And he pushed his horse here and there, but we did not listen to him, And we did not turn our eyes away from the foe, And from their ranks. As the nomads of the caravans are wont to cry to each other with an enormous perforated shell, we heard the blowing of a conch or horn! O but the sound was sad and harsh! VOICE: O! CASSIUS: Thus did this primal people speak to us. And nothing could longer restrain us, but the army like one man irresistibly recoiled. And, O shame, they began to flee! VOICE: O! O! CASSIUS: This the King saw and he did not try to prevent it, and he alone remained. Then he threw his sword to the ground, and dismounting from his horse he unbridled it. And alone he advanced against the opposing army, holding the bit to heaven, Thus we saw him advance Like a wrathful pigeon that leaps towards the female dragging its wings. VOICE: O! CASSIUS: This we saw! And they threw themselves upon him tooth and nail like savage rats. And there were some who took him by the arms and others by the legs and others caught at his head from behind, And we, unhappy wretches, we saw him towering out of the midst of them, engulfed as far as the girdle. And he struggled like a horse that dogs have gripped by the ears Crying out in a dreadful voice, and with his loins dragging his living prison this way and that! And there was one who, holding his sword in both hands, Sought for the joint of the armor, like a cook who opens a crab with the point of a knife. VOICE: O! CASSIUS: O! What a clear and poignant cry we heard him give, like mighty Pallas feeling the grasp of the Satyr, Such that the memory of it made Our bones vibrate like instruments! And we recognised the voice as the woman knows the cry of her mate, And we also cried aloud and in frantic haste rushed forward. Three times we charged that multitude, and in the end, yielding beneath our despair, they scattered like a flock. And as the affrighted Hindu Turns in his course To watch the wounded elephant, mad with pain, Who pursues him like a mountain across the dazzling ricefields, thus they saw our army charging close at their heels. And we found our king again, lying upon the ground, Like a sack of gold that robbers had abandoned, Dead, bereft of breath. And now we return bearing away this spoil. VOICE: O! Alas! O King, O King! CASSIUS: Cry louder! Let the earth be broken in two! Let the revelation of the sun be quenched! Let the Tree of Eternity, that like oranges bears the worlds And like apples and like sugared figs and grapes, Crash down its roots in air! For man has terminated here his greatest enterprise. Now all is ended. And he did not prevail Against the power that holds things in place. Cry louder! Let your tears pour forth in floods! Go to your homes and throw yourselves on the ground! As for me, O King, I loved you. You were my life and with wonder I looked upon you, King of men! And your herald goes before you!