--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Great Pompey's shade complains that we…" description: "\"Great Pompey's shade complains that we are slow, And Scipio's ghost walks unavenged amongst us!\" — Joseph Addison" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8f6/joseph-addison-377_apparitions_great-pompey-s-shade-complains-that-we-a_2091234.png" --- # Great Pompey's shade complains that we are slow, And… ![“Great Pompey's shade complains that we are slow, And Scipio's ghost walks unavenged amongst us!” quote by Joseph Addison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8f6/joseph-addison-377_apparitions_great-pompey-s-shade-complains-that-we-a_2091234.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8f6/joseph-addison-377_apparitions_great-pompey-s-shade-complains-that-we-a_2091234.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8f6/joseph-addison-377_apparitions_great-pompey-s-shade-complains-that-we-a_2091234.png) > “Great Pompey's shade complains that we are slow, And Scipio's ghost walks unavenged amongst us!” [Joseph Addison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-addison/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Pompey’s shade laments our slowness while Scipio’s ghost remains unavenged, urging swift action. **In simple terms:** Historical ghosts urge promptness. Key Takeaway Act promptly to avoid regret. Themes history urgency legacy Mood thoughtful motivational Type inspirational historical When to use this quote - political decision‑making - personal goal setting - team leadership Key Concepts classical references motivation Questions to Reflect On - What modern “ghosts” motivate you? - How can urgency be balanced with caution? A Different Perspective May oversimplify complex issues. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Apparitions](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/apparitions/) [Complaining](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/complaining/) [Complaints](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/complaints/) [Ghost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ghost/) [Pompey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pompey/) [Pompey Shade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pompey-shade-2426416/) [Scipio Ghost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/scipio-ghost-2426417/) [Shade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/shade/) [Slow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/slow/) [Slow Scipio](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/slow-scipio-2426415/) [Walks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/walks/) ## Related quotes > [Great Pompey's shade complains that we are slow, And Scipio's ghost walks unaveng'd amongst us!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-addison/great-pompey-s-shade-complains-that-we-are-slow-and-scipio-s-ghost-2/) [Joseph Addison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-addison/) > [“Does it serve any useful purpose to know that Pompey was the first to exhibit the slaughter of eighteen elephants in the Circus, pitting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seneca/does-it-serve-any-useful-purpose-to-know-that-pompey-was-the-first-to/) [Seneca](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seneca/) > [“You blocks, you stones, you worse than senseless things! O you hard hearts, you cruel men of Rome, Knew you not Pompey?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/you-blocks-you-stones-you-worse-than-senseless-things-o-you-hard/) [William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/) > [I was a Pompey lass - I can't say I supported Pompey all the time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jill-ellis/i-was-a-pompey-lass-i-can-t-say-i-supported-pompey-all-the-time/) [Jill Ellis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jill-ellis/) > [I feel a much greater interest in knowing what has passed two or three thousand years ago, than in what is now passing. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/i-feel-a-much-greater-interest-in-knowing-what-has-passed-two-or/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [Pompey had fought brilliantly and in the end routed Caesar's whole force... but either he was unable to or else he feared to push…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/plutarch/pompey-had-fought-brilliantly-and-in-the-end-routed-caesar-s-whole/) [Plutarch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/plutarch/) > [Our men must win or die. Pompey's men have... other options.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julius-caesar/our-men-must-win-or-die-pompey-s-men-have-other-options/) [Julius Caesar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julius-caesar/) > [After the battle in Pharsalia, when Pompey was fled, one Nonius said they had seven eagles left still, and advised to try what they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/plutarch/after-the-battle-in-pharsalia-when-pompey-was-fled-one-nonius-said/) [Plutarch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/plutarch/) > [Pompey bade Sylla recollect that more worshipped the rising than the setting sun.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/plutarch/pompey-bade-sylla-recollect-that-more-worshipped-the-rising-than-the/) [Plutarch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/plutarch/) > [When confronted by a hungry wolf, it is unwise to goad the beast, as Cato would have us do. But it is equally unwise…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcus-tullius-cicero/when-confronted-by-a-hungry-wolf-it-is-unwise-to-goad-the-beast-as/) [Marcus Tullius Cicero](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcus-tullius-cicero/) > [In every block of marble I see a statue as plain as though it stood before me, shaped and perfect in attitude and action.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/in-every-block-of-marble-i-see-a-statue-as-plain-as-though-it-stood/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Spirits when they please Can either sex assume, or both.