Did Lucan Understand Condensation and Evaporation?

We report. You decide. Here is Housman's text, followed by Braund's traslation.

iamque polo pressae largos densantur in imbres
spissataeque fluunt; nec seruant fulmina flammas
quamuis crebra micent: extinguunt fulgura nimbi.
hinc inperfecto conplectitur aera gyro
arcus uix ulla uariatus luce colorem
Oceanumque bibit raptosque ad nubila fluctus
pertulit et caelo defusum reddidit aequor. (Bellum Civile 4.76-82)

And now, they [i.e., the clouds] are squeezed and thickened by the sky into abundant rains
and pour down condensed; thunderbolts cannot preserve their flames;
although they flash incessantly, the rain-clouds quench the lightning-flashes.
Then the rainbow embraces the air with its hoop
incomplete, its colour hardly varied by light,
and drank the Ocean and swiftly carried up the waves
to the clouds and restored the water which had flooded from the sky.

Ancient Cemetery to Open in Rome

Here's the beginning; click on the post title to read the rest.

In cemetery, clues to ancient Rome's middle class
By Frances D'Emilio, Associated Press | October 10, 2006

VATICAN CITY -- Visitors to the Vatican soon will be able to descend into an ancient world of the dead, a newly unveiled necropolis that was a burial place for the rich and not-so-affluent during Roman imperial rule.

The necropolis, which was unearthed three years ago during construction of a parking lot, will open to the public this week. One archeologist said yesterday that sculptures, engravings, and other objects found entombed with the dead made the find a ``little Pompeii" of cemeteries.

The burial sites, ranging from simple terra-cotta funerary urns with ashes still inside to ornately sculptured sarcophagi, date from between the era of Augustus (23 BC to 14 AD) to that of Constantine in the first part of the fourth century.

From specially constructed walkways, visitors can look down on some skeletons, including that of an infant buried by loved ones who left a hen's egg beside the body. The egg, whose smashed shell was reconstructed by archeologists, might have symbolized hopes for a rebirth, officials at a Vatican Museums news conference said yesterday.

Regarding the last paragraph quoted here: does anyone know of any parallels for eggs in funeral goods or visual art representing hopes for rebirth?

A Reference to Ovid in Calvin's Commentaries

2 Thess. 1:5 reads:

...Ostensionem iusti iudicii Dei: ut digni habeamini regno Dei, pro quo et patimini.

...Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer...

In commenting on the phrase 'a demonstration of the righteousness of God', Calvin refers to a remark of Ovid in the Amores:

Without mentioning the exposition given by others, I am of opinion that the true meaning is this — that the injuries and persecutions which innocent and pious persons endure from the wicked and abandoned, shew clearly, as in a mirror, that God will one day be the judge of the world. And this statement is quite at antipodes with that profane notion, which we are accustomed to entertain, whenever it goes well with the good and ill with the wicked. For we think that the world is under the regulation of mere chance, and we leave God no control. Hence it is that impiety and contempt take possession of men’s hearts, as Solomon speaks, (Ecclesiastes 9:3) for those that suffer anything undeservedly either throw the blame upon God, or do not think that he concerns himself as to the affairs of men. We hear what Ovid says, — “I am tempted to think that there are no gods.”

The footnote gives the reference:

“ Solicitor nullos esse putare deos .” — Ovid in. Am. 9:36. In order to see the appropriateness of the quotation, it is necessary to notice the connection of the words “ Cum rapiant mala fata bonos.... Solicitor ,” etc. ; — “When misfortunes overtake the good, I am tempted,” etc. — Ed

In addition, Calvin makes another 'classics reference' immediately after the passage

just cited:
Nay more, David confesses (Psalm 73:1-12) that, because he saw things in so confused a state in the world, he had well-nigh lost his footing, as in a slippery place. On the other hand, the wicked become more insolent through occasion of prosperity, as if no punishment of their crimes awaited them; just as Dionysius, when making a prosperous voyage, boasted that the gods favored the sacrilegious. [The note explains thus: "Our author alludes to a saying of Dionysius the younger, tyrant of Sicily, on occasion of his plundering the temple of Proserpine."] In fine, when we see that the cruelty of the wicked against the innocent walks abroad with impunity, carnal sense concludes that there is no judgment of God, that there are no punishments of the wicked, that there is no reward of righteousness.