Amongst the rest in ciuill strife Nor bard so much as of his wife But thou meane while shalt liue secure From perils that the rest indure And safer then great Kings can bee For being thus remou'd from me Fortune shall neuer thee perplex With those great cares that must me vex But if the Gods will haue it so That we be conquerd by our foe My best part yet shall safe remaine Or if the fates doe me constraine The cruell victors force to shunne Then know I whither safe to runne The grieued dame waxt faint and pale When she had heard this heauy tale Her sences rapted in a sound Sorrow a while did her confound Vntill her voyce was come againe And then did murmuring thus complaine No cause deere Pompey I doe finde To thinke the Fates or Gods vnkinde For wronging of our nuptiall bed Our liues haue happily beene led Death doth not separate our loue Nor funerals need we to proue But that now as the common sort I should be held from my consort And like the base Plebeian rout From thee I should be so cast out It grieues my soule what must our foe With his approch worke me such woe Thy father-in-law we honor doe To breake this league betwixt vs two VVhat is the loue that I haue showne To Pompey yet no better knowne Think'st thou that ought so safe can bee As thy deere selfe is vnto mee Haue not we still with mutuall hearts Withstood all scornes and Fortunes thwarts And wilt thou cruell now me leaue And sep'rate from thee so bequeaue My carefull head to ruines state And to a thundring fearefull Fate Thinkst thou thou dost my life protect Whil'st my desire thou dost reiect As though to me a harme it were With thee in perils part to beare No no for whilst I draw my breath I 'le follow thee vnto the death And after thee so long surviue Vntill the heauy fame arriue Vpon this farre remoued shore But after that will liue no more Meane while thou dost but me inure To Destinies and to endure O pardon me confesse I must In this I feare my strength to trust But if my prayers may take place Or that the Gods doe rue my case Let thy poore wife know last of all What euer Fortune shall befall For though at last thou conquest gaine Perplext yet shall I still remaine And Lesbos will hold me in awe Though thou thy sword with conquest draw For I as much shall stand in doubt That Caesar being put to rout Will flying in a desp'rate case Surprise me in this strengthlesse place This coast will now bee more of fame So honor'd with my noble name Who will not know that place the while Where Pompey's wife liues in exile For euery one when serues the winde The way to Mitelen will finde But now I make this last request If thou in battaile be distrest And that thy conquer'd Armes thou leaue And safety must by flight receaue If thou thy selfe to seas bequeaue O let thy lucklesse vessell striue On any shore first to arriue Then on this coast to seeke reliefe Such meeting would encrease our griefe Thus said as one distract with dread Inrag'd she leaues her loathed bed And her prouides to haste away Impatient of her griefes delay Her Pompey ere she left the place She did not kisse with sweet embrace Nor yet her armes she euer twinde About his necke with fauours kinde So to relieue his grieued minde So quail'd the last fruit of that loue Which they before so long did proue Outragiously they both lament Their streaming teares their bosomes drent And neither of them had the heart To say Farewell when they should part Neuer had they in all their life Endured such a storme of strife All other harmes that could betide With constant mindes they did abide The haplesse dame the place doth leaue And then her traine did her receaue And to the seas doe her conuay Where on the sands she prostrate lay And to the bankes she clinged fast But her aboord they bare at last They did not with such heauy plight At that time leaue their Countries sight Nor from Hesperian coast depart When Caesars Armes did make them start Great Pompeys faithfull wife doth this Forsake her Lord without a kisse And from him flies now left alone But both of them doe part in moane When night approch't she could not sleepe Cold then did her long waking keepe Not vsd before to widdow'd bed From cares she could not weane her head Nor take her rest alone to lye Her husbands sides not being by How oft could she but all in vaine When sleepe her tender eyes did straine With armes deceau'd hugge and embrace The empty bed in Pompey's place And now forgetfull of her flight Did seeke to finde her Pheare by night For though her feruent deere desire Her heart and marrow sets on fire Yet tooke she not delight to spread Her limbes throughout the cooling bed But still that side reserued free Fearing he should vnfurnish't be But oh the Gods did not prouide That so great ioy should her betide For now the fatall day drawes neere That she poore soule shall see her deere Repaire to her with heauy cheere Finis Libri quinti. Lucans Pharsalia The sixth Booke THE ARGVMENT VNto Dyrachium Pompey goes Which guards him safely from his foes Then Caesar with a mighty wall Doth Pompey's Army round enthrall But hee breakes out by open fight Scaeua's braue minde and manly might Then Thessalies description showne And what her old Records makes knowne There Sextus Pompey's worthlesse childe With sorceries himselfe defil'd And doth Erictho's counsell take Which shee learnes from the Stygian lake And doth a carkas raise that telles Much future wracke and heauy spelles Thus hauing serued Sextus turne The speaking carkas she doth burne WHEN these two Campes were lodg'd so nye Confronting in each others eye Their Armes and Ensignes glittring stand Brauing vpon the hilles at hand And both the Captaines prone to fight Hauing assembled all their might The Gods each parties then beheld Of forces equall in the field But Caesar holds it in disdaine The citties of the Greekes to gaine And doth his Destinie debarre To value that successe in warre For nothing now could giue him rest Vntill that Pompey were supprest But doth affect with what he may To giue the world one bloody day And thereby all to ruine bring That of his name the earth might ring The Fates indifferent threw the dice Which of their heads should pay the price Thrice Caesar all his troopes displaide Vpon the hils rang'd and arraide And thrice prouoking signes had showne Of ioyning battell with his fone But when at last he plainly saw To fight he could not Pompey draw Who in his Campe more trust reposde That with a trench was strongly closde His tents and ensignes he did raise And secretly through bushie wayes With all
Set all the scornes of fate at nought Me though subdude loue as before Thy glory shall be so much more Now that my honors all are fled And that I am abandoned Of all the Senates sacred troope And of great kings that late did stoope Vnto my hest Now be thou knowne Pompeys deare constant frend alone Too much thou greeuest with Pallid face Since that thy husband is in place Thy sorrow now is at that height As greater cannot vexe thy spright But to bewayle thy Pompey so Should be the last loue thou shouldst show Vnto him dead as yet no harmes Accrewes to thee by ciuil armes Pompey in health doth liue as yet Though fortunes fauours from him flit To that therefore thy loue was bent For which thou mak'st so great lament ¶ VVhen these words in her ears did sound Her faint lims scarse she lifts from ground VVhen as her voyce at last she strains And in this sort her state complains VVould God I had bene destined To Caesars wracke in mariage bed Then had not both my nuptiall ioyes Twice wrongd the world with these annoies Erynnis first in wedlocke state To Crassus did me consecrate And so deuoted to his hands I brought the wracks of Parthian lands Amongst the Roman martiall bands Now ciuill harmes do follow me And thy iust cause the Gods do flee By my default O worthy Pheere My haplesse match thou boughtst too deare Had Fortune power to shew such spight Vpon so great and braue a knight Accursed wretch why did I match My selfe to thee these harmes to hatch Now let me thereof bide the paine VVhich I will take without disdaine And that the seas may be more milde And faith of kings rest vndefilde And all the world to thee stand fast Into these deepes my body cast For would my head were damn'd to die So thou mightst conquest gaine thereby Now Pompey make thy losses knowne And Iulia let thy spight be showne Where so in ciuill camps thou haunt And on my bed thy vengeance vaunt Be present here me to torment Let thy wroth on me wretch be spent Thy Pompey spare so hauing said Her grieued head againe she laid Vpon her husbands wofull brest And in his armes awhile did rest These words causd many a waterie eye Amongst the troops of standers by And Pompeys heart euen duld with cares For second sorrow now prepares Thus Lesbos from his eyes did straine Teares that Pharsalia could not gaine ¶ By this from Mitilen great store Of people came that fill'd the shore And said to Pompey in this wise Great honour must to vs arise For euermore and to our state So to be trusted with the Mate Of noble Pompey as whose thrals We now deuote our eitty wals With sacred vowes and do thee pray That thou one night with vs wouldst stay And vs vouchsafe thy hosts to be Our houshold Gods shall welcome thee O Pompey by this grace of thine Make vs to future ages shine That Roman guests that seeke this shore May for thy sake loue vs the more No cittie in this conquered state Now better sorteth with thy fate All places now in hope may stand For fauour at the victors hand Already we haue run the race That vs hath brought in his disgrace What though our Isle lye in the maine Can Caesars Nauy vs constraine Of Senators the greatest part Some certaine place will hold for Mart. Thou maist againe repaire thy fame In some one coast of noted name The treasures of our Temples hold Our Gods to thee shall giue their gold Our men and ships as thou shalt please Shall be imploy'd