68
PHARSALIA
Book III
And all Epirus rushes to the war.
And proud Athena, mistress of the seas,
Sends three poor ships (alas! her all) to prove
Her ancient victory o'er the Persian King.
Next seek the battle Creta's hundred tribes 210
Beloved of Jove and rivalling the east
In skill to wing the arrow from the bow.
The walls of Dardan Oricum, the woods
Where Athamanians wander, and the banks
Of swift Absyrtus foaming to the main
Are left forsaken. Enchelæan tribes
Whose king was Cadmus, and whose name records
His transformation,[1] join the host; and those
Who till Penean fields and turn the share
Above Iolcos in Thessalian lands. 220
There first men steeled their hearts to dare the waves[2]
And 'gainst the rage of ocean and the storm
To match their strength, when the rude Argo sailed
Upon that distant quest, and spurned the shore,
Joining remotest nations in her flight,
And gave the fates another form of death.
Left too was Pholoë; pretended home
Where dwelt the fabled race of double form;[3]
Arcadian Mænalus; the Thracian mount
Named Hæmus; Strymon whence, as autumn falls, 230
Winged squadrons seek the banks of warmer Nile;
And all the isles the mouths of Ister bathe
Mixed with the tidal wave; the land through which
The cooling eddies of Cäicus flow
Idalian; and Arisbe bare of glebe.
The hinds of Pitane, and those who till
And proud Athena, mistress of the seas,
Sends three poor ships (alas! her all) to prove
Her ancient victory o'er the Persian King.
Next seek the battle Creta's hundred tribes 210
Beloved of Jove and rivalling the east
In skill to wing the arrow from the bow.
The walls of Dardan Oricum, the woods
Where Athamanians wander, and the banks
Of swift Absyrtus foaming to the main
Are left forsaken. Enchelæan tribes
Whose king was Cadmus, and whose name records
His transformation,[1] join the host; and those
Who till Penean fields and turn the share
Above Iolcos in Thessalian lands. 220
There first men steeled their hearts to dare the waves[2]
And 'gainst the rage of ocean and the storm
To match their strength, when the rude Argo sailed
Upon that distant quest, and spurned the shore,
Joining remotest nations in her flight,
And gave the fates another form of death.
Left too was Pholoë; pretended home
Where dwelt the fabled race of double form;[3]
Arcadian Mænalus; the Thracian mount
Named Hæmus; Strymon whence, as autumn falls, 230
Winged squadrons seek the banks of warmer Nile;
And all the isles the mouths of Ister bathe
Mixed with the tidal wave; the land through which
The cooling eddies of Cäicus flow
Idalian; and Arisbe bare of glebe.
The hinds of Pitane, and those who till
