'd,
And few live that behold their ancient seats;
Italy many years hath lain untill'd

And choak'd with thorns; that greedy earth wants hinds.

Fierce Pyrrhus! neither thou nor Hannibal

Art cause; no foreign foe could so afflict us ;
These plagues arise from wreck of civil power.
But if for Nero (then unborn) the fates

Would find no other means, (and gods not slightly
Purchase immortal thrones; nor Jove joy'd heaven,
Until the cruel giants war was done.)

We 'plain not heavens, but gladly bear these evils
For Nero's sake: Pharsalia groan with slaughter;
And Carthage souls be glutted with our blood!
At Munda let the dreadful battles join;
Add Cæsar, to these ills, Perusian famine;
The Mutin toils; the fleet at Leuca sunk;
And cruel field, near burning Etna fought:
Yet Rome is much bound to these civil arms,
Which made thee emperor, thee (seeing thou being old
Must shine a star) shall heaven (whom thou lovest,)
Receive with shouts; where thou wilt reign as king,
Or mount the sun's plume-bearing chariot,

And with bright restless fire compass the earth,
Undaunted though her former guide be chang'd.
Nature, and every power shall give thee place,
What God it please thee be, or where to sway:
But neither chuse the north t'erect thy seat;
Nor yet the adverse reaking southern pole,
Whence thou should'st view thy Rome with squint-
ing beams.

If any one part of vast heaven thou swayest,
The burden'd axles with force will bend;

The mid'st is best; that place is pure, and bright,
There Cæsar may'st thou shine and no cloud dim thee;
Then men from war shall bide in league and ease,
Peace through the world from Janus' fane shall fly,
And bolt the brazen gates with bars of iron.
Thou, Cæsar, at this instant art my god;
Thee if I invocate, I shall not need

To crave Apollo's aid, or Bacchus' help;
Thy power inspires the muse that sings this war.
The causes first I purpose to unfold,

Of these garboils, whence springs a long discourse,
And what made madding people shake off peace.
The fates are envious, high seats quickly perish,
Under great burdens falls are ever grievous;
Rome was so great it could not bear itself:
So when this world's compounded union breaks,
Time ends, and to old Chaos all things turn;
Confused stars shall meet, celestial fire
Fleet on the floods, the earth shoulder the sea,
Affording it no shore, and Phoebe's wain,

Chase Phoebus and enrag'd affect his place,
And strive to shine by day, and full of strife
Dissolve the engines of the broken world.
All great things crush themselves; such end the gods
Allot the height of honor; men so strong,
By land and sea, no foreign force could ruin.
O Rome! thyself art cause of all these evils,
Thyself thus shiver'd out to three men's shares ;
Dire league of partners in a kingdom lasts not.
O faintly join'd friends with ambition blind,
Why join you force to share the world betwixt you?
While th' earth, the sea, and air, the earth sustains;
While Titan strives against the world's swift course;
Or Cynthia, night's queen, waits upon the day;
Shall never faith be found in fellow kings.
Dominion cannot suffer partnership;

This needs no foreign proof, nor far fet story:
Rome's infant walls were steep'd in brothers' blood;
Nor then was land or sea, to breed such hate ;
A town with one poor church set them at odds.
Cæsar's and Pompey's jarring love soon ended,
'Twas peace against their wills; betwixt them both
Step'd Crassus in, even as the slender isthmus
Betwixt the Ægean and the Ionian sea,
Keeps each from other, but being worn away,
They both burst out, and each encounter other:
So when as Crassus' wretched death, who stayed them,
Had fill'd Assyrian Carras' walls with blood,
His loss made way for Roman outrages.
Parthians, y'afflict us more than ye suppose :

Being conquered, we are plagu'd with civil war,
Swords share our empire; fortune, that made Rome
Govern the earth, the sea, the world itself,
Would not admit two lords: for Julia

Snatch'd hence by cruel fates with ominous howls,
Bare down to hell her son, the pledge of peace,
And all bands of that death presaging alliance.
Julia! had heaven given thee longer life

Thou had'st restrain'd thy headstrong husband's rage,
Yea and thy father too, and swords thrown down,
Made all shake hands as once the Sabines did;
Thy death broke amity and train'd to war
These captains emulous of each others glory.
Thou feard'st, great Pompey! that late deeds would
dim

Old triumphs, and that Cæsar's conquering France,
Would dash the wreath thou wear'dst for pirates'wrack.
Thee war's use stir'd, and thoughts that always scorn'd
A second place; Pompey could bide no equal,
Nor Cæsar no superior; which of both
Had justest cause, unlawful 'tis to judge:
Each side had great partakers; Cæsar's cause
The gods abetted; Cato lik'd the other;
Both differ'd much; Pompey was struck in years,
And by long rest forgot to manage arms,
And being popular sought by liberal gifts,
To gain the light unstable commons' love,
And joy'd to hear his theatres applause ;
He liv'd secure boasting his former deeds,
And thought his name sufficient to uphold him;

Like to a tall oak in a fruitful field,

Bearing old spoils and conquerors' monuments,
Who though his root be weak, and his own weight,
Keep him within the ground, his arms all bare,
His body (not his boughs) send forth a shade;
Though every blast it nod, and seem to fall,
When all the woods about stand bolt upright,
Yet he alone is held in reverence.

Cæsar's renown for war was less, he restless,
Shaming to strive but where he did subdue ;
When ire or hope provok'd, heady, and bold
At all times charging home, and making havoc;
Urging his fortune, trusting in the gods,
Destroying what withstood his proud desires,
And glad when blood and ruin made him way:
So thunder which the wind tears from the clouds,
With crack of riven air and hideous sound,
Filling the world, leaps out and throws forth fire,
Affrights poor fearful men, and blasts their eyes

With overtwharting flames, and raging shoots
Along the air, and not resisting it,

Falls, and returns, and shivers where it lights.
Such humours stir'd them up; but this war's seed
Was e'en the same that racks all great dominion;
When fortune made us lords of all, wealth flowed,
And then we grew licentious and rude;

The soldiers' prey and rapine brought in riot ;
Men took delight in jewels, houses, plate,
And scorn'd old sparing diet, and ware robes
Too light for women; Poverty, who hatch'd