2. Polybius, Histories, 38.22 (2nd cent. BCE - 2nd cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: •capitol, destiny of Found in books: Santangelo (2013) 127 | 38.22. 1. Scipio, when he looked upon the city as it was utterly perishing and in the last throes of its complete destruction, is said to have shed tears and wept openly for his enemies.,2. After being wrapped in thought for long, and realizing that all cities, nations, and authorities must, like men, meet their doom; that this happened to Ilium, once a prosperous city, to the empires of Assyria, Media, and Persia, the greatest of their time, and to Macedonia itself, the brilliance of which was so recent, either deliberately or the verses escaping him, he said: A day will come when sacred Troy shall perish, And Priam and his people shall be slain. ,3. And when Polybius speaking with freedom to him, for he was his teacher, asked him what he meant by the words, they say that without any attempt at concealment he named his own country, for which he feared when he reflected on the fate of all things human. Polybius actually heard him and recalls it in his history. |
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5. Vergil, Aeneis, 6.756-6.886, 8.345-8.348 Tagged with subjects: •capitol, destiny of Found in books: Santangelo (2013) 124 | 6.756. And Jove's own fire. In chariot of four steeds, 6.757. Brandishing torches, he triumphant rode 6.758. Through throngs of Greeks, o'er Elis ' sacred way, 6.759. Demanding worship as a god. 0 fool! 6.760. To mock the storm's inimitable flash— 6.761. With crash of hoofs and roll of brazen wheel! 6.762. But mightiest Jove from rampart of thick cloud 6.763. Hurled his own shaft, no flickering, mortal flame, 6.764. And in vast whirl of tempest laid him low. 6.765. Next unto these, on Tityos I looked, 6.766. Child of old Earth, whose womb all creatures bears: 6.767. Stretched o'er nine roods he lies; a vulture huge 6.768. Tears with hooked beak at his immortal side, 6.769. Or deep in entrails ever rife with pain 6.770. Gropes for a feast, making his haunt and home 6.771. In the great Titan bosom; nor will give 6.772. To ever new-born flesh surcease of woe. 6.773. Why name Ixion and Pirithous, 6.774. The Lapithae, above whose impious brows 6.775. A crag of flint hangs quaking to its fall, 6.776. As if just toppling down, while couches proud, 6.777. Propped upon golden pillars, bid them feast 6.778. In royal glory: but beside them lies 6.779. The eldest of the Furies, whose dread hands 6.780. Thrust from the feast away, and wave aloft 6.781. A flashing firebrand, with shrieks of woe. 6.782. Here in a prison-house awaiting doom 6.783. Are men who hated, long as life endured, 6.784. Their brothers, or maltreated their gray sires, 6.785. Or tricked a humble friend; the men who grasped 6.786. At hoarded riches, with their kith and kin 6.787. Not sharing ever—an unnumbered throng; 6.788. Here slain adulterers be; and men who dared 6.789. To fight in unjust cause, and break all faith 6.790. With their own lawful lords. Seek not to know 6.791. What forms of woe they feel, what fateful shape 6.792. of retribution hath o'erwhelmed them there. 6.793. Some roll huge boulders up; some hang on wheels, 6.794. Lashed to the whirling spokes; in his sad seat 6.795. Theseus is sitting, nevermore to rise; 6.796. Unhappy Phlegyas uplifts his voice 6.797. In warning through the darkness, calling loud, 6.798. ‘0, ere too late, learn justice and fear God!’ 6.799. Yon traitor sold his country, and for gold 6.800. Enchained her to a tyrant, trafficking 6.801. In laws, for bribes enacted or made void; 6.802. Another did incestuously take 6.803. His daughter for a wife in lawless bonds. 6.804. All ventured some unclean, prodigious crime; 6.805. And what they dared, achieved. I could not tell, 6.806. Not with a hundred mouths, a hundred tongues, 6.807. Or iron voice, their divers shapes of sin, 6.809. So spake Apollo's aged prophetess. 6.810. “Now up and on!” she cried. “Thy task fulfil! 