Pharsalia - Book Ii: The Flight Of Pompeius Poem Rhyme Scheme

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This was made plain the anger of the gods	A
The universe gave signs Nature reversed	B
In monstrous tumult fraught with prodigies	C
Her laws and prescient spake the coming guilt	D
	-
How seemed it just to thee Olympus' king	E
That suffering mortals at thy doom should know	F
By omens dire the massacre to come	G
Or did the primal parent of the world	H
When first the flames gave way and yielding left	I
Matter unformed to his subduing hand	J
And realms unbalanced fix by stern decree'	K
Unalterable laws to bind the whole	L
Himself too bound by law so that for aye	M
All Nature moves within its fated bounds	N
Or is Chance sovereign over all and we	O
The sport of Fortune and her turning wheel	P
Whate'er be truth keep thou the future veiled	Q
From mortal vision and amid their fears	R
May men still hope	S
	-
Thus known how great the woes	T
The world should suffer from the truth divine	U
A solemn fast was called the courts were closed	V
All men in private garb no purple hem	W
Adorned the togas of the chiefs of Rome	X
No plaints were uttered and a voiceless grief	Y
Lay deep in every bosom as when death	Z
Knocks at some door but enters not as yet	A2
Before the mother calls the name aloud	B2
Or bids her grieving maidens beat the breast	C2
While still she marks the glazing eye and soothes	D2
The stiffening limbs and gazes on the face	E2
In nameless dread not sorrow and in awe	F2
Of death approaching and with mind distraught	G2
Clings to the dying in a last embrace	E2
	-
The matrons laid aside their wonted garb	H2
Crowds filled the temples on the unpitying stones	I2
Some dashed their bosoms others bathed with tears	J2
The statues of the gods some tore their hair	K
Upon the holy threshold and with shrieks	K2
And vows unceasing called upon the names	L2
Of those whom mortals supplicate Nor all	M2
Lay in the Thunderer's fane at every shrine	U
Some prayers are offered which refused shall bring	E
Reproach on heaven One whose livid arms	N2
Were dark with blows whose cheeks with tears bedewed	G2
And riven cried 'Beat mothers beat the breast	G2
Tear now the lock while doubtful in the scales	O2
Still fortune hangs nor yet the fight is won	P2
You still may grieve when either wins rejoice '	-
Thus sorrow stirs itself	Q2
	-
Meanwhile the men	R2
Seeking the camp and setting forth to war	K
Address the cruel gods in just complaint	G2
'Happy the youths who born in Punic days	S2
On Cannae's uplands or by Trebia's stream	T2
Fought and were slain What wretched lot is ours	U2
No peace we ask for let the nations rage	V2
Rouse fiercest cities may the world find arms	N2
To wage a war with Rome let Parthian hosts	W2
Rush forth from Susa Scythian Ister curb	X2
No more the Massagete unconquered Rhine	U
Let loose from furthest North her fair haired tribes	Y2
Elbe pour thy Suevians forth Let us be foes	T
Of all the peoples May the Getan press	Z2
Here and the Dacian there Pompeius meet	G2
The Eastern archers Caesar in the West	G2
Confront th' Iberian Leave to Rome no hand	G2
To raise against herself in civil strife	A3
Or if Italia by the gods be doomed	G2
Let all the sky fierce Parent be dissolved	G2
And falling on the earth in flaming bolts	B3
Their hands still bloodless strike both leaders down	C3
With both their hosts Why plunge in novel crime	D3
To settle which of them shall rule in Rome	X
Scarce were it worth the price of civil war	K
To hinder either ' Thus the patriot voice	E3
Still found an utterance soon to speak no more	K
	-
Meantime the aged fathers o'er their fates	F3
In anguish grieved detesting life prolonged	G2
That brought with it another civil war	K
And thus spake one to justify his fears	R
'No other deeds the fates laid up in store	K
When Marius victor over Teuton hosts	W2
Afric's high conqueror cast out from Rome	X
Lay hid in marshy ooze at thy behest	G2
O Fortune by the yielding soil concealed	G2
And waving rushes but ere long the chains	G3
Of prison wore his weak and aged frame	H3
And lengthened squalor thus he paid for crime	D3
His punishment beforehand doomed to die	G2
Consul in triumph over wasted Rome	X
Death oft refused him and the very foe	F
In act to murder shuddered in the stroke	I3
And dropped the weapon from his nerveless hand	G2
