ies opposite
these lines,--'This prophecy was fulfilled by my father, the Admiral
Christopher Columbus, in the year 1492.'
_2._ Agamemnon returns to Argos after the capture of Troy, his wife
Clytemnestra expressing deep joy at his return. He has brought with him
as a captive Cassandra the seer who, suddenly swooning, sees in
prophetic frenzy Agamemnon's death and her own at the hand of
Clytemnestra and her paramour, Aegistheus. Agamemnon worships Jupiter
and Juno at the altar and then enters the palace to his death.
1, 2. Tandem...terra. Cf. Aeschylus, _Agamemnon_, 503 ff., 810 ff.
laris: Roman coloring. 3. diu: taken with felix. 4. Asiae: objective
genitive, after potentes, B. 204, 1; A. & G. 349, a.
5. vates: Cassandra. corpus: accusative of specification. 7. recipit
diem: i.e. revives. 9. optatus ff.: with a double meaning to the
audience. 10. Festus ff.: Troy fell immediately after the festivities
that celebrated the withdrawal of the Greek fleet. Cf. _Aeneid_, 2. 246
ff. 11. Cecidit ff.: for the death of Priam cf. _Aeneid_, 2. 506 ff. 13.
Priamum: King Agamemnon's fate is to be such as King Priam's. Priam was
slain at the altar, and these altars (aras, 1. 11) awaken forebodings.
14. Ubi ff.: where faithless wives are, is calamity. 15. Libertas: the
freedom of death. 19. dum excutiat deum: until she casts off the
influence of Apollo who has thrown her into the prophetic frenzy. 21.
pater: Jupiter. 24. cuncta: accusative of specification. 25. Argolica
Iuno: Hera had a famous shrine at Argos. For an account of excavations
there see Waldstein, _The Argive Heraeum_. 26. Arabumque donis: incense.
supplice fibra: the entrails of the sacrificed animals (pecore votivo),
whose condition was supposed to indicate the will of the gods.
VII. LUCAN.
39-65 A.D.
Lucan, full of warmth and vehemence, eminently quotable, but, to speak
frankly, one whom, orators rather than poets should imitate.--
Quintilian, 10. 1. 90.
When I consider that Lucan died at twenty-six, I cannot help ranking him
among the most extraordinary men that ever lived.--
Macaulay.
The whole production (the _Pharsalia_) is youthful and unripe, but
indicative of genuine power.--Teuffel, Schwabe, and Warr, _History of
Roman Literature_, vol. 2, p. 78.
Lucan was born in Spain; was taken early to Rome; was carefully
educated; wrote much; and was much admired; but was disliked by Nero,
who forbade him to publish poems or recite them, and finally p
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