ho endeavoured, though unsuccessfully, to expel
Curio from the Senate, and who placed Pompeius in command of
the legions at Capua. This was in effect a declaration of
war; and Curio, after a last attempt at resistance, left the
city, and betook himself to Caesar. (See the close of Book
IV.)
(12) Marcus Marcellus, Consul in B.C. 51.
(13) Plutarch, "Pomp.", 49. The harbours and places of trade
were placed under his control in order that he might find a
remedy for the scarcity of grain. But his enemies said that
he had caused the scarcity in order to get the power.
(14) Milo was brought to trial for the murder of Clodius in
B.C.52, about three years before this. Pompeius, then sole
Consul, had surrounded the tribunal with soldiers, who at
one time charged the crowd. Milo was sent into exile at
Massilia.
(15) See Book II., 630.
(16) The north-west wind. Circius was a violent wind from about
the same quarter, but peculiar to the district.
(17) This idea that the sun found fuel in the clouds appears
again in Book VII., line 7; Book IX., line 379; and Book X.,
line 317.
(18) This Diana was worshipped by the Tauri, a people who dwelt
in the Crimea; and, according to legend, was propitiated by
human sacrifices. Orestes on his return from his expiatory
wanderings brought her image to Greece, and the Greeks
identified her with their Artemis. (Compare Book VI., 93.)
(19) The horror of the Druidical groves is again alluded to in
Book III., lines 462-489. Dean Merivale remarks (chapter
li.) on this passage, that in the despair of another life
which pervaded Paganism at the time, the Roman was
exasperated at the Druids' assertion of the transmigration
of souls. But the passage seems also to betray a lingering
suspicion that the doctrine may in some shape be true,
however horrible were the rites and sacrifices. The reality
of a future life was a part of Lucan's belief, as a state of
reward for heroes. (See the passage at the beginning of Book
IX.; and also Book VI., line 933). But all was vague and
uncertain, and he appears to have viewed the Druidical
transmigration rather with doubt and unbelief, as a possible
form of future or recurring life, than with scorn as an
absurdity.
(20) Plutarch says the Consuls fled without making the sacrifices
usual bef