Book 5
Do Libyan whirlpools with deceitful tides
1
Uncertain separate us? Is the deep
Untried to which I call? To unknown risks
Art thou commanded? Caesar bids thee come,
Thou sluggard, not to leave him. Long ago
I ran my ships midway through sands and shoals
To harbours held by foes; and dost thou fear
My friendly camp? I mourn the waste of days
'Which fate allotted us. Upon the waves
And winds I call unceasing: hold not back
Thy willing troops, but let them dare the sea;
Here gladly shall they come to join my camp,
Though risking shipwreck: with indignant voice
I call upon thee. Not in equal shares
'The world has fallen between us: thou alone
Dost hold Italia, but Epirus I
And all the lords of Rome.' Twice called and thrice
Antonius lingered still: but Caesar's mind
Was that he failed the gods, not they his cause.
By night he braved the strait which others feared
Though bidden: for he knew that daring deeds
Are safely wrought beneath the smile of heaven:
And thus he hoped in fragile boat to cross
The stormy billows fearful to a fleet.
Now gentle night had brought repose from arms;
And sleep, blest guardian of the poor man's couch,
Restored the weary; and the camp was still.
The hour was come that called the second watch
When mighty Caesar, in the silence vast
With cautious tread advanced to such a deed Caesar himself says nothing of this adventure. But it is mentioned by Dion, Appian and Plutarch ('Caesar,' 38). Dean Merivale thinks the story may have been invented to introduce the apophthegm used by Caesar to the sailor, 'Fear nothing: you carry Caesar and his fortunes' (line 665 post). Mommsen accepts the story, as of an attempt which was only abandoned because no mariner could be induced to undertake it. Lucan colours it with his wildest and most exaggerated hyperbole.
As slaves should dare not. Fortune for his guide,
Alone he passes on, and o'er the guard
Stretched in repose he leaps, in secret wrath
At such a sleep. Pacing the winding beach,
Fast to a sea-worn rock he finds a boat
On ocean's marge afloat. Hard by on shore
Its master dwelt within his humble home.
No solid front it reared, for sterile rush
And marshy reed enwoven formed the walls,
Propped by a shallop with its bending sides
