Series 1 > Grameid: an heroic poem descriptive of the campaign of Viscount Dundee in 1689, and other pieces

SCOTI GRAMEIDOS LIB. II.
B9
22-43]
Deleret rabidos scelerata insania cives.
Heu belli civilis amor, nunc arma juventus
Apparat, et saevi violento Martis eunt res
Arbitrio, nostrisque procul pax exulat oris.
Jamque ardent animi studiis discordibus acti,
Praecipitesque suae quoquo tulit impetus irae,
In commune nefas magno coiere tumultu.
Hinc turbata quies civilia vincula rupit,
Ingerit et stimulos, et fraena furentibus addit,
Et bellum civile placet, furor undique fervet.
Spumea seu surgunt luctantibus aequora ventis,
Obstrepit hinc Boreae Notus, inde Favonius Euro
Luctatur, Coroque ruit contrarius Auster;
Undique jactatus diverso turbine pontus
Corripitur, quocunque trahit violentia caeli;
Sic quatit Arctoum praeceps discordia mundum,
Et rapit incertam sententia dissona plebem.
Nunc quoque iniqua petit venalis praemia miles,
Et sceleri jam constat honos ; proh tristia fata
Proditor in pretio ! magni sed splendida Regis
Gloria mersa luto, legisque eversa potestas ;
Languet et ipsa fides, jacet et sine vindice virtus.
the armies of the Caesar ! that at length a wicked fanaticism
should ruin us—a maddened race. Alas, that love of civil strife !
the youth of the country prepare their arms, our affairs fall to the
arbitrament of Mars, and peace flies far from our shores.
Already men’s minds are in a flame, driven headlong in different
directions whither the impetus of their passion sends them, and
in great tumult they gather for the common hurt. Peace broken,
the bonds of society are severed, and while the rein is flung loose,
the spur is driven into the mad citizen. Strife alone delights, and
madness blazes forth on every hand. As the foaming billows are
lashed by opposing winds—Notus with Boreas, Favonius with
Eurus, Auster with the north-west wind, contending—and the seas
are carried whithersoever the violence of heaven drives them, so
headlong discord rouses the Northern land, and differing opinions
hurry on an unstable people. Now, too, a venal soldiery seeks
unjust reward, and honour goes hand in hand with villainy. Shame
on a miserable fate! The traitor and his price! And the splendid
glory of a great King sunk in the mire, and the potency of the law
overthrown. Faith itself languishes, and Virtue lies prone without
an avenger.