44. ‘Que’che ’n Tesaglia ebbe le man’ sí pronte

Caesar who was all too ready, in Thessaly,

to paint the ground crimson in civil war,

wept for Pompey his dead son-in-law,

recognising his familiar features:

and David the shepherd-boy who shattered

Goliath’s skull, wept for Absalom his rebellious son,

and even drowned his eyes for the dead Saul,

so much so he cursed Gilboa’s cruel mountain.

But you whom pity never caused to pale,

who always have your veil to protect you

against the bow Love draws in vain,

see me tormented by a thousand deaths:

and yet have never let one tear fall

from your sweet eyes, only disdain and anger.

Notes: Caesar defeated Pompey at Pharsalia: later, after defeat in Egypt, Pompey’s severed head was sent to Caesar. See 2 Samuel i and xviii for David, Goliath and Saul.

‘Sextus the Son of Pompey Applying to Erictho, to Know the Fate of the Battle of Pharsalia’ - Robert John Dunkarton (English, 1744 - 1811), The Rijksmuseum