by land or seas And Lesbos worth what it can make Vse as thy owne and freely take And lest that Caesar it possesse Take it to thee in thy distresse And this suspect take from our land That haue desir'd it at thy hand That as when thy estate was hye Thou in our faith didst trust affye So now in thy aduersity Seeme not to doubt our loyalty This deere deuotion of their part Did greatly comfort Pompeys heart And vnto him no little ioy To finde such faith in most annoy No land that 's vnder heau'n quoth he Hath deerer been then yours to me And such my trust I did approue With this great pledge of my hearts-hearts-loue For I to Lesbos trusty state Committed my deere spoused mate Here was my sacred mansion And Gods of my deuotion Another Rome to me this was And when my ship to seas did passe To this place first I tooke my flight And on no other shore would light Now since I know that Caesar hath Against this state conceiued wrath Because that during this our strife You safely guarded Pompeys wife Thinke you that I would now refraine To put my trust in you againe As though that now you stood in awe Caesars dislikes on you to draw When as I know that for our sakes Already he as foes you takes No now about the world must I New forces seeke and fortunes try ¶ Alas how happy Lesbos name Will through all Ages flye with fame Whether by thy example led I shall by Kings be succoured Or else that Lesbos hath alone To Pompey so great kindnesse showne For now I haue resolu'd my minde To trye where I may comfort finde And who to me will be vnkinde And if that any Gods there be That the protection takes of me To them my last petitions are That they the peoples hearts prepare As faithfully to me to stand As doe the people of this land That though I now be put to flight Yet for all that in Caesars spight Their gates may be reserued still For me to come and go at will So hauing said euen with that word His wofull wife he takes aboord The Mitelens such mone then make That one would thinke they did forsake Their natiue soyles for on the strands They cry and waile and wring their hands But Pompeys fortune lesse they mournd Then hers that with them had soiourn'd So long in all this ciuill broyle So as the people of this soyle Lamented as if they had lost A Citizen they loued most The Matrons all held her so deere That had she gone vnto her Pheere In happy state with conquest gain'd Yet had they not from teares refrain'd So had she with her kinde respects Oblig'd to her their deere affects Her vertue and her modest grace Her milde aspect and louely face In all their hearts had tane such place For she was of such humble cheere Though wife to such a mighty Peere That she to them gaue no dislike But liued as a guest full meeke As though that she for succour came And not as noble Pompeys Dame Left there when he his fortunes ioy'd But as the wife of one destroy'd ¶ Tytan began now to decline So as one halfe of his bright shine Was hid from vs within the seas The other halfe
Marius with his bloody harmes Cethegi with their naked armes There likewise I the Drusians saw That made their libertie a law Reioycing in a popular loue And Gracchi that great things durst proue Though hampered with lasting chaines Whose liberties hell-gates restraines Yet clap their hands that plaudits yeelds These wicked ghosts craue blessed fields Then this infernall Realmes great guide His stations did enlarge more wide And therewithall he sharpes the rocks Hard adamantine chaines and locks With iron links he doth prepare As torments for the victors share But yet ô youth take now with thee This comfortable word from me Expect a blessed resting place For thy sires soule and all his race For in that kingdome deepe of Dis A pleasant part reserued is To entertaine great Pompeys spright Let not the glory him delight Of this short lifes vncertaine date The houre drawes neare whose present fate Shall these great captains fortunes mixe In death therefore your comforts fixe Go proudly and with high desires Vnto your lowly funerall fiers And spurning scorne those haughty soules That Roman rites like Gods controules For now the strife is who shall haue On Tybris or on Nyle his graue And all the warre these Captaines wage Is where shall be their funerall stage ¶ But as for what concernes thy fate Do not desire I should relate Spare me for though I silence keepe A Prophet of more knowledge deepe Will let thee all things vnderstand And thou in the Sicilian land Shalt haue it at thy fathers hand Whose mind as yet I do not know Whither he meanes that thou shalt go Or from what place thou shouldst refraine Or what vnluckie coasts disdaine Or in which part of this worlds clime Thou shouldst abide and spend thy time But haplesse ye Europe forbeare Affricke and Asia likewise feare Fortune your tombes will there diuide Where earst triumphant you did ride O wretched house the world you yeelds Nought safer then Pharsalias fields Thus hauing his relation told With mornefull lookes did silence hold And death was his desired meede But Magicks charmes thereto would neede And hearbes to make the carkasse fall For Fates could not againe recall The soule that once at large did rome By lawes expir'd of Stygian doome Then did Erictho frame withall A pile of wood for funerall Thus to the fire the bodie went Which kindled was laid downe and brent Where when Erictho saw him lie She left him in that place to die And so along with Sextus went To visite Pompey at his Tent. But now the mornings dawne drew neare So that the dayes peepe did appeare Therefore that they might secret passe To Pompey where he camped was She did inchant the scowling night With sable vailes to clowd the light Finis Libri Sexti Lucans Pharsalia The seuenth Booke THE ARGVMENT THis doth great Pompeys dreame relate And wailes withall hi haplesse Fate His eager troopes would battell haue Tully the same doth likewise craue With filed speech to giue content Pompey though loath yeelds his consent Prodigious signes appeare in sight Both Armies in point to fight The Chieftains with couragious words Inuite the souldiers to their swords The battels ioyne and Pompeys hoast Is ouerthrowne his Campe is lost To saue himselfe away he flies Caesar a victors Fortune tries The spoyles he freely doth bestow Pharsalias field with blood doth flow MOre slow then euer was his guise Tytan did from Aurora rise And contrary to Natures will Clymes heauily the Easterne hill He neuer more vnwillingly Did driue his Teeme against the skie And lasily hung dragging backe Though fiercely rapt with sweeping racke So prone he was to shew defect Vnder Ecclips his bright aspect Doth labour now and blacke clouds breeds Not such as fed his flaming steeds And all this was but to delay From Thessaly the light of day But now Boötes with his cart Drawes on darke night the latest part Of woefull Pompeys happy life Whom pleasing dreames so free from strife Did entertaine and fained showes His troubled thoughts did interpose It seemed in this dreaming fit That he with stately pompe did fit In that Theatre he did frame At Rome which carryed Pompeys name Thither the Romane people thrung In multitudes whose voices rung With ioyfull shouts vnto the starres To see him safe return'd from warres And more to shew how they reioyce They clapt their hāds with thundring noyce Euen such applauding shouts they raise As they did in his youthfull daies And with such fawning him beheld As when he had Sertorious queld That fugitiue in armes so fierce And when he did with conquest pierce The westermost Iberian pride And did for it in triumph ride Then being but a youthfull knight Attired in a robe sun-bright And in a lofty Charriot plac't Whom with applause the Senate grac't Now whether that this did portend Of all his happinesse the end And as a last retraite of ioy Did but presage future annoy Or that this sound reuealing sleepe That doth our thoughts in fancies steepe Did with accustom'd ambages Expresse his fate by contraries All turn'd to Pompeys miseries Or that Romes fortune did bequeaue To him this sight for her last leaue Knowing that he should neuer more Set footing on his natiue shore Ye that the Camping watches keepe Do not breake off this pleasant sleepe Let not the sound of trumpets charmes Pierce through his eares with wars alarmes The next night she shall haue dire rest And sad sights shall his soule inuest On both sides armed hoasts shall meete And raging warre each other greete Whence then could souldiers free frō care Such sound sleeps and such sweet rest share O happy would that day haue beene If thy Rome so could thee haue seene O Pompey would the Gods of heauen That one desired day had giuen Vnto thy country and to thee Of eithers fate assur'd to bee Whereby you mutuallie might proue The latest fruits of your deare loue Thou Pompey to the warres didst wend As though thy daies in Rome should end And Rome that knew her conscience cleare Tender of thee to her vowes deare Did neuer thinke that foule offence Had with the Fates hung in suspence That Rome should not the fortune haue To giue her Pompeys bones their graue For then would youths and aged sires Vnbidden boyes with selfe desires Haue mingled howling plaints with teares The Matrones with disheueled haires And virgins would their brests haue torne Euen as the people then did mourne When Brutus was laid in his vrne And now although they feare the hand Of him that doth the victor stand Though Caesars selfe should first relate The newes of Pompeys wretched fate Yet would they not forbeare to mourne Whilst Caesar were in triumph borne And that the incense burning were And that to Ioue they Bayes did beare O wretched Citizens that hate The plaints of your owne greeued Fate Because all could not with one haile In full Theatre him bewaile ¶ Now
