---
title: "Pharsalia · De Bello Civili"
author: "Lucan"
translator: "Sir Edward Ridley"
languages: [la, en]
shelf: "Classical Latin"
section: 21 of 21
url: https://scriptura.si/works/lucan-pharsalia/21/
cite: "Lucan, tr. Sir Edward Ridley, Pharsalia · De Bello Civili, section 21. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/lucan-pharsalia/21/"
---

# Pharsalia · De Bello Civili

*Lucan, tr. Sir Edward Ridley*

The civil war between Caesar and Pompey as dark epic, written under Nero by a poet he forced to die at twenty-five.

> Latin: ed. Karl Hermann Weise, from the Perseus Digital Library (canonical-latinLit, phi0917.phi001, CC BY-SA 4.0).

> English: Sir Edward Ridley, from the Perseus Digital Library (phi0917.phi001.perseus-eng2). Notes are not included.

> Rows follow the references the two texts share (line numbers), cut where both reach the end of a sentence.

## 21. Book X · lines 332–546

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/lucan-pharsalia/21/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/lucan-pharsalia/21/#p-N

[¶0] Thus did they pass, as though in peace profound,
The nightly watches. But Pothinus' mind,
Once with accursed butchery imbued,
Was frenzied still; since great Pompeius fell
No deed to him was crime; his rabid soul
Th' avenging goddesses and Magnus' shade
Stirred to fresh horrors; and a Pharian hand
No less was worthy, as he deemed, to shed
That blood which Fortune purposed should bedew
The conquered fathers: and the fell revenge
Due to the senate for the civil war
This hireling almost snatched. Avert, ye fates,
Far hence the shame that not by Brutus' hand
This blow be struck! Shall thus the tyrant's fall,
Just at our hands, become a Pharian crime.
Reft of example? To prepare a plan
(Fated to fail) he dares; nor veils in fraud
A plot for murder, but with open war
Attacks th' unconquered chieftain: from his crimes
He gained such courage as to send command
To lop the head of Caesar, and to join
In death the kinsmen chiefs. These words by night
His faithful servants to Achillas bear,
His foul associate, whom the boy had made
Chief of his armies, and who ruled alone
O'er Egypt's land and o'er himself her king:
' Now lay thy limbs upon the sumptuous couch
' And sleep in luxury, for the Queen hath seized
'The palace; nor alone by her betrayed,
' But Caesar's gift, is Pharos. Dost delay
' Nor hasten to the chamber of thy Queen?
' Thou only? Married to the Latian chief,
'The impious sister now her brother weds
' And hurrying from rival spouse to spouse
' Hath Egypt won, and plays the bawd for Rome.
' By amorous potions she has won the man:
' Then trust the boy! Yet give him but a night
' In her enfondling arms, and drunk with love
' Thy life and mine he'll barter for a kiss.
' We for his sister's charms by cross and flame
' Shall pay the penalty: nor hope of aid;
' Here stands adulterous Caesar, here the King
' Her spouse: how hope we from so stern a judge
' To gain acquittal? Shall she not condemn
'Those who ne'er sought her favours? By the deed
We dared together and lost, by Magnus' blood
' Which wrought the bond between us, be thou swift
' With hasty tumult to arouse the war:
' Dash in with nightly band, and mar with death
