Part 10 (1/2)

They would have laughed at exaggerations such as (287)--

cuius non militis ensem agnoscam? caelumque tremens c.u.m lancea transit, dicere non fallar quo sit vibrata lacerto.

Of each of you shall strike, I know the hand: The javelin's flight to me betrays the arm That launched it hurtling.

SIR E. RIDLEY.

And yet beneath all this fustian there is much that stirs the blood.

Lines such as (261)--

si pro me patriam ferro flammisque petistis, nunc pugnate truces gladiosque exsolvite culpa.

nulla ma.n.u.s belli mutato iudice pura est.

non mihi res agitur, sed vos ut libera sitis turba precor, gentes ut ius habeatis in omnes.

ipse ego privatae cupidus me reddere vitae plebeiaque toga modic.u.m compomere civem, omnia dum vobis liceant, nihil esse recuso.

invidia regnate mea;

If for my sake you sought your fatherland with fire and sword, fight fierce to-day, and by victory clear your swords from guilt. No hand is guiltless judged by a new arbiter of war.

The struggle of to-day does naught for me; but for you, so runs my prayer, it shall bring freedom and dominion o'er the world. Myself, I long to return to private life, and, even though my garb were that of the common people, to be a peaceful citizen once more. So be it all be made lawful for you, there is naught I would refuse to be: for me the hatred, so be yours the power.

or (290)--

quod si signa ducem numquam fallentia vestrum conspicio faciesque truces oculosque minaces, vicistis,

Nay, if I behold those signs that ne'er deceived your leader, fierce faces and threatening eyes, you are already conquerors.

though they are not the words of the historical Caesar, have a stirring sincerity and force. But the speeches fail because all speak the same artificial language. A mutineer can say of Caesar (v. 289)--

Rheni mihi Caesar in undis dux erat, hic socius. facinus quos inquinat aequat;

Caesar was my leader by the waves of Rhine, here he is my comrade. The stain of crime makes all men equal.

or threaten with the words (292)--

quidquid gerimus fortuna vocatur.

nos fatum sciat esse suum.

As fortune's gift He takes the victory which our arms have won: But _we_ his fortunes are, his fates are ours To fas.h.i.+on as we will.

SIR E. RIDLEY.

The lines are brilliant and worthy of life: in their immediate context they are ridiculous. Epigrams have their value, however, even when they suit their context ill, and neither Juvenal nor Tacitus has surpa.s.sed Lucan in this respect, or been more often quoted. He is, says Quintilian, _sententiis clarissimus_. Nothing can surpa.s.s (iv. 519)--

victurosque dei celant, ut vivere durent, felix esse mori.

And the G.o.ds conceal from those who are doomed to live how happy it is to die. Thus only may they endure to live.

or (viii. 631-2)--

mutantur prospera vitae, non fit morte miser;

Life may bring defeat, But death no misery.