nunc inhonorus egens perfert miserabile pacis supplicium nulloque palam circumdatus hoste 100 obsessi discrimen habet. per singula letum impendet momenta mihi dubitandaque pauci praescribunt alimenta dies, heu prospera fata! quid mihi septenos montes turbamque dedistis, quae parvo non possit ali? felicior essem 105 angustis opibus; mallem tolerare Sabinos et Veios; brevior duxi securius aevum. ipsa nocet moles. utinam remeare liceret ad veteres fines et moenia pauperis Anci. sufficerent Etrusca mihi Campanaque culta 110 et Quincti Curiique seges, patriaeque petenti rusticus inferret proprias dictator aristas. “Nunc quid agam? Libyam Gildo tenet, altera Nilum. ast ego, quae terras umeris pontumque subegi, deseror: emeritae iam praemia nulla senectae. 115 di, quibus iratis crevi, succurrite tandem, exorate patrem; tuque o si sponte per altum vecta Palatinis mutasti collibus Idam praelatoque lavas Phrygios Almone leones, maternis precibus natum iam flecte, Cybebe. 120 sin prohibent Parcae falsisque elusa vetustas auspiciis, alio saltem prosternite casu et poenae mutate genus. Porsenna reducat Tarquinios; renovet ferales Allia pugnas; me potius saevi manibus permittite Pyrrhi, 125 * * * * * Page 107 been subdued, dishonoured now and poverty-stricken, bends beneath the cruel lash of peace, and though not openly beleaguered by any foe yet has all the hazard of a siege. Destruction threatens me hourly; a few days will set a limit to my uncertain food-supply. Out upon thee, prosperity! Why hast thou given me seven hills and such a population as a small supply cannot nourish? Happier I, had my power been less. Better to have put up with the Sabines and Veii; in narrower bonds I passed securer days. My very magnitude undoes me; would that I could return to my former boundaries and the walls of poor Ancus. Enough for me then would be the ploughlands of Etruria and Campania, the farms of Cincinnatus and Curius, and at his country’s prayer the rustic dictator[66] would bring his home-grown wheat.