' Their shameless nuptials: on the very bed
With either lover smite the ruthless Queen.
' Nor let the fortunes of the Western chief
' Make pause our enterprise. We share with him
' The glory of his empire o'er the world.
' Pompeius fallen makes us too sublime,
There lies the shore that bids us hope success:
Ask of our power from the polluted wave,
And gaze upon the scanty tomb which holds
Not all Pompeius' ashes. Peer to him
Was he whom now thou fearest. Noble blood,
' True, is not ours: what boots it? Nor are realms
' Nor wealth of peoples given to our command.
'Yet have we risen to a height of power
For deeds of blood, and Fortune to our hands
Attracts her victims. Lo! a nobler now
Lies in our compass, and a second death
Hesperia shall appease; for Caesar's blood,
Shed by these hands, shall give us this, that Rome
Shall love us, guilty of Pompeius' fall.
Why fear these titles, why this chieftain's strength?
For shorn of these, before your swords he lies
A common soldier. To the civil war
This night shall bring completion, and shall give
To peoples slain fit offerings, and send
That life the world demands beneath the shades.
Rise then in all your hardihood and smite
This Caesar down, and let the Roman youths
Strike for themselves, and Lagos for its King.
No do thou tarry: full of wine and feast
Thou'lt fall upon him in the lists of love;
Then dare the venture, and the heavenly gods
Shall grant of Cato's and of Brutus' prayers
To thee fulfilment.'
Nor was Achillas slow
To hear the voice that counselled him to crime.
No sounding clarion summoned, as is wont,
His troops to arms; nor trumpet blare betrayed
Their nightly march: but rapidly he seized
All needed instruments of blood and war.
Of Latian race the most part of his train,
Yet to barbarian customs were their minds
By long forgetfulness of Rome debased:
Else had it shamed to serve the Pharian King;
But now his vassal and his minion's word
Compel obedience. Those who serve in camps
Lose faith and love of kin: their pittance earned
Makes just the deed: and for their sordid pay,
Not for themselves, they threaten Caesar's life.
Where finds the piteous destiny of the realm
Rome with herself at peace? The host withdrawn
From dread Thessalia raves on Nilus' banks
As all the race of Rome. What more had dared,
With Magnus welcomed, the Lagean house?
Each hand must render to the gods their due,
Nor son of Rome may cease from civil war;
By Heaven's command our state was rent in twain;
Nor love for husband nor regard for sire
Parted our peoples. 'Twas a slave who stirred
Afresh the conflict, and Achillas grasped
In turn the sword of Rome: nay more, had won,
Had not the fates adverse restrained his hand
From Caesar's slaughter.
For the murderous pair
Ripe for their plot were met; the spacious hall
Still busied with the feast. So might have flowed
Into the kingly cups a stream of gore,
And in mid banquet fallen Caesar's head.
Yet did they fear lest in the nightly strife
(The fates permitting) some incautious hand-
So did they trust the sword-might slay the King.
Thus stayed the deed, for in the minds of slaves
The chance of doing Caesar to the death
Might bear postponement: when the day arose
Then should he suffer; and a night of life
Thus by Pothinus was to Caesar given.

