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Here Cæsar, leading from their home

The fathers, people, gods of Rome,

Stands on the lofty stern:

The constellation of his sire

Beams o'er his head, and tongues of fire

About his temples burn,

With favouring Gods and winds to speed

Agrippa forms his line:

The golden beaks, war's proudest meed,

High on his forehead shine.

There, with barbaric troops increased,

Antonius, from the vanquished East,

And distant Red-sea side,

To battle drags the Bactrian bands

And Egypt; and behind him stands

(Foul shame!) the Egyptian bride."

There the gods of Rome—conspicuous amongst whom is the archer Apollo, the tutelary deity of the house of Cæsar—put to flight the dog-headed Anubis, and the other monstrous gods of Egypt. There, too, is blazoned the "triple triumph" of Augustus, graced by a long procession of captives of all tribes, from Scythia to the Euphrates.

Such legends traced on Vulcan's shield

The wondering chief surveys:

On truth in symbol half revealed

He feeds his hungry gaze,

And high upon his shoulders rears

The fame and fates of unborn years."