6.811. We must make speed. Behold yon arching doors 6.812. Yon walls in furnace of the Cyclops forged! 6.813. 'T is there we are commanded to lay down 6.814. Th' appointed offering.” So, side by side, 6.815. Swift through the intervening dark they strode, 6.816. And, drawing near the portal-arch, made pause. 6.817. Aeneas, taking station at the door, 6.818. Pure, lustral waters o'er his body threw, 6.820. Now, every rite fulfilled, and tribute due 6.821. Paid to the sovereign power of Proserpine, 6.822. At last within a land delectable 6.823. Their journey lay, through pleasurable bowers 6.824. of groves where all is joy,—a blest abode! 6.825. An ampler sky its roseate light bestows 6.826. On that bright land, which sees the cloudless beam 6.827. of suns and planets to our earth unknown. 6.828. On smooth green lawns, contending limb with limb, 6.829. Immortal athletes play, and wrestle long 6.830. 'gainst mate or rival on the tawny sand; 6.831. With sounding footsteps and ecstatic song, 6.832. Some thread the dance divine: among them moves 6.833. The bard of Thrace , in flowing vesture clad, 6.834. Discoursing seven-noted melody, 6.835. Who sweeps the numbered strings with changeful hand, 6.836. Or smites with ivory point his golden lyre. 6.837. Here Trojans be of eldest, noblest race, 6.838. Great-hearted heroes, born in happier times, 6.839. Ilus, Assaracus, and Dardanus, 6.840. Illustrious builders of the Trojan town. 6.841. Their arms and shadowy chariots he views, 6.842. And lances fixed in earth, while through the fields 6.843. Their steeds without a bridle graze at will. 6.844. For if in life their darling passion ran 6.845. To chariots, arms, or glossy-coated steeds, 6.846. The self-same joy, though in their graves, they feel. 6.847. Lo! on the left and right at feast reclined 6.848. Are other blessed souls, whose chorus sings 6.849. Victorious paeans on the fragrant air 6.850. of laurel groves; and hence to earth outpours 6.851. Eridanus, through forests rolling free. 6.852. Here dwell the brave who for their native land 6.853. Fell wounded on the field; here holy priests 6.854. Who kept them undefiled their mortal day; 6.855. And poets, of whom the true-inspired song 6.856. Deserved Apollo's name; and all who found 6.857. New arts, to make man's life more blest or fair; 6.858. Yea! here dwell all those dead whose deeds bequeath 6.859. Deserved and grateful memory to their kind. 6.860. And each bright brow a snow-white fillet wears. 6.861. Unto this host the Sibyl turned, and hailed 6.862. Musaeus, midmost of a numerous throng, 6.863. Who towered o'er his peers a shoulder higher: 6.864. “0 spirits blest! 0 venerable bard! 6.865. Declare what dwelling or what region holds 6.866. Anchises, for whose sake we twain essayed 6.867. Yon passage over the wide streams of hell.” 6.868. And briefly thus the hero made reply: 6.869. “No fixed abode is ours. In shadowy groves 6.870. We make our home, or meadows fresh and fair, 6.871. With streams whose flowery banks our couches be. 6.872. But you, if thitherward your wishes turn, 6.873. Climb yonder hill, where I your path may show.” 6.874. So saying, he strode forth and led them on, 6.875. Till from that vantage they had prospect fair 6.876. of a wide, shining land; thence wending down, 6.877. They left the height they trod; for far below 6.878. Father Anchises in a pleasant vale 6.879. Stood pondering, while his eyes and thought surveyed 6.880. A host of prisoned spirits, who there abode 6.881. Awaiting entrance to terrestrial air. 6.882. And musing he reviewed the legions bright 6.883. of his own progeny and offspring proud— 6.884. Their fates and fortunes, virtues and great deeds. 6.885. Soon he discerned Aeneas drawing nigh 6.886. o'er the green slope, and, lifting both his hands 8.345. With Cacus, who breathed unavailing flame, 8.346. he grappled in the dark, locked limb with limb, 8.347. and strangled him, till o'er the bloodless throat 8.348. the starting eyeballs stared. Then Hercules |
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