A peace between us. But my prayers to heaven

No favouring answer found; that arms laid down
In happy victory, Magnus, once again

I might embrace thee, begging thee to grant
Thine ancient love to Caesar, and thy life.

Thus for my labours with a worthy prize
Content, thine equal, bound in faithful peace,

I might have brought thee to forgive the gods
For thy disaster; thou had'st gained for me

From Rome forgiveness."
Thus he spake, but found

No comrade in his tears; nor did the host
Give credit to his grief. Deep in their breasts

They hide their groans, and gaze with joyful front
(O famous Freedom!) on the deed of blood:

And dare to laugh when mighty Caesar wept.
ENDNOTES:

(1) This was the Stoic theory. The perfect of men passed after
death into a region between our atmosphere and the heavens,

where they remained until the day of general conflagration,
(see Book VII. line 949), with their senses amplified and

rendered akin to divine.
(2) A promontory in Africa was so called, as well as that in

Italy.
(3) Meaning that her husband gave her this commission in order

to prevent her from committing suicide.
(4) See Book VIII., line 547.

(5) See line 709.
(6) This passage is described by Lord Macaulay as "a pure gem of

rhetoric without one flaw, and, in my opinion, not very far
from historical truth" (Trevelyan's "Life and Letters", vol.

i., page 462.)
(7) "... Clarum et venembile nomen

Gentibus, et multum nostrae quod profuit urbi,"
quoted by Mr. Burke, and applied to Lord Chatham, in his

Speech on American taxation.
(8) That is, liberty, which by the murder of Pompeius they had

obtained.
(9) Reading "saepit", Hosius. The passage seems to be corrupt.

(10) "Scaly Triton's winding shell", (Comus, 878). He was
Neptune's son and trumpeter. That Pallas sprang armed from

the head of Jupiter is well known.
(11) Cnaeus.

(12) Compare Herodotus, ii., 16: "For they all say that the earth
is divided into three parts, Europe, Asia and Libya." (And

see Bunbury's "Ancient Geography", i., 145, 146, for a
discussion of this subject.)

(13) Citron tables were in much request at Rome. (Comp. "Paradise
Regained", Book iv., 115; and see Book X., line 177.)

(14) Alluding to the shield of Mars which fell from heaven on
Numa at sacrifice. Eleven others were made to match it

("Dict. Antiq.") While Horace speaks of them as chief
objects of a patriot Roman's affection ("Odes" iii., 5, 9),

Lucan discovers for them a ridiculousorigin. They were in
the custody of the priests of Mars. (See Book I., 666.)

(15) I.e. Where the equinoctial circle cuts the zodiac in its
centre. -- Haskins.

(16) Compare Book III., 288.
(17) See Book V., 400.

(18) 1st. For his victories in Sicily and Africa, B.C. 81; 2nd.
For the conquest of Sertorius, B.C. 71; 3rd. For his Eastern

triumphs, B.C. 61. (Compare Book II., 684, &c.)
(19) Over whom Marius triumphed.

(20) Phoreus and Ceto were the parents of the Gorgons -- Stheno,
Euryale. and Medusa, of whom the latter alone was mortal,

(Hesiod. "Theogony", 276.) Phorcus was a son of Pontus and
Gaia (sea and land), ibid, 287.

(21) The scimitar lent by Hermes (or Mercury) to Perseus for the
purpose; with which had been slain Argus the guardian of Io

(Conf. "Prometheus vinctus", 579.) Hermes was born in a
cave in Mount Cyllene in Arcadia.

(22) The idea seems to be that the earth, bulging at the equator,
casts its shadow highest on the sky: and that the moon

becomes eclipsed by it whenever she follows a straight path
instead of an oblique one, which may happen from her

forgetfulness (Mr. Haskins' note).
(23) This catalogue of snakes is alluded to in Dante's "Inferno",

24.
"I saw a crowd within

Of serpents terrible, so strange of shape
And hideous that remembrance in my veins

Yet shrinks the vital current. Of her sands
Let Libya vaunt no more: if Jaculus,

Pareas, and Chelyder be her brood,
Cenchris and Amphisbaena, plagues so dire

Or in such numbers swarming ne'er she showed."
-- Carey.

(See also Milton's "Paradise Lost", Book X., 520-530.)
(24) The Egyptian Thebes.

(25) "... All my being
Like him whom the Numidian Seps did thaw

Into a dew with poison, is dissolved,
Sinking through its foundations."

--Shelley, "Prometheus Unbound", Act iii, Scene 1.
(26) The glance of the eye of the basilisk or cockatrice, was

supposed to be deadly. (See "King Richard III", Act i.,
Scene 2: --

Gloucester: Thine eyes, sweet lady, have infected
mine.

Anne: Would they were basilisks, to strike
thee dead!)

The word is also used for a big cannon. ("1 King Henry IV",
Act ii., Scene 3.)

(27) See Book III., 706.
(28) According to one story Orion, for his assault on Diana, was

killed by the Scorpion, who received his reward by being
made into a constellation.

(29) A sort of venomous ant.
(30) No other author gives any details of this march; and those

given by Lucan are unreliable. The temple of Hammon is far
from any possible line of route taken from the Lesser Syrtes

to Leptis. Dean Merivale states that the inhospitable sands
extended for seven days' journey, and ranks the march as one

of the greatest exploits in Roman military history.
Described by the names known to modern geography, it was

from the Gulf of Cabes to Cape Africa. Pope, in a letter to
Henry Cromwell, dated November 11, 1710, makes some caustic

remarks on the geography of this book. (See "Pope's Works",
Vol. vi., 109; by Elwin & Courthope.)

(31) See Line 444.
(32) See Book IV., 65.

(33) The "Palladium" or image of Pallas, preserved in the temple
of Vesta. (See Book I., 659.)

BOOK X
CAESAR IN EGYPT

When Caesar, following those who bore the head,
First trod the shore accursed, with Egypt's fates

His fortunes battled, whether Rome should pass