haunt and trade Chac'd from those faire Elisian fields To blessed soules that solace yeelds Constraind I follow ciuill warre Where I beheld the Furies iarre Sparkling abroad their blazing brands Amongst thy troopes of armed bands And Charon Ferry-man of Hell More skiffes prepares then tongue can tell And Dis new torments doth deuise For soules that posting to him flies And now the Fatall Sisters try With all their speed their worke to ply Yet their three hands can scarce suffise Their webbes so fast in sunder flies O Pompey whil'st I was thy wife In Triumphes thou didst lead thy life Thy Fortune since it seemes it fled Cleane chang'd with thy new nuptiall bed Which is ordain'd by wrathfull Fates To bring her Pheeres to dolefull dates Cornelia that same strumpet vile That did her spousall bed defile Before the funerall fires were spent Wherein her husbands bones were brent She still thy Ensignes doth accost By land or sea where so thou gost Whilst me in memory to keepe Thou wilt not breake one houres sleep No vacant time there doth remaine Your mutuall loue-sports to restraine But Caesar shall thee chase by day And I by night will thee dismay Laethe from me cannot remoue The memory of thy deere loue The powers infernall licence me Throughout the earth to follow thee Amidst the fierce batalions rage I dreadlesse will my selfe ingage For by my ghost I doe protest Within thy power it shall not rest O Pompey that stile to prophane Of Sonne-in-law which thou hast tane Thou seekst in vaine with thy swords edge To cut the knot of that vowd pledge Doe what thou canst these Ciuill harmes At last shall cast thee in mine armes Thus hauing said the wandring shade From the embracements softly fade Of her old spouse herewith adrade Yet though the Gods his ruine threats And ghosts would moue him to regreats The fiercer he to armes doth flye Resolu'd his fatall chance to try ¶ What now quoth he shall slumbring sights Of visions vaine appall our sprights Either the bodies laid in graue Of mortals here no feeling haue Or nothing 'tis when death doth raue By this time Tytan dipt his head Downe into Thetis azur'd bed And onely so much light he lends Vnto the Earth as Phoebe sends From her pale face with hornes new clos'd Or when her orbe hath beene compos'd Now this desired stranger coast Affoords him leaue to land his hoast And to that end they did prepare Their Anchors and their Cables yare And as they doe approch the shoares They strike their sailes and ply their oares ¶ When Caesar saw that from the bay The windes had borne the fleet away Which now the seas hid from his sight Although his onely power and might Commanded all Hesperia soyle No glory yet in him did boyle So to put Pompey to that foyle But did his minde much more displease That so his foes had scap't by seas Fortune by no meanes could content The height whereto his minde was bent He weyes not so much conquests gaine As still in raging warres to raigne And yet now seemes that he doth meane From care of warres his thoughts to weane And to intend the publicke peace Hoping by that meanes to encrease The peoples vaine vnconstant loue And discontentments to remoue Which to effect the grateful'st way Was how the common dearth to stay For now the Cities and the rest Famine most grieuously opprest Then Awe and Loue are surest bread When by the rich the poore are fed The starued vulgar nothing dread ¶ Curio therefore to this intent Into Sycilia Ile is sent Whereas the seas with furious waues Either the mouldring shores still shaues Or else the clyffes so beates and shakes As in the land great indraughts makes And still their fury so maintaine As keepes the parted confines twaine That they can neuer ioyne againe Now rage of warre but new begunne Doth ouer all Sardinia runne Both of which Ilands still abound With fertill croppes vpon the ground So as no coast on all that maine Hesperia serues with so much graine The Roman barnes no land so feeds Scarcely the stalkes the eares exceeds Not Affricke doth affoord like store When as the clouds with Boreas rore Breeds fruitful years and moists the shore Thus Caesar did with care prouide How these defects might be suply'd Then marcheth on with stately port But not in any warlicke sort His countenance seem'd to peace design'd And so to Rome his course enclin'd ¶ O had he come vnto that Towne Only adorn'd with the renowne And Trophies of the Gallicke spoyles And glory of his Northerne broyles How great a traine what worthy showes Might he haue made of conquered foes Of all his Rhene and Ocean thralles His conquest of the noble Gaules And with them all his captiue flockes Of Brittons with their yellow lockes O what a triumph did he leefe In winning more then all of these ¶ The Cities now as he remoues Did not in troopes to shew their loues Meet him with shouts and friendly cries But silent and with fearfull eyes No flockes of people in the fields To see him there applauses yeelds Yet his contentment stands in this That he to them a terror is For he did euer more approue The peoples feare then their vaine loue ¶ Now he the steepy Towres had past Of strong Anxuris and at last The fennie way withall he takes That lies between Pontinas lakes Neere which the groue aloft is seene Of Diane Scythians heauenly Queene And not farre thence high Albas way Where Latium rites make Holiday From whence vpon a rocke on hye A loofe the Citty he did eye Which since his Gallicke warre began He neuer yet had seene till than And now admiring that prospect To Rome this speech he did direct ¶ O seate of Gods could this men so Forsake thee ere they saw a foe If thou canst not what Citty can Deserue to be fought for by man Well haue the higher powers represt The humors of the armed East From ioyning with the Hungars stout And all that fierce outragious rout Of Dakes of Getes and Sarmatans From bringing downe their bloudy bands To thee poore Rome by Fortune spar'd Whom fearefull Pompey durst not guard So weakely mand more blest art farre With Ciuill then with Forraigne warre ¶ Thus said forthwith he did invest The Citty then with feares possest For sure they thought that in his ire All should haue beene consum'd with fire And Temples should to ruine runne As soone as hee the walles had wonne Such was the measure of their fright His will they constru'd by his might And in such sudden mazements weare That they their sacred rites forbeare The common sort to sportings bent Their merry tunes turn'd to lament No spleen they had their sprights were spent The Roman Fathers reuerend troope In Phoebus Pallace sitting droope Not thither called at an houre By order of the Senates powre No Consuls with
more he said but did preuent His foes ere they the hilles had hent Then there a sunder they did pitch Their Tents fenc't with a little ditch From whence each other did descry VVith ease how they incamped lye Then they began to know each other Father the sonne brother the brother Their ciuill mallice waxed cold Yet for a while from speech they hold Onely with swords they beckning make And so their first acquaintance take At last vnto such tearmes they fall That loue suppresseth raging brawle For then the Souldiers vndertooke Into each others campe to looke And with free hearts and dreadlesse face VVith friendly armes their guests embrace This man his host calles by his name Others to kinsfolkes doe the same Another he espies his mate That was his schoole-fellow but late No Roman was on either side But he some old acquaintance spy'd Their Armes were all with teares besprent Their kisses do in soâ—â—…es lament And though no bloud were drawne at all Yet did they feare what might befall Alas why vexe you so your breast What need you waile this mad vnrest These needlesse teares were banisht quite If you consider but a right That you your selues nurse this despight Do you so much the mischiefe feare That your owne humors bred and reare Why let the Trumpet sound his fill Regard it not but keepe you still And though the Ensignes flye at large From ciuill brawles your Armes discharge So shall you end Erinnys date And Caesar then in priuate state Shall cease his son-in-law to hate ¶ O Concord with eternall grace That sweetly do'st all things embrace Within this mixed massie spheare Worlds sacred loue be present heere For now in danger stands our age To be distrest with future rage Warres mischiefes secretly deuisd Is now discouer'd and despisd The mis-led people see with shame What is the cause of all their blame Each friend doth know his friend by name But ah dire Fates that do aduance With a sinister ordinance The bloudy strife that shall encrease For this small time of pleasing peace Truce now in both the Campes did swarme With visitations free from harme Vpon the greene turfe is their seat Where they together friendly eate And Bacchus liquor doth abound Huge fires they kindle on the ground Together they do Cabbins make But all the night no sleepe doe take The tales they tell keepe them awake One telles how he the trench defends Another how his pile he bends With strength that from his arme he sends And whilst that some thus brags and boasts What they haue done in sundry coasts Others againe will giue a glance And say that this fell out by chance Yet they poore soules doe finde content That with such faith the time is spent But ah this new contracted loue Must greater future mallice proue For when Petreius heard report How both the Campes in friendly sort With mutuall loue each other greets And in such kindnesse daily meets He then imployes some trusty bands Who with their armed wicked hands Do fall on the vnarmed foe And ore the trenches them do throw Then their embracements and kinde words They separate with bloody swords So in a sauadge brainsick mood He washt away this peace with blood ¶ Then he enrag'd with words of ire New fewell addes vnto old fire O Souldiers that with base neglect Do thus your Countries cause reiect And with a loose forgetfull minde To your owne Ensignes are vnkinde By this meanes you can neuer showe The faith that you the