> Latin: Sic velut in tuta securi pace trahebant
Noctis iter mediae: sed non vesana Pothini
Mens imbuta semel tam sacra caede, vacabat
A scelerum motu. Magno nihil ille peremto
Iam putat esse nefas: habitant sub pectore manes,
Ultricesque deae dant in nova monstra furorem.
Dignatur viles isto quoque sanguine dextras,
Quo Fortuna parat victos perfundere Patres;
Poenaque civilis belli, vindicta senatus
Paene data est famulo. Procul hoc avertite, fata,
Crimen, ut haec Bruto cervix absente secetur.
In scelus it Pharium Romani poena tyranni,
Exemplumque perit. Struit audax irrita fatis:
Nec parat occultae caedem committere fraudi,
Invictumque ducem detecto Marte lacessit.
Tantum animi delicta dabant, ut colla ferire
Caesaris, et socerum iungi tibi, Magne, iuberet:
Atque haec dicta monet famulos perferre fideles
Ad Pompeianae socium sibi caedis Achillam,
Quem puer imbellis cunctis praefecerat armis,
Et dederat ferrum, nullo sibi iure retento,
In cunctos, in seque simul. Tu mollibus, inquit,
Nunc incumbe toris, et pingues exige somnos:
Invasit Cleopatra domum. Nec prodita tantum est,
Sed donata Pharos. Cessas accurrere solus
Ad dominae thalamos? Nubit soror impia fratri:
Nam Latio iam nupta duci est: interque maritos
Discurrens Aegypton habet, Romamque meretur.
Expugnare senem potuit Cleopatra venenis:
Crede, miser, puero: quem nox si iunxerit una,
Et semel amplexus incesto pectore passus
Hauserit obscoenum titulo pietatis amorem,
Meque tuumque caput per singula forsitan illi
Oscula donabit. Crucibus flammisque luemus,
Si fuerit formosa soror. Nil undique restat
Auxilii: rex hinc coniux, hinc Caesar adulter.
Et sumus, ut fatear, tam saeva iudice sontes:
Quem non ex nobis credet Cleopatra nocentem,
A quo casta fuit? Per, te, quod fecimus una
Perdidimusque nefas, perque ictum sanguine Magni
Foedus, ades: subito bellum molire tumultu:
Irrue nocturnus: rumpamus funere taedas,
Crudelemque toris dominam mactemus in ipsis
Cum quocumque viro. Nec nos deterreat ausis
Hesperii Fortuna ducis. Quae sustulit illum
Imposuitque orbi, communis gloria nobis:
Nos quoque sublimes Magnus facit. Adspice litus,
Spem nostri sceleris: pollutos consule fluctus,
Quid liceat nobis: tumulumque e pulvere parvo
Adspice Pompeii non omnia membra tegentem.
Quem metuis, par huius erat. Non sanguine clari:
Quid refert? nec opes populorum ac regna movemus:
Ad scelus ingentis fati sumus. Adtrahit illos
In nostras Fortuna manus. En, altera venit
Victima nobilior. Placemus caede secunda
Hesperias gentes. Iugulus mihi Caesaris haustus
Hoc praestare potest, Pompeii caede nocentes
Ut populus Romanus amet. Quid nomina tanta
Horremus, viresque ducis, quibus ille relictis
Miles erit? Nox haec peraget civilia bella,
Inferiasque dabit populis, et mittet ad umbras.
Quod debetur adhuc mundo caput. Ite feroces
Caesaris in iugulum: praestet Lagea iuventus
Hoc regi, Romana sibi. Tu parce morari:
Plenum epulis, madidumque mero, Venerique paratum
Invenies: aude: superi tot vota Catonum
Brutorumque tibi tribuent. Noli segnis Achillas
Suadenti parere nefas. Haud clara movendis,
Ut mos, signa dedit castris, nec prodidit arma
Ullius clangore tubae: temere omnia saevi
Instrumenta rapit belli. Pars maxima turbae
Plebis erat Latiae: sed tanta oblivio mentes
Cepit, in externos corrupto milite mores,
Ut duce sub famulo iussuque satellitis irent,
Quos erat indignum Phario parere tyranno.
Nulla fides pietasque viris, qui castra sequuntur;
Venalesque manus, ubi fas, ubi maxima merces,
Aere merent parvo: iugulumque in Caesaris ire
Non sibi dant. Pro fas! ubi non civilia bella
Invenit imperii fatum miserabile nostri?
Thessaliae subducta acies in litore Nili
More furit patrio. Quid te plus, Magne, recepto
Ausa foret Lagea domus? Dat scilicet omnis
Dextera, quod debet superis: nullique vacare
Fas est Romano. Latium sic scindere corpus
Dis placitum: non in soceri generique favorem
Discedunt populi: civilia bella satelles
Movit, et in partem Romani venit Achillas.
Et nisi fata manus a sanguine Caesaris arcent,
Hae vincent partes. Aderat maturus uterque,
Et districta epulis ad cunctas aula patebat
Insidias, poteratque cruor per regia fundi
Pocula Caesareus, mensaeque incumbere cervix.
Sed metuunt belli trepidos in nocte tumultus,
Ne caedes confusa mauu permissaque fatis
Te, Ptolemaee, trahat. Tanta est fiducia ferri.
Non rapuere nefas: summi contemta facultas
Est operis: visum famulis reparabile damnum,
Illam mactandi dimittere Caesaris horam.
Servatur poenas in aperta luce daturus.
Donata est nox una duci, vixitque Pothini
Munere Phoebeos Caesar dilatus in ortus.