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-milton/spirits-when-they-please-can-either-sex-assume-or-both/) [John Milton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-milton/) > [“Some of the apparitions that emerged from the shadows of doorways and alleys were incomplete, manifesting in full only as they reached the light…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-d-sweitzer/some-of-the-apparitions-that-emerged-from-the-shadows-of-doorways-and/) [C.D. Sweitzer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-d-sweitzer/) > [The apparition of an evil, sick unconscious wild city rose before me in visible semblance, and about the dead buildings in the barren air,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/allen-ginsberg/the-apparition-of-an-evil-sick-unconscious-wild-city-rose-before-me/) [Allen Ginsberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/allen-ginsberg/) > [...it was a huge creature, luminous, ghastly, and spectral. I have cross-examined these men, one of them a hard-headed countryman, one a farrier, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-conan-doyle/it-was-a-huge-creature-luminous-ghastly-and-spectral-i-have-cross/) [Arthur Conan Doyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-conan-doyle/) ## More by Joseph Addison > [Half the misery of human life might be extinguished if men would alleviate the general curse they lie under by mutual offices of compassion,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-addison/half-the-misery-of-human-life-might-be-extinguished-if-men-would/) [Joseph Addison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-addison/) > [Every wife ought to answer for her man. If the husband be engaged in a seditious club, or drinks mysterious healths, or be frugal…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-addison/every-wife-ought-to-answer-for-her-man-if-the-husband-be-engaged-in-a/) [Joseph Addison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-addison/) > [There is nothing touches our imagination so much as a beautiful woman in a plain dress.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-addison/there-is-nothing-touches-our-imagination-so-much-as-a-beautiful-woman/) [Joseph Addison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-addison/) > [We are always doing something for posterity, but I would fain see posterity do something for us.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-addison/we-are-always-doing-something-for-posterity-but-i-would-fain-see/) [Joseph Addison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-addison/) > [Female Virtues are of a Domestick turn. The Family is the proper Province for Private Women to Shine in. If they must be showing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-addison/female-virtues-are-of-a-domestick-turn-the-family-is-the-proper/) [Joseph Addison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-addison/) > [As addictions go, reading is among the cleanest, easiest to feed, happiest.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-addison/as-addictions-go-reading-is-among-the-cleanest-easiest-to-feed/) [Joseph Addison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-addison/) > [There is no society or conversation to be kept up in the world without good-nature, or something which must bear its appearance and supply…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-addison/there-is-no-society-or-conversation-to-be-kept-up-in-the-world/) [Joseph Addison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-addison/) > [When love once pleads admission to our hearts, In spite of all the virtue we can boast, The woman that deliberates is lost.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-addison/when-love-once-pleads-admission-to-our-hearts-in-spite-of-all-the/) [Joseph Addison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-addison/) > [Many actions calculated to procure fame are not conducive to ultimate happiness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-addison/many-actions-calculated-to-procure-fame-are-not-conducive-to-ultimate/) [Joseph Addison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-addison/) > [T is liberty crowns Britannia's Isle, And makes her barren rocks and her bleak mountains smile.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-addison/t-is-liberty-crowns-britannia-s-isle-and-makes-her-barren-rocks-and/) [Joseph Addison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-addison/) > [Reading is a basic tool in the living of a good life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-addison/reading-is-a-basic-tool-in-the-living-of-a-good-life/) [Joseph Addison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-addison/) > [The moral perfections of the Deity, the more attentively, we consider, the more perfectly still shall we know them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-addison/the-moral-perfections-of-the-deity-the-more-attentively-we-consider/) [Joseph Addison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-addison/) > [The utmost we can hope for in this world is contentment; if we aim at anything higher, we shall meet with nothing but grief…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-addison/the-utmost-we-can-hope-for-in-this-world-is-contentment-if-we-aim-at/) [Joseph Addison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-addison/) > [Courage that grows from constitution often forsakes a man when he has occasion for it; courage which arises from a sense of duty acts;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-addison/courage-that-grows-from-constitution-often-forsakes-a-man-when-he-has/) [Joseph Addison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-addison/) > [The most skillful flattery is to let a person talk on, and be a listener.