Book 5
That strife should please thee only, now condemned
1
Even by thy minions? Shall they shrink from blood,
They from the sword recoil? and thou rush on
Heedless of guilt, through right and through unright,
Nor learn that men may lay their arms aside
Yet bear to live? This civil butchery
Escapes thy grasp. Stay thou thy crimes at length;
Nor force thy will on those who will no more.
Upon a turfy mound unmoved he stood
And, since he feared not, worthy to be feared;
And thus while anger stirred his soul began :
' Thou that with voice and hand didst rage but now
' Against thine absent chief, behold me here;
Plunge in this breast, all ready for the wound
And bare, thy sword; and end the war and flee.
This mutiny devoid of daring deed
Betrays your coward souls, betrays the youth
' Who tires of victories which gild the arms
Of an unconquered chief, and yearns for flight.
Leave me to fate; with that I'll wage the war
You I cast forth. For every weapon left,
Fortune shall find a man, to wield it well.
Shall Magnus in his flight with such a fleet
Draw nations in his train; and not to me
' My victories bring legions? They shall reap
' For its mere close the prizes of the war
' Won by your toil, and scatheless join the train
'That leads my chariot to the sacred hill:
' While you, despised in age and battle worn,
' Gaze on our triumph from the civic crowd.
' Think you your dastard flight shall give me pause?
' If all the rivers that now seek the sea
' Were to withdraw their waters, it would fail
' By not one inch, no more than by their flow
'It rises now. Have then your efforts given
' Strength to my cause? Not so: the heavenly gods
' Stoop not so low; fate has no time to judge
' Your lives and deaths. The fortunes of the world
' Follow heroic souls: for the fit few
'The many live; and you who terrified
