The victories of Drusus and Tiberius

Qualem ministrum fulminis alitem,
cui rex deorum regnum in avis vagas
permisit expertus fidelem
Iuppiter in Ganymede flavo,

olim iuventas et patrius vigor
nido laborum propulit inscium,
vernique iam nimbis remotis
insolitos docuere nisus

venti paventem, mox in ovilia
demisit hostem vividus impetus,
nunc in reluctantis dracones
egit amor dapis atque pugnae;

qualemve laetis caprea pascuis
intenta fulvae matris ab ubere
iam lacte depulsum leonem
dente novo peritura vidit:

videre Raetis bella sub Alpibus
Drusum gerentem Vindelici. quibus
mos unde deductus per omne
tempus Amazonia securi

dextras obarmet, quaerere distuli
nec scire fas est omnia, sed diu
lateque victrices catervae
consiliis iuvenis revictae

sensere, quid mens rite, quid indoles
nutrita faustis sub penetralibus
posset, quid Augusti paternus
in pueros animus Nerones.

fortes creantur fortibus et bonis:
est in iuvencis, est in equis patrum
virtus neque inbellem feroces
progenerant aquilae columbam.

doctrina sed vim promovet insitam
rectique cultus pectora roborant;
utcumque defecere mores,
indecorant bene nata culpae.

quid debeas, o Roma, Neronibus,
testis Metaurum flumen et Hasdrubal
devictus et pulcher fugatis
ille dies Latio tenebris,

qui primus alma risit adorea,
dirus per urbis Afer ut Italas
ceu flamma per taedas vel Eurus
per Siculas equitavit undas.

post hoc secundis usque laboribus
Romana pubes crevit et inpio
vastata Poenorum tumultu
fana deos habuere rectos.

dixitque tandem perfidus Hannibal:
cervi, luporum praeda rapacium,
sectamur ultro quos opimus
fallere et effugere est triumphus.

gens, quae cremato fortis ab Ilio
iactata Tuscis aequoribus sacra
natosque maturosque patres
pertulit Ausonias ad urbis,

duris ut ilex tonsa bipennibus
nigrae feraci frondis in Algido,
per damna, per caedis ab ipso
ducit opes animumque ferro.

non hydra secto corpore firmior
vinci dolentem crevit in Herculem
monstrumve submisere Colchi
maius Echioniaeve Thebae.

merses profundo, pulchrior evenit;
luctere, multa proruet integrum
cum laude victorem geretque
proelia coniugibus loquenda.

Carthagini iam non ego nuntios
mittam superbos: occidit, occidit
spes omnis et fortuna nostri
nominis Hasdrubale interempto.

nil Claudiae non perficient manus,
quas et benigno numine Iuppiter
defendit et curae sagaces
expediunt per acuta belli.

Like that bird, the attendant on the thunderbolt, to which Jupiter the King of the Gods permitted rule over the wandering birds when he had tried it and found it faithful with fair-haired Ganymede – first its youth and the vigour of its forebears had thrust it from the nest, not knowing how to perform its task, but then the winds of spring drove off the clouds and taught it, still fearful, the unfamiliar effort [of flight], then soon its flashing stoop sent it down as an enemy onto the sheepfolds, now the love of food and battle sets it against resisting snakes – ; or like a hind, thinking only of its happy pasture, when, soon to die under new-grown fangs, it catches sight of a lion, only just thrust away from the milk of its tawny mother: so Drusus appeared to the Vindelici as he delivered battle under the Raetian Alps. Where they acquired their timeless custom of taking up Amazonian axes to arm themselves, I have not enquired – it would not be right to know everything – but their host, victorious so widely and so long, vanquished in its turn by the sure judgment of its young adversary, found out what intelligence rightly nurtured, what talent nurtured in an auspicious home, what the paternal spirit of Augustus inculcated in the young Neros, could achieve. The strong are created by the strong and the good: cattle and horses get their good breeding from their sires, nor do fierce eagles beget the unwarlike dove. But innate powers grow stronger for teaching, and apt training fosters hearts of oak, while whenever principle is lacking, guilt mars what is well-born.  O Rome, to what you owe to the Nerones, the River Metaurus and the defeat and death of Hasdrubal bear witness, and the beautiful day which first joyed in sweet glory as the shadows were fled away from Latium, after [Hannibal] the grim African, had ridden through the cities of Italy like fire through the pine-trees or the East Wind through the Sicilian seas. After this, everywhere the youth of Rome grew strong on through well-omened effort, and the temples which had been laid waste by the sacrilegious upheaval wrought by the Carthaginians had their Gods set upright once again. And finally, Hannibal the forsworn said: – We are stags, prey to ravening wolves, yet beyond reason it is we who pursue them, when eluding and escaping them is the greatest of triumphs. This strong people, which bore its sacred possessions, tossed on the Tuscan seas, to the cities of Italy, along with its children and its parents, ripe with age, like the ilex cut back by stern axes, despite the damage and destruction draws resilience and spirit from the very steel itself. The hydra did not increase any less in strength from the cuts to its body against Hercules, unwilling as he was to be beaten, nor did the Colchians or Echion’s Thebes bring forth a greater prodigy [when they sowed the dragon’s teeth]. Plunge it in the deep, it emerges all the fairer; wrestle it, to great applause it will hurl down the undefeated champion and fight battles of which its womenfolk will tell the tale. Now I will send no proud messengers to Carthage, no, not I: all hope and the fortunes of our name have perished, perished, now that Hasdrubal is slain. There is nothing that the hands of the Claudii will not achieve, as Jupiter protects them with his divine favour and prudent wisdom speeds them through the crises of war.