"Hic dolet AEgyptus denis percussa flagellis";

the flight of the Israelites,--

"et puro livescit pontus in auro";

the manna in the wilderness; the giving of the law; the gushing of water
from the rock; and then the succession of Hebrew history, stretching
through a hundred verses, to the reign of Esdras,--

"Totaque picturae series finitur in Esdra."

After these great obsequies Alexander marches at once against Darius.
And here the poet dwells on the scene presented by the Persian army
watching by its camp-fires. Helmets rival the stars; the firmament is
surprised to see fires like its own reflected from bucklers, and fears
lest the earth be changed into sky and the night become day. Instead of
the sun, there is the helmet of Darius, which shines like Phoebus
himself, and at its top a stone of flame, obscuring the stars and
yielding only to the rays of the sun: for, as much as it yields to the
latter, so much does it prevail over the former. The youthful chieftain,
under the protection of a benignant divinity, passes the night in
profound repose. His army is all marshalled for the day, and he still
sleeps. He is waked, gives the order for battle, and harangues his men.
The victory of Arbela is at hand.

The fifth book is occupied by a description of this battle. Here are
episodes in imitation of the ancients, with repetitions or parodies of
Virgil. The poet apostrophizes the unhappy, defeated Darius, as he is
about to flee, saying,--"Whither do you go, O King, about to perish in
useless flight? You do not know, alas! lost one, you do not know from
whom you flee. While you flee from one enemy, you run upon other
enemies. Desiring to escape Charybdis, you run upon Scylla."

"Quo tendis inerti,
Rex, periture, fuga? Nescis, heu! perdite, nescis
Quern fugias; hostesque incurris, dum fugis hostem;
_Incidis in Scyllam, cupiens vitare Charybdim_."[59]

The Persian monarch finds safety at last in Media, and Alexander enters
Babylon in triumph, surpassing all other triumphs, even those of ancient
Rome: and this is merited,--so sings the poet,--for his exploits are
above those of the most celebrated warriors, whether sung by Lucan in
his magnificent style, or by Claudian in his pompous verses. The poet
closes this book by referring to the condition of Christianity in his
own age, and exclaiming, that, if God, touched by the groans and the
longings of his people, w