Minor Latin poets; with introductions and English translations

CALPIRNIUS SICULUSpleaded a successful case for tlu- luli of the mothertown (of Troy).'' Wliile he, a very Ciod, shall rulethe nations, the unholy War-(ioddess shall yield andhave her vanquished hands bound behind her back,and, stripped of weapons, turn her furious teeth intoher own entrails ; upon herself shall she wage thecivil wars which of late she spread o'er all the worldno battles like Philippi shall Rome lament henceforth: no triumph o'er her captive self shall shecelebrate. All wars shall be quelled in Tartareandurance : they shall plunge the head in darkness,and dread the light. Fair peace shall come, fairnot in visage alone—such as she often was when,though free from open war, and with distant foesubdued, she yet 'mid the riot of arms spread*•national strife with secret '' steel. Clemency hascommanded every vice that wears the disguise ofpeace to betake itself afar : she has broken everymaddened sword-blade. Xo more sliall the funerealprocession of a fettered senate weary the headsmanat his task ; no more will crowded prison leave onlya senator here and there for the unhappy Curia tocount. Peace '^ in her fullness shall come ; knowingnot the drawn sword, she shall renew once more thereign of Saturn in Latium, once more the reign ofNuma who first taught the tasks of peace to armiesthat rejoiced in slaughter and still drew fromRomulus' camp their fiery spirit—Numa who first'^The reference is to an early oration by Xero on behalf ofthe inhabitants of Ilium (Suet. NerOy 7; Tac. Ann. xii. 58).^This is best taken as a reference to the Roman invasion ofBritain in Claudius' reign.•If publicn is right, discordia must be plural of discordiion,a rare neuter form.^ There were many arbitrary executions ordered by Claudius.223