And who would fear Thy haunts, Salpuga?
(29) Yet the Stygian Maids Have given thee power to snap the fatal threads.
Thus nor the day with brightness, nor the night With darkness gave them peace.

The very earth On which they lay they feared; nor leaves nor straw They piled for couches, but upon the ground Unshielded from the fates they laid their limbs, Cherished beneath whose warmth in chill of night The frozen pests found shelter; in whose jaws Harmless the while, the lurking venom slept.
Nor did they know the measure of their march Accomplished, nor their path; the stars in heaven Their only guide.

"Return, ye gods," they cried, In frequent wail, "the arms from which we fled.
Give back Thessalia.

Sworn to meet the sword Why, lingering, fall we thus?
In Caesar's place The thirsty Dipsas and the horned snake Now wage the warfare.

Rather let us seek That region by the horses of the sun Scorched, and the zone most torrid: let us fall Slain by some heavenly cause, and from the sky Descend our fate! Not, Africa, of thee Complain we, nor of Nature.