Book 8
The king thus parted, past Icaria's rocks
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Pompeius' vessel skirts the foamy crags
Of little Samos: Colophon's tranquil sea
And Ephesus lay behind him, and the air
Breathed freely on him from the Coan shore.
Cnidos he shunned, and, famous for its sun,
Rhodos, and steering for the middle deep
Escaped the windings of Telmessus' bay;
Till rose Pamphylian coasts before the bark,
And first the fallen chieftain dared to find
In small Phaselis shelter; for therein
Scarce was the husbandman, and empty homes
Forbad to fear. Next Taurus' heights he saw
And Dipsus falling from his lofty sides:
When giving safety to the seas, he made
Flight for himself secure? His little boat
Flies unmolested past Cilician shores;
But to their exiled lord in chiefest part
The senate of Rome was drawn. Celendrae there
Received their fleet, where fair Selinus' stream
In spacious bay gives refuge from the main;
And to the gathered chiefs in mournful words
At length Pompeius thus resolved his thoughts :
O faithful comrades mine in war and flight!
To me, my country! Though this barren shore
Our place of meeting, and no gathered host
'Surrounds us, yet upon our changed estate
I seek your counsel. Rouse ye as of yore
With hearts of courage! Magnus on the field
'Not all is perished, nor do fates forbid
But that I rise afresh with living hope
Of future victories, and spurn defeat.
'From Libyan ruins did not Marius rise
'Again recorded Consul on the page
Full of his honours? shall a lighter blow
'Keep Magnus down, whose thousand chiefs and ships
'Still plough the billows; by defeat his strength
'Not whelmed but scattered? And the fame alone