[¶1] Now from the Casian rock looked forth the Sun
Flooding the land of Egypt with a day
Warm from its earliest dawn, when from the walls
Not wandering in disorder are they seen,
But drawn in close array, as though to meet
A foe opposing; ready to receive
Or give the battle. Caesar, in the town
Placing no trust, within the palace courts
Lay in ignoble hiding place, the gates
Close barred: nor all the kingly rooms possessed,
But in the narrowest portion of the space
He drew his band together. There in arms
They stood, with dread and fury in their souls.
He feared attack, indignant at his fear.
Thus will a noble beast in little cage
Imprisoned, fume, and break upon the bars
His teeth in frenzied wrath; nor more would rage
The flames of Vulcan in Sicilian depths
Should Etna's top be closed. He who but now
By Haemus' mount against Pompeius chief,
Italia's leaders and the Senate line,
His cause forbidding hope, looked at the fates
He knew were hostile, with unfaltering gaze,
Now fears before the crime of hireling slaves,
And in mid palace trembles at the blow:
He whom nor Scythian nor Alaun had dared
To violate, nor the Moor who aims the dart
Upon his victim slain, to prove his skill.
The Roman world but now did not suffice
To hold him, nor the realms from furthest Ind
To Tyrian Gades. Now, as puny boy,
Or woman, trembling when a town is sacked,
Within the narrow corners of a house
He seeks for safety; on the portals closed
His hope of life: and with uncertain gait
He treads the halls; yet not without the King;
In purpose, Ptolemaeus, that thy life
For his shall give atonement; and to hurl
Thy severed head among the servant throng
Should darts and torches fail. So story tells
The Colchian princess with sword in hand,
And with her brother's neck bared to the blow,
Waited her sire, avenger of his realm
Despoiled, and of her flight. In the imminent risk
Caesar, in hopes of peace, an envoy sent
To the fierce vassals, from their absent lord
Bearing a message, thus: ' At whose command
Wage ye the war?' But not the laws which bind
All nations upon earth, nor sacred rights,
Availed to save or messenger of peace,
Or King's ambassador; or thee from crime
Such as befitted thee, thou land of Nile
Fruitful in monstrous deeds: not Juba's realm,
Vast though it be, nor Pontus, nor the land
Thessalian, nor the arms of Pharnaces,
Nor yet the tracts which chill Iberus girds,
Nor Libyan coasts such wickedness have dared,
As thou, and all thy minions. Closer now
War hemmed them in, and weapons in the courts,
Shaking the innermost recesses, fell.
Yet did no ram, fatal with single stroke,
Assail the portal, nor machine of war;
Nor flame they called in aid; but blind of plan
They wander purposeless, in separate bands
Around the circuit, nor at any spot
With strength combined attempt to breach the wall.
The fates forbad, and Fortune from their hands
Held fast the palace as a battlement.
Nor failed they to attack from ships of war
The regal dwelling, where its frontage bold
Made stand apart the waters of the deep:
There, too, was Caesar's all-protecting arm;
For these at point of sword, and those with fire
He forces back, and though besieged he dares
To storm th' assailants: and as lay the ships
Joined rank to rank, bids drop upon their sides
Lamps drenched with reeking tar. Nor slow the fire
To seize the hempen cables and the decks
Oozing with melting pitch; the oarsman's bench
All in one moment, and the topmost yards
Burst into flame: half merged the vessels lay
While swam the foemen, all in arms, the wave;
Nor fell the blaze upon the ships alone,
But seized with writhing tongues the neighbouring homes,
And fanned to fury by the Southern breeze
Tempestuous, it leaped from roof to roof;
Not otherwise than on its heavenly track,
Unfed by matter, glides the ball of light,
By air alone aflame.
This pest recalled
Some of the forces to the city's aid
From the besieged halls. Nor Caesar gave
To sleep its season; swifter than all else
To seize the crucial moment of the war.
Quick in the darkest watches of the night
He leaped upon his ships, and Pharos seized,
Gate of the main; an island in the days
Of Proteus seer, now bordering the walls
Of Alexander's city. Thus he gained
A double vantage, for his foes were pent
Within the narrow entrance, which for him
And for his aids gave access to the sea.
Nor longer was Pothinus' doom delayed,
Yet not with cross or flame, nor with the wrath
His crime demanded; nor by savage beasts
Torn, did he suffer; but by Magnus' death,
Alas the shame! he fell; his head by sword
Hacked from his shoulders. Next by frauds prepared
By Ganymede her base attendant, fled
Arsinoe from the Court to Caesar's foes;
There in the absence of the King she ruled
As of Lagean blood: there at her hands,
The savage minion of the tyrant boy,
Achillas, fell by just avenging sword.
Thus did another victim to thy shade
Atone, Pompeius; but the gods forbid
That this be all thy vengeance! Not the King
Nor all the stock of Lagos for thy death
Would make fit sacrifice! So Fortune deemed;
And not till patriot swords shall drink the blood
Of Caesar, Magnus, shalt thou be appeased.
Still, though was slain the author of the strife,
Sank not their rage: with Ganymede for chief
Again they rush to arms; in deeds of fight
Again they conquer. So might that one day
Have witnessed Caesar's fate; so might its fame
Have lived through ages.
As the Roman Chief,
Crushed on the narrow surface of the mole,
Prepared to throw his troops upon the ships,
Sudden upon him the surrounding foes
With all their terrors came. In dense array
Their navy lined the shores, while on the rear
The footmen ceaseless charged. No hope was left,
For flight was not, nor could the brave man's arm
Achieve or safety or a glorious death.
Not now were needed for great Caesar's fall,
Caught in the toils of nature, routed host
Or mighty heaps of slain: his only doubt
To fear or hope for death: while on his brain
Brave Scaeva's image flashed, now vainly sought,
Who on the wall by Epidamnus' fields
Earned fame immortal, and with single arm
Drove back Pompeius as he trod the breach.

