invalidi passim caedimur et cadimus,
cumque animum patriae subiit fumantis imago
et stetit ante oculos quidquid ubique perit,
frangimur, immodicis et fletibus ora rigamus.[1347]
The invasions are like some immense tidal wave that sweeps all before it:
Si totus Gallos sese effudisset in agros
Oceanus, vastis plus superesset aquis.[1348]
All strongholds have given out against the barbarian arms—‘ultima pertulimus’. The author of the ad Uxorem writes in the same strain:
Ferro peste fame vinclis algore calore,