“It was the chain of jealous fate, and the speedy fall which no eminence can escape; it was the grievous collapse of excessive weight, and Rome unable to support her own greatness.”

— Marcus Annaeus Lucanus , book Pharsalia

Invida fatorum series summisque negatum
stare diu nimioque graves sub pondere lapsus
nec se Roma ferens.
Book I, line 70 (tr. J. D. Duff).
Pharsalia

Original

Invida fatorum series summisque negatum<br/>stare diu nimioque graves sub pondere lapsus<br/>nec se Roma ferens.

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Marcus Annaeus Lucanus 58

Roman poet 39–65

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“It was the chain of jealous fate, and the speedy fall which no eminence can escape; it was the grievous collapse of excessive weight, and Rome unable to support her own greatness.”

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Marcus Annaeus Lucanus 58

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