M. ANNAEI LVCANI BELLI CIVILIS LIBER PRIMVS
Marcus Annaeus Lucanus (Lucan)
39-65 AD
Trans RMBullard
Latin (Imperial Era)
Bella per Emathios plus quam ciuilia campos
iusque datum sceleri canimus,
[I now continue to sing the civil wars that happened throughout the fields of Emanthia and the power given to a wicked man,]
populumque potentem
in sua uictrici conuersum uiscera dextra
cognatasque acies,
[and a people, cast by the victor's right hand into its own bloodshed and families pitted against one another in lines of battle,]
et rupto foedere regni
certatum totis concussi uiribus orbis 5
in commune nefas,
[And, after the broken treaty of the kingdom, we fight against universal wickedness, strengthened by all the strengths of the world,]
infestisque obuia signis
signa, pares aquilas et pila minantia pilis.
[with flags set against flags, with eagles on both sides, and the spears menacing spears.]
quis furor, o ciues, quae tanta licentia ferri?
[Hail citizen, what is this fury, what freedom is not granted to the sword?]
gentibus inuisis Latium praebere cruorem
cumque superba foret Babylon spolianda tropaeis 10
Ausoniis umbraque erraret Crassus inulta
bella geri placuit nullos habitura triumphos?
[And did it please you to wage war, and not even for any triumphs, so that you could share bloodshed with the tribes of Latium you clearly hate, when haughty Babylon could be plundered and added to the Ausonian trophies of Italy, and Crassus wanders the earth, an unavenged ghost?]
heu, quantum terrae potuit pelagique parari
hoc quem ciuiles hauserunt sanguine dextrae,
[alas, who must of land sea could be conquered, but for the fact that our citizens soaked themselves in the blood of their sword arm,]
unde uenit Titan et nox ubi sidera condit 15
quaque dies medius flagrantibus aestuat horis
[all the way from where the titantic Sun comes, till the land where night puts up the stars, and everywhere nooon burns with its fiery hours,]
et qua bruma rigens ac nescia uere remitti
astringit Scythico glacialem frigore pontum!
[and from the land where stiffening frost, impossible to thaw completely, freezes the icy sea with a Scythian blast of wind.]
sub iuga iam Seres, iam barbarus isset Araxes
[And already came the Seres from the mountains, and uncultured Araxes,]
et gens siqua iacet nascenti conscia Nilo. 20
[and any race of people that lay aware of the flowing* Nile.]
tum, si tantus amor belli tibi, Roma, nefandi,
[At that time, if you ever had so great a passion for a despicable war, Rome,]
totum sub Latias leges cum miseris orbem,
[when, under the laws created in Latium, you set the entire world in misery,]
in te uerte manus:
[turn your hands upon me:]
nondum tibi defuit hostis.
[not yet have you completely defeated your foe.]
at nunc semirutis pendent quod moenia tectis
urbibus Italiae
[But now hang the whatever walls that belonged to the half-burnt-down houses of Italy's cities,]
lapsisque ingentia muris 25
saxa iacent
[and enormous stones lie from the walls that have collapsed,]
nulloque domus custode tenentur
rarus
[and one few houses are occupied by any of their owners,]
et antiquis habitator in urbibus errat,
[and the resident of one's old city now wanders around,]
horrida quod dumis multosque inarata per annos
Hesperia est
[since the Land of Evening, Italy, shuddering with its thorny bushes, has remained unplowed for many years now,]
desuntque manus poscentibus aruis,
[and there are no hands to tend to needy fields,]
non tu, Pyrrhe ferox, nec tantis cladibus auctor 30
Poenus erit:
[for your part, fierce Pyrrhus, not even you could've been the cause of such great destruction:]
nulli penitus descendere ferro
contigit;
[It was no way worth things coming down to the sword.]
alta sedent ciuilis uolnera dextrae.
[The wounds caused by a fellow citizen's sword arm sits deep.]
quod si non aliam uenturo fata Neroni
inuenere uiam
[but if the fates could not find any other path to a future Nero,]
magnoque aeterna parantur
regna deis caelumque suo seruire Tonanti 35
[and the eternal kingdoms and Heaven are prepared by the gods to serve their great Thunderer]
non nisi saeuorum potuit post bella gigantum,
[but only because it could come to past after the wars against the savage Giants,]
iam nihil, o superi, querimur;
[Now I ask for nothing, o gods of above.]
scelera ipsa nefasque
hac mercede placent.
