Meets in one period. If cold noisome Saturn 650
Were now exalted, and with blue beams shin'd,
Then Ganymede[648] would renew Deucalion's flood,
And in the fleeting sea the earth be drench'd.
O Phoebus, shouldst thou with thy rays now singe
The fell Nemaean beast, th' earth would be fir'd,
And heaven tormented with thy chafing heat:
But thy fires hurt not. Mars, 'tis thou inflam'st
The threatening Scorpion with the burning tail,
And fir'st his cleys:[649] why art thou thus enrag'd?
Kind Jupiter hath low declin'd himself; 660
Venus is faint; swift Hermes retrograde;
Mars only rules the heaven. Why do the planets
Alter their course, and vainly dim their virtue?
Sword-girt Orion's side glisters too bright:
War's rage draws near; and to the sword's strong hand
Let all laws yield, sin bears the name of virtue:
Many a year these furious broils let last:
Why should we wish the gods should ever end them?
War only gives us peace. O Rome, continue
The course of mischief, and stretch out the date 670
Of slaughter! only civil broils make peace."
These sad presages were enough to scare
The quivering Romans; but worse things affright them.
As Maenas[650] full of wine on Pindus raves,
So runs a matron through th' amazed streets,
Disclosing Phoebus' fury in this sort;
"Paean, whither am I haled? where shall I fall,
Thus borne aloft? I seen Pangaeus' hill
With hoary top, and, under Haemus' mount,
Philippi plains. Phoebus, what rage is this? 680
Why grapples Rome, and makes war, having no foes?
Whither turn I now? thou lead'st me toward th' east,
Where Nile augmenteth the Pelusian sea:
This headless trunk that lies on Nilus' sand
I know. Now th[o]roughout the air I fly
To doubtful Syrtes and dry Afric, where
A Fury leads the Emathian bands. From thence
To the pine-bearing[651] hills; thence[652] to the mounts
Pyrene; and so back to Rome again.
See, impious war defiles the senate-house! 690
New factions rise. Now through the world again
I go. O Phoebus, show me Neptune's shore,
And other regions! I have seen Philippi."
This said, being tir'd with fury, she sunk down.

FOOTNOTES:

[579] Old ed. "launcht."--The forms "lanch" and "lance" are used
indiffere