callidus, et pelagi caelique obnititur irae. 290
Quid primum, Stilicho, mirer? quod cautus ad omnes
restiteris fraudes, ut te nec noxia furto
littera nec pretio manus inflammata lateret?
quod nihil in tanto circum terrore locutus
indignum Latio? responsa quod ardua semper 295
Eois dederis, quae mox effecta probasti—
Yet Porus was defeated by Alexander, Memnon by Achilles, and Gildo by thee.
It was not, however, only the South that fierce Mars aroused but also the East. Though loyalty cried out against it Gildo had transferred the nominal rule of Libya to the Eastern empire, cloaking his base treason under the name of legitimate government.[192] Thus with diverse terror a twofold war arose; here were arms, there were wiles. Africa supported the one with her savage tribes, the other the conspiring East nurtured with treachery. From Byzantium came edicts to subvert the loyalty of governors; from Africa that refused her crops black famine pressed and had beleaguered trembling Rome. Libya openly meditated our destruction; over the civic strife shame had laid her veil of silence.