certavere senes, cum tu genitoris amico exceptus gremio mediam veherere per urbem velaretque pios communis laurea currus! 130 quis non Luciferum roseo cum Sole videri credidit aut iunctum Bromio radiare Tonantem? floret cristatis exercitus undique turmis, quisque sua te voce canens. praestringit aena lux oculos, nudique seges Mavortia ferri 135 ingeminat splendore diem. pars nobilis arcu, pars longe iaculis, pars comminus horrida contis; hi volucres tollunt aquilas, hi picta draconum colla levant, multusque tumet per nubila serpens iratus stimulante Noto vivitque receptis 140 flatibus et vario mentitur sibila tractu. Ut ventum ad sedes, cunctos discedere tectis dux iubet et generum compellat talibus ultro: “bellipotens Stilicho, cuius mihi robur in armis, pace probata fides: quid enim per proelia gessi 145 te sine? quem merui te non sudante triumphum? Odrysium pariter Getico foedavimus Hebrum sanguine, Sarmaticas pariter prostravimus alas Riphaeaque simul fessos porreximus artus in glacie stantemque rota sulcavimus Histrum: 150 ergo age, me quoniam caelestis regia poscit, tu curis succede meis, tu pignora solus nostra fove: geminos dextra tu protege fratres. * * * * * Page 281 struggle with boys for places whence to see thee in the tender embraces of thy sire, borne through the midst of Rome on a triumphal chariot decked but with the shade of a simple laurel branch. Who did not then think that he beheld the morning-star together with the rosy sun, or the Thunderer shine in concert with Bacchus? On every side stretches the host of plumed warriors, each hymning thy praises in his own tongue; the brightness of bronze dazzles the eye and the martial glint of a forest of unsheathed swords redoubles the light of day. Some are decked with bows, others bristle with far-flung javelins or pikes for fighting at close quarters. These raise standards adorned with flying eagles, or with embroidered dragons or writhing serpents, that in their thousands seem to be roused to angry life by the breath of the wind which, as it blows them this way and that, causes them to rustle with a sound like the hiss of a living snake.