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.Pliny’s basilisk, which moves upright and erect and is killed by “weasels,” is probably a cobra; the hissing and the long-range effect of its venom suggest the spitting cobras (like the relatively short red spitting cobra, Naja pallida, which is most aggressive when young).906.dragons: Latin dracones, from a generic Greek word for snakes, but here obviously the ancestor to our fabulous flying dragons; Africa’s very large carnivorous monitor lizards (genus Varanus) may have contributed to these imaginary monsters.(Tree snakes of the genus Chrysopelea do “fly” or jump-glide, but these live in Southeast Asia.)918.Aulus: The victim of Scaeva’s ruse at 6.257 was also named Aulus.919.dipsas: See note on 766 above.The deadly black mamba, found throughout Africa but not in the northern deserts, may at least be a contender for identifying the ancients’ fearsome dipsas.Species of venomous vipers, of the genus Echis, which are aggressive and deadly, and range in North Africa, are also probable for one or another of Lucan’s snakes.967.all there is to man: Compare Juvenal, Sat.10.172–73.979.Cinyps: River of North Africa, near Leptis Magna.1002.great-hearted: See note at 4.499 on magnanimus.1004.Corycian saffron: The best saffron was harvested from crocus flowers in a cave near Corycus in Cilicia; ancient Mediterranean peoples used saffron extensively, as both a fabric dye and a perfume, and Romans in particular sprinkled saffron water at festivals, on stages, and in the arena (probably not least to cover foul odors).Lucan presumably describes the pressing of saffron (with an emendation of the confusing text), but interpretation of the lines remains doubtful.1016–18.Saïs…Sabaean: Saïs was a city in the Nile Delta near Naucratis; the Sabaeans lived in Arabia, where the Romans obtained incenses such as myrrh and frankincense.1020.iaculus: A fantastically improbable form of wounding no doubt inspired by its name, “javelin,” and exaggerated tales of actual quick, long snake strikes.1027.venom raced: Pliny (Nat.Hist.8.33.78) also relates the common belief that the venom of a basilisk speared by a mounted rider will run through the spear and kill both rider and horse.Such lore may well reflect accounts of spitting cobras, as well as the great prominence of cobras in ancient Egyptian conceptions of royalty.1032–35.scorpion…Orion: The hunter Orion, in one version of his death, boasted that he could kill any animal, and Earth then created the scorpion, which killed him.They both became constellations.1036.salpuga: According to Pliny, the name in Baetica, Hispania (Lucan’s birthplace: an authorial self-reference?), for a kind of venomous ant.1071.gates of the world: Cf.Lucretius’ praise of Epicurus, who with philosophical inquiry wanted to “break open the locked gates of nature” and with the power of his mind reached the “flaming walls of the world” to achieve a victory over heaven that left religion subjected underfoot (De R.N.1.70–79).1091.endurance: Latin patientia; see note to 4.499.1105.can be nothing: Cf.note to 4.499.1109.Psylli of Marmarica: The desert region south of Cyrene to Ammon; the Psylli were already shrouded with legends in Herodotus, who makes them the western neighbors of the Nasamones, but in a drought they decided to “declare war on the south wind,” marched out to the desert, and, being buried in sand, were wiped out (Hist.4.173).Pliny says some survived war with the Nasamones, and reports their natural resistance to snakes and their practice of exposing infants to snakes to test for adultery (Nat.Hist.7.2.14–15).Plutarch also relates that Cato took Psylli with him on his march (though influence from Lucan is not impossible).Suetonius says Augustus summoned a Psylli man in hopes of saving Cleopatra from her fatal snakebite (Aug.17.4).1119.too small: So interpreting parvus infans; alternatively, they test all infants (which seems even more incredible, though one can imagine a ritual passing of a snake over a newborn).1121.bird of Jove: The eagle.1128
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