XXIII

 Oh how wise that man was, in his caution,
Who counselled, so his race might not moulder,
Nor Rome’s citizens be spoiled by leisure,
That Carthage should be spared destruction!

He foresaw how the brave Roman nation,
Impatient of the blandishments of pleasure
Once sated with vain amusements’ measure,
Would turn to civil war as a distraction.

For in a people pledged to idleness,
Like swollen tumour in diseased flesh,
Ambition is engendered readily.

And so it chanced, for envious pride,
That no peer or superior could abide,
Made Pompey Caesar’s fated enemy.