For through the prison gloom a flame of light	G2
He saw the deities of crime abhorred	G2
The Marius to come A voice proclaimed	G2
Mysterious Hold the fates permit thee not	G2
That neck to sever Many a death he owes	T
To time's predestined laws ere his shall come	G
Cease from thy madness If ye seek revenge	J3
For all the blood shed by your slaughtered tribes to	G2
Let this man Cimbrians live out all his days '	-
Not as their darling did the gods protect	G2
The man of blood but for his ruthless hand	G2
Fit to prepare that sacrifice of gore	K
Which fate demanded By the sea's despite	G2
Borne to our foes Jugurtha's wasted realm	K3
He saw now conquered there in squalid huts	L3
Awhile he lay and trod the hostile dust	G2
Of Carthage and his ruin matched with hers	U2
Each from the other's fate some solace drew	G2
And prostrate pardoned heaven On Libyan soil	M3
Fresh fury gathering next when Fortune smiled	G2
The prisons he threw wide and freed the slaves	N3
Forth rushed the murderous bands their melted chains	G3
Forged into weapons for his ruffian needs	O3
No charge he gave to mere recruits in guilt	G2
Who brought not to the camp some proof of crime	D3
How dread that day when conquering Marius seized	G2
The city's ramparts with what fated speed	G2
Death strode upon his victims plebs alike	P3
And nobles perished far and near the sword	G2
Struck at his pleasure till the temple floors	Q3
Ran wet with slaughter and the crimson stream	T2
Befouled with slippery gore the holy walls	R3
No age found pity men of failing years	R
Just tottering to the grave were hurled to death	Z
From infants in their being's earliest dawn	S3
The growing life was severed For what crime	D3
Twas cause enough for death that they could die	G2
The fury grew soon 'twas a sluggard's part	G2
To seek the guilty hundreds died to swell	T3
The tale of victims Shamed by empty hands	U3
The bloodstained conqueror snatched a reeking head	G2
From neck unknown One way of life remained	G2
To kiss with shuddering lips the red right hand	G2
Degenerate people Had ye hearts of men	R2
Though ye were threatened by a thousand swords	V3
Far rather death than centuries of life	A3
Bought at such price much more that breathing space	E2
Till Sulla comes again But time would fail	W3
In weeping for the deaths of all who fell	T3
Encircled by innumerable bands	U3
Fell Baebius his limbs asunder torn	X3
His vitals dragged abroad Antonius too	G2
Prophet of ill whose hoary head was placed	G2
Dripping with blood upon the festal board	G2
There headless fell the Crassi mangled frames	L2
'Neath Fimbria's falchion and the prison cells	Y3
Were wet with tribunes' blood Hard by the fane	Z3
Where dwells the goddess and the sacred fire	K
Fell aged Scaevola though that gory hand	G2
Had spared him but the feeble tide of blood	G2
Still left the flame alive upon the hearth	A4
That selfsame year the seventh time restored	G2
The Consul's rods that year to Marius brought	G2
The end of life when he at Fortune's hands	U3
All ills had suffered all her goods enjoyed	G2
	-
'And what of those who at the Sacriport	G2
And Colline gate were slain then when the rule	B4
Of Earth and all her nations almost left	G2
This city for another and the chiefs	C4
Who led the Samnite hoped that Rome might bleed	G2
More than at Caudium's Forks she bled of old	G2
Then came great Sulla to avenge the dead	G2
And all the blood still left within her frame	H3
Drew from the city for the surgeon knife	A3
Which shore the cancerous limbs cut in too deep	D4
And shed the life stream from still healthy veins	G3
True that the guilty fell but not before	K
All else had perished Hatred had free course	E4
And anger reigned unbridled by the law	F4
The victor's voice spake once but each man struck	G4
Just as he wished or willed The fatal steel	P
Urged by the servant laid the master low	F
Sons dripped with gore of sires and brothers fought	G2
For the foul trophy of a father slain	Z3
Or slew each other for the price of blood	G2
Men sought the tombs and mingling with the dead	G2
Hoped for escape the wild beasts' dens were full	H4
One strangled died another from the heigh	I4

Marcus Annaeus Lucanus

Pharsalia - Book Ii: The Flight Of Pompeius Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

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