Helps to Latin Translation at Sight Part 60

CAESAR, _de Bello Civili_, iii. 92.

+Context.+ Caesar made for Apollonia, where he left his wounded, and then marched S.E. into Thessaly, where he joined Domitius Calvinus. (He had been sent with two legions E. into Macedonia, to stop reinforcements for Pompeius under Scipio, Pompeius' father-in-law.) Pompeius followed Caesar, and encamped on the slope of a hill facing Caesar's position near Pharsalus. Here he offered battle, his better judgment overruled by the clamorous Senators in his camp.

[Linenotes: 4-5. +aciem ... paterentur+ = _so as to allow their_ (advancing) _line to become disorganised_ (+distrahi+), by the force of its onset.

7. +in suis ... dispositi+ = _by maintaining their proper distances_.]

+Scene of the Fight.+ The battle was fought near the town of _Pharsalus_, while the territory of the town was named _Pharsalia_. Cf.

Catull. lxiv. 37:

+Pharsalum+ _coeunt_, +Pharsalia+ _late frequentant_.

+The Battle.+ Pompeius had 47,000 infantry and 7000 cavalry against Caesar's 22,000 infantry and 1000 cavalry. Pompeius stationed his cavalry and archers on his left, and confidently expected to outflank his enemy's right. But Caesar, foreseeing the defeat of his cavalry, had stationed behind it in reserve 2000 of his best legionaries. When Caesar's cavalry fell back outnumbered, this reserve ran forward at the charge, not discharging their _pila_, but using them as spears, and driving them against man and horse. Taken aback by so unusual an infantry attack, the Pompeian cavalry wavered and fled. Caesar's third line (forming a rear-guard) was now sent forward to support the two front lines, and this decided the battle. --+Result.+ Submission of the East to Caesar.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PHARSALUS. [_To face p. 218._]

B58

CIVIL WAR, 49-45 B.C. (9)

A. _Pharsalus and Cannae compared._

Non aetas haec carpsit edax monimentaque rerum Putria dest.i.tuit: crimen civile videmus Tot vacuas urbes. Generis quo turba redacta est Humani? Toto populi qui nascimur orbe 400 Nec muros implere viris nec possumus agros; Urbs nos una capit. Vincto fossore coluntur Hesperiae segetes, stat tectis putris avitis In nullos ruitura domus, nulloque frequentem Cive suo Romam, sed mundi faece repletam 405 Cladis eo dedimus, ne tanto in tempore bellum Iam posset civile geri. Pharsalia tanti Causa mali. Cedant feralia nomina Cannae Et d.a.m.nata diu Romanis Allia fastis.

Tempora signavit leviorum Roma malorum: 410 Hunc voluit nescire diem.

LUCAN, _Pharsalia_, vii. 397-411.

[Linenotes: 397-398. +monimentaque ... dest.i.tuit+ = _and has abandoned to decay the monuments of the past_. --Haskins.

402. +vincto fossore+ = _by a chained digger_ (delver), in consequence of the dearth of free labour. Cf. Juv. xi. 80 _squalidus in magna ... compede fossor_.

404. +in nullos ruitura+ = _ready to fall, but on the heads of none_. --H.

405. +faece+ = _dregs_. Cf. Juv. iii. 60, 61 _Non possum ferre Quirites_ | _Graecam urbem_ (a Greek Rome); _quamvis_ (and yet) _quota portio_ (how small a fraction) _faecis Achaei_?

406-407. +ne tanto ... geri+ = lit. _so that during the long time since, it is impossible to wage_ +civil+ _war_, i.e. from the dearth of genuine Roman soldiers.

409. +Allia+: 390 B.C. Cf. Vergil. _Aeneid_, vii. 717 _quosque secans infaustum interluit Allia nomen_.

411. +nescire+ = _to ignore_.]

B. _The Battlefields of Pharsalus and Philippi._

Ergo inter sese paribus concurrere telis Romanas acies iterum videre Philippi; 490 Nec fuit indignum superis, bis sanguine nostro Emathiam et latos Haemi pinguescere campos.

Scilicet et tempus veniet, c.u.m finibus illis Agricola, incurvo terram molitus aratro, Exesa inveniet scabra robigine pila, 495 Aut gravibus rastris galeas pulsabit inanes, Grandiaque effossis mirabitur ossa sepulchris.

VERGIL, _Georg._ i. 489-497.

[Linenotes: 489. +Ergo+ = _therefore_, in fulfilment of the terrible warnings at the death of Caesar.

490. +iterum+, i.e. at Philippi 42 B.C.; the first time at Pharsalus.]

