On plates of gold They piled the banquet sought in earth and air And from the deepest seas and Nilus' waves, Through all the world; in craving for display, No hunger urging.

Frequent birds and beasts, Egypt's high gods, they placed upon the board: In crystal goblets water of the Nile They handed, and in massive cups of price Was poured the wine; no juice of Mareot grape (7) But noble vintage of Falernian growth Which in few years in Meroe's vats had foamed, (For such the clime) to ripeness.

On their brows Chaplets were placed of roses ever young With glistening nard entwined; and in their locks Was cinnamon infused, not yet in air Its fragrance perished, nor in foreign climes; And rich amomum from the neighbouring fields.
Thus Caesar learned the booty of a world To lavish, and his breast was shamed of war Waged with his son-in-law for meagre spoil, And with the Pharian realm he longed to find A cause of battle.
When of wine and feast They wearied and their pleasure found an end, Caesar drew out in colloquy the night Thus with Achoreus, on the highest couch With linen ephod as a priest begirt: "O thou devoted to all sacred rites, Loved by the gods, as proves thy length of days, Tell, if thou wilt, whence sprang the Pharian race; How lie their lands, the manners of their tribes, The form and worship of their deities.
Expound the sculptures on your ancient fanes: Reveal your gods if willing to be known: If to th' Athenian sage your fathers taught Their mysteries, who worthier than I To bear in trust the secrets of the world?
True, by the rumour of my kinsman's flight Here was I drawn; yet also by your fame: And even in the midst of war's alarms The stars and heavenly spaces have I conned; Nor shall Eudoxus' year (8) excel mine own.
But though such ardour burns within my breast, Such zeal to know the truth, yet my chief wish To learn the source of your mysterious flood Through ages hidden: give me certain hope To see the fount of Nile -- and civil war Then shall I leave." He spake, and then the priest: "The secrets, Caesar, of our mighty sires (9) Kept from the common people until now I hold it right to utter.

Some may deem That silence on these wonders of the earth Were greater piety.

But to the gods I hold it grateful that their handiwork And sacred edicts should be known to men.
"A different power by the primal law, Each star possesses: (10) these alone control The movement of the sky, with adverse force Opposing: while the sun divides the year, And day from night, and by his potent rays Forbids the stars to pass their stated course.
The moon by her alternate phases sets The varying limits of the sea and shore.
'Neath Saturn's sway the zone of ice and snow Has passed; while Mars in lightning's fitful flames And winds abounds' beneath high Jupiter Unvexed by storms abides a temperate air; And fruitful Venus' star contains the seeds Of all things.