Thermopylae; vallata mari Scironia rupes et duo continuo conectens aequora muro Isthmos et angusti patuerunt claustra Lechaei: 190 nec tibi Parrhasios licuit munire colonos frondosis, Erymanthe, iugis, equitataque summi culmina Taygeti trepidae vidistis Amyclae. Tandem supplicium cunctis pro montibus Alpes exegere Getas; tandem tot flumina victor 195 vindicat Eridanus. docuit nunc exitus alte fatorum secreta regi. quisquamne reclusis Alpibus ulterius Latii fore credidit umbram? nonne velut capta rumor miserabilis urbe trans freta, trans Gallos Pyrenaeumque cucurrit? 200 Famaque nigrantes succincta pavoribus alas secum cuncta trahens a Gadibus usque Britannum terruit Oceanum et nostro procul axe remotam insolito belli tremefecit murmure Thylen? Mandemusne Noti flabris quoscumque timores 205 pertulimus, festae doleant ne tristibus aures? an potius meminisse iuvat semperque vicissim gaudia praemissi cumulant inopina dolores? utque sub occidua iactatis Pleiade nautis commendat placidum maris inclementia portum, 210 sic mihi tunc maior Stilicho, cum laeta periclis metior atque illi redeunt in corda tumultus. Nonne videbantur, quamvis adamante rigentes, turribus invalidis fragiles procumbere muri ferrataeque Getis ultro se pandere portae? 215 * * * * * Page 141 at the first onset. Sciron’s cliffs protected by the waves, the wall that joins sea to sea across the Isthmus of Corinth, the narrow pass of Lechaeum, all lay open to their approach. Thou, Erymanthus, couldst not protect the people of Arcadia with thy leafy ridges and thou, Amyclae, didst tremble to see the enemy’s cavalry on the heights of Taygetus. At last, however, the Alps avenged on the Getae the disgrace of all mountains else and victorious Eridanus that of all other rivers. The event has proved that deep hidden are the ways of destiny. Who would have believed that, once a passage had been forced over the Alps, so much as the shadow of Italy’s name would survive? Did not the awful report of Rome’s fall cross the sea and spread beyond Gaul and over the Pyrenees? Did not Rumour, her sable wing sped on with panic, sweeping all before her in her flight, affright Ocean from Britain’s coast to Gades’ city and far away from our world make distant Thule tremble with the unaccustomed echoes of war?