B59

CIVIL WAR, 49-45 B.C. (10)

_How Pompeius died, 48 B.C._

Pompeius, deposito adeundae Syriae consilio, et aeris magno pondere ad militarem usum in naves imposito, duobusque milibus hominum armatis, Pelusium pervenit. Ibi casu rex erat Ptolemaeus, puer aetate, magnis copiis c.u.m sorore Cleopatra {5} bellum gerens, quam paucis ante mensibus per suos propinquos atque amicos regno expulerat; castraque Cleopatrae non longo spatio ab eius castris distabant. Ad eum Pompeius misit, ut pro hospitio atque amicitia patris Alexandria reciperetur atque illius opibus in {10} calamitate tegeretur. Sed, qui ab eo missi erant, confecto legationis officio, liberius c.u.m militibus regis colloqui coeperant eosque hortari, ut suum officium Pompeio praestarent, neve eius fortunam despicerent. His tunc cognitis rebus amici regis, {15} qui propter aetatem eius in procuratione erant regni, sive timore adducti, ne Pompeius Alexandriam Aegyptunique occuparet, sive despecta eius fortuna, iis, qui erant ab eo missi, palam liberaliter responderunt eumque ad regem venire iusserunt: ipsi, {20} clam consilio inito, Achillan, praefectum regium, singulari hominem audacia, et L. Septimium, tribunum militum, ad interficiendum Pompeium miserunt. Ab his liberaliter ipse appellatus naviculam parvulam conscendit c.u.m paucis suis, et ibi {25} ab Achilla et Septimio interficitur.

CAESAR, _de Bello Civili_, iii. 103, 104 (sel.)

+Context.+ After the battle of Pharsalus, Pompeius, closely pursued by Caesar, had thoughts of going to Parthia and trying to form alliances there. While in Cyprus he heard that Antioch (in Syria) had declared for Caesar and that the route to the Parthians was no longer open. So he altered his plan and sailed to Egypt, where a number of his old soldiers served in the Egyptian army.

[Linenotes: 4. +Pelusium+, on the E. side of the easternmost mouth of the Nile.

5. +c.u.m sorore Cleopatra.+ By his father's will, Ptolemy ruled jointly with his sister for three years, 51-48 B.C., when he expelled her. Cleopatra raised an army in Syria and invaded Egypt.

The two armies were encamped opposite each other when Pompeius landed to seek the help of Ptolemy.

15. +amici regis+, e.g. Achillas, l. 21, and espec. Ptolemy's guardian Pothinus, the _de facto_ ruler of Egypt.]

'On the same day (28 Sept.) on which he had triumphed over Mithridates (61 B.C.) Pompeius died on the desert sands of the inhospitable Casian sh.o.r.e by the hands of one of his old soldiers (Septimius).'--M.

B60

CN. POMPEIUS MAGNUS, 106-48 B.C. (11)

_Cato's Eulogy on Pompeius._

'Civis obit,' inquit, 'multum maioribus impar 190 Nosse modum iuris sed in hoc tamen utilis aevo, Cui non ulla fuit iusti reverentia; salva Libertate potens, et solus plebe parata Privatus servire sibi, rectorque senatus, Sed regnantis, erat. Nil belli iure poposcit, 195 Quaeque dari voluit, voluit sibi posse negari.

Immodicas possedit opes, sed plura retentis Intulit: invasit ferrum, sed ponere norat; Praetulit arma togae, sed pacem armatus amavit; Iuvit sumpta ducem, iuvit dimissa potestas. 200 Casta domus luxuque carens corruptaque numquam Fortuna domini. Clarum et venerabile nomen Gentibus, et multum nostrae quod proderat urbi.

O felix, cui summa dies fuit obvia victo, 208 Et cui quaerendos Pharium scelus obtulit enses!

Forsitan in soceri potuisses vivere regno.

Scire mori sors prima viris sed proxima cogi.' 211 Vocibus his maior, quam si Romana sonarent 215 Rostra ducis laudes, generosam venit ad umbram Mortis honos.

LUCAN, _Pharsalia_, ix. 190-217.

[Linenotes: 190-191. +multum ... iuris+ = _far inferior to our ancestors in recognising the due bounds of power_. --Haskins.

193. +solus+ (sc. _ex proceribus_) ... +servire sibi+ = _alone (of the chief men of the State) acting the private citizen when the populace were ready to be his slaves_, i.e. acting unlike Sulla or Caesar.

--H.

195. +sed regnantis.+ 'Pompeius came forward as the duly installed general of the Senate against the Imperator of the street, once more to save his country.' --M.

198. +Intulit+, sc. _in aerarium_. Cf. Shaksp. _Jul. C._ III. ii.

(Mark Antony of Caesar) 'He hath brought many captives home to Rome | Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill.' 'Caesar devoted the proceeds of the confiscations (the property of defeated opponents) entirely to the benefit of the State.' --M.

208. +cui summa dies ... victo+ = _whom the day of death met when he was vanquished_, i.e. without his having to seek it himself. --H.

209. +Pharium+ = _Egyptian_, lit. of _Pharos_ (= Faro), an island near Alexandria, famous for its lighthouse.

211. One of Lucan's famous _sententiae_ (???a?, _maxims_).]

+Pompeius.+ 'Even in his own age he would have had a clearly defined and respectable position, _had he contented himself with being the general of the Senate_, for which he was from the outset destined.' --M.

B61

CIVIL WAR, 49-45 B.C. (12)