Senate owe. Can this league that you haue renewd Witnesse that Caesar is subdu'd By you and can it be maintain'd Your countries freedome thus is gain'd Beleeue me now you rather goe The way your selues to ouer-throw Will you become proud Caesars slaue Whilst in your hands you weapons haue And whil'st the Victors happy state Depends vpon a doubtfull fate And whilst your sturdy limbes and vaines Not soak't with wounds fresh blood retains Will you as men that ill deserue Vnder condemned Ensignes serue Must Caesar without more adoe Now needs be su'd and sought vnto That he would you vouchsafe the grace To serue in some inferior place And must we that command in chiefe Of Caesar seeke our liues reliefe Oh no that scorne we much disdaine Treason shall not our safety gaine No wicked price can vs retaine This ciuill warre we doe not wage To saue our liues from furies rage Our liberties and Countries cause Vs willingly to dangers drawes What need we deepe mines vndertake For Steele and Iron Armes to make Or why should we our Citties wall And raise huge Ramparts therewithall What need such troopes of Coursers braue As in our Campes we daily haue Or to what vse should we maintaine Such towring Gallions on the maine If we be willing to release Our liberties to gaine a peace A wicked oath our foes doth binde To sue these warres with constant minde And can you with your faiths dispence That is engag'd with iust pretence Need you from guilt to be acquite Because you for your Countrey fight O shamefull and vnmanly act That would such heynous leagues contract Pompey that art estrang'd by Fate From knowledge of the Cities state And Armies dost prepare for warre With aids from Kings remote so farre Perhaps thou buildst vpon our trust Ready to aid thy quarrell iust Thus said againe he sets on fire Their mindes with wicked warres desire ¶ Like as the cruell sauadge beast That long from forrest prey hath ceast Shut vp within a closed cage More mildly bred dis-vsd from rage At length his nature being tam'd To humane bent is brought and fram'd If he againe but taste the smacke Of blood that he so long did lacke And therewith warme his rauening Iawes Will then with furious ramping pawes Thirsty of bloud expose his power His fearefull keeper to deuoure So to all villany they goe And monstrous treachery they show The which vile fact they cloake with night Blinde Fortunes deed and Fates despight For now behold 'twixt bed and boord They brutishly doe bathe the sword VVithin their breasts whom they before VVith deere embracements did deplore And though at first they moaning yearne So to employ their weapons sterne The thirsty sword that peace withstands Offers it selfe into their hands Yet whilst they kill they loath the fact Their faint blowes shew their minds distract But now the Campe is raging hot All faith is brutishly forgot Their rauening hands with blood they glut The sonnes their fathers throats do cut Yet that the Souldiers may be freed As guiltlesse of this heynous deed Before their two great Captaines eyes They did shew forth this bloody prize VVhich sight did them with ioy surprize ¶ But Caesar though thy gallant bands Be thus despoil'd with treacherous hands Yet thou the Gods dost still regard And didst not such reuenge award Vpon thy foes when thou didst stand Triumphant in Pharsalia land
and hides amongst the brakes When by the winde the sent he takes Of bow or shaft or human breath Which he doth shun vnto the death Thus while the hunt with-holds the sounds Of his fleet-hunting wel-mouth'd hounds And therewithall in cooples clogges His Spartane and his Cretan dogges And suffers none the Chase to sue But some old hound that can hunt true· On dry-foots sent with nusling snowt That will not put the beast in rowt With spending of his open iawes But when the tapise neere he drawes Will shake his taile and quiet stand To fit all for the hunters hand Now these huge Raffes with speed they load And then conuey them from the road VVhen as the last of dayes twy-light VVithstood the first approch of night Then Cilix that same Pirate old That did on Pompeys party hold A slight deuisd them to betray VVhen on the seas they were mid-way A long huge chaine there he did sinke And to a rocke the end did linke Of the Ilyrian cliffie shore But lets the first ship passe it ore And so the second in likewise And then the third he did surprise VVith his hook't chaine the which he drew Vnto the shore with her arm'd crew This land doth sheluing hollow lye Ouer the seas strange to the eye VVhereon a tuffe of huge trees growes That on the waues great shadowes strowes Hither from ships by North-windes torne Many dead carkasses are borne And in the creekes a while lye closd But after are againe exposd For when the Cauernes of this bay VVith ebbe returnes his circling sway These whirle-pooles spue vp from their maw More then Charybdis gulfie iaw Here now this Raffe inclosed is Deepe laden with the Colonies Of Opiterge and then the fleet Of enemies about them meet And all about the neighbour strands In Clusters gazing on them stands Vulteius now discerned plaine That he was taken in a traine For of this Raffe he was the chiefe And seeing no meanes of reliefe Nor that this cumbrous tangling chaine By any force would breake in twaine He takes his Armes with doubtfull hope VVhether by flight to compasse scope Or with the sword a passage ope Yet in this hard distressed plight Valour affoords her manly might For being closed in a pownd With thousands that this raffe did rownd Which scarcely had aboord it than One Cohort full the same to man Although not long they maintain'd fight Vntill at last they wanting light The fray was parted by darke night ¶ Then did Vulteius stoutly braue With dreadlesse speech himselfe behaue And cheereth vp his staggering band Amazed with the fate at hand Braue youths quoth he weigh in your breasts This little time of night that rests And do resolue in this short date How you will seeke your latest fate Scarce haue we so long time of breath With leasure to fore-thinke our death More glory we shall giue our end To meet our Fate then it attend Those mindes do merit no lesse praise That dare cut off their doubtfull dayes Then those that shorten doe the scope Of longer yeares that they doe hope For he that doth with his owne fist In sunder breake his life-spun twist A conquest to himselfe hath gain'd Willing to dye comes not constrain'd To scape no meanes vs hope affoords We are empal'd with Romans swords Out-face proud death lay dread aside Freely affect that must betide But let vs not take heed withall Like slaughtred beasts in clusters fall With hostile hands hew'd downe and hack't Be in a cloud obscurely wrack't Or else be slaine whilst night doth last With showres of darts from our foes cast For they that so confusedly Fighting doe intermingled dye True valour shades from sight of eye The Gods on vs this stage bestowes In open view of friends and foes The rowling seas and mountaines hye Shall see our courage death defie This Island witnesse shall the same And to her rockes record our fame The coasts on both sides shall behold Valour vn-vanquisht vn-controld O Fortune we vnwitting are What endlesse fame thou doest prepare Wherewith to glorifie our Fates For all records of future dates That endlesse ages can retaine Our memory shall still maintaine And for our sakes repeat with ruth To constant Mart our spotlesse truth Eternizing our famous youth And Caesar for thy sake we know In this too little we bestow With our owne swords our selues to gore But thus beset we can no more This constant death that we will proue We dedicate vnto thy loue But enuious Fate our praise did grutch And from it hath detracted much In that our Parents and our sonnes With vs none of this fortune runnes Then should they know had we some aid What dauntlesse spirits they way-layd And doubtlesse we should make them feare To mell with vs that such minds beare But they may hold them well-a-paid That no more of our ships they staid For then must they some means haue found For our enlargement to compound And sought with some vaine offers base Our liuing honour to deface O would that now to giue our death One glory more ere our last breath They would but vs some offer make Whereby we might our pardon take That we with scorne might it forsake That thereby they might plainely know How dreadlesse we to death do goe And not as men in hopelesse mood With our own swords coole our own blood Let vs such vertue now expresse That Caesar may with right confesse That he in vs hath vndergone A bloody losse worthy of mone Although we few are but a mite Mongst thousands that for him do fight Though fate would set vs free againe That offer yet would I disdaine Deere mates this life to me is scorne Deaths motiues do my thoughts suborne Fury diuine hath rap't rap't my minde The Gods in fauour haue design'd That we to death should giue our minde To others they such grace deny To thinke it happinesse to dye Because here in this world of strife They should protract a wretched life Now are these noble youths on fire To haste their fates with true desire Who did before gaze on the skies With heauy hearts and watry eyes Expecting death when sunne did rise And did behold with grieuing feare The stooping of the greater Beare Before that they this speech did heare But then they wisht to see dayes light So free they were from deaths affright For now their Captaines glorious words Prouok't their hearts like points of swords The Sphere with all her lampes of night Haste in the seas to plunge their light The Sunne his parting then begins From out the armes of Laeda's twins And now this lofty starre him drawes To lodge more neere to Cancers clawes And for a farewell night imparts With vs her two Thessalian darts ¶ The day spring doth descry abroad How Istrian troopes the Cliffes do load And how the stout Liburnian fleet With Greekish ships in consort meet But
