Fortune, that Caesar summoned to the shades,
Dictator, Consul, full of honours, died

Ere his last prize was won. I ask no pomp
Of pyre or funeral; let my body lie

Mangled beneath the waves: I leave a name
That men shall dread in ages yet to come

And all the earth shall honour." Thus he spake,
When lo! a tenth giganticbillow raised

The feeble keel, and where between the rocks
A cleft gave safety, placed it on the shore.

Thus in a moment fortune, kingdoms, lands,
Once more were Caesar's.

But on his return
When daylight came, he entered not the camp

Silent as when he parted; for his friends
Soon pressed around him, and with weeping eyes

In accents welcome to his ears began:
"Whither in recklessdaring hast thou gone,

Unpitying Caesar? Were these humble lives
Left here unguarded while thy limbs were given,

Unsought for, to be scattered by the storm?
When on thy breath so many nations hang

For life and safety, and so great a world
Calls thee its master, to have courted death

Proves want of heart. Was none of all thy friends
Deserving held to join his fate with thine?

When thou wast tossed upon the raging deep
We lay in slumber! Shame upon such sleep!

And why thyself didst seek Italia's shores?
'Twere cruel (such thy thought) to speak the word

That bade another dare the furious sea.
All men must bear what chance or fate may bring,

The sudden peril and the stroke of death;
But shall the ruler of the world attempt

The raging ocean? With incessant prayers
Why weary heaven? is it indeed enough

To crown the war, that Fortune and the deep
Have cast thee on our shores? And would'st thou use

The grace of favouring deities, to gain
Not lordship, not the empire of the world,

But lucky shipwreck!" Night dispersed, and soon
The sun beamed on them, and the wearied deep,

The winds permitting, lulled its waves to rest.
And when Antonius saw a breeze arise

Fresh from a cloudless heaven, to break the sea,
He loosed his ships which, by the pilots' hands

And by the wind in equal order held,
Swept as a marching host across the main.

But night unfriendly from the seamen snatched
All governance of sail, parting the ships

In divers paths asunder. Like as cranes
Deserting frozen Strymon for the streams

Of Nile, when winter falls, in casual lines
Of wedge-like figures (34) first ascend the sky;

But when in loftier heaven the southern breeze
Strikes on their pinions tense, in loose array

Dispersed at large, in flight irregular,
They wing their journey onwards. Stronger winds

With day returning blew the navy on,
Past Lissus' shelter which they vainly sought,

Till bare to northern blasts, Nymphaeum's port,
But safe in southern, gave the fleet repose,

For favouring winds came on.
When Magnus knew

That Caesar's troops were gathered in their strength
And that the war for quick decision called

Before his camp, Cornelia he resolved
To send to Lesbos' shore, from rage of fight

Safe and apart: so lifting from his soul
The weight that burdened it. Thus, lawful Love.

Thus art thou tyrant o'er the mightiest mind!
His spouse was the one cause why Magnus stayed

Nor met his fortunes, though he staked the world
And all the destinies of Rome. The word

He speaks not though resolved; so sweet it seemed,
When on the future pondering, to gain

A pause from Fate! But at the close of night,
When drowsy sleep had fled, Cornelia sought

To soothe the anxious bosom of her lord
And win his kisses. Then amazed she saw

His cheek was tearful, and with boding soul
She shrankinstinctive from the hidden wound,

Nor dared to rouse him weeping. But he spake:
"Dearer to me than life itself, when life

Is happy (not at moments such as these);
The day of sorrow comes, too long delayed,

Nor long enough! With Caesar at our gates
With all his forces, a secure retreat

Shall Lesbos give thee. Try me not with prayers.
This fatal boon I have denied myself.

Thou wilt not long be absent from thy lord.
Disasters hasten, and things highest fall

With speediest ruin. 'Tis enough for thee
To hear of Magnus' peril; and thy love (35)

Deceives thee with the thought that thou canst gaze
Unmoved on civil strife. It shames my soul

On the eve of war to slumber at thy side,
And rise from thy dear breast when trumpets call

A woeful world to misery and arms.
I fear in civil war to feel no loss

To Magnus. Meantime safer than a king
Lie hid, nor let the fortune of thy lord

Whelm thee with all its weight. If unkind heaven
Our armies rout, still let my choicest part

Survive in thee; if fated is my flight,
Still leave me that whereto I fain would flee."

Hardly at first her senses grasped the words
In their full misery; then her mind amazed

Could scarce find utterance for the grief that pressed.
"Nought, Magnus, now is left wherewith to upbraid

The gods and fates of marriage; 'tis not death
That parts our love, nor yet the funeral pyre,

Nor that dread torch which marks the end of all.
I share the ignoble lot of vulgar lives:

My spouse rejects me. Yes, the foe is come!
Break we our bonds and Julia's sire appease! --

Is this thy consort, Magnus, this thy faith
In her fond loving heart? Can danger fright

Her and not thee? Long since our mutual fates
Hang by one chain; and dost thou bid me now

The thunder-bolts of ruin to withstand
Without thee? Is it well that I should die

Even while you pray for fortune? And suppose
I flee from evil and with death self-sought

Follow thy footsteps to the realms below --
Am I to live till to that distant isle