Marcus Annaeus Lucanus citations

Page 2

“Pompey lives after his battles, but his fortune has perished.”
Vivit post proelia Magnus sed fortuna perit.

“Which had the fairer pretext for warfare, we may not know: each has high authority to support him; for, if the victor had the gods on his side, the vanquished had Cato.”
Quis iustius induit arma scire nefas: magno se iudice quisque tuetur; Victrix causa deis placuit sed victa Catoni.

“Crime levels those whom it pollutes.”
Facinus quos inquinat aequat.

“How ready are the gods to grant supremacy to men, and how unready to maintain it!”
O faciles dare summa deos eademque tueri difficiles!

“Learn what life requires,
How little nature needs!”
Discite, quam parvo liceat producere vitam, Et quantum natura petat.

“And now cruel famine came – famine that is ever first in the train of great disasters.”
Jamque comes semper magnorum prima malorum<br/>saeva fames aderat.

“Boldness is a mask for fear, however great.”
Audendo magnus tegitur timor.

“Either no feeling remains to the soul after death, or death itself matters not at all.”
Aut nihil est sensus animis a morte relictum aut mors ipsa nihil.

“The hungry slave
Brings danger to his master, not himself.”
Non sibi sed domino grauis est quae seruit egestas.

“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.

“He would rather burst a city gate than find it open to admit him.”
Non tam portas intrare patentis quam fregisse juvat.

“The mere shadow of a mighty name he stood.”
Stat magni nominis umbra.

“Thus each by his fears adds strength to rumour, and all dread the unconfirmed dangers invented by themselves.”
Sic quisque pavendo dat vires famae, nulloque auctore malorum quae finxere timent.

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

“But Caesar, headlong in all his designs,
thought nothing done while anything remained to do.”
Sed Caesar in omnia praeceps,<br/>nil actum credens, cum quid superesset agendum.

“I have a wife, I have sons; all these hostages have I given to fortune.”
Coniunx<br/>est mihi, sunt nati; dedimus tot pignora fatis.

“No life is short that gives a man time to slay himself.”
Vita brevis nulli superest qui tempus in illa quaerendae sibi mortis habet.

“Legality conferred on crime.”
Iusque datum sceleri.

“The sin of thousands always goes unpunished.”
Quidquid multis peccatur inultum est.

“We praise loyalty, but it pays the price when it supports those whom Fortune crushes.”
Dat poenas laudata fides, cum sustinet inquit quos fortuna premit.

“Let the mind of man be blind to coming doom; he fears, but leave him hope.”
Sit caeca futuri mens hominum fati; liceat sperare timenti.

“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.

“If great renown is won by true merit, and if virtue is considered in itself and apart from success, then all that we praise in any of our ancestors was Fortune's gift.”
Si veris magna paratur fama bonis et si successu nuda remoto inspicitur virtus, quidquid laudamus in ullo maiorum, fortuna fuit.

“Best gift of all
The knowledge how to die; next, death compelled.”
Scire mori sors prima viris, sed proxima cogi.

“Discordant concord.”
Concordia discors.

“Wars worse than civil.”
Bella...plus quam civilia.

“Ignorantque datos, ne quisquam seruiat, enses.”