The Crossing of the Rubicon 

Wars worse than civil on Emathian plains, 
And crime let loose we sing; how Rome's high race 
Plunged in her vitals her victorious sword; 
Armies akin embattled, with the force 
Of all the shaken earth bent on the fray; 
And burst asunder, to the common guilt, 
A kingdom's compact; eagle with eagle met, 
Standard to standard, spear opposed to spear. 

Whence, citizens, this rage, this boundless lust 
To sate barbarians with the blood of Rome? 
Did not the shade of Crassus, wandering still, 
Cry for his vengeance? Could ye not have spoiled, 
To deck your trophies, haughty Babylon? 
Why wage campaigns that send no laurels home? 
What lands, what oceans might have been the prize 
Of all the blood thus shed in civil strife! 
Where Titan rises, where night hides the stars, 
'Neath southern noons all quivering with heat, 
Or where keen frost that never yields to spring 
In icy fetters binds the Scythian main: 
Long since barbarians by the Eastern sea 
And far Araxes' stream, and those who know 
(If any such there be) the birth of Nile 
Had felt our yoke. Then, Rome, upon thyself 
With all the world beneath thee, if thou must, 
Wage this nefarious war, but not till then. 

Now view the houses with half-ruined walls 
Throughout Italian cities; stone from stone 
Has slipped and lies at length; within the home 
No guard is found, and in the ancient streets so 
Scarce seen the passer by. The fields in vain, 
Rugged with brambles and unploughed for years, 
Ask for the hand of man; for man is not. 
Nor savage Pyrrhus nor the Punic horde 
E'er caused such havoc: to no foe was given 
To strike thus deep; but civil strife alone 
Dealt the fell wound and left the death behind. 
Yet if the fates could find no other way 
For Nero coming, nor the gods with ease 
Gain thrones in heaven; and if the Thunderer 
Prevailed not till the giant's war was done, 
Complaint is silent. For this boon supreme 
Welcome, ye gods, be wickedness and crime; 
Thronged with our dead be dire Pharsalia's fields, 
Be Punic ghosts avenged by Roman blood; 
Add to these ills the toils of Mutina; 
Perusia's dearth; on Munda's final field 
The shock of battle joined; let Leucas' Cape 
Shatter the routed navies; servile hands 
Unsheath the sword on fiery Etna's slopes: 
Still Rome is gainer by the civil war. 
Thou, Caesar, art her prize. When thou shalt choose, 
Thy watch relieved, to seek divine abodes, 
All heaven rejoicing; and shalt hold a throne, 
Or else elect to govern Phoebus' car 
And light a subject world that shall not dread 
To owe her brightness to a different Sun; 
All shall concede thy right: do what thou wilt, 
Select thy Godhead, and the central clime 
Whence thou shalt rule the world with power divine. 
And yet the Northern or the Southern Pole 
We pray thee, choose not; but in rays direct 
Vouchsafe thy radiance to thy city Rome. 
Press thou on either side, the universe 
Should lose its equipoise: take thou the midst, 
And weight the scales, and let that part of heaven 
Where Caesar sits, be evermore serene 
And smile upon us with unclouded blue. 
Then may all men lay down their arms, and peace 
Through all the nations reign, and shut the gates 
That close the temple of the God of War. 
Be thou my help, to me e'en now divine! 
Let Delphi's steep her own Apollo guard, 
And Nysa keep her Bacchus, uninvoked. 
Rome is my subject and my muse art thou! 

First of such deeds I purpose to unfold 
The causes -- task immense -- what drove to arms 
A maddened nation, and from all the world 
Struck peace away. 

By envious fate's decrees 
Abide not long the mightiest lords of earth; 
Beneath too heavy a burden great the fall. 
Thus Rome o'ergrew her strength. So when that hour, 
The last in all the centuries, shall sound 
The world's disruption, all things shall revert 
To that primaeval chaos, stars on stars 
Shall crash; and fiery meteors from the sky 
Plunge in the ocean. Earth shall then no more 
Front with her bulwark the encroaching sea: 
The moon, indignant at her path oblique, 
Shall drive her chariot 'gainst her brother Sun 
And claim the day for hers; and discord huge 
Shall rend the spheres asunder. 
On themselves 
Great powers are dashed: such bounds the gods have placed 
Upon the prosperous; nor doth Fortune lend 
To any nations, so that they may strike 
The sovereign power that rules the earth and sea, 
The weapons of her envy. Triple reign 
And baleful compact for divided power -- 
Ne'er without peril separate before -- 
Made Rome their victim. Oh! Ambition blind, 
That stirred the leaders so to join their strength 
In peace that ended ill, their prize the world! 
For while the Sea