Hispania Citerior Canto II: Tarraco.

9

Further on through now to lands of old,

Pagans founded there once or pitifully sold,

Stones laid out which still canst speak,

Of grander times now sank below their peak.

10

Arrival 'twas had not long after dawn,

The city where before Hispania was born,

Passing on thereabouts in the opposite direction,

Where Scipio once went to quell insurrection.

11

Tarraco howe'er before naught 'cept a town,

Hast grown thee well, 'twere outward bound,

Via Augusta settl'd thee not thy plain limits,

The boundary -The Ebro, respected not e'en for minutes!

12

Of Hispania Citerior here endeth thee,

An impatient stroll toward the coast impell'd he,

Through Tarraco's deserted streets 'twas told,

A new dawning day begins to unfold.

13

The sun riseth e'er so high above,

Mare Nostrum, ye whose sight I do love,

Underneath which the gushing waves,

Desire ne'er to leave but rather save.

14

A theatre by thy sands, a near distant vista,

A pleasant pile endearingly greets her,

Stone blocks of old Antigone's abode,

Where tears didst then soak and corrode!

15

Unto this enchanting spell bound place,

Where Sophocles didst write for a worthy race,

And the condición humana e'er precisely,

Captur'd herein, but endeth none too nicely.