plena datur Curio pulsi victoria Pyrrhi. quanto maius opus solo Stilichone peractum cernimus! his validam gentem, quam dura nivosis educat Ursa plagis, non Chaonas atque Molossos, 135 quos Epirus alit, nec Dodonaea subegit agmina fatidicam frustra iactantia quercum. Primus fulmineum lento luctamine Poenum compressit Fabius, campo post ausus aperto Marcellus vinci docuit, sed tertia virtus 140 Scipiadae Latiis tandem deterruit oris. unus in hoc Stilicho diversis artibus hoste tris potuit complere duces fregitque furentem cunctando vicitque manu victumque relegat. Atque haec tanta brevi. miscentem incendia Pyrrhum sustinuit toto maerens Oenotria lustro, 146 et prope ter senas Itali per graminis herbas Massylus Poeno sonipes vastante cucurrit Hannibalemque senem vix ad sua reppulit arva vindex sera patrum post bellum nata iuventus. 150 his celer effecit, bruma ne longior una esset hiems rerum, primis sed mensibus aestas temperiem caelo pariter patriaeque[48] referret. Sed quid ego Hannibalem contra Pyrrhumque tot annis certatum memorem, vilis cum Spartacus omne 155 per latus Italiae ferro bacchatus et igni consulibusque palam totiens congressus inertes exuerit castris dominos et strage pudenda [48] codd. _belloque_; Birt suggests _regnoque_; Postgate _patriaeque_. * * * * * Page 137 nor arms could overcome, yet the whole glory of that expulsion is given to him. But how much greater the task we see fulfilled by Stilicho alone! He has conquered not Chaones or Molossi, Epirot tribes, nor yet the armies of Dodona that idly boast their prophetic grove, but a mighty people whose home lies in those snowy regions beneath the icy constellation of the Bear. Fabius was the first to stay by his slow struggles Hannibal’s lightning rush; then Marcellus, meeting him in the open field, taught him defeat, but it was the valour of Scipio that drove him from the shores of Italy. In the case of our latest foe Stilicho succeeded in combining in himself the diverse skill of all these three; he broke their frenzy by delaying, vanquished them in battle and drove the vanquished host from Italy.