principe mutatas orbis non sensit habenas. 150
nil inter geminas acies, ceu libera frenis,
ausa manus. certe nec tantis dissona linguis
turba nec armorum cultu diversior umquam
confluxit populus: totam pater undique secum
moverat Auroram; mixtis hic Colchus Hiberis, 155
hic mitra velatus Arabs, hic crine decorus
Armenius; hic picta Saces fucataque Medus,
misty Rhodope afforded him a winter’s bed. I call you to witness, cold valleys of Haemus, that Stilicho has often filled with bloody slaughter; and you, rivers of Thrace, your waters turned to blood; say, ye Bisaltae, or you whose oxen plough Pangaeus’ slopes, how many a rotting helm has not your share shattered neath the soil, how oft have not your mattocks rung against the giant bones of slaughtered kings.