> Latin: Lucifer a Casia prospexit rupe, diemque
Misit in Aegyptum, primo quoque sole calentem,
Cum procul a muris acies non sparsa maniplis
Nec vaga conspicitur, sed iustos qualis ad hostes
Recta fronte venit, Passuri cominus arma,
Laturique ruunt. At Caesar, moenibus urbis
Diffisus, foribus clausae se protegit aulae,
Degeneres passus latebras. Nec tota vacabat
Regia compresso; minima collegerat arma
Parte domus: tangunt animos iraeque metusque:
Et timet incursus, indignaturque timere.
Sic fremit in parvis fera nobilis abdita claustris,
Et frangit rabidos praemorso carcere dentes;
Nec secus in Siculis fureret tua flamma cavernis,
Obstrueret summam si quis tibi, Mulciber, Aetnam.
Audax Thessalici nuper qui rupe sub Aemi
Hesperiae cunctos proceres aciemque senatus
Pompeiumque ducem, caussa spectare vetante,
Non timuit, fatumque sibi promisit iniquum,
Expavit servile nefas, intraque penates
Obruitur telis: quem non violasset Alanus,
Non Scytha, non fixo qui ludit in hospite Maurus;
Hic, cui Romani spatium non sufficit orbis,
Parvaque regna putat Tyriis cum Gadibus Indos,
Ceu puer imbellis, ceu captis femina muris,
Quaerit tuta domus: spem vitae in limine clauso
Ponit, et incerto lustrat vagus atria cursu:
Non sine rege tamen; quem ducit in omnia secum,
Sumturus poenas et grata piacula morti,
Missurusque tuum, si non sint tela nec ignes,
In famulos, Ptolemaee, caput. Sic barbara Colchis
Creditur, ultorem metuens regnique fugaeque,
Ense suo fratrisque simul cervice parata
Exspectasse patrem. Cogunt tamen ultima rerum
Spem pacis tentare ducem: missusque satelles
Regius, ut saevos absentia voce tyranni
Corriperet famulos, quo bellum auctore moverent.
Sed neque ius mundi valuit, neque foedera sancta
Gentibus: orator regis pacisque sequester
Aestimat in numero scelerum ponenda tuorum,
Tot monstris Aegypte nocens. Non Thessala tellus,
Vastaque regna Iubae, non Pontus et impia signa
Pharnacis, et gelido circumfluus orbis Ibero
Tantum ausus scelerum, non Syrtis barbara, quantum
Deliciae fecere tuae. Premit undique bellum,
Inque domum iam tela cadunt, quassantque penates.
Non aries uno moturus limina pulsu,
Fracturusque domum; non ulla est machina belli:
Nec flammis mandatur opus: sed caeca iuventus
Consilii, vastos ambit divulsa penates,
Et nusquam totis incursat viribus agmen.
Fata vetant, murique vicem Fortuna tuetur.
Nec non et ratibus tentatur regia, qua se
Protulit in medios audaci margine fluctus
Luxuriosa domus. Sed abest defensor ubique
Caesar, et hos aditu gladiis, hos ignibus arcet:
