“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.”

— Marcus Annaeus Lucanus , book Pharsalia

Book IX, line 593 (tr. J. D. Duff).
Pharsalia

Original

Si veris magna paratur fama bonis et si successu nuda remoto inspicitur virtus, quidquid laudamus in ullo maiorum, fortuna fuit.

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Marcus Annaeus Lucanus 58

Roman poet 39–65

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