engthen'd thy command in France;
But law being put to silence by the wars,
We, from her houses driven, most willingly
Suffer'd exile: let thy sword bring us home, 280
Now, while their part is weak and fears, march hence:
Where men are ready lingering ever hurts.[602]
In ten years wonn'st thou France: Rome may be won
With far less toil, and yet the honour's more;
Few battles fought with prosperous success
May bring her down, and with her all the world.
Nor shalt thou triumph when thou com'st to Rome,
Nor Capitol be adorn'd with sacred bays;
Envy denies all; with thy blood must thou
Aby thy conquest past:[603] the son decrees 290
To expel the father: share the world thou canst not;
Enjoy it all thou mayst." Thus Curio spake;
And therewith Caesar, prone enough to war,
Was so incens'd as are Elean[604] steeds.
With clamours, who, though lock'd and chain'd in stalls,[605]
Souse[606] down the walls, and make a passage forth.
Straight summon'd he his several companies
Unto the standard: his grave look appeas'd
The wrestling tumult, and right hand made silence;
And thus he spake: "You that with me have borne 300
A thousand brunts, and tried me full ten years,
See how they quit our bloodshed in the north,
Our friends' death, and our wounds, our wintering
Under the Alps! Rome rageth now in arms
As if the Carthage Hannibal were near;
Cornets of horse are muster'd for the field;
Woods turn'd to ships; both land and sea against us.
Had foreign wars ill-thriv'd, or wrathful France
Pursu'd us hither, how were we bested,
When, coming conqueror, Rome afflicts me thus? 310
Let come their leader[607] whom long peace hath quail'd,
Raw soldiers lately press'd, and troops of gowns,
Babbling[608] Marcellus, Cato whom fools reverence!
Must Pompey's followers, with strangers' aid
(Whom from his youth he brib'd), needs make him king?
And shall he triumph long before his time,
And, having once got head, still shall he reign?
What should I talk of men's corn reap'd by force,
And by him kept of purpose for a dearth?
Who sees not war sit by the quivering judge, 320
And sentence given in rings of naked swords,
And laws assail'd, and arm'd men in the senate?
'Twas his