inde ubi prima dies iuris, clavumque regendae invasit patriae, ac sub nutu castra fuere, ut pelagi rudis et pontum tractare per artem nescius, accepit miserae si iura carinae, ventorum tenet ipse vicem cunctisque procellis dat iactare ratem: fertur vaga gurgite puppis, ipsius in scopulos dextra impellente magistri.
When his first day of office came, he seized the helm of the state and commanded the armies. So, if a mere landsman, with no skill to manage the sea, has got the command of a luckless vessel, he himself does the work of foul weather, and exposes the ship to be tossed by every gale; she drifts at random over the sea, and the hand of her own captain drives her upon the rocks.
final_alignments\Silius_Italicus_Punica_Book4.json