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-addison/the-most-skillful-flattery-is-to-let-a-person-talk-on-and-be-a/) [Joseph Addison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-addison/) [Explore all 620 Joseph Addison quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-addison/) ## More Apparitions quotes > [...it was a huge creature, luminous, ghastly, and spectral. I have cross-examined these men, one of them a hard-headed countryman, one a farrier, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-conan-doyle/it-was-a-huge-creature-luminous-ghastly-and-spectral-i-have-cross/) [Arthur Conan Doyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-conan-doyle/) > [The apparition of an evil, sick unconscious wild city rose before me in visible semblance, and about the dead buildings in the barren air,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/allen-ginsberg/the-apparition-of-an-evil-sick-unconscious-wild-city-rose-before-me/) [Allen Ginsberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/allen-ginsberg/) > [“Some of the apparitions that emerged from the shadows of doorways and alleys were incomplete, manifesting in full only as they reached the light…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-d-sweitzer/some-of-the-apparitions-that-emerged-from-the-shadows-of-doorways-and/) [C.D. Sweitzer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-d-sweitzer/) > [Spirits when they please Can either sex assume, or both.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-milton/spirits-when-they-please-can-either-sex-assume-or-both/) [John Milton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-milton/) > [In every block of marble I see a statue as plain as though it stood before me, shaped and perfect in attitude and action.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/in-every-block-of-marble-i-see-a-statue-as-plain-as-though-it-stood/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [It is the human condition to question one god after another, one appearance after another, or better, one apparition after another, always pursuing the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emile-chartier/it-is-the-human-condition-to-question-one-god-after-another-one/) [Emile Chartier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emile-chartier/) > [The apparition of these faces in the crowd; Petals on a wet black bough.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ezra-pound/the-apparition-of-these-faces-in-the-crowd-petals-on-a-wet-black-bough/) [Ezra Pound](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ezra-pound/) > [The nightmare Life-in-Death was she.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-taylor-coleridge/the-nightmare-life-in-death-was-she/) [Samuel Taylor Coleridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-taylor-coleridge/) > [Everything that falls upon the eye is apparition, a sheet dropped over the world's true workings. The nerves and the brain are tricked, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marilynne-robinson/everything-that-falls-upon-the-eye-is-apparition-a-sheet-dropped-over/) [Marilynne Robinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marilynne-robinson/) > [I came home from Portugal convinced that nothing is so important as making known what the Mother of God asked in those apparitions of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-thomas-walsh/i-came-home-from-portugal-convinced-that-nothing-is-so-important-as/) [William Thomas Walsh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-thomas-walsh/) > [I can call spirits from the vasty deep.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/i-can-call-spirits-from-the-vasty-deep/) [William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/) > [“Those places where sadness and misery abound are favoured settings for stories of ghosts and apparitions. Calcutta has countless such stories hidden in its…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carlos-ruiz-zafon/those-places-where-sadness-and-misery-abound-are-favoured-settings/) [Carlos Ruiz Zafón](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carlos-ruiz-zafon/) > [Or art thou but / A dagger of the mind, a false creation, / Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/or-art-thou-but-a-dagger-of-the-mind-a-false-creation-proceeding-from/) [William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/) > [Is this a dagger which I see before me, The handle toward my hand?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/is-this-a-dagger-which-i-see-before-me-the-handle-toward-my-hand/) [William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/) > [Like vanishing dew, a passing apparition or the sudden flash of lightning -- already gone -- thus should one regard one's self.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ikkyu/like-vanishing-dew-a-passing-apparition-or-the-sudden-flash-of/) [Ikkyu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ikkyu/) [Browse all 82 Apparitions quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/apparitions/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Great Pompey's shade complains that we are slow, And Scipio's ghost walks unavenged amongst us!", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Joseph Addison" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-addison/great-pompey-s-shade-complains-that-we-are-slow-and-scipio-s-ghost/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Apparitions" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-addison/great-pompey-s-shade-complains-that-we-are-slow-and-scipio-s-ghost/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8f6/joseph-addison-377_apparitions_great-pompey-s-shade-complains-that-we-a_2091234.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8f6/joseph-addison-377_apparitions_great-pompey-s-shade-complains-that-we-a_2091234.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8f6/joseph-addison-377_apparitions_great-pompey-s-shade-complains-that-we-a_2091234.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Great Pompey's shade complains that we are slow, And Scipio's ghost walks unavenged amongst us!” — Joseph Addison", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Joseph Addison", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-addison/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Great Pompey's shade complains that we...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-addison/great-pompey-s-shade-complains-that-we-are-slow-and-scipio-s-ghost/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-addison/great-pompey-s-shade-complains-that-we-are-slow-and-scipio-s-ghost/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```