408. statione] 'roadstead', opposed to portus. Cf. Vell. Pat. II. 72, § 5, exitialem tempestatem fugientibus statio pro portu foret.

409. quaque iacet] Weber says that this refers to the revάyn at Vada Sabata (now Savona) mentioned by Strabo, IV. 6, § 1 (202), but most commentators take it of the Belgic coast.

6

413. destituatque ferens] and as it bears it fails it'.

sidere...secundo] i. e. the moon. Cf. Petron. 119, sidus utrumque of the sun and moon.

414. lunaribus...horis] 'with the phases of the moon'.

415. alentes] the clouds were supposed to act as fuel to the sun. Cf. VII. 5, 6, (Titan) adtraxit nubes non pabula flammis, sed ne Thessalico purus luceret in orbe, X. 258, necnon oceano pasci Phoebumque polumque credimus.

417. agitat] 'employ'.

mundi labor] 'the workings of the universe'.

419. Nemetis] unknown. A tribe named Nemetes is mentioned in Tac. Ger. 28, inhabiting the bank of the Rhine, but it is doubtful whether these can be understood here.

421. Where the Tarbellian (i.e. the land of that tribe), shuts in the sea brought in by the gently-flowing tide.

424. excusso] Cf. Ov. Heroid. IV. 43, aut tremulum excusso iaculum vibrare lacerto.

425. Sequani equos regere peritissimi. Weise.

426. rostrati]=scythed. Columella, II. 21, speaks of falces ros

tratae.

covinni] a war-chariot. Cf. Sil. Ital. XVII. 416, Incola Thules agmina falcifero circumvenit arta covinno, Tac. Agr. 35, covinnarius eques. It was also used at Rome as a carriage. Cf. Mart. XII. 24.

427. fratres] Lucan seems here to have confused the Arverni with their neighbours and rivals the Aedui. Cf. Tac. Ann. XI. 25, primi Aedui senatorum in urbe ius adepti sunt, datum id foederi antiquo, et quia soli Gallorum fraternitatis nomen cum populo Romano usurpant. Cic. ad Att. I. XIX. § 2, ad Fam. VII. X. § 9. Sidon. Apoll. Epp. VII. 7, appears to be quoting from Lucan.

429.

432.

Cf. Caes. B. G. v. 36.

Cinga] as the only known river of this name is in Spain, the conjecture of Weber Sulga (the Sorgue), is highly probable, since the latter river flows into the Rhone.

pererrat]=errat; the word is used by Plin. VIII. § 177 to go

wrong.

434. fert] The Arar (Saone) being a very sluggish stream. Cf. Caes. B. G. 1. 12. Lucan VI. 475, makes the Thessalian witches reverse the character of the streams, Rhodanumque morantem praecipitavit Arar. So the elder Pitt compared the coalition of Newcastle and Fox to the meeting of these rivers. 'At Lyons I was taken to see the place where the two rivers meet; the one gentle, feeble, languid, and though languid yet of no depth; the other a boisterous and impetuous torrent; but different as they are they meet at last.'

435 Gebennas] the Cevennes.

436-440. These verses wanting alike in taste and Latinity are not found in the old MSS.: hence they are rightly rejected by Grotius. They are also wanting in the Venetian edition of 1505.

441. converti] ex Gallia in Italiam transferri bellum. Weise.

443. Comatae] i. e. Transalpine Gaul, as Plin. H. N. IV. § 108, Gallia omnis Comata uno nomine appellatur.

444. diro] accursed' = humano. Weber cf. Stat. Theb. x. 311, proturbat mensas dirus liquor. Cf. also Lucan, III. 404, structae diris altaribus arae, omnisque humanis lustrata cruoribus arbos.

445. Teutates] identified by the Romans with Mercurius; Hesus with Mars; Taranis with Jupiter. Cf. Mason's Caractacus, "Yon central oak whose holiest stem involves the spirit of high Taranis'.

446. For the omission of quam after the comparative, cf. Verg. Ecl. III. 105, tres pateat caeli spatium non amplius ulnas, G. IV. 207, neque enim plus septima ducitur aestas, but the omission of the second ara is remarkable: may not the true reading be Scythica-Diana, according to the common σχῆμα καθ ̓ ὅλον καὶ μέρος ? Cf. Juv. III. 74, sermo promptus et Isaeo torrentior, and Prof. Mayor's note. For Diana, Scythica or Taurica, cf. Eur. Iph. in Taur.

