“Might became the standard of right.”
Mensuraque juris
vis erat.
Marcus Annaeus Lucanus könyv Pharsalia
Book I, line 175 (tr. J. D. Duff).
Pharsalia
Marcus Annaeus Lucanus hispaniai származású, lovagrendű költő, Lucius Annaeus Seneca unokaöccse. Seneca révén Nero császár bizalmasai közé került, 22 éves korában quaestor, később augur lett.
Nagy tehetségű és nagyravágyó ifjú volt. A 60-as Neronián lépett fel először nyilvánosan költeményének felolvasásával. 62-ben vagy 63-ban adta a végül befejezetlenül maradó eposzának első három könyvét. Nero állítólag megirigyelte irodalmi sikereit és eltiltotta őt költeményeinek felolvasásától, ennek következtében a Piso-féle összeesküvésbe is belekeveredett, ezért 65-ben kivégezték vagy öngyilkosságra kényszerítették. Valójában a viszonyuk lassanként változott meg, mivel Lucanus nézetei egyre erősebb köztársasági színezetet kaptak. Eposzában Caesart zsarnoknak ábrázolja, filozófiája a sztoicizmus felé közeledett.
Stílusa patetikus, és Quintilianus jellemzése szerint inkább szónoki, mint költői. Főműve tartalmában ugyan a történelemről szól, de erős aktuálpolitikai színezettel, így egyáltalán nem biztos, hogy Nero a költői sikerét irigyelte meg, sokkal inkább a költő köztársasági mondanivalójával, a Iulius–Claudius-dinasztia érdekeit messzemenően nem fedő értékrendjével nem szimpatizált. Ezért Lucanusnak az összeesküvésben való részvételét sem lehet a sértett költővel magyarázni. Wikipedia

“Might became the standard of right.”
Mensuraque juris
vis erat.
Marcus Annaeus Lucanus könyv Pharsalia
Book I, line 175 (tr. J. D. Duff).
Pharsalia
“Pompey lives after his battles, but his fortune has perished.”
Vivit post proelia Magnus
sed fortuna perit.
Marcus Annaeus Lucanus könyv Pharsalia
Book VIII, line 84.
Pharsalia
“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.
Marcus Annaeus Lucanus könyv Pharsalia
Book I, line 128 (tr. J. D. Duff).
Tho. Hobbes's translation:
: The side that won the Gods approved most,
But Cato better lik'd the side that lost.
Jane Wilson Joyce's translation:
: The conquering cause pleased the gods, but the conquered pleased Cato.
Pharsalia
“Crime levels those whom it pollutes.”
Facinus quos inquinat aequat.
Marcus Annaeus Lucanus könyv Pharsalia
Book V, line 290 (tr. J. D. Duff).
Pharsalia
“How ready are the gods to grant supremacy to men, and how unready to maintain it!”
O faciles dare summa deos eademque tueri
difficiles!
Marcus Annaeus Lucanus könyv Pharsalia
Book I, line 510 (tr. J. D. Duff).
Pharsalia
“Learn what life requires,
How little nature needs!”
Discite, quam parvo liceat producere vitam,
Et quantum natura petat.
Marcus Annaeus Lucanus könyv Pharsalia
Book IV, line 377 (tr. E. Ridley).
Compare: "But would [men] think with how small allowance / Untroubled nature doth herself suffice", Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, B. I, C. 9, st. 15.
Pharsalia
“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.
Marcus Annaeus Lucanus könyv Pharsalia
Jamque comes semper magnorum prima malorum
saeva fames aderat.
Book IV, line 93 (tr. J. D. Duff).
Pharsalia
“Boldness is a mask for fear, however great.”
Audendo magnus tegitur timor.
Marcus Annaeus Lucanus könyv Pharsalia
Book IV, line 702 (tr. J. D. Duff).
Pharsalia
“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.
Marcus Annaeus Lucanus könyv Pharsalia
Book III, line 39 (tr. J. D. Duff).