The ship ten times together lifts And that which wondrous is to say She on the waues top still did stay And did not downe decline againe But with a sweeping billowes straine The barke was cast vpon the sands Whereas their last forsaken lands Doth make a narrow hollow bay And there a shore doe safely stay Here at one cast againe possest With all his Fortune so much blest And with so many stately Townes Such Cities and such Regall Crownes But Caesar thus return'd againe And Phoebus rising from the maine He could not so himselfe conceale As when he from his Campe did steale And all his Army did deceaue For now about him clustring cleaue His loyall troopes to see his face But teares a while all ioy did chase And then their Chieftaine they reproue With such complaints as grow from loue Stout Caesar whither now quoth they Did thy rash valour thee convey And to what Fate when thou wert fled VVere we poore soules abandoned VVhy didst thou to vnwilling waues Thy body giue where danger raues VVhen thou well knowst how many frends VVhat peoples safeties liues and ends Onely vpon thy Fate depends And that the world with loue and dread Hath chosen thee her soueraigne head T is inhumanity I say Liâ—e wilfully to cast away VVas none of vs of that desart VVith thee in this to share a part Of all thy friends that yet remaine In this wouldst thou no one retaine Dead sleepe alas did vs deceaue VVhilst that the seas did thee bereaue And thereof we are much asham'd But must this cause therefore be blam'd That thou didst seeke Hesperia land A desperate deed thou took'st in hand In such fierce cruell stormes as these To trust thy selfe with raging seas In most extreames and last of all When doubtfull wrackes we would fore-stall Then men are wont to cut off strife Stoutly to end a loathsome life But thou with all this worlds good blest The seas must be therewith possest Why weariest thou the Gods aboue Fortune hath shewd her care and loue Sufficient if she do no more But thy safe landing on the shore And this may serue thee to debarre From hoped fortune in thy warre No better vse can Caesar make Of that great care the Gods do take For his affaires the earth that swaies And to whose heast all men obayes Then that such grace they him behight To be a happy ship-wrack't wight But whilst they thus expostulate The sunne his beames doth eleuate And so breakes off this dire complaint The swelling seas now growing faint With huge turmoyle her waues deprest When as the windes were laid to rest ¶ And then the leaders of those bands That lay so long in Latium lands Seeing the maine now spent with rage And cleansing Boreas did asswage The lowring gusts of seas and sky They loosd their ships the waues to trye Which long and oft had tryall made Twixt sailers skilfull in their trade And the resisting stubborne windes Which so each other equall bindes That they the broad seas could not scoure And come to Caesar with their power But now aboord the Souldiers get The ships in order they are set When as the night with froward gale Kept Mariners they could not hale Their tackes aboord nor ply their sailes Amongst the ships all order failes So do the Cranes in strained rankes When they forsake Strimonian bankes Shunning the rage of winters frost Go seeke their drinke on Nylus coast And when they first beginne their flight Their rankes so orderly they dight That diuers figures they retaine Whilst they throughout the aire doe straine Vntill at length some Southerne blast Amongst their wings his puffes do cast Wherewith they are inforc'd to flye A higher pitch in windy skye And then confusdly do begin To breake their order filed thin In clusters soaring round together Framing their flight to serue the wether And puts the letter out of square Whose forme in flying first they bare ¶ But with the dauning of the day The winde began to beare a sway Stir'd with the sight of Phoebus face And now it hath this fleete in chase Which as it saild did striue in vaine The shores of Lissus to attaine But yet that land they could not lay Till North-winde gaue the South-winde way And to Nymphaeus port did guide The fleet which Boreas blast deny'd In keeping backe the checking tide Now Pompey sees prouision made From sundry coasts him to inuade And Caesars force at point to Arme From euery place about him swarme So as his Campe must now withstand The daily garboyles neere at hand He doth resolue to place a part His nuptiall care secure from Mart. And vnto Lesbos meanes to send His faire Cornelia there to spend This bloody time remote a farre From clattring Armes and noyse of warre Good God how iust loue rules and bindes Those men that are of worthy mindes Loue so in Pompey breedes remorce That dread and doubt doe warres diuorce For now Cornelia is the cause That he himselfe a while with-drawes From hazarding the doubtful scarre Of Fortune in this ciuill warre When all the world and Roman state Was now exposd to martiall Fate He now wants words to shew his minde And to delayes is whole enclin'd Whereby he may protract euent And trifle Fate in loue-time spent Now when the night was almost past And sleepy rest had lent his last To slumbring eyes Cornelia than Sweetly embracing her good man Seeking withall his lippes to smacke Whose breast deep cares did strain rack To her the whiles he turnes his back When wounded she with blinded feares Seeing his eyes besprent with teares Durst not desire the cause to learne Nor seeme she did his teares discerne Then sighing thus he said Deare wife To me more pleasing then my life Whilst I in happy state did liue But now dost cause of sorrow giue Since that the heauy day I see That our sweet ioyes must parted bee Too short a date for our delight Though all to long to stay from fight For Caesar now is ready prest And warre is onely in request During which time Lesbos shall be A safe retiring place for thee Forbeare requests to me to make I haue resolu'd this course to take And haue denyd mine owne desire Thou shalt not long from me retire But things are now in desperate chaunce And when as ruine doth aduance The greatest states must lead the daunce It may suffise thee still to heare When perils are to Pompey neare But sure thy loue deceiues me farre If thou affect to see this warre How fouly I might be asham'd That now for Mart haue all things fram'd To sleepe securely with my wife Sequestred from this ciuill strife And when the sounding Trumpets shall The wretched world to battaile call That Pompey then with drowsie eyes Should from thy tender bosome rise To wofull Pompey 't were a skorne That he no preiudice hath borne
thou ken thy fortunes scope Fly warres and in the Gods haue hope None now that Armes doe vndertake Will spend their liues for Pompeys sake Whether it be of Affricke soyle The lamentable bloody broyle Or Munda's battaile stain'd with gore Or slaughters on Aegyptian shore Yet after thee there will remaine A great part of Thessalian traine And Pompey will not haue his name So popular with worldly fame As for thy sake like warres to wage But from hence forth in euery age The faction of the warre will be Twixt Caesars state and libertie And though that thou the warres dost flee The Senate to the death will fight To hold their owne and freedomes right ¶ Canst thou in this finde no reliefe That thus repulst thou shunst the griefe To see the slaughtred heapes that lye Looke backe againe and cast thine eye Vpon the riuers crimson staine Clotted with gore of bodies slaine Be-pitty then proud Caesars vaine Thinke what remorse will straine his breast When he shall enter Rome opprest With griefe for her deare people lost Gain'd to Pharsalia at her cost When thou therefore thy selfe shalt see Banisht in forraigne Realmes to bee What euer fortunes thou shalt finde Endure it with a manly minde And whatsoeuer misery Vnder the Pharian tyranny Shall thee befall with patience dure And in the Gods thy hopes assure And as the Fates affoord their grace Beare with the changes of times space The conquest would haue harm'd the more Do not therefore thy hap deplore Forbid the people to lament All teares and lamentations stent The world will Pompey as much good In his low ebbe as in his flood O doe not now with lookes deiected Behold those Kings thou hast subiected Suruey the Citties wonne by thee And kingdomes that thou gau'st in fee. Aegypt and Lybia thou maist trye Chuse out the land where thou wouldst dye ¶ Larissas Citty was the place That first beheld thy noble face After this foyle by Fortunes scorne Yet saw thee not as one forlorne Her Citizens and chiefe estates With all their force passe through their gates To meet thee as thy loyall frends And wayling many presents sends Their houses and their Temples vast They did set open as he past And wish't that they had partners beene With him in all his bloody teene So as a great deale yet remain'd Of that great name he earst retain'd Though lesse now then thy selfe alone Thy power may once againe be showne And Nations with thee led from farre So to restore thy state by warre But oh quoth he what should a man Whom Fates from victory do ban The aid of men or Townes receaue Vnto the Conquerour bequeaue Your faiths and to his fauours cleaue ¶ But Caesar thou dost ouer-stride And march as yet on euery side Vpon the bowels and the breasts As they in heaped slaughters rests Of thine owne Countries wofull fall Thy son-in-law now quits thee all Away the Courser Pompey beares Follow'd with many sighes and teares And on the cruell Destinies The people powre out cursed cries Now Pompey dost thou truly finde The faith that thy deserts did binde For now the fruits thereof they show Prosperity no loue can know ¶ When Caesar saw of Latium gore The fields did flote with ample store He bids them now forbeare their swords And to poore soules he grace affoords For all was subiect to their hands T was vaine to kill those hope-lost bands That