448. dimittitis]='send abroad'. so the MSS. Oud cf. Stat. Theb. 1. 185, augurium seros dimisit ad usque nepotes, but di and de in composition are often confused. Cf. Conington's note on Verg. Aen. VI. 734. 449. securi] The Romans attempted to put down Druidism, cf. Merivale, History of the Romans, cap. 51.

.

Bardi] Weber refers to Strabo IV. iv. 4 (197) who makes a distinction between the Vales and Bardi, παρὰ πᾶσι δ ̓ ὡς ἐπίπαν τρία φύλα τῶν τιμωμένων διαφερόντως ἐστι, βάρδοι τε καὶ οὐάτεις καὶ δρυίδαι· βάρδοι μὲν ὑμνηταὶ καὶ ποιηταί, οὐάτεις δὲ ἱεροποιοὶ καὶ φυσιολόγοι,

δρυίδαι δὲ πρὸς τῇ φυσιολογίᾳ καὶ τὴν ἠθικὴν φιλοσοφίαν ἀσκοῦσι, also to Amm. Marc. XV. 9, who seems merely to repeat Strabo.

451. ab armis] i. e. 'laid aside your arms and returned to your rites'. Cf. Ov. Heroid. 111. 95, ille ferox positis secessit ab armis.

453. nescire] Cf. III. 416, tantum terroribus addit quos timeant non nosse deos.

nemora] refers to the thickness, lucis to the sacredness of the groves. Cf. the description III. 399 foll.

457. orbe alio] 'in a new cycle'. Cf. Verg. Aen. VI. 748, ubi mille rotam volvere per annos, and Conington's note.

canitis si cognita] if you know what you sing'. For the fact that the more important idea in the sentence is expressed by the participle and not the verb cf. Thuc. 1. xx. 3, οἴονται Ιππαρχον τύραννον ὄντα ȧπо@avεîv = 'think that Hipparchus was tyrant when he was slain', and Mr Shilleto's note ad loc.

461. prona] Cf. Pomponius Mela, III. 2, unum ex iis quae praecipiunt (Druidae) in vulgus effluxit, videlicet ut forent ad bella meliores, aeternas esse animas vitamque alteram ad manes.

capaces] great enough for death. Cf. Shakespeare's use of 'capable'. King John, III. i. 12 'For I am sick and capable of fears'.

464. feroces] i. e. inhabited by high-spirited tribes.

465. apertum] The meaning is the same as if he had written aperiunt. 'leave the Rhine's untamed banks and the world opened to barbarian hordes'. Cf. Verg. Aen. x. 13, Alpes immittet apertas.

467. fidem fecere]= gave him confidence.

470. futuram] 'bore into their minds the sense of coming disaster'. Cf. 184.

471. nuntia] sc. fama.

472. 'let loose unnumbered tongues to tell false tales.' For the sense of praeconia cf. Ov. Trist. V. I. 9, ut cecidi perago subiti praeconia

casus.

473. Oud cf. Sil. Ital. vI. 645 foll. ubi latis proiecta in campis nebulas exhalat inertes et sedet ingentem pascens Mevania taurum dona Iovi. 476. barbaricas...alas] i.e. the squadrons of German horse. 477. aquilas] i. e. the standards of the legions.

479. maior] Cf. the description of the conscience-stricken man, Juv. XIII. 221, tua sacra et maior imago humana turbat pavidum.

480. victoque immanior hoste] 'more terrible from the conquest of his foe'. Cf. Hor. Carm. III. 5. 40, O magna Karthago probrosis

altior Italiae ruinis. Some take it 'more terrible than his conquered foe'.

485. nulloque auctore] 'with none to confirm the ill-tidings'.

488. invisa] 'hateful'. Cf. Florus, IV. ii. 17, ut in hostem decernitur, more fully in Caes. B. G. 1. 5.

491. urgent] 'they hurry the people into headlong flight".

493. prorumpunt] Weise takes this actively, comparing Verg. Aen. III. 572 interdumque atram prorumpit ad aethera nubem, but it may very well be taken as neuter.

nefandas] i. e. applied to the buildings of Rome.