Pharsalia
“The hungry slave
Brings danger to his master, not himself.”
Non sibi sed domino grauis est quae seruit egestas.
Marcus Annaeus Lucanus könyv Pharsalia
Book III, line 152 (tr. E. Ridley).
Pharsalia
“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.
Marcus Annaeus Lucanus könyv Pharsalia
Book V, line 685 (tr. J. D. Duff).
Pharsalia
“He would rather burst a city gate than find it open to admit him.”
Non tam portas intrare patentis
quam fregisse juvat.
Marcus Annaeus Lucanus könyv Pharsalia
Book II, line 443 (tr. J. D. Duff).
Pharsalia
“The mere shadow of a mighty name he stood.”
Stat magni nominis umbra.
Marcus Annaeus Lucanus könyv Pharsalia
Book I, line 135 (tr. J. D. Duff); of Pompey the Great.
Pharsalia
“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.
Marcus Annaeus Lucanus könyv Pharsalia
Book I, line 484 (tr. J. D. Duff).
Pharsalia
“The chain of causes comes down from the creation of the world.”
A prima descendit origine mundi
causarum series.
Marcus Annaeus Lucanus könyv Pharsalia
Book VI, line 611 (tr. J. D. Duff).
Pharsalia
“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.
Marcus Annaeus Lucanus könyv Pharsalia
Sed Caesar in omnia praeceps,
nil actum credens, cum quid superesset agendum.
Book II, line 656 (tr. J. D. Duff).
Pharsalia
“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.
Marcus Annaeus Lucanus könyv Pharsalia
Coniunx
est mihi, sunt nati; dedimus tot pignora fatis.
Book VII, line 661 (tr. J. D. Duff).
Pharsalia
“No life is short that gives a man time to slay himself.”
Vita brevis nulli superest qui tempus in illa
quaerendae sibi mortis habet.
Marcus Annaeus Lucanus könyv Pharsalia
Book IV, line 478 (tr. J. D. Duff).
Pharsalia
“Legality conferred on crime.”
Iusque datum sceleri.
Marcus Annaeus Lucanus könyv Pharsalia
Book I, line 2 (tr. J. D. Duff).
Pharsalia
“The sin of thousands always goes unpunished.”
Quidquid multis peccatur inultum est.
Marcus Annaeus Lucanus könyv Pharsalia
Book V, line 260 (tr. J. D. Duff).
Pharsalia
“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.
Marcus Annaeus Lucanus könyv Pharsalia
Book VIII, line 485 (tr. J. D. Duff).
Pharsalia
“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.
Marcus Annaeus Lucanus könyv Pharsalia
Book II, line 14 (tr. J. D. Duff).
Pharsalia
“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.
Marcus Annaeus Lucanus könyv Pharsalia
Book II, line 380 (tr. J. D. Duff).
Pharsalia
“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.
Marcus Annaeus Lucanus könyv Pharsalia
Book IX, line 593 (tr. J. D. Duff).
Pharsalia
“Best gift of all
The knowledge how to die; next, death compelled.”
Scire mori sors prima viris, sed proxima cogi.
Marcus Annaeus Lucanus könyv Pharsalia
Book IX, line 211 (tr. E. Ridley).
Pharsalia
“Discordant concord.”
Concordia discors.
Marcus Annaeus Lucanus könyv Pharsalia
Book I, line 98 (tr. Matthew Fox).
Pharsalia
“Wars worse than civil.”
Bella...plus quam civilia.
Marcus Annaeus Lucanus könyv Pharsalia
Book I, line 1 (tr. Christopher Marlowe).
Pharsalia
“Ignorantque datos, ne quisquam seruiat, enses.”
Marcus Annaeus Lucanus könyv Pharsalia
Men are ignorant that the purpose of the sword is to save every man from slavery.
Book IV, line 579 (tr. J. D. Duff).
E. Ridley's translation:
: The sword was given for this, that none need live a slave.
Pharsalia