Causa mali. Cedant feralia nomina Cannae
Et damnata diu Romanis Allia fastis.
Tempora signavit leviorum Roma malorum:
Hunc voluit nescire diem.
Lucan, Pharsalia, vii. 397-411.
397-398 monimentaque . . . destituit = 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.