for their liues at mercy stands But lest the standing Campe might be A safe retrait to those that flee And to enioy the quiet night VVithout alarmes or new affright He meant to vndertake the venter On Pompeys Campe and it to enter VVhilst fortune now was hot in blood And all in maze and terror stood Not doubting but his men were prest Herein to yeeld vnto his hest Although that they were all growne faint VVith long fight and with heate attaint But souldiers small perswasions need To lead them to receiue their meed Or to prepare them to a pray Yet Caesar thus to them did say Souldiers quoth he your valiant proes Hath wonne full conquest on your foes And for the blood drawne from your vains Rewards and Honors now remaines VVhich to performe I hold my part Yet that which due is to desart I will not tearme a gift to bee Each one shall giue himselfe his fee. Behold the Tents before your eyes Where gold and siluer heaped lies Here is lockt vp in many a Chest The treasure taken from the west The pretious Easterne Implements Doth stuffe and cloy their glorious Tents The Fortunes that are gotten hither Of Pompey and of Kings together Doe but attend to be a pray Vnto the victor haste your way To come before them to the place Whom now you following haue in chase He said no more but their desire Whom greedy gaine had set on fire Did head-long driue them without feare Thorow the swords their way to teare And on their fathers bones to tread Spurning the Captaines that lay dead What Ditch or Rampart could suffise To hold them out whom such a prize And booty of the warre inuites They now wold know to ease their sprights The gaines of all their bloody fights ¶ And here lay lodg'd to maintain mart Many great treasures set a part Heap't vp together in a whoord Spoyles that the whole world did affoord Yet for all this they could not finde Sufficient to content their minde What gold is found in Ibers sands Or Tagus casts vpon her strands Or all those heapes of pretious graines Dig'd out of Arimaspus vaines Is made their spoyle and yet they thought It not enough but deerely bought For now their conquering hopes deuoures The spoyle of the Tarpeian Towers And promise to themselues a day That Rome and all shall be their pray But yet therein they are deceiu'd The Tents are to their spoyle bequeau'd The wicked souldiers and base Slowches Do sleepe on the Patrician Couches The Kings pauillions and their beds Are roomes for slaues to lay their heads Their brothers Cabins some invested Some where their fathers lately rested Their slaughtring bloody members nested And those whom rauing slumbers haunts And frightfull dreames in sleeping daunts Doe tosse in their afflicted sprights The cruell late Pharsalian fights Their bloody facts possesse their eyes The rage of Armes their mindes agrise And without swords about them goes Their hands as they were dealing blowes ¶ A man would thinke the very fields And balefull lands those visions yeelds And that some apparitions strange Of ghosts that putred aire did range And that by night the fearfull shapes Of Stygian sprights their sences rapes This victory with heauy straines Requites the victors worthlesse paines Hissing of Serpents in their dreames And firie flames cast forth huge streames Slaine Citizens to them appeare And each one hath his priuate feare One sees in sleepe an old mans face And other lusty youths in place One doth his brothers
th' Antipodes Did then behold so as nor wee Nor they could then his full eye see But Pompey now could take no rest So many cares torment his breast Sometimes he calles vnto his minde How many Cities were combin'd By league vnto the Roman state How many Kings confederate Of diuers humors tooke their part Whom he might draw againe to Mart. Sometimes he thinkes vpon the South Whose lands the Sunne hath parch't with drouth And thus a world of cares and toyle In his perplexed breast doe broyle Sometimes in hope to leuy Armes Sometimes in dread of future harmes Then with the Maister he confarres About the motions of the starres And how the Coasts and lands doe lye The signes of weather in the skye And when 't is fit to hull or trye Or else with sailes to cut the deepes What starre the Syrian quarters keepes Or what starre in the waine best stands To guide a course for Lybian lands ¶ This skilfull Pilot that had oft And long these Nauall Courses sought And secret mysteries of the skies In this sort vnto him replies We neuer wretched Mariners Do make our recknings by those starres That wandring still rowle to and froe We might be much deceiued so But such as do not range nor role But are still fixed neere the pole And neuer in Neptunus deepes His fiery twinkling torchet steepes But alwayes shines in one set place By it we doe direct our race And when this starre aloft doth tend And that the lesser Beare is kend Iust poynting on my maine yards end The Bospheros maine we doe explore And Seas that Circle Scythias shore But if Arctophilax discend The least poynt from our Top-masts end And that the little Beare appeare Vnto the seas somewhat more neere For Syrias ports our course we steere But with Canopas South we runne For he the Northerne clime doth shunne Or if he keepe our Larbord side And so our helme for Pharos guide Then in the middle of that maine Our ships vpon the Syrts might straine ¶ But now I would be glad to know Your will and whither you would goe And what coast fits best your auaile Accordingly to set our saile Pompey to this vnconstantly With doubtfull humour doth reply Alwayes quoth he for our behoofe See in those seas you keepe aloofe That are from Thessaly remote And neere Hesperia do not flote Shunne you those seas or shores to finde Commit the rest vnto the winde My wife aboord with me shall stay From Lesbos I tooke her away Thither I did a due course bend But Fortune now a port must lend Thus hauing said the Pilot hailes The Marriners do cut their sailes The sheats that equally inclin'd But spooned iust before the wind He veares now to the larboord side One tacke vnto the prow he tide The other on the sturne belayes And to Assinas coast assaies And where the surging billow shockes Alongst the Isle of Chyos rockes Now angry Neptune frothing chides Whilst that the ship thus stemmes the tides And all the while she holds her course He roring fometh worse and worse With no such ease and speedy change The Coach-man can his Charret range From right hand to the left hand side When he his trampling steeds would guide And circling wheeles about doth trend First to attaine his races end Phoebus vnto the world giues light And dimmes the stars that shines by night When those that now did scattring flye From this late storme in Thessaly With all speed after Pompey runne And on the seas he meetes his sonne Yet scarce cleare of the Lesbian coast And then more Princes of his hoast That earst to him had faithfull bin And in this state he now was in A fugitiue and ouer-throwne Did still to him their loue make knowne And many Kings with martiall traines That in the Easterne clymats raignes And other Lords of powerfull states For all his wracked exil'd fates Stood firme his faithfull constant mates King Deiotarus one of those That scap't away with Caesars foes Did follow Pompey in his flight And was employ'd to raise new might To him his charge in these words giues Thou faithfulst king to me that liues Since that the Roman power and host In the Aemathian fight is lost Go try the fauour of the East As those that need feare Caesar least The Nations that the waters drinkes Of Euphrates and Tygris brinkes To Pompey it shall be no griefe In this distresse to craue reliefe Of Medes whereby to wage new warre And Scythians though remote so farre But vtterly to change our clyme And vse requests in this hard time To proud Arsaces for his aid And if old leagues be not decay'd But still in memory are borne Then by that God that I haue sworne The thundring Ioue of Latium land And by that holy reuerent band Of Magi that your oathes did binde Prepare your selues in warlike kinde Your quiuers fill with shaft and dart And your Armenian bowes for Mart Bended with strings of Getan Art And if ô Parthians heretore To warre on you I haue forbore When I did range the Caspian maine And with my Army did constraine The fierce Alani to my yoke And neuer did the Parthes prouoke None did destroy or seeke their soyle Nor did enforce them to entoyle Themselues their children and their wiues For safe-gard of their goods and liues Within the Babylonian walles Nor euer sought to make them thralles But when I conquer'd Persean Realmes And the Caldean vtmost streames Swift Ganges and Hydaspis fierce That through the Eastern lands doth pierce Wasting Nyseas ancient walles And so into the Ocean falles Where Phoebus lifts his shining face I neerer Parthes then Persia was Yet when I had subdu'd all these My Armes in nought did them disease Nor yet were they mongst all the rest For honour of my triumphes prest They onely were exempt by me Of all the Easterne Kings as free With such desert I did them binde And shall I Parthes vngratefull finde Nay more then this Arsaces race At Pompeys hand hath found like grace For after that same bloody strife Where Crassus lost his host and life What Romans could their hands containe From Parthes that all our host had slaine Oblig'd to me by such desarts Let them the like shew on their parts Now let the Parthes with Trumpets sounds Breake out in force beyond their bounds And Zeugma that same Palean Towne Let them surprise or batter downe Yee Parthes for Pompey conquest gaine To conquer Rome is worth your paine The King did no refusall make This hard request to vndertake But presently aside did lay His Royall Robe and rich array And in the habit him attires Of one of his inferior Squires T is safe for Kings in ieopardie To counterfeit base pouerty How much therefore doth lowly need For safety greatest Kings exceed Freer from dangers and from dreed The King in this sort set on shore Pompey