494. ruina]=tendency to fall.

497. excedere muros] Cf. Liv. XXII. 55, egredi urbem.

500. 'The huge mast with all its weight of sails comes crashing down." 504. They fly-to war.'

506. dum] 'no not time enough to form vows for the safety they scarce could hope'.

508. Cf. Liv. I. 29, nunc in liminibus starent nunc errabundi domos suas ultimum illud visuri pervagarentur.

511. Cf. the apostrophe to Pharsalia VII. 539–543, aut si Romano compleri sanguine mavis, istis parce precor; vivant Galataeque Syrique, Cappadoces Gallique extremique orbis Iberi Armenii Cilices: nam post civilia bella hic populus Romanus erit, and also Juv. III. 58 foll., in which passages we find the same thing of a later time.

520. 'Thy walls are not trusted with the safety of a single night.' 523. saltem] i.e. they were desperate of the present and the prodigies prevented their having any hope of the future either.

524. manifesta fides] 'a clear sign of yet worse doom'. Cf. Verg. Aen. II. 309, III. 375.

526 foll. It would be out of place to subjoin here all the similar accounts of prodigies which might be quoted in illustration of this passage: it will be sufficient to refer in general to Verg. G. I. 464 foll.: Ov. Met. xv. 782 foll.

529. mutantem] i. e. causing war and revolution, cf. Plin. H. N. 11. § 92. sed cometes numquam in occasura parte caeli est, terrificum magna ex parte sidus atque non leviter piatum, ut civili motu Octavio consule iterumque Pompei et Caesaris bello, in nostro vero aevo circa venefi cium quo Claudius Caesar imperium reliquit Domitio Neroni ac deinde principatu eius adsiduum prope ac saevum. Shakespeare K. Rich. II. ii. 'These signs forerun the death or fall of kings'. Weise would read

nutantem in the sense of 'portending', but he neglects to establish this use of the word, and we are unable to do so.

530. sereno] for the substantival use cf. Stat. Silv. III. i, 81. laesique fides reditura sereni. As to the evil nature of this portent, cf. Verg. G. I. 487, but in Aen. IX, 627, it appears as a good omen.

531. Oud cf. Sen. Nat. Quaest. VII. 21 § 1. placet ergo nostris cometas...denso aere creari.

534. Arctois] Weise remarks that lightning was supposed to appear more commonly from the south, whereas here it portended the coming of Caesar from the north.

536. vacuum] i.e. in the absence of the sun.

decurrere] 'to run their courses', metaphor from the races, e. g. at funerals. Cf. Verg. Aen. XI. 189. Tac. Ann. II. 7.

537. coacto with horns brought together, i. e. completing the disc. Cf. Ov. Met. VII. 179, tres aberant noctes ut cornua tota coirent efficerentque orbem.

538. redderet] i. e. reflect the light of the sun.

543 per ortus] sc. per quos solet oriri et per occasus fugere. Cf. Ov. ex Pont. IV. vi. 47, utque Thyesteae redeant si tempora mensae solis ad eoas currus agetur aquas.

546. vertice prono] 'eddying downwards', this probably means that it was blown by the wind on to the shore of Italy.

548. fundo]=ẞvooóbev. sanguineum is part of the predicate.

550. confectas] 'completed'. Sulpicius cf. v. 402, vidit flammifera confectas nocte Latinas.

552. Thebanos] When Eteocles and Polynices were being burnt on the same pyre the flame shot up in two separate tongues, showing that they could not be reconciled even in death. Sulpicius cf. Stat. Theb. XII. 429 foll.: ecce iterum fratres: primos ut contigit artus ignis edax tremuere rogi et novus advena bustis pellitur: exundant diviso vertice flammae alternosque apices abrupta luce coruscant.

553. subsedit] stopped: this sudden check caused the Alps to rock, and thus shook the snow from their summits. Such seems to be Lucan's idea.

556. laborem] distress.

560. Cp. Shakespeare, Julius Caesar II. ii. 17, 'A lioness hath whelped in the streets'.

565. Oud cf. Tibull 1. 6, 45 foll.

566, cecinere deos] i. e. oracula deorum. Omnibonus.