Obsessusque gerit (tanta est constantia mentis)
Expugnantis opus. Piceo iubet unguine tinctas
Lampadas immitti iunctis in vela carinis.
Nec piger ignis erat per stuppea vincula perque
Manantes cera tabulas: et tempore eodem
Transtraque nautarum summique arsere ceruchi.
Iam prope semustae merguntur in aequore classes,
Iamque hostes et tela natant. Nec puppibus ignis
Incubuit solis: sed quae vicina fuere
Tecta mari, longis rapuere vaporibus ignem:
Et cladem fovere Noti, percussaque flama
Turbine, non alio motu per tecta cucurrit,
Quam solet aetherio lampas discurrere sulco,
Materiaque carens atque ardens aere solo.
Illa lues clausa paullum revocavit ab aula
Urbis in auxilium populos. Nec tempora cladis
Perdidit in somnos, sed caeca nocte carinis
Insiluit Caesar, semper feliciter usus
Praecipiti cursu bellorum, et tempore rapto.
Tunc claustrum pelagi cepit Pharon. Insula quondam
In medio stetit illa mari, sub tempore vatis
Proteos: at nunc est Pellaeis proxima muris.
Illa duci geminos bellorum praestitit usus:
Abstulit excursus et fauces aequoris hosti;
Caesaris auxiliis aditus et libera ponti
Ostia permisit. Nec poenas inde Pothini
Distulit ulterius sed non qua debuit ira,
Non cruce, non flammis, rabido non dente ferarum;
Heu facinus! cervix gladio male caesa pependit:
Magni morte perit! Nec non, subrepta paratis
A famulo Ganymede dolis, pervenit ad hostes
Caesaris Arsinoe: quae castra carentia rege,
Ut proles Lagea, tenet, famulumque tyranni
Terribilem iusto transegit Achillea ferro.
Altera, Magne, tuis iam victima mittitur umbris:
Nec satis hoc Fortuna putat. Procul absit, ut ista
Vindictae sit summa tuae. Non ipse tyrannus
Sufficit in poenas, non omnis regia Lagi.
Dum patrii veniant in viscera Caesaris enses,
Magnus inultus erit. Sed non auctore furoris
Sublato cecidit rabies: nam rursus in arma
Auspiciis Ganymedis eunt: ac multa secundo
Proelia Marte gerunt. Potuit, discrimine summo
Caesaris, illa dies in famam et saecula mitti.
Molis in exiguae spatio stipantibus armis,
Dum parat in vacuus Martem transferre carinas
Dux Latius, tota subiti formidine belli
Cingitur: hinc densae praetexunt litora classes,
Hinc tergo insultant pedites: via nulla salutis,
Non fuga, non virtus: vix spes quoque mortis honestae.
Non acie fusa, nec magnae stragis acervo
Vincendus tunc Caesar erat, sed sanguine nullo,
Captus sorte loci. Pendet, dubiusne timeret,
Optaretne mori. Respexit in agmine denso
Scaevam, perpetuae meritum iam nomina famae
Ad campos, Epidamne, tuos, ubi solus apertis
Obsedit muris calcantem moenia Magnum.