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SILIUS ITALICUS
haec tua sit laus, nate, velis ; age, concipe bella
latura exitium Laurentibus ; horreat ortus 110
iam pubes Tyrrhena tuos, partusque recusent,
te surgente, puer, Latiae producere matres."
His acuit stimulis, subicitque baud mollia dictu :
" Romanos terra atque undis, ubi competet aetas,
ferro ignique sequar Rhoeteaque fata revolvam. 115
non superi mihi, non Martem cohibentia pacta,
non celsae obstiterint Alpes Tarpeiaque saxa.
banc mentem iuro nostri per numina Martis,
per manes, regina, tuos." turn nigra triformi
hostia mactatur divae, raptimque recludit 120
spirantes artus poscens responsa sacerdos
ac fugientem animam properatis consulit extis.
Ast ubi quaesitas artis de more vetustae
intravit mentes superum, sic deinde profatur :
" Aetolos late consterni milite campos 125
Idaeoque lacus flagrantes sanguine cerno.
quanta procul moles scopulis ad sidera tendit,
cuius in aerio pendent tua vertice castra !
iamque iugis agmen rapitur ;
trepidantia fumant
moenia, et Hesperio tellus porrecta sub axe 130
Sidoniis lucet flammis. fluit ecce cruentus
Eridanus. iacet ore truci super arma virosque,
tertia qui tulerat sublimis opima Tonanti.
" The treaty of peace between Rome and Carthage.
* Hecate, who was worshipped also as Diana and Luna.
" She foresees various episodes of the war : the battles
of Cannae and Lake Trasimene ; the crossing of the Alps ;
the battles of Ticinus and Trebia ; the death of Marcellus
the storm which drove Hannibal away from Rome (211 b.c).
The " Aetolian fields " are Apulia, so called because Diomede,
the Aetolian king, settled there after the Trojan war.
^ Marcellus won " choice spoils " by killing in battle a
Gallic chief; he fell in an ambush in 208 b.c. : see xv. 334 foil.
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