Kitap 3
Accept in aid: but if, in impious strife
1
Of civil discord, with a Roman foe
Thou arm'st for battle, tears we give thee then
And hold aloof: no stranger hand may touch
Celestial wounds. Should all Olympus' hosts
Have rushed to war, or should the giant brood
Assault the stars, yet men would not presume
Or by their prayers or arms to help the gods:
And, ignorant of the fortunes of the sky,
Taught by the thunderbolts alone, would know
That Jupiter supreme still held the throne.
Add that unnumbered nations join the fray:
Nor shrinks the world so much from taint of crime
That civil wars reluctant swords require.
But grant that strangers shun thy destinies
And only Romans fight-shall not the son
Shrink ere he strike his father? on both sides
Brothers forbid the weapon to be hurled?
The world's end comes when other hands are armed
' Than those which custom and the gods allow.
' For us, this is our prayer: Leave, Caesar, here
' Thy dreadful eagles, keep thy hostile signs
' Back from our gates, but enter thou in peace
' Massilia's ramparts; let our city rest
' Withdrawn from crime, to Magnus and to thee
' Safe: and should favouring fate preserve our walls
' Inviolate, when both shall wish for peace
' Here meet unarmed. Why hither dost thou turn
' Thy rapid march, when to Iberian fights
'The war commands thee? Weight nor power have we
' To sway the mighty conflicts of the world.
' We boast no victories since our fatherland
'We left in exile: when Phocaea's fort
' Perished in flames, we sought another here;
'And here on foreign shores, in narrow bounds
' Confined and safe, our boast is sturdy faith;
' Nought else. But if our city to blockade
' Is now thy mind-to force the gates, and hurl
' Javelin and blazing torch upon our homes-
' Do what thou wilt: cut off the source that fills
