- quis furor, o cives, quae tanta licentia ferri
- gentibus invisis Latium praebere cruorem?
- cumque superba foret Babylon spolianda tropaeis
- Ausoniis umbraque erraret Crassus inulta
- bella geri placuit nullos habitura triumphos?
What madness [is this], o citizens, what oversized licence of the sword
to offer Latin blood to hated nations?
And when proud Babylon ought to have been despoiled of Ausonian
trophies and Crassus was wandering with shade unavenged,
did it please you for wars to be waged that would have no triumphs?
Notes: Vergil too follows his opening paragraph with a direct address and series of questions (first indirect, then a direct question in l.11). But whereas Vergil calls on the Muse to ‘remember to him the causes’ of Aeneas’ suffering, Lucan does not address a divinity but instead addresses his fellow citizens, and all of his questions are direct. Aeneas suffers because of the wrath of the goddess Juno (suffering considered vertically); the Romans suffer because of each other (suffering considered horizontally).
Line 10 is entirely dactylic, which contrasts sharply with the very slow pace of l.11.
foret: forem, fores, foret, etc. are often used in place of the the imperfect subjuntive of sum (essem, esses, esset, etc.) (see Allen & Greenough 170.a).
Regarding the refernce to Crassus in l.11: Crassus’ death at the hands of the Parthians at Carrhae is narrated in Plutarch, Crassus 31: ‘Crassus was killed by a Parthian called Pomaxathres, though, according to other accounts, it was not he but another Parthian who killed him and cut off his head and right hand as he lay on the ground. This, however, is conjecture rather than certain knowledge