But manfully the stroke did bide And onely turn'd his face aside And from his place he neuer moues But dying so himselfe approues And thus resolues within his thought Who then this villany had wrought All after times that vs succeedes And doe record the Romans deedes This wicked act will not obscure But whilst the heauen and earth endure To all parts of the world will flye This sippe and Pharian perfidie But Pompey now thy fame intend Fate long thee happy life did lend And didst thou not by dying trye The valour that in thee doth lye How should men know that as thou list Aduersity thou couldst resist Giue then no way to others shame Nor yet this actor onely blame Though others hand thy life hath wrack't Beleeue it to be Caesars fact Let them my carkasse rent at will O Gods I shall be famous still No power this happinesse can rend Though Fortune bee no more my frend I am not wretched in my end My deere Cornelia and my sonne Doe see this slaughter on me done And therefore Sorrow I thee pray Shut vp my woes and all dismay But if my wife and sonne see this With griefe their loue the greater is Such was the fortresse of his minde Thus stout in death he life resign'd ¶ But now Cornelias patience Could not so easily dispence To see this deed on Pompey done As if her selfe that hap had runne So as with wretched sighes and cries She dimmes the aire and filles the skies O my deere husband I am she That thus hath bred the wracke of thee When Lesbos Isle with fatall stay Drew thee so farre out of the way Then Caesars plots arriu'd before Thy selfe on damned Nylus shore For who else durst take liberty On thee to shew such cruelty But whosoeuer that thou bee Ordain'd thereto by heauens decree Or else by Caesars hest design'd Or from thine owne corrupted minde Vpon his head such rage to shew O cruell thou dost little know Where noble Pompeys heart doth rest Come with thy sword and pierce this breast That vnto him is vowd and bent That more then death would him torment Shew my head ere his life be spent I am not guiltlesse of this warre As other Roman matrons are For neither I vpon the maine Nor in the Campe did him refraine I stucke to him in misery VVhen Kings did shunne his company Haue I O husband this deeseru'd In thy safe ship to be preseru'd Vngratefull man thou spard'st thy wife Was I then worthy of my life When death on thee his force would trye No I in spight of Kings will dye O Marriners stay not my veaze Headlong to plunge into the seas Or with your hands prepare a twine That strangle may this throate of mine Or some one that was Pompeys frend Come with thy sword and my life end Thou shalt doe that for Pompeys sake Which Caesars fury else will take O cruell wights why should you giue Me longer life that loath to liue But husband mine thou art not dead Of my selfe yet I am not head Of these my death I cannot craue The victor must that honour haue So hauing said amidst them all Rapt with a trance shee downe did fall And thence was borne in mazed plight In her owne shippe that then tooke flight ¶ But thogh their swords from side to side Had pierc't him through with gashes wide Hee still retain'd within his face A sweete aspect and reuerent grace His browes against the Gods hee bent And when his life was gone and spent Yet in his lookes or in his cheare No change at all there did appeare As they themselues did make report That saw him murdred in that sort For cruell hee Septimius To make his act more odious His sacred face laid open bare The couering vaile hee rent and tare And whilst the head yet breathes with sweat Hee takes it vp and thwart a seat The lithy hanging necke hee puts And so the veines and sinewes cuts Then long he hackes the knotty bone To cut it cleane he Art had none But with his hewing that he makes From off the corpes the head he takes The which Achillas from him teares And in his hand it proudly beares O Roman Souldier slauish base That woulds thy selfe so much disgrace To be an vnderling to such For since thy hand had done so much Vpon that head of so great fame Thou shouldst thy selfe haue borne the same O shamefull Fates this boyish King When they to him the head did bring That he might know his manly looke The same in his right hand he tooke And by the haire he did it hold Those reuerent lockes now hoary old That had so many Kings controld And shadowed his comely brow This noble head he pitcheth now Vpon a Pharian sharpned stake Whilst yet with life the cheekes did quake And whilst with throbs the spirits beat And ere the eyes were throughly set So was this honored head abusd That neuer peace for warre refusd The Countries lawes the armed field And Rostrum did him reuerence yeeld That noble face that braue aspect The Romane fortune did affect But yet this wicked Tyrants heart Was not suffisd with this vile part For he desires his villany Might goe beyond his perfidy And when they cleansd his head and braine So as no humors should remaine To putrifie then Art they vse To keepe the face and balme enfuse ¶ Thou off-spring last degenerate Of Lagus line art neere thy date For thy incestious sisters hand Shall reaue thy scepter and thy land Must Pompeys corpes with so great scorne Lye on the sands mangled and torne And thence be cast from side to side Against the rockes with euery tide Whilst that thy Macedonian race In sacred sepulchers haue place And that their ashes quiet rest With Graues and Monuments possest And damned ghosts of wicked mood Come from the Ptolmean brood Be closd in Pyramids of fame And with Mausolas worthy frame Was it a worke of so great paine To let the corpes entire remaine That Caesar might behold it plaine Hath Fortune after all her smiles Thus Pompey foyl'd with her last guiles Are all those glories him assignd Shut vp with death of such a kinde O cruell dame must all thy threapes Fall all on him at once in heapes That neuer earst did feele mis-happe But alwayes dandled in thy lappe Pompey is hee that this can say Hee neuer yet saw lucky day Mingled with any crosse dismay His happy fate without stoppe goes None of the Gods did it oppose But when his ruine was decreed They laid on load and made quicke speed Fortune sometimes did him aduance And by the hand leades him in dance But now on sands hee lyes ore-flowne And on the rockes with billowes throwne And as a scorne in seas is drownd Where waues make gutters through each wound No forme in him is to bee found Pompey hath no marke to be
Vnto iust warre draw on their swords And their loose minds whom pleasure feeds He then recals to martiall deeds And patiently warres brunt to beare With industrie and free from feare ¶ And first of all vpon the sands He traines and drawes them out in bands Then next to that they do inuest Cyrenas wals and it possest And though that towne had him refusde Yet he on them no rigor vsd For Cato no reuenge would take To conquer did his anger slake Thence he his speedie march designes To Iubas kingdome whose confines Confront the Mauritanian lands But that the Syrts his course withstands Amidst his way although he thought All difficulties might be brought To passe by vertues dantlesse prowes When nature did at first dispose These Syrts and shapt their figure out She left it to the world in doubt Whether it should be land or seas For vtterly it doth not please To sinke it selfe beneath the maine Nor yet the land can so restraine The waues but they will haue a share And such a dangerous place prepare That there to trauell none shall dare For here the Sea doth channels straine And there the lands do rise againe Here is a long stretcht tracke of shore And there the swallowing whirlepooles rore So nature wretchedly designde This portion of her proper kinde Vnto no vse or else of old Those Syrts more waues in them did hold And with the Seas were ouer rowld But that atractiue Titans beames Feeding vpon the ocean streames That to the torrid zone were nie Some of the weltring waues did drie And yet the Ocean in despight Resisteth Phoebus parching might But yet his beames as they draw neare And wearing time those seas will cleare And make the Syrts firme land appeare For scarcely now a little boate Can on the superficies flote Of those drown'd sands where water stayes And more and more that sea decayes ¶ As soone as by the helpe of oares The fleet was gotten from the shores Into the deepes with all their fraight The blacke Southwind blowing a haight Out of his region stormy gales Farre from her course the nauie hales And with huge tempests that he sends Those seas attempted now defends Farre from the Syrts the waues he beates Against the cliffes the billow freates And all the ships that sailes did beare The tempest from the yards did teare In vaine the tackling and the shrouds Their sailes deny'd to those fierce clouds But ouer boord away are borne Fluttering at large their ships they scorne And if that any sayler stout Vnto the yards do goe about To fixe the sailes with cordage fast He 's borne away with whirlwind blast And from the naked yard is cast But all those ships found better chance That in the lofty billows dance And still aloofe their course did keepe Amidst the channels in the deepe And by the boord did cut their masts Lesse subiect thereby to the blasts So as the tides had power on them And in despight with force did stemme The puffing windes full in the mouth And bare those vessels to the South The other ships the water sailes Their Keeles vpon those hye sands trayles That lifts it selfe aboue the flood So as in doubtfull state they stood The shelfe the one part doth detaine The other part hangs in the maine And as the billowes comes more thicke The faster in the sholes they sticke For though the forcing Southerne racke Rowles one waue on anothers backe Yet all those waues could not suffise To drench the shelfe where it did rise This hugy heape of cluttered sand