But the more Bootes dips, and nearer to the sea Is Cynosura seen, so much the ship Towards Syria tends, till bright Canopus (3) shines, In southern skies content to hold his course; With him upon the left past Pharos borne Straight for the Syrtes shalt thou plough the deep.
But whither now dost bid me shape the yards And set the canvas ?" Magnus, doubting still; "This only be thy care: from Thracia steer The vessel onward; shun with all thy skill Italia's distant shore: and for the rest Trust to the winds for guidance.

When I sought, Pledged with the Lesbians, my spouse beloved, My course was sure: now, Fortune, where thou wilt Give me a refuge." These his answering words.
The pilot, as they hung from level yards Shifted the sails; and hauling to the stern One sheet, he slacked the other, to the left Steering, where Samian rocks and Chian marred The stillness of the waters; while the sea Sent up in answer to the changing keel A different murmur.

Not so deftly turns Curbing his steeds, his wain the Charioteer, While glows his dexter wheel, and with the left He almost touches, yet avoids the goal.
Now Titan veiled the stars and showed the shore; When, following Magnus, came a scattered band Saved from the Thracian storm.

From Lesbos' port His son; (4) next, captains who preserved their faith; For at his side, though vanquished in the field, Cast down by fate, in exile, still there stood, Lords of the earth and all her Orient realms, The Kings, his ministers.
To the furthest lands He bids (5) Deiotarus: "O faithful friend, Since in Emathia's battle-field was lost The world, so far as Roman, it remains To test the faith of peoples of the East Who drink of Tigris and Euphrates' stream, Secure as yet from Caesar.

Be it thine Far as the rising of the sun to trace The fates that favour Magnus: to the courts Of Median palaces, to Scythian steppes; And to the son of haughty Arsaces, To bear my message, 'Hold ye to the faith, Pledged by your priests and by the Thunderer's name Of Latium sworn?
Then fill your quivers full, Draw to its fullest span th' Armenian bow; And, Getan archers, wing the fatal shaft.
And you, ye Parthians, if when I sought The Caspian gates, and on th' Alaunian tribes (6) Fierce, ever-warring, pressed, I suffered you In Persian tracts to wander, nor compelled To seek for shelter Babylonian walls; If beyond Cyrus' kingdom (7) and the bounds Of wide Chaldaea, where from Nysa's top Pours down Hydaspes, and the Ganges flood Foams to the ocean, nearer far I stood Than Persia's bounds to Phoebus' rising fires; If by my sufferance, Parthians, you alone Decked not my triumphs, but in equal state Sole of all Eastern princes, face to face Met Magnus in his pride, nor only once Through me were saved; (for after that dread day Who but Pompeius soothed the kindling fires Of Latium's anger ?) -- by my service paid Come forth to victory: burst the ancient bounds By Macedon's hero set: in Magnus' cause March, Parthians, to Rome's conquest.