Let the war trumpet rouse him from a bed of incest, let him beg aid of lutes and choirs, for he likes not the clarion’s note, and let him learn (all unwilling) to spend in war nights that he now dedicates to love. [79] He appeals to the Gallic element of the army to atone for its previous support of Maximus and Eugenius. * * * * * Page 132 “Nonne mori satius, vitae quam ferre pudorem? nam quae iam regio restat, si dedita Mauris regibus Illyricis accesserit Africa damnis? ins Latium, quod tunc Meroë Rubroque solebat Oceano cingi, Tyrrhena clauditur unda; 455 et cui non Nilus, non intulit India metas, Romani iam finis erit Trinacria regni. ite recepturi, praedo quem sustulit, axem ereptumque Notum; caput insuperabile rerum aut ruet in vestris aut stabit Roma lacertis. 460 tot mihi debetis populos, tot rura, tot urbes amissas. uno Libyam defendite bello. vestros imperium remos et vestra sequatur carbasa. despectas trans aequora ducite leges. tertia iam solito cervix mucrone rotetur 465 tandem funereis finem positura tyrannis.” Omina conveniunt dicto fulvusque Tonantis armiger a liquida cunctis spectantibus aethra correptum pedibus curvis innexuit hydrum, dumque reluctantem morsu partitur obunco, 470 haesit in ungue caput; truncatus decidit anguis. ilicet auguriis alacres per saxa citati torrentesque ruunt; nec mons aut silva retardat: pendula ceu parvis moturae bella colonis ingenti clangore grues aestiva relinquunt 475 Thracia, cum tepido permutant Strymona Nilo: ordinibus variis per nubila texitur ales littera pennarumque notis conscribitur aër. Ut fluctus tetigere maris, tunc acrior arsit * * * * * Page 133 “Is not death preferable to a life disgraced? If, in addition to the loss of Illyria, Africa is to be surrendered to Moorish kings, what lands still remain to us? The empire of Italy, once bounded by the Nile and the Red Sea, is limited to-day by the sea of Tuscany; shall Sicily now be the most distant province of Roman rule, to which in days of old neither Egypt nor India set an end? Go: win back that southern realm a rebel has reft from me. It depends on your arms whether Rome, the unconquerable mistress of the world, stands or falls. You owe me so many peoples, countries, cities lost. Fight but one battle in defence of Libya. Let empire restored attend on your oars and sails. Give back to Africa the laws of Rome she now disregards. Let history repeat itself, and the sword smite from its trunk the head of this third tyrant[80] and so end at last the series of bloody usurpers.”