Vncouered now lay farre from land And higher vnto sight was rear'd Then Neptunes rugged backe appear'd The wretched Saylers there are grounded The ships vpon the shelfe confounded So farre that they no shore can spye And in the seas thus beating lye Yet of this fleet the greater part With bitter stirrage got the start Of these and safely scap't away Taking their best course as it lay With skilfull Pilots that did know The coasts and where the channels goe And so at length by chance they light On that slow streame that 's Tryton hight ¶ That God as old reports do tell Which with his ringing Trumpe of shell Makes all the maine his sound to heare With windy notes so shrill and cleare Of riuers all loues this most deare And Pallas like esteeme did make That of Ioues braine her birth did take For that same Lybian Region Was first land that she trode vpon And is vnto the heauens most neare As by his heates it doth appeare In whose smooth waters christall shine She then did see her face diuine And there her plants she did dispose And to her selfe the name she chose Of Trytonesse where this streame flowes Neare which as fame reports likewise The silent Laethe doth arise That with infernall veines is fed By which forgetfulnesse is bred Here also was conioyn'd to these The garden of Hesperides Despoiled of her leaues so bright Kept by the waking Dragons might That man is spitefull of condition That will detract from old tradition Or call the Poets to accompt For ought which may the truth surmount This golden groue of treasures store Whose boughs such shining apples bore A troope of virgins guarded still Whose glistring streames the aire did fill And that soule Serpents charge to keepe Whose eyes are aye debard of sleepe And with his taile the trunks infold That stoope with ouerwaight of gold But great Alcydes tooke away From these rich trees the pretious pray And did those shining apples bring To Euristaeus Argiues king The nauie so cast on this caost And from the Syrts so clearely tost Past not as yet beyond the shore Of Gaeramants where as they more But Sextus with his troops staid there Where Affricks climes more pleasant were Though Catos valor brooks no stay But with his cohorts takes his way Through coasts vnknown where dangers lay His confidence in armes did stand And circuits all the Syrts by land And this the winters wroth perswades That then did barre those seas of trades Besides the fires of Phoebus rayes The falling showres then much allayes So as his iourney he might hold Neither opprest with heate nor cold For where the flaming heate did rage The dewy season doth asswage So through the barren sands he venters And vsd this speech before he enters ¶ O ye that with one common will Dauntlesse to hold your fre edome still Do follow me with such content Let now your minds be wholy bent To vndergoe this valours taske That toyle and constancy doth aske We goe into the barren fields Of clymats scorcht that nothing yeelds Where Tytan parcheth all the ground And fountaines rarely to be found Whereas the lands in plenty brings Forth serpents with their poysnous stings A iourney that with horror rings Let therefore those whom deare loue drawes To freedome and his Countries cause March on through Lybia with mee And search
out wayes that waylesse bee If so be they haue no desire To leaue our Ensignes and retire But are resolu'd for vertues hire For it is no part of my minde Mens eyes with fallacies to blinde Nor yet the Souldiers hearts to cheere By cloking dangers that draw neere For I of such mates must bee sped That freely are by dangers led By such as Roman worth esteeme And hardest haps the brauest deeme That can indure the toyles of Mart Whilst I a witnesse share my part But for that souldier that shall need One to assure him happy speed And holds his life at so deare rate That he will euery doubt debate Let him another leader seeke And finde a way he more may leeke Before that I do take in hand This iourney through this parched sand And march vpon this dustie land And let these parching heates first light On me withall their fierie might And let the Serpents me assaile With poysned teeth and venom'd taile Let all those perils that you dread Be tried first vpon my head Let him that sees that I am drie Refresh himselfe as well as I. Or that the wooddy shades I seeke Let him then panting do the like Or sees that I a horsebacke ride And so my troops of footmen guide Let him likewise for ease prouide Or if as chiefetaine I doe craue Any prerogatiue to haue Before the souldier vnder me But cheeke by cheeke his mate wil be These drouths these thirsts these snakes these sands Chiefely with valors liking stands Patience takes ioy in bitter bands A worthy act holdes greatest state When it is bought at dearest rate And Lybias clime such store doth yeeld Of miseries in euery field As that it may without defame Become braue men to shun the same So he these souldiers fearefull sprites To valarous attempts encites And to the loue of Martiall broiles In desert paths he wandring toiles Through endlesse wayes a passage made He doth the Lybian coast inuade So dreadlesse Cato in short date Lights on a place to close his fate Whereas a slender tombe shall shrine Within her wombe his name diuine The third part of this massie round If we beleeue what fame doth sound Is Affrica but if we take The same as heauen and winds do make Of Europe then it is a share For Nylus shores no further are From Gades as first it was a land Then Scythian Tanais doth stand And whereas Europe is descyded From Lybs it was by sea deuided· But Asia did Europa passe And in his circuit greater was So whilst these two do iointly send South-westerne blasts that Noth-east tend Asia alone on lefter hand Coniynd to Boreas chilly land And on the right to that South streame The confines of Egyptian realme From these two limits is possest Of all the title of the East The parts of Lybia chiefe and best Enclining is vnto the West And yet no fountains there are found And seldome showres to moist the ground That from the Artick clime proceeds Yet our dry winds their moisture breeds That mould in it no wealth doth hold Either of brasse or yet of gold No wicked mines therein haue birth But all the soyle is sollid earth In Mauritania trees do grow Whose worth the people did not know But to themselues contentment giue Vnder the Cytrons shade to liue Our axes since these woods haue feld That meerely were vnknowne to eld And from the worlds remotest side We brought our luxurie and pride ¶ But all the coasts both neare and farre That with the Syrts inuiron'd are With too much heate are ouer-run And parched with the neighbor Sun As that their graine it doth destroy And all their Vines the dust doth cloy No moistned roote the same doth feed Nor vitall temper it will breed The Gods that soile do not respect And nature stupid with neglect That land of comfort doth depriue Those dead sands no spring can reuiue And yet in this dull barren ground Rare herbs and plants are often found The which the Nasamons finde out And gather vp a people stout That naked are and those coasts keepes Which frontiers all alongst the deepes And with the wracke themselues do nourish Of ships that on the Syrts do perish For alwaies they in waite do stand For pillage on the Ocean sand When as the ships cannot attaine The port their wealth and spoyle they gaine So as these Nasmons hold commerce And trade with all the Vniuerse In manner of Barbarian kinde By wracks that on their shore they finde This wretched way Cato seekes out There to lead on with courage stout And there his souldiers to inure More stormes then on the seas endure For that the Syrts southwinds do cause Vpon those sands most harmefull flawes For there no Lybian mounts suffise To stay the furie that doth rise Nor yet the rocks their force asswage But in the aire those whirlewinds rage Amongst the woods they do not fall Rooting vp hugie trees withall But flie alongst the parched plaine Without resist with might and maine And on the sands their rage bestowes The which it violently blowes And neuer is alaid againe With any clouds of showring raine But sweeps in heapes the sands on hie Which hang and doe not scattring flie ¶ The wretched Nasmons thus behold Their kingdome still with tempests rowld Their houses to the earth downe throwne Their roofs with whirlewinds fury blowne From off their Garamantine frames Towring as high as hugest flames And as the smokes ascention Vnto the middle region Which darkenesse to the day procures So clouds of dust the aire obscures The Roman troops began to finde The outrage of this whirling wind More furiously them to assaile So as their footing did them faile For euen the very sands did fleete And slip from vnderneath their feete The earths foundation it had rac't And from his proper seate displac't If that these winds had made their birth Within the Cauerns of the Earth And crept into the hollow docks That are surcharg'd with Lybias rocks But for because the flitting sand Doth not the forcing wind withstand Nor make resistance with firme ground The soyles foundation did stand sound And that which fled before the winde Were vpper sands loose vncombinde But there withall so forciblie The violent blasts amongst them flie As that from them it takes and teares Their swords their casks their shields and speares And through the vacant aire them beares The which to other coasts might seeme A prodigy of streaming esteeme As though those armes from heauen did fall To terrifie the world withall And that which from mens hands was hent The Gods downe to the earth had sent Surely those armes fell in such wise Whilst Numa was in sacrifise The which in a religious feare The chiefe Patrician youths did weare So now their armes our souldiers lost By South or Northerne tempest tost ¶ In this sort all our Romane troopes Scar'd with these winds down prostrate droops Fearing