Meanwhile Stilicho, exulting in the thought of advancing upon the foe and of the narrow stretch of country that separated him from the fortifications, inflames with his words the hearts of his troops already thirsting for battle. On the left wing are posted the Armenians, farther to the right the Gauls. A beholder might have seen bits covered with warm foam, clouds of dust uprising, and on all sides waving banners bearing the device of a scarlet dragon; the very air seemed to teem with these fierce flying monsters. The glint of steel fills all Thessaly and the cave of the wise Centaur; the river whose banks supported Achilles’ baby footsteps and the forests of Oeta are agleam with arms, snowy Ossa re-echoes to the sound and Olympus smitten therewith sends it back twofold. Hearts beat high with a courage that is lavish of life. Neither precipice nor deep river could check their advance: their headlong speed would have overthrown all barriers. If the two armies had then joined battle in this temper ruined Greece would not have witnessed such disaster as she did, the cities of the Peloponnese would still have been flourishing untouched by the hand * * * * * Page 72 starent Arcadiae, starent Lacedaemonis arces; non mare fumasset geminum flagrante Corintho 190 nec fera Cecropiae traxissent vincula matres. illa dies potuit nostris imponere finem cladibus et sceleris causas auferre futuri. invida pro quantum rapuit Fortuna triumphum! inter equos interque tubas mandata feruntur 195 regia et armati veniunt ductoris ad aures. Obstupuit; simul ira virum, simul obruit ingens maeror et ignavo tantum licuisse nocenti miratur. dubios anceps sententia volvit eventus: peragat pugnas an fortia coepta 200 deserat? Illyricis ardet succurrere damnis; praeceptis obstare timet. reverentia frangit virtutis stimulos: hinc publica commoda suadent, hinc metus invidiae. tandem indignatus ad astra extollit palmas et ab imo pectore fatur: 205 “Numina Romanis necdum satiata ruinis, si iuvat imperium penitus de stirpe revelli, uno si placuit deleri saecula lapsu, si piget humani generis, prorumpat in arva libertas effrena maris vel limite iusto 210 devius errantes Phaëthon confundat habenas. cur per Rufinum geritur? procumbere mundum hoc auctore pudet. mediis revocamur ab armis (pro dolor!) et strictos deponere cogimur enses. vos, arsurae urbes perituraque moenia, testor: 215 cedo equidem et miserum permitto casibus orbem flectite signa, duces. redeat iam miles Eous. * * * * * Page 73