Pharsalia: Lines 81-86
Great things are ruined in themselves: the gods place this limit of growth in happy affairs.
I’m working on a translation of Lucan’s Pharsalia! If you enjoy this sort of thing, please consider sponsoring my work by becoming a paid subscriber. If you enjoy this sort of epic poetry, you might check out this version of John Brown’s Body, an epic poem about the American Civil War, which I edited and released some time ago. If the rigor of the Latin is a bit too much, you might check out the this set of Latin readers for the Aeneid which I’ve published.
in se magna ruunt: laetis hunc numina rebus
crescendi posuere modum. nec gentibus ullis
commodat in populum terrae pelagique potentem
inuidiam Fortuna suam. tu causa malorum
facta tribus dominis communis, Roma, nec umquam 85
in turbam missi feralia foedera regni.
Vocabulary
Causa, ae, f.- cause, reason
Commodō, āre, āvī, ātus- to bestow, grant
Commūnis, is, e- common, shared
Crēscō, ere, crēvī, crētus- to grow, arise
Dominus, ī, m.- master, ruler
Ferālis, is, e- funereal, deadly
Fiō, fierī, factus sum- to become, happen
Foedus, eris, n.- treaty, pact
Fortūna, ae, f.- fortune, luck
Gēns, gentis, f.- people, tribe, nation
Invidia, ae, f.- envy, jealousy
Laetus, a, um- happy, favorable
Mālum, ī, n.- evil, misfortune
Mittō, ere, mīsī, missus- to send
Modus, ī, m.- limit, measure, way
Nūmen, Nūminis, n.- divine will, divinity
Numquam- never
Pelagus, ī, n.- sea
Pōnō, ere, posuī, positus- to place, establish
Populus, ī, m.- people, nation
Potens, potentis- powerful, mighty
Rēgnum, ī, n.- kingdom, rule
Rēs, reī, f.- thing, matter, event
Rōma, ae, f.- Rome
Ruō, ere, ruī, rutus- to rush, collapse
Terra, ae, f.- land, earth
Trēs, tria- three
Turba, ae, f.- crowd, confusion
Translation
Great things are ruined in themselves: the gods place this limit of growth in happy affairs. And not for any nation does Fortune bestow its hatred for a people powerful on land and sea. You, Rome, were the cause of your evils after you became shared by three masters, and the pacts of a kingdom cast into a mob were deadly.