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.bp To turn now to linguistic and rhetorical features, \f8hyperbole\f6 pervades the \f7Bellum Ciuile\f6. The very first verse sets the theme of exaggeration which will run throughout the poem: .bl \f7orbem\ iam\ totum\ uictor\ Romanus\ habebat\f6 (v.\ 1)\p .ck The phrase is naturally more hyperbolic to the modern ear, for it is now known how small a fraction of the earth was ever really under Roman control. But even to a Roman there must have been some sense of exaggeration, for even at the height of Empire there were always barbarians at the gate. Nevertheless the \f7imperium sine fine\f6 was an accepted myth. By setting this bold and frankly untrue statement in the first line of his poem Eumolpus does not intend only to exaggerate; rather his implication seems to be that at a point where Rome could no longer expand outwards by war she had no option but to turn in on herself in civil war. .p The catalyst for that war was the man who took the weight of the world on his shoulders. The words \f7totum … orbem\f6 next show up in a description of the mountainous \f7locus\f6 where Caesar makes his appearance. In the grammar of the line it is the mountain that can bear the whole world, (\f7totum ferre potest umeris minitantibus orbem\f6, v. 151), but by association it is Caesar, who is atop that place. This connection is further strengthened by the association of the place with Hercules. In crossing the alps Caesar is depicted as another Hercules and another Atlas. On the point of his decision to march on Rome he takes on responsibility for the known world. The words turn up once more at the end of the poem, as the consequences of Caesar's actions are about to play out before Discordia. From her vantage point she can see \f7omnes terras atque omnia litora … ac toto fluitantes orbe cateruas\f6 (vv.\ 280–1). This repetition and shifting depiction of the \f7orbis totus\f6 amounts to a measured insistence on the total influence of the Civil War. .p Not only is the whole world involved in the Civil War, it is also doomed by it. The extent and mass of the destruction which results from the war is the second theme upon which Eumolpus is wont to wax hyperbolically. Not only is the earth unable to support the graves of the three great generals in one place (v. 65), the deaths will be so many that Charon and his leaky dinghy will hardly suffice for transporting their souls; \f7classe opus est\f6, a fleet is required! for the whole world will be torn apart, \f7laceratus … orbis\f6, and led to the underworld (vv. 117–121). Further hyperbole is to be found in the description of bloodshed: Caesar turned the Rhine red during his last campaign, and as they march on Rome his men are still drenched in the blood of Germans (\f7dum Rhenum sanguine tingo\f6, v. 160; \f7Germano perfusas sanguine turmas\f6, v. 214). This is exaggeration enough, but the hyperbole only truly finds its height when, at the end of the poem and on the point of the outbreak of the war, Discordia calls for a much larger body of water to run red: \f7Thessalicosque sinus humano sanguine tingue\f6 (v. 294). Finally there are a couple of instances of hyperbole which describe the terrifying effect of the war, namely: \f7Iuppiter horruerat\f6 (v. 241) and \f7ipsa tremat tellus lacerataque tecta rebellent\f6 (v. 287). Eumolpus makes pervasive use of exaggeration in his poem in order to emphasize the total devastation which the Civil War brought about. The technique is not overused, though neither is any example innovative: rivers running red, empire without end, and the burden of great men on the world were all common conceits.