Augustus at the pinnacle

Quae cura patrum quaeve Quiritium
plenis honorum muneribus tuas,
Auguste, virtutes in aevum
per titulos memoresque fastos

aeternet, o, qua sol habitabilis
inlustrat oras, maxime principum,
quem legis expertes Latinae
Vindelici didicere nuper

quid Marte posses. milite nam tuo
Drusus Genaunos, inplacidum genus,
Brennosque velocis et arcis
Alpibus inpositas tremendis

deiecit acer plus vice simplici;
maior Neronum mox grave proelium
conmisit immanisque Raetos
auspiciis pepulit secundis,

spectandus in certamine Martio
devota morti pectora liberae
quantis fatigaret ruinis,
indomitas prope qualis undas

exercet Auster Pleiadum choro
scindente nubis, inpiger hostium
vexare turmas et frementem
mittere equum medios per ignis.

sic tauriformis volvitur Aufidus,
qui regna Dauni praefluit Apuli,
cum saevit horrendamque cultis
diluviem meditatur agris,

ut barbarorum Claudius agmina
ferrata vasto diruit impetu
primosque et extremos metendo
stravit humum sine clade victor,

te copias, te consilium et tuos
praebente divos. nam tibi quo die
portus Alexandrea supplex
et vacuam patefecit aulam,

Fortuna lustro prospera tertio
belli secundos reddidit exitus
laudemque et optatum peractis
imperiis decus adrogavit.

te Cantaber non ante domabilis
Medusque et Indus, te profugus Scythes
miratur, o tutela praesens
Italiae dominaeque Romae.

te fontium qui celat origines
Nilusque et Hister, te rapidus Tigris,
te beluosus qui remotis
obstrepit Oceanus Britannis,

te non paventis funera Galliae
duraeque tellus audit Hiberiae,
te caede gaudentes Sygambri
conpositis venerantur armis.

What earnest steps of the Senate and Roman people, and conferral of ample honours, Augustus, can preserve your virtues for ever and ever in inscriptions and the unforgetting public records, o greatest of our leading men wherever the sun shines on peopled lands? Of whom the Vindelici, who had not formerly known the law of Rome, have just learned what you can achieve in war! For, with your own troops, Drusus, fierce in an action that was more than a simple reprisal, has thrown down the Genauni, that savage race, the nimble Brenni and their citadels lodged on the tremendous Alps: then the elder of the Nerones soon gave grim battle and with favourable auspices routed the monstrous Raeti, a sight to see in the arbitrament of Mars, so great was the destruction with which he ground down the hearts of those devoted to the death of freedom, almost like the south wind which rouses the irrepressible waves when the chorus of the Pleiades breaks through the clouds, sternly bent on harrying the enemies’ ranks and driving his foaming mount through the thick of battle. Thus the river Aufidus, which flows past the realm of Apulian Daunus, bull-like, rolls down when he is in a rage and planning a dreadful flood for the tended fields, and so Claudius, striking from all directions, tore apart the ironclad ranks of the barbarians and, mowing down the nearest with the furthest, strewed the ground [with dead] with his own command still entire, a victor with you, [Augustus,] supplying the forces, you the counsel, and you your favour with the Gods. For to you, on the very day when Alexandria in supplication fifteen years before opened to you her gates and her empty palace, auspicious Fortune gave again a favourable outcome to war and, your campaign completed, conferred on you praise and glory which  was all that could be wished for. At you, the Cantabrian, unconquerable before, the Parthian and the Indian and the Scythian, quick in retreat, wonder, o living bond of the safety of Rome, mistress of Italy. You, those rivers that conceal their source, the Nile and Danube; you, the monster-laden Ocean that beats against the distant Britons; you, Gaul, which does not fear to die, and the lands of rugged Spain, hear [and obey]; to you, the Sygambri, who joy in slaughter, arms laid aside, give veneration.