Pharsalia [31]
for serpent.
(13) Conf. Book VI., 473.
(14) The Centaurs.
(15) Probably the flute thrown away by Pallas, which Marsyas
picked up and then challenged Apollo to a musical contest.
For his presumption the god had him flayed alive.
(16) That is, the Little Bear, by which the Phoenicians steered,
while the Greeks steered by the Great Bear. (See Sir G.
Lewis's "Astronomy of the Ancients", p. 447.) In Book VI.,
line 193, the pilot declares that he steers by the pole star
itself, which is much nearer to the Little than to the Great
Bear, and is (I believe) reckoned as one of the stars
forming the group known by that name. He may have been a
Phoenician.
(17) He did not in fact reach the Ganges, as is well known.
(18) Perhaps in allusion to the embassy from India to Augustus in
B.C. 19, when Zarmanochanus, an Indian sage, declaring that
he had lived in happiness and would not risk the chance of a
reverse, burnt himself publicly. (Merivale, chapter xxxiv.)
(19) That is to say, looking towards the west; meaning that they
came from the other side of the equator. (See Book IX.,
630.)
(20) See Book I., 117.
(21) A race called Heniochi, said to be descended from the
charioteer of Castor and Pollux.
(22) "Effusis telis". I have so taken this difficult expression.
Herodotus (7, 60) says the men were numbered in ten
thousands by being packed close together and having a circle
drawn round them. After the first ten thousand had been so
measured a fence was put where the circle had been, and the
subsequent ten thousands were driven into the enclosure. It
is not unlikely that they piled their weapons before being
so measured, and Lucan's account would then be made to agree
with that of Herodotus. Francken, on the other hand, quotes
a Scholiast, who says that each hundredth man shot off an
arrow.
(23) Agamemnon.
(24) Massilia (Marseilles) was founded from Phocaea in Asia Minor
about 600 B.C. Lucan (line 393) appears to think that the
founders were fugitives from their city when it was stormed
by the Persians sixty years later. See Thucydides I. 13;
Grote, "History of Greece", chapter xxii.
(25) A difficult passage, of which this seems to be the meaning
least free from objection.
(26) Murviedro of the present day. Its gallant defence against
Hannibal has been compared to that of Saragossa against the
French.
(27) See note to Book I., 506.
(28) Three islands off the coast near Toulon, now called the
Isles d'Hyeres.
(29) This was Decimus Brutus, an able and trusted lieutenant of
Caesar, who made him one of his heirs in the second degree.
He, however, joined the conspiracy, and it was he who on the
day of the murder induced Caesar to go to the Senate House.
Less than two years later, after the siege of Perasia, he
was deserted by his army, taken and put to death.
(30) According to some these were the lines which Lucan recited
while bleeding to death; according to others, those at Book
ix., line 952.
(31) It was regarded as the greatest of misfortunes if a child
died before his parent.
(32) It was Brutus who gained the naval victory over the Veneti
some seven years before; the first naval fight, that we know
of, fought in the Atlantic Ocean.
BOOK IV
CAESAR IN SPAIN. WAR IN THE ADRIATIC SEA. DEATH OF CURIO.
But in the distant regions of the earth
Fierce Caesar warring, though in fight he dealt
No baneful slaughter, hastened on the doom
To swift fulfillment. There on Magnus' side
Afranius and Petreius (1) held command,
Who ruled alternate, and the rampart guard
Obeyed the standard of each chief in turn.
There with the Romans in the camp were joined
Asturians (2) swift, and Vettons lightly armed,
And Celts who, exiled from their ancient home,
Had joined "Iberus" to their former name.
Where the rich soil in gentle slope ascends
And forms a
(13) Conf. Book VI., 473.
(14) The Centaurs.
(15) Probably the flute thrown away by Pallas, which Marsyas
picked up and then challenged Apollo to a musical contest.
For his presumption the god had him flayed alive.
(16) That is, the Little Bear, by which the Phoenicians steered,
while the Greeks steered by the Great Bear. (See Sir G.
Lewis's "Astronomy of the Ancients", p. 447.) In Book VI.,
line 193, the pilot declares that he steers by the pole star
itself, which is much nearer to the Little than to the Great
Bear, and is (I believe) reckoned as one of the stars
forming the group known by that name. He may have been a
Phoenician.
(17) He did not in fact reach the Ganges, as is well known.
(18) Perhaps in allusion to the embassy from India to Augustus in
B.C. 19, when Zarmanochanus, an Indian sage, declaring that
he had lived in happiness and would not risk the chance of a
reverse, burnt himself publicly. (Merivale, chapter xxxiv.)
(19) That is to say, looking towards the west; meaning that they
came from the other side of the equator. (See Book IX.,
630.)
(20) See Book I., 117.
(21) A race called Heniochi, said to be descended from the
charioteer of Castor and Pollux.
(22) "Effusis telis". I have so taken this difficult expression.
Herodotus (7, 60) says the men were numbered in ten
thousands by being packed close together and having a circle
drawn round them. After the first ten thousand had been so
measured a fence was put where the circle had been, and the
subsequent ten thousands were driven into the enclosure. It
is not unlikely that they piled their weapons before being
so measured, and Lucan's account would then be made to agree
with that of Herodotus. Francken, on the other hand, quotes
a Scholiast, who says that each hundredth man shot off an
arrow.
(23) Agamemnon.
(24) Massilia (Marseilles) was founded from Phocaea in Asia Minor
about 600 B.C. Lucan (line 393) appears to think that the
founders were fugitives from their city when it was stormed
by the Persians sixty years later. See Thucydides I. 13;
Grote, "History of Greece", chapter xxii.
(25) A difficult passage, of which this seems to be the meaning
least free from objection.
(26) Murviedro of the present day. Its gallant defence against
Hannibal has been compared to that of Saragossa against the
French.
(27) See note to Book I., 506.
(28) Three islands off the coast near Toulon, now called the
Isles d'Hyeres.
(29) This was Decimus Brutus, an able and trusted lieutenant of
Caesar, who made him one of his heirs in the second degree.
He, however, joined the conspiracy, and it was he who on the
day of the murder induced Caesar to go to the Senate House.
Less than two years later, after the siege of Perasia, he
was deserted by his army, taken and put to death.
(30) According to some these were the lines which Lucan recited
while bleeding to death; according to others, those at Book
ix., line 952.
(31) It was regarded as the greatest of misfortunes if a child
died before his parent.
(32) It was Brutus who gained the naval victory over the Veneti
some seven years before; the first naval fight, that we know
of, fought in the Atlantic Ocean.
BOOK IV
CAESAR IN SPAIN. WAR IN THE ADRIATIC SEA. DEATH OF CURIO.
But in the distant regions of the earth
Fierce Caesar warring, though in fight he dealt
No baneful slaughter, hastened on the doom
To swift fulfillment. There on Magnus' side
Afranius and Petreius (1) held command,
Who ruled alternate, and the rampart guard
Obeyed the standard of each chief in turn.
There with the Romans in the camp were joined
Asturians (2) swift, and Vettons lightly armed,
And Celts who, exiled from their ancient home,
Had joined "Iberus" to their former name.
Where the rich soil in gentle slope ascends
And forms a