O felix, si te vel sic tua Roma videret.
Lucan, Pharsalia, vii. 7-29.
9 Pompeiani theatri. Pompeius built the first stone theatre at Rome, near the Campus Martius, capable of holding 40,000 people.
10 Innumeram . . . plebis = the image of the countless Roman people. innumeram which belongs to plebis is transferred to effigiem.—Haskins.
14 Olim . . . triumphi, i.e. over Africa 79 B.C. when only 24, and adhuc Romanus eques (l. 19). It was not until 71 B.C. that he triumphed over Spain, after the murder of Sertorius. Lucan confuses the two triumphs.
16 impulit = set in motion (lit. drive forward).
17-18 pura venerabilis . . . toga = no less worshipful in pure white gown than (he would have been) in that which usually adorns the car of triumph, i.e. the toga picta.—H.
20 anxia (sc. quies) = his repose full of anxiety for the future.—H.
21-22 solitas . . . vaticinata = foretelling the opposite of his visions i.e. by the plausus of which he dreamed, the planctus which was in store for him was foreshadowed.—H.
25 nullas = at all. Cf. Cic. Ep.: nullus venit = he never came.