The Student's Companion to Latin Authors — John Stuart Mill — John Shaqi
The Student's Companion to Latin Authors
John Stuart Mill · en
'Libyamque auferre tyranno
dum regnum te, Roma, facit';
vii. 432,
'Quod fugiens civile nefas redituraque nunquam
libertas ultra Tigrim Rhenumque recessit';
vii. 442,
'Felices Arabes Medique eoaque tellus,
quam sub perpetuis tenuerunt fata tyrannis.
Ex populis qui regna ferunt, sors ultima nostra est,
quos servire pudet.'
(2) Pompeius; ii. 732-6,
'Non quia te superi patrio privare sepulchro
maluerint, Phariae busto damnantur harenae:
parcitur Hesperiae; procul hoc et in orbe remoto
abscondat fortuna nefas, Romanaque tellus
inmaculata sui servetur sanguine Magni.'
Cf. ix. 601-4 (where apotheosis is assigned him).
(3) Cato (the hero of Book ix.) and Brutus; ii. 234,
'At non magnanimi percussit pectora Bruti
terror';
ix. 554,
'Nam cui crediderim superos arcana daturos
dicturosque magis quam sancto vera Catoni?'
Cf. ix. 186-9.
(4) Caesar; ii. 439,
'Caesar in arma furens nullas nisi sanguine fuso
gaudet habere vias';
v. 242,
'perdere successus scelerum';
vii. 593,
'nondum attigit arcem
iuris et humanum columen, quo cuncta premuntur,
egressus meruit fatis tam nobile letum.
Vivat et, ut Bruti procumbat victima, regnet.'
Caesar's acts are sometimes unfairly represented, as in vii. 798
_sqq._, ix. 1035 _sqq._ (on viewing Pompeius' corpse); ll. 1038-9,
'lacrimas non sponte cadentis
effudit gemitusque expressit pectore laeto.'
_Lucan's philosophical and religious views._--His Stoicism comes out
strongly in the poem, ix. 566-84 (speech of Cato), especially 578-80,
'Estque dei sedes, nisi terra et pontus et aër
et caelum et virtus? Superos quid quaerimus ultra?
Iuppiter est, quodcumque vides, quodcumque moveris?'
vii. 814,
'Communis mundo superest rogus ossibus astra
mixturus.'
Note especially the very frequent references to fate; i. 263-4,
'cunctasque pudoris
rumpunt fata moras.'
The gods are not introduced as chief agents; cf. the censure of
Petronius quoted below. Lucan prides himself on despising the gods,
and substitutes for them his favourite divinity, Fortuna; i. 128,
'Victrix causa deis placuit, sed victa Catoni';
vii. 445,
'Sunt nobis nulla profecto
numina; cum caeco rapiantur saecula casu,
mentimur regnare Iovem.'
_Rhetorical treatment_ is seen in (1) the vast amount of hyperbole
employed; cf. the account of the siege of Massilia, iii. 538-762; (2)
the geographical and mythological learning introduced. This is
sometimes inaccurate; the best known instance is his confusion of
Pharsalus and Philippi; cf. i. 1 and 688.
_Lucan's models._--(1) For diction, chiefly Virgil.[77] Horace and
Ovid are also imitated.
(2) For history Lucan is supposed to have used Livy mostly. How far he
used other authorities is unknown. His history is sometimes inexact.
In ii. 478 _sqq._ the character of L. Domitius Ahenobarbus is falsely
portrayed. So the journey of Cato to the shrine of Hammon, ix. 511
_sqq._