"Temporis angusti mansit concordia discors, Paxque fuit non sponte ducum. Nam sola futuri Crassus erat belli medius mora. Qualiter undas Qui secat, et geminum gracilis mare separat isthmos, Nec patitur conferre fretum; si terra recedat, Ionium Ægæo frangat mare. Sic, ubi sæva Arma ducum dirimens, miserando funere Crassus Assyrias latio maculavit sanguine Carras." "Dividitur ferro regnum; populique potentis, Quæ mare, quæ terras, quæ totum possidet orbem, Non cepit fortuna duos." "Tu nova ne veteres obscurent acta triumphos, Et victis cedat piratica laurea Gallis, Magne, times; te jam series, ususque laborum Erigit, impatiensque loci fortuna secundi. Nec quemquam jam ferre potest Cæsarve priorem, Pompeiusve parem. Quis justius induit arma, Scire nefas; magno se judice quisque tuetur, Victrix causa deis placuit sed victa, Catoni.[296] Nec coiere pares; alter vergentibus annis In senium, longoque togæ tranquillior usu Dedidicit jam pace ducem; famæque petitor Multa dare in vulgas; totus popularibus auris Impelli, plausuque sui gaudere theatri; Nec reparare novas vires, multumque priori Credere fortunæ. Stat magni nominis umbra." "Sed non in Cæsare tantum Nomen erat, nec fama ducis; sed nescia virtus Stare loco; solusque pudor non vincere bello. Acer et indomitus; quo spes, quoque ira vocasset, Ferre manum, et nunquam te merando parcere ferro; Successus urgere suos; instare favori Numinis."--Lucan, lib. i. * * * * * "O men so ill-fitted to agree, O men blind with greed, of what service can it be that you should join your powers, and possess the world between you?" "For a short time the ill-sorted compact lasted, and there was a peace which each of them abhorred. Crassus alone stood between the others, hindering for a while the coming war--as an isthmus separates two waters and forbids sea to meet sea. If the morsel of land gives way, the Ionian waves and the Ægean dash themselves in foam against each other. So was it with the arms of the two chiefs when Crassus fell, and drenched the Assyrian Carræ with Roman blood." "Then the possession of the Empire was put to the arbitration of the sword. The fortunes of a people which possessed sea and earth and the whole world, were not sufficient for two men." "You, Magnus, you, Pompeius, fear lest newer deeds than yours should make dull your old triumphs, and the scattering of the pirates should be as nothing to the conquering of Gaul. The practice of many wars has so exalted you, O Cæsar, that you cannot put up with a second place. Cæsar will endure no superior; but Pompey will have no equal. Whose cause was the better the poet dares not inquire! Each will have his own advocate in history. On the side of the conqueror the gods ranged themselves. Cato has chosen to follow the conquered.