bis senas torquent hiemes, cervicibus ex quo haeret triste iugum. nostris iam luctibus ille 155 consenuit regnumque sibi tot vindicat annos. atque utinam regnum! privato iure tenemur exigui specie fundi. quod Nilus et Atlas dissidet, occiduis quod Gadibus arida Barce quodque Paraetonio secedit litore Tingi, 160 hoc sibi transcripsit proprium. pars tertia mundi unius praedonis ager. “Distantibus idem inter se vitiis cinctus: quodcumque profunda traxit avaritia, luxu peiore refundit. instat terribilis vivis, morientibus heres, 165 virginibus raptor, thalamis obscaenus adulter. nulla quies: oritur praeda cessante libido, divitibusque dies et nox metuenda maritis. quisquis vel locuples pulchra vel coniuge notus, crimine pulsatur falso; si crimina desunt, 170 accitus conviva perit. mors nulla refugit artificem: varios sucos spumasque requirit serpentum virides et adhuc ignota novercis gramina. si quisquam vultu praesentia damnet liberiusve gemat, dapibus crudelis in ipsis 175 emicat ad nutum stricto mucrone minister. fixus quisque toro tacita formidine libat carnifices epulas incertaque pocula pallens haurit et intentos capiti circumspicit enses. splendet Tartareo furialis mensa paratu 180 caede madens, atrox gladio, suspecta veneno. * * * * * Page 111 Gildo. Twelve courses has the sun’s chariot run since first I wore this sorry yoke. He has now grown old amid our miseries and these many years have set their seal upon his rule. Rule--would it were rule: a private owner possesses me, as it had been some pelting farm. From Nile to Atlas’ mount, from scorched Barce to western Gades, from Tingi[71] to Egypt’s coast Gildo has appropriated the land as his own. A third of the world belongs to one robber-chief.