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(From Pharsalia)
Translated by Nicholas Rowe
BETWEEN the higher and inferior sea | |
| The long-extended mountain takes his way; | |
| Pisa and Ancon bound his sloping sides, | |
| Washed by the Tyrrhene and Dalmatic tides; | |
| Rich in the treasure of his watery stores, | 5 |
| A thousand living springs and streams he pours, | |
| And seeks the different seas by different shores. | |
| From his left falls Crustumium’s rapid flood, | |
| And swift Metaurus red with Punic blood; | |
| There gentle Sapis with Isaurus joins, | 10 |
| And Sena there the Senones confines; | |
| Rough Aufidus the meeting ocean braves, | |
| And lashes on the lazy Adria’s waves; | |
| Hence vast Eridanus with matchless force, | |
| Prince of the streams, directs his regal course; | 15 |
| Proud with the spoils of fields and woods he flows, | |
| And drains Hesperia’s rivers as he goes. | |
| His sacred banks, in ancient tales renowned, | |
| First by the spreading poplar’s shade were crowned; | |
| When the sun’s fiery steeds forsook their way, | 20 |
| And downward drew to earth the burning day; | |
| When every flood and ample lake was dry, | |
| The Po alone his channel could supply. | |
| Hither rash Phaeton was headlong driven, | |
| And in these waters quenched the flames of heaven. | 25 |
| Nor wealthy Nile a fuller stream contains, | |
| Though wide he spreads o’er Egypt’s flatter plains; | |
| Nor Ister rolls a larger torrent down, | |
| Sought he the sea with waters all his own; | |
| But meeting floods to him their homage pay, | 30 |
| And heave the blended river on his way. | |
| These from the left; while from the right there come | |
| The Rutuba and Tiber dear to Rome; | |
| Thence slides Vulturnus’ swift descending flood, | |
| And Sarnus hid beneath his misty cloud; | 35 |
| Thence Lyris, whom the Vestin fountains aid, | |
| Winds to the sea through close Marica’s shade; | |
| Thence Siler through Silernian pastures falls, | |
| And shallow Macra creeps by Luna’s walls. | |
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