Dixitque tandem perfidus Hannibal: ‘Cervi, luporum praeda rapacium, Sectamur ultro, quos opimus Fallere et effugere est triumphus. 52 Gens, quae cremato fortis ab Ilio Iactata Tuscis aequoribus sacra Natosque maturosque patres Pertulit Ausonias ad urbes, 56 Duris ut ilex tonsa bipennibus Nigrae feraci frondis in Algido, Per damna, per caedes ab ipso Ducit opes animumque ferro 60 Non Hydra secto corpore firmior Vinci dolentem crevit in Herculem, Monstrumve submisere Colchi Maius Echioniaeve Thebae. 64 Merses profundo: pulchrior evenit; Luctere: multa proruet integrum Cum laude victorem geretque Proelia coniugibus loquenda.’ 68 HORACE, _Odes_, IV. iv. 49-68. [Linenotes: 51. +ultro+ = _aggressively, needlessly_. --Wickham. 51-52. +opimus triumphus+ = _a rare_ (lit. _rich, noble_) _triumph_. Cf. _spolia opima_. 53-56. ‘This stanza is a _résumé_ of the story of the _Aeneid_.’ --W. 53. +gens+ (sc. +illa+), i.e. the Roman stock. 57-60. ‘The idea of this stanza is that their very calamities only gave them fresh heart and vigour. They rise like the Phoenix from its pyre.’ --W. 58. +frondis+ with +feraci+. Cf. _fertilis frugum_. 59-60. +ab ipso ... ferro+ = _from the very edge of the steel itself, the holm-oak_ (= _the Roman stock_) _draws fresh power and spirit_. 61-62. Cf. the saying of Pyrrhus, recorded by Floras i. 18, ‘I see that I was born under the constellation of Hercules, since so many heads of enemies, that were cut off, arise upon me afresh out of their own blood, as if from the Lernaean serpent.’ 63-64. i.e. of the armed warriors which sprang from the dragon’s teeth sown by Jason at Colchis or by Cadmus at Thebes. 63. +submisere+ = _produced, raised_. 64. +Echioniae Thebae.+ Echion was one of the five survivors of the Σπαρτοί (sown men). He helped Cadmus to found Thebes. 65. +Merses+ (= +si mersaris+) = _plunge it if you will_. +evenit+ = _it emerges (comes forth)_. 66-67. +multa cum laude+ = _amid loud applause_, of a feat in a wrestling match. --W. 68. +coniugibus+ = i. _by Roman wives_ or ii. _by Carthaginian widows_. So Conington, ‘Whose story widow’d wives shall tell.’] CIVIL STRIFE IN ITALY, AND FOREIGN WARS, ENDING IN REVOLUTION 133-44 B.C. B1 THE GRACCHI.