Pharsalia [80]
was
sitting to watch the birds that day. "And first of all (as
Livius says) he discovered the time of the battle, and he
said to those present that the affair was now deciding and
the men were going into action. Looking again, and
observing the signs, he sprang up with enthusiasm and called
out, `You conquer, Caesar.'" (Long's translation.)
(11) The Fontes Aponi were warm springs near Padua. An altar,
inscribed to Apollo Aponus, was found at Ribchester, and is
now at St. John's College, Cambridge. (Wright, "Celt, Roman,
and Saxon", p. 320.)
(12) See Book I., 411, and following lines.
(13) For the contempt here expressed for the Greek gymnastic
schools, see also Tacitus, "Annals", 14, 21. It is well
known that Nero instituted games called Neronia which were
borrowed from the Greeks; and that many of the Roman
citizens despised them as foreign and profligate. Merivale,
chapter liii., cites this passage.
(14) Thus paraphrased by Dean Stanley:
"I tremble not with terror, but with hope,
As the great day reveals its coming scope;
Never in earlier days, our hearts to cheer,
Have such bright gifts of Heaven been brought so near,
Nor ever has been kept the aspiring soul
By space so narrow from so grand a goal."
Inaugural address at St. Andrews. 1873, on the "Study of
Greatness".
(15) That such were Caesar's orders is also attested by Appian.
(16) See Book V., 463.
(17) That is, marked out the new colony with a plough-share.
This was regarded as a religious ceremony, and therefore
performed by the Consul with his toga worn in ancient
fashion.
(18) "Hath Jove no thunder?" -- Ben Jonson, "Catiline", iii., 2.
(19) Compare Book I., line 600.
(20) This act of Crastinus is recorded by Plutarch ("Pompeius",
71), and by Caesar, "Civil War", Book III., 91. Caesar
called him by name and said: "Well, Crastinus, shall we win
today?" "We shall win with glory, Caesar," he replied in a
loud voice, "and to-day you will praise me, living or dead."
-- Durny, "History of Rome", vol. iii., 312. He was placed
in a special tomb after the battle.
(21) See on line 203.
(22) That is, lashes on his team terrified by the Gorgon shield
in the ranks of the enemy.
(23) Plutarch states that Brutus after the battle escaped and
made his way to Larissa, whence he wrote to Caesar. Caesar,
pleased that he was alive, asked him to come to him; and it
was on Brutus' opinion that Caesar determined to hurry to
Egypt as the most probable refuge of Pompeius. Caesar
entrusted Brutus with the command of Cisalpine Gaul when he
was in Africa.
(24) "He perished, after a career of furious partisanship,
disgraced with cruelty and treachery, on the field of
Pharsalia" (Merivale, "Hist. Romans under the Empire",
chapter lii.). Unless this man had been an ancestor of Nero
it is impossible to suppose that Lucan would have thus
singled him out. But he appears to have been the only
leader who fell. (Compare Book II, lines 534-590, for his
conduct at Corfinium.)
(25) This appears to be the only possible meaning of the text.
But in truth, although Cornelia was not by her husband's
side at his murder, she was present at the scene.
(26) See Book VI., 420.
(27) The whole of this passage is foreign to Caesar's character,
and unfounded in fact. Pompeians perished on the field, and
were taken prisoners. When Caesar passed over the field he
is recorded to have said in pity, "They would have it so;
after all my exploits I should have been condemned to death
had I not thrown myself upon the protection of my soldiers."
-- Plutarch, "Caesar"; Durny, "History of Rome", vol. iii.,
p. 311.
(28) Alluding to the general conflagration in which (by the Stoic
doctrines) all the universe would one day perish.
(29) Wrongly
sitting to watch the birds that day. "And first of all (as
Livius says) he discovered the time of the battle, and he
said to those present that the affair was now deciding and
the men were going into action. Looking again, and
observing the signs, he sprang up with enthusiasm and called
out, `You conquer, Caesar.'" (Long's translation.)
(11) The Fontes Aponi were warm springs near Padua. An altar,
inscribed to Apollo Aponus, was found at Ribchester, and is
now at St. John's College, Cambridge. (Wright, "Celt, Roman,
and Saxon", p. 320.)
(12) See Book I., 411, and following lines.
(13) For the contempt here expressed for the Greek gymnastic
schools, see also Tacitus, "Annals", 14, 21. It is well
known that Nero instituted games called Neronia which were
borrowed from the Greeks; and that many of the Roman
citizens despised them as foreign and profligate. Merivale,
chapter liii., cites this passage.
(14) Thus paraphrased by Dean Stanley:
"I tremble not with terror, but with hope,
As the great day reveals its coming scope;
Never in earlier days, our hearts to cheer,
Have such bright gifts of Heaven been brought so near,
Nor ever has been kept the aspiring soul
By space so narrow from so grand a goal."
Inaugural address at St. Andrews. 1873, on the "Study of
Greatness".
(15) That such were Caesar's orders is also attested by Appian.
(16) See Book V., 463.
(17) That is, marked out the new colony with a plough-share.
This was regarded as a religious ceremony, and therefore
performed by the Consul with his toga worn in ancient
fashion.
(18) "Hath Jove no thunder?" -- Ben Jonson, "Catiline", iii., 2.
(19) Compare Book I., line 600.
(20) This act of Crastinus is recorded by Plutarch ("Pompeius",
71), and by Caesar, "Civil War", Book III., 91. Caesar
called him by name and said: "Well, Crastinus, shall we win
today?" "We shall win with glory, Caesar," he replied in a
loud voice, "and to-day you will praise me, living or dead."
-- Durny, "History of Rome", vol. iii., 312. He was placed
in a special tomb after the battle.
(21) See on line 203.
(22) That is, lashes on his team terrified by the Gorgon shield
in the ranks of the enemy.
(23) Plutarch states that Brutus after the battle escaped and
made his way to Larissa, whence he wrote to Caesar. Caesar,
pleased that he was alive, asked him to come to him; and it
was on Brutus' opinion that Caesar determined to hurry to
Egypt as the most probable refuge of Pompeius. Caesar
entrusted Brutus with the command of Cisalpine Gaul when he
was in Africa.
(24) "He perished, after a career of furious partisanship,
disgraced with cruelty and treachery, on the field of
Pharsalia" (Merivale, "Hist. Romans under the Empire",
chapter lii.). Unless this man had been an ancestor of Nero
it is impossible to suppose that Lucan would have thus
singled him out. But he appears to have been the only
leader who fell. (Compare Book II, lines 534-590, for his
conduct at Corfinium.)
(25) This appears to be the only possible meaning of the text.
But in truth, although Cornelia was not by her husband's
side at his murder, she was present at the scene.
(26) See Book VI., 420.
(27) The whole of this passage is foreign to Caesar's character,
and unfounded in fact. Pompeians perished on the field, and
were taken prisoners. When Caesar passed over the field he
is recorded to have said in pity, "They would have it so;
after all my exploits I should have been condemned to death
had I not thrown myself upon the protection of my soldiers."
-- Plutarch, "Caesar"; Durny, "History of Rome", vol. iii.,
p. 311.
(28) Alluding to the general conflagration in which (by the Stoic
doctrines) all the universe would one day perish.
(29) Wrongly