cum longi Libyam tandem post funera belli ante suas maestam cogeret ire rotas: advexit reduces secum Victoria Musas et sertum vati Martia laurus erat. 20 Noster Scipiades Stilicho, quo concidit alter Hannibal antiquo saevior Hannibale, te mihi post quintos annorum Roma recursus reddidit et votis iussit adesse suis. * * * * * Page 41 disasters of a long war, he drove weeping Libya a captive before his chariot wheel, Victory brought back the Muses in her train and Mar’s laurel crowned the poet’s brow. Thee, Stilicho, our new Scipio, conqueror of a second Hannibal more terrible than the first,--thee after five long years Rome has given back to me and bidden me celebrate the completion of her vows. * * * * * Page 42 LIBER TERTIUS (XXIV.) Quem populi plausu, procerum quem voce petebas, adspice, Roma, virum. iam tempora desine longae dinumerare viae visoque adsurgere semper pulvere: non dubiis ultra torquebere votis. totus adest oculis, aderat qui mentibus olim, 5 spe maior, fama melior. venerare curulem, quae tibi restituit fasces; complectere dextram, sub iuga quae Poenos iterum Romana redegit. excipe magnanimum pectus, quo frena reguntur imperii, cuius libratur sensibus orbis. 10 os sacrum, quod in aere colis, miraris in auro, cerne libens: hic est felix bellator ubique, defensor Libyae, Rheni pacator et Histri. Ostentare suos prisco si more labores et gentes cuperet vulgo monstrare subactas, 15 certassent utroque pares a cardine laurus: haec Alamannorum spoliis, Australibus illa ditior exuviis; illinc flavente Sygambri * * * * * Page 43 BOOK III (XXIV.) Behold, O Rome, the hero whose presence the cries of thy people and the voice of thy nobles has long demanded. Cease now to count the stages of his long journey and to rise as though to greet him at the sight of every storm of dust; no further shall uncertainty torment thee. Full before thine eye is he who was long before thy mind, greater than thy hopes, more glorious than his fame. Honour thou the consul who has restored its dignity to the consulship; grasp the hand which has made the Carthaginians pass once more under the Roman yoke. Welcome the noble heart that directs the reins of empire and secures by its providence the equipoise of the world. Look with joy upon the sacred face thou worshippest cast in bronze and adorest in gold. Behold the warrior successful in every field, the defender of Africa, the conqueror of Rhine and Danube.