Kitap 3
' Could save the laws, it were not better far
1
'They fell by Caesar.' Such his lofty words.
But as the Tribune yielded not, his rage
Rose yet the more, and at his soldiers' swords
One look he cast, forgetting for the time
What robe he wore; but soon Metellus heard
These words from Cotta: ' When men bow to power
' Freedom of speech is only Freedom's bane,That is, the liberty remaining to the people is destroyed by speaking freely to the tyrant.
' Whose shade at least survives, if with free will
' Thou dost whate'er is bidden thee. For us
' Some pardon may be found: a host of ills
' Compelled submission, and the shame is less
'That to have done which could not be refused.
' Yield, then, this wealth, the seeds of direful war.
' A nation's anger is by losses stirred,
' When laws protect it; but the hungry slave
' Brings danger to his master, not himself.'
At this Metellus yielded from the path;
And as the gates rolled backward, echoed loud Quoted by Dante and applied to the gates of Purgatory. 'Purg.,' ix., 129.
The rock Tarpeian, and the temple's depths
Gave up the treasure which for centuries
No hand had touched: all that the Punic foe
And Perses and Philippus conquered gave,
And all the gold which Pyrrhus panic-struck
Left when he fled: that gold,That is, the gold offered by Pyrrhus, and refused by Fabricius, which, after the final defeat of Pyrrhus, came into the possession of the victors. the price of Rome,
Which yet Fabricius sold not, and the hoard
Laid up by saving sires; the tribute sent
By Asia's richest nations; and the wealth
Which conquering Metellus brought from Crete,
And Cato See Plutarch, 'Cato,' 34, 39. bore from distant Cyprus home;
And last, the riches torn from captive kings
And borne before Pompeius when he came
In frequent triumph. Thus was robbed the shrine,
And Caesar first brought poverty to Rome.
Meanwhile all nations of the earth were moved
To share in Magnus' fortunes and the war,
And in his fated ruin. Graecia sent,
Nearest of all, her succours to the host.
From Cirrha and Parnassus' double peak
And from Amphissa, Phocis sent her youth:
