C.D. Warner, et al., comp. The Library of the World’s Best Literature.
An Anthology in Thirty Volumes. 1917.
Claudius Claudianus (c. 370–404): Invocation to Victory
By Roman Poets of the Later Empire
W
Went up to the hero, while over his head,
Inviolate Victory, bodied before us
Wide, wide in the ether, her pinions outspread!
O guardian Goddess of Rome in her splendor!
O radiant Palm-bearer in trophies arrayed,
Who only the spirit undaunted canst render,
Who healest the wounds that our foemen had made!
I know not thy rank in the heavenly legion,—
If thou shinest a star in the Dictæan crown,
Or art girt by the fires of the Leonine region,
Or bearest Ione’s sceptre, or winnest renown
From the shield of Minerva, or soothest in slumber
The War-god, aweary when battles are o’er;
But come, all the prayers of thy chosen to number,
Oh, welcome to Latium! Leave us no more!