Marcus Annaeus Lucanus: Quotes about the world

“Poverty was scorned,
Fruitful of warriors; and from all the world
Came that which ruins nations.”
Fecunda virorum paupertas fugitur totoque accersitur orbe quo gens quaeque perit.

“When the existence and safety of so many nations depend upon your single life, and so large a part of the world has chosen you for its head, it is cruel of you to court death.”
Cum tot in hac anima populorum vita salusque pendeat et tantus caput hoc sibi fecerit orbis, saevitia est voluisse mori.

“The chain of causes comes down from the creation of the world.”
A prima descendit origine mundi causarum series.

“Such was the character, such the inflexible rule of austere Cato – to observe moderation and hold fast to the limit, to follow nature, to give his life for his country, to believe that he was born to serve the whole world and not himself.”
Hi mores, haec duri inmota Catonis secta fuit, servare modum finemque tenere naturamque sequi patriaeque inpendere vitam nec sibi sed toti genitum se credere mundo.