[Wicked deeds, and the act of evil in and of themselves, are pleasing when accompanied by this kind of reward.]
diros Pharsalia campos
inpleat
[Pharsalia fills up its gloomy fields]
et Poeni saturentur sanguine manes,
[and the ghosts of Carthage are soaked with blood,]
ultima funesta concurrant proelia Munda, 40
[Munda runs aside the very last of deadly battles,]
his, Caesar, Perusina fames Mutinaeque labores
accedant fatis
[with these fates, Caesar, the starvation of Perusia, and the toils of Mutina, follow]
et quas premit aspera classes
Leucas et ardenti seruilia bella sub Aetna,
[and those Leucan fleets does he press on, and the Slave Wars under burning Etna,]
multum Roma tamen debet ciuilibus armis
quod tibi res acta est.
[and yet, Rome owes much to these civil wars, because the affair fell upon you.]
te, cum statione peracta 45
astra petes serus,
[you, since you lately seek the stars, after you had completely performed your station,]
praelati regia caeli
excipiet gaudente polo:
[and shall reach the kingdoms of the distant sky, with its rejoicing pole:]
seu sceptra tenere
seu te flammigeros Phoebi conscendere currus
telluremque nihil mutato sole timentem
igne uago lustrare iuuet,
[Or it will please you ascend upon Phoebus' flaming chariot, and fearing nothing, to wander the earth in the midst of aimless flame, when the sun has not changed, ]
ibi numine ab omni 50
cedetur,
[at that point one must travel away from any power of the gods,]
iurisque tui natura relinquet
quis deus esse uelis,
[and let the nature of your law leave behind whatever you wish to be establish, since you are a god,]
ubi regnum ponere mundi.
[wherever you've placed your kingdom in the world.]
sed neque in Arctoo sedem tibi legeris orbe
[but neither would you chose for yourself a residence in the Arctos region of the world,]
nec polus auersi calidus qua uergitur Austri,
[nor in the place where the hot pole of the southerly headwinds flourish,]
unde tuam uideas obliquo sidere Romam. 55
[from where you might see your city Rome from an oblong star.]
aetheris inmensi partem si presseris unam,
[If you should press the single portion of immense upper sky,]
sentiet axis onus.
[and let its axis feel the burden.]
librati pondera caeli
orbe tene medio;
[and hold the weights of the balanced sky in the middle of the sphere;]
pars aetheris illa sereni
tota uacet
[Let that well-known part of the serene upper sky be empty]
nullaeque obstent a Caesare nubes.
[and let no clouds stand in the way of Caesar.]
tum genus humanum positis sibi consulat
armis
[Then let the human race take his advice, once their weapons have been set aside]
60
inque uicem gens omnis amet;
[and let the entire race love each other;]
pax missa per orbem
ferrea belligeri conpescat limina Iani.
[Let peace, once sent through the world, shut close the iron thresholds of war-mongering butcher.]
sed mihi iam numen;
[but already I behold a divine power;]
nec, si te pectore uates
accipio,
[nor, if I take you into my heart, in the role of a bard,]
Cirrhaea uelim secreta mouentem
sollicitare deum Bacchumque auertere Nysa: 65
[I might wish to panic a man putting in motion the secrets of Cyrrhaea, and to divert Bacchus from Nysa:]
tu satis ad uires Romana in carmina dandas.
[I can say that you should devote your strengths to Roman poetry.]
fert animus causas tantarum expromere rerum,
[My mind bears me to publish the topics of such great things,]
inmensumque aperitur opus,
[and an immense accomplishment is revealed,]
quid in arma furentem
inpulerit populum,
[that explain why he compelled his people to burn for arms,]
quid pacem excusserit orbi.
[and why he shattered peace on earth.]
inuida fatorum series summisque negatum 70
stare diu
nimioque graues sub pondere lapsus
nec se Roma ferens.
[The sequence of destined fates is despicable, and even the greatest cities are denied the ability to remain there for too long, and great ones collapse under their own excessive weight, and Rome, she too cannot support herself.]
sic, cum conpage soluta
saecula tot mundi suprema coegerit hora
antiquum repetens iterum chaos,
[And so, the very last and final hour forces the ages of the world to be released from their harness, once again resorting back to the chaos of old,]
[omnia mixtis
sidera sideribus concurrent,]
[all the stars now clash together with other stars in the mix,]
ignea pontum 75
astra petent,
[fiery stars now search the sea,]
tellus extendere litora nolet
[the earth wishes not to extend her shores]
excutietque fretum,
[and soon she will beat against the strait,]
fratri contraria Phoebe
ibit
[and Phoebe will proceed in no conjunction to her brother,]
et obliquum bigas agitare per orbem
indignata diem poscet sibi,
[and she, disdaining to rattle the oblong sphere of the sky along the double wheels of her chariot, will inquire to herself,]
totaque discors
machina diuolsi turbabit foedera mundi. 80
[and the entire device, once unleased, will set